Day 24: Taking it Easy — Matt Goes Exploring

I used my bathing suit for the second time this trip. And I immediately regretted it.

I slept in this morning for two reasons: I needed some time to relax, and the Grand Ferdinand is the perfect place for that. And two this bed is so comfy.

And three happy birthday America! I will be lazy today just like the founding fathers wanted.

But when I did finally get out of bed I decided to take an easy day. I could not think of anything in Vienna that I was dying to see, so I did some light research to find out what there was. I found out there is an awesome zoo in town that I will probably go to tomorrow. But today, I took things easy.

The first thing I did was find some lunch. I found a great Italian restaurant not far from the Grand Ferdinand. I don't usually take pictures of my food, but this bowl of past looked so good I had to share it:

After lunch I found a nice big park to explore. Within the park there are several statues and monuments, but I didn't really pay too much attention to those.

What really captured my attention was the two very different bodies of water in the park. The first one I came upon was a "river." I give it quotation marks because it is closer to a trickle than any of the other rivers I've seen so far. A manmade canal goes through the city, and it's pretty deep, but the river is so small that the water does not even reach the edges of the canal. I'm not sure where this water comes from, but maybe at certain times of year it floods up to higher levels.

Something I just thought of: I was researching tap water in Vienna and I found out that Vienna basically gets its water from the mountains. Rather than using machinery to pump the water to them they mostly just let it come to them. So maybe this small river is what's left after Vienna takes what it needs. If not for all the tap water in Vienna maybe this would be a roaring river. But that is just a guess.

The other body of water in this park was a pond located in the center of the park. It reminded me a lot of the Public Gardens pond in Boston, only a lot smaller. What interested me was the whole ecosystem of life that was supported by this one body of water. First I noticed the pigeons and the ducks, who fed mostly on the bread that people tossed to them. Then I noticed the fish, some big, some small, that fed on the bread that the ducks left behind. There was also a pair of herons living in a tree on the island in the center of the pond. These tall birds seemed to be the rulers. When people threw bread into the water first the pigeons would gather to grab any bread that didn't land in the water. Then the ducks would come to eat the bread, followed shortly by the fish. And not far behind the fish was one of the heron. Ready to take advantage and grab one of the smaller fish that had come for the bread.

I know this is the animal nerd in me coming out, but I was utterly fascinated by the whole process. How each animal had some part to play in the larger ecosystem.

So I sat by the pond for hours, relaxed, read my book, listened to music, and watched.

Aside from the animals, there was a lot going on in the park as well. Some people had set up a long slack rope to practice walking across, other people had gather to practice twirling a baton (I don't really know what was going on there, maybe eventually they want to be twirling fire or something?), and there was even an opera singer busking by one of the statues.

Side note: no I did not go swimming in the pond.

I ate dinner as the sun set and finally returned to the Grand Ferdinand, where I decided I would check out the rooftop pool.

It looked fantastic, and the view of Vienna from the rooftop was great too. But as soon as I stepped into the pool, I realized how cold it was. Swimming on the roof at 10:00pm in a pool that isn't a hot tub isn't always a good idea. Luckily I had a robe to curl up in after spending no more than two minutes in the pool.

I guess I don't regret it though. I'm still glad I did it. I would be more upset if I didn't. I'll have to try coming back at a time that's more appropriate for pools.

I came back to my room to take a nice hot shower before writing this blog post, and now I think it's time to go to sleep for the rest of my life.

Not really though. I'll be up tomorrow ready for the next adventure. Which will the Vienna Zoo. So once again, thanks for reading, happy fourth, and here's to tomorrow.

P.S. Here's some of my favorite photos from today: