Goodbye Poland Hello Austria

I guess I will start with what I have been doing since my last post. On Thursday we visited the salt mines. My dad used to threaten my with sending me off to the salt mines and after my visit I find that it would have been really cool if he had sent me there. Apperently the air in salt mines is very healthy and was sometimes used as theropy in the old days. Sort of weird to think about people sitting around while other people are there actually doing work. The mines were a nice break in the weather. Instead of the near freazing temperatures that we have been used to we got a constant 57 degrees. Inside the salt mines there are some really impressive carverns and scupltures. It was interesting to find that almost all of the sculptures and chapels inside the mines were carved by the miners themselves. They didn't get paid anything, just there devotion drove them to do it. Sort of cool to see.

Friday we spent the first half of the day just wondering the streets of Krakow and then took a little trip off to see the Black Madonna over in Czestaowa. Our timing was just about perfect because as soon as we got there they started mass.

Saturday we said goodbye to Poland and headed off to Vienna. I was a little disappointed as every day prior to Saturday was either foggy or just overcast but Saturday was bright and sunny. This did make for a more pleasent train ride though. We then hiked around Vienna for a bit trying to find a hostel. But after about a half hour of wondering we jumped into a internet cafe and found one and just went there. It's a nice hostel but the real selling point was the 'free' drink fro everyone who stays. It's only a small beer but a beer none the less. There is a bar in the downstairs lobby making it easy for us to make our way home after a night on the town. The only downside is that the internet isn't free here.

Today we went to mass at the cathedral in Vienna. It is another beuatiful gothic cathedral. This one was consecratedin 1147. We just missed the 10:15 mass so we went to the 11:15 mass down in the catacombs of the church. It was nice becasue we had the small church feel to it. The other little bonus was that the mass was in latin so it was a little easier for me to figure out what was being said in some parts. The homily was still in german so I could only pretend I knew what the priest was talking about. So not much different than whens its in english. Afterwards we saw in our guide that there is a farmers market type of place where the food is cheap whiched perked our interest. But like most of Austria, this place was closed on Sundays. So we just found a bakery and got some food there. Just a note to make you jealous Mike, they have created something here that you would love. They took bread, and combined it with cheese and bacon. They call it 'bread, cheese, and bacon.' I thought of you when I ate it. And it was delicious.

Tomorrow looks like we will be heading off to Bratislava. I hope to put some pictures up there where the internet will probably be free. If not then Budapest. I am banking on the fre internet of Eastern Europe basically.