Day 27

Sunday I woke up, got dressed, and met Andy in the lobby. From there we walked to the Westbahnhof and met Stephen at the U4 platform. We switched to the U3 towards Stephansplatz. We got off of the train there and then preceded to go inside the St. Stephansdom (or St. Stephen’s church) and found seats. We were a bit early, but it was good because that meant that we actually got decent seats.

When the service was underway all I could think about was how confused I was. It was a nice service, but it seemed like there was a lot of standing up, sitting down, and burning incense. The service was about an hour and fifteen minutes long. Afterwards Stephen, Andy and I took the U-bahn to the Volkstheatre. We got Döner-boxes and walked around looking for the Volksoper. We ended up wandering for about an hour without any luck. After a while we got an address and we agreed that we’d meet there later. I told Andy and Stephen that I needed to actually see the Volksoper to be able to feel easy so I went on without them.

We separated at Karlsplatz and I took the train to Stadtpark where the address was supposed to be near. I asked around for a where the Volksoper was and everyone kept saying that it was in the 9th district. Eventually I went to the opera house nearby and asked again where the Volksoper was. The man there once again directed me to the 9th district. So I headed to the U-bahn stop.

I took the U4 to the U6 and saw on the train map that one of the points on the map was labeled as Volksoper. I went there and found the building. I asked the man there when I could get my tickets. He said that I could pick them up an hour before the performance. Since I finally felt good I headed back to the Westbahnhof and made my way to my dorm. I immediately Facebooked Stephen and told him that the Volkoper was on the U6 stop. Then I went to tell the same thing to Andy.

Andy and I met about 20 minutes later in the lobby and walked to the Westbahnhof where we boarded the U6, took it to the U4, and stopped at Pilgramsgasse. We waited there for about 10 minutes then decided to go to the theatre anyway. We got there around 3:50 and I claimed the tickets that had been held in my name. Andy and I walked around looking for free wifi (a rarity in Europe) and found some by a Chinese restaurant. We messaged Stephen and Jesse and gave them specific directions for when they finally got wifi.

When it was about 15 minutes until showtime, we headed in and took our spots at a rail behind the seats in the back of the theatre. We watched the first act and then exited to the lobby at intermission. Jesse, Stephen, and Paithan were there. They had eventually gotten to wifi and gotten our directions. They had arrived only five minutes before the intermission.

We all went inside and Stephen and I went to the left side of the theatre. After the second song, we grabbed two empty seats and watched the rest of the play from there. Once the show was done we took the U6 back to the Westbahnhof and grabbed a bite to eat there. Almost all shops are closed on Sundays except for those at the train station. We stopped at an Italian restaurant and I had a carbonara dish. Afterwards we all separated and went back to our dorms.