So, Here I am !

While the heat of the sun is invigorating me, after a solidly slept first night in Vienna, I figured I'd start writing my blog. The name is quite cheesy, I know. I ask for your forgiveness already. However, at the time, I thought it was funny and nostalgia once again bested me and therefore it will stay.

The last couple of days, we started preparing and I had created a wonderful list of all the things I needed to bring. Thursday evening, we found out lists are all fine and dandy, but a car's size is not to be tempered with, it will not hold more than it can and we were pushing ours to its limit. Mom was in charge of guarding everything, and after a precise 12 hours ride, she was congratulated on her tetris skills, as everything survived and remained in its original form.

The drive itself, from Vorselaar in Belgium until Schönburgstraße in Vienna, Austria took 12 hours and we only hit some minor traffic jams. We never had to fully stop and could, albeit a bit on the slow side, always continue driving. For all those looking to cross Germany, die freie Autobahn is not so free between Frankfurt am Main and München, with all its road works and changing lanes. But, coming from a Belgian, at least they work on their highways, maintaining and improving them. There were plenty of beautiful views, we saw some magnificent landscapes and the sun's rays lit up our route, much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Yet, as was to be expected, being Belgian and all, with Vienna closing up, the weather changed and beautiful white and shape-filled clouds turned dark and suddenly dropped drops of droopiness on our car, dampening our spirits just a little bit.

I do not mind being wrong, though. After a first night celebrating my arrival in Vienna with some see-through liquid (some refer to it as water, although in another language) and energy drink (after all, it was a long drive), I woke to a warm and sun-filled plaza and perhaps my stay will have more days of that (until the crescendo of winter arrives upon Vienna).

This is my first contribution and I will try to update you all about my stay and my adventures in Vienna for the coming weeks and months, hopefully I can look back in a couple of months and notice, it was a fun ride.

Here are some fun facts about Austria (for those of you who like lists. Men like lists. I like lists!):

1. The country's flag is said to be one of the oldest (together with Denmark's Daneborg) in the world and can apparently trace its origin back to the legend of Duke Leopold V and his Bindenschild
2. Oldest zoo in the world is the one from Vienna, Tiergarten Schönbrunnen.
3. Austria holds the second-largest mountain in Europe, Großglockner with its peak at 3 798 meter.
4. The Krimmler Wasserfalle are some of the tallest waterfalls in Europe, with the water dropping three times, ~150 meter, ~100 meter and ~140 meter respectively.
5. About 20% of Austria's population (~8 300 000) lives in Vienna (~1 700 000), which is also the smallest and most condense Bundesland.