Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin

So we havent written in a while. Salzburg was incredible! Picturesque. We stayed with an awesome family right outside of the city who made us all of our meals (breakfast, complete with homemade jam on the upstairs patio, looking out over the mountains, lunch in the garden, dinner by the grill), took us fossil hunting (where we actually found fossils!) and hiking up a mountain, lent us bikes to get around the city, and were always smiling and hospitable. We saw a marionette version of the Barber of Seville, which was stunning, and went to a few beer gardens. Austria is simply gorgeous. The landscape is just too perfect.
Ok, so we arrived in Vienna a few days ago. I started feeling an itch in my throat the last day in Salzburg, but claimed it was just the pollen from being in the wilderness so much. I wasnt about to give in to illness that easily, so I ignored the warning signs--the getting tired early in the evening, the nose starting to run...
We got to Vienna and met out host, Petra, and her flatmates, all of whom are pretty awesome people. My nose is starting to run more and more, and its pouring outside. We walked around a bit after the rain stopped and were shown about the town which is basically a lovechild between Brooklyn, Georgetown, and Boston just with more history. We went to the catacombs (creepy, but cool) and then Petra took us to this really great place that played older swing/jazz/fun music. Crazy legs made an appearance. All the while I am realizing that illness is going to hit hard, not to mention it is raining again for our walk home. So I live it up now and have a good time. The next morning, I was dead. My nose was a fountain, I was weak, and I had not (and still havent) seen a single tissue box the entire time I have been in Europe. But I still wouldnt let that deter my enjoyment (even though it really did....I just wasnt about to stay in bed all day). We went out on the town, me feeling like absolute shit. By the evening my nose is rubbed raw, I had been using toilet all day and by now looked like Rudolph. I went to the Apotheke, where I bought a few tiny packages of tissues (no boxes) to last me through the Opera we are about to see.
We ended up getting standing room tickets for Manon, a French opera, which was playing at the Opera house. Now, in case you didnt know, Vienna is the home of opera, the premier place to see it, and tickets were a mere 4 euro. So 3 hours later, I was very impressed, but felt like death. I went back to the flat while Josh went out with Petra and her friends to this concert that sounded AMAZING and I am horribly jealous that I had to miss it, however, I knew it was time to take care of myself and get better faster, rather than rallying and prolong it all. Josh got in at 9am.
Today I felt WAY better, except I could only taste about half the time due to my sinuses hating me. We saw a sign for a Beerfest and obviously had to go. I dont care how sick I am, I was not about to miss out on a beerfest in Vienna where there was live traditional Austrian music and 200 varieties of beer! I only had two beers before taking my current state of health into consideration. We then got standing room tickets again for another show at the opera house. This time a ballet. Not just any ballet, the music was by Phillip Glass and Chopin, choreography by Jerome Robbins!! IT WAS AMAZING!!! I have never seen anything like it before. It was just so creative and beautiful and funny and engaging. SO GOOD! So now I am back at the flat, feeling loads better, Josh is finally asleep (after having only slept for an hour and a half last night) hoping that tomorrow will bring even more good health. Goodnight to all, and thanks for reading!!
Oh, the title of this post has to do with our facial hair. I dont think we ever said on the blog, but we decided to go the entire trip without shaving or trimming our facial hair. It is getting kinda long now though.....
-Brandon