Hello again!
It’s been too long since I last posted and so much has
happened since then! I’ll try to give a short and sweet update for you all on some
of the stuff I’ve been doing:
Museums: These past few weeks I’ve been visiting tons of
different museums for my history class. I’ve been to the Schatzkammer (or the imperial
treasury of the Habsburgs), where I learned that the Habsburgs really were
filthy stinking rich; I’ve been to the art museum called the Albertina, where I
got to see some of Monet’s and Picasso’s works;
I went to Schloss Schoenbrunn, which was one of the many palaces that
those awfully rich Habsburgs owned; I went to the crypts of the
Michaelerkirche, where I got to see some pretty awesome mummies; and I went to
the Belvedere palace, which had a ton of amazing art and was surprisingly owned
by Prince Eugene of Savoy and not the Habsburgs! Even though I’ve seen so many museums
already, I feel like there are many more here that I won’t have enough time to
see! I hope to visit a few more before I
leave!
My first Opera: As
some of you may have seen on Facebook, I went to my first opera two weeks ago
at the Wien Staatsoper. I saw the opera “Don
Giovanni,” which was written by Mozart and premiered in Vienna over 200 years
ago in 1788! The singing was amazing and
I really enjoyed the entire experience.
The only thing I wish I had was a better seat. Operas really are the only show places I know
of that purposely block your view so you want to pay more for the tickets! From where I was, I could only see a little less
than half of the stage! Even though I couldn’t see what was happening in the
opera, however, I could easily follow the plot and I really loved listening to
the music. The opera is in Spanish, but
every seat had a translator so I could understand everything being sung.
Bratislava: Last week
I traveled to Bratislava with my history professor to learn about the
city. Bratislava is only an hour away
from Vienna by bus and there are a lot of economic ties between the two
cities. We only went for the afternoon,
but I thought Bratislava was very beautiful.
During the Cold War, the city fell into disrepair, and many of the
buildings were falling apart. There was
even a major road build right through the city center only a few feet from the city’s
major church. Since the Iron Curtain
fell, however, the city has begun to repair itself and has become very beautiful. It was also snowing when we traveled there so
it became even prettier…that is until the wind picked up and it became blizzard-like! Our bus ended up being 45 minutes late and
took almost 20 minutes longer to get back to Vienna because one of the major
highways was closed! I guess some of the
Austrian drivers were driving a bit too fast in the storm and caused several accidents
(I even saw crazy drivers on back roads too!). I guess when you own a BMW or
Mercedes, you feel like you can drive fast through anything! My bus eventually
made it back to Vienna safe and sound though.
Prague: I spent this
past weekend exploring and experiencing Prague.
Unlike Bratislava and Budapest, Prague managed to keep many of its buildings in good shape. As a result, it has become a major tourist
destination in Europe (I believe its number 6 on the most visited European
cities list). Everything in the old city
was beautifully preserved and it felt like you were walking through an old
medieval town. They even sold mulled
wine and mead at many street vendors, keeping that atmosphere alive. The weather was very cold for us but we had
bright blue skies making everything better!
I ended up seeing the Prague Castle, St. Vitus’s Cathedral, the Strahov
Monastery, the Lennon Wall, the Astronomical clock, the Charles Bridge…there
was just so much to see! The only
downside to Prague is that there are tons of tourists everywhere. It got so crowded by the afternoon that I had
to push my way through crowds on the Charles Bridge and in the city
square. Overall though, I really enjoyed
seeing the city!
That’s a little summary of what I’ve been up to these past
few weeks. I only have one week left in
Vienna before I move to Marburg to start my actual semester. I hope to see as much as possible in these
last few days! Vienna is such a wonderful city, and I’m really hoping I’ll get
to travel back some day in the future!
No comments:
Post a Comment