Up Up Up the Stairs We Go!

At the top of the south tower

Today we went on a tour of what was used as the summer palace for most of the emperors of Austria until Maria Theresa came along and made it her home. The place is absolutely HUGE! We went through about 40 rooms but that's not how many used to be there. A lot of the old servants quarters are now rented out as apartments and the kitchens have all been renovated so what remains is the royal living areas and that is about it.
After the tour Dr. Powell, Paige, Erica, Tomick and I went back to St. Stevens and climbed the South Tower (that's the tall one). I got a snow globe from the top! Before you ask I don't know how many stairs there are I didn't count. There were too many if you ask me. Stairs are not my friends right now.
After that we went to lunch (minus Dr. Powell) and then the four of us went ice skating. Paige is super good. Tomick got pretty good and Erica did too for having never skated before and I just suck.
Then we went to a concert in the "Golden Hall" and watched the Vienna Philharmonic. They were absolutely wonderful! I have now hit a brick wall with my energy after my migraine yesterday and am going to bed.

it staid Hartmann so I had to get a picture

Ice skating

The palace

Top of the tower view

Concert hall

Inside the concert hall. "Golden Hall"

Group Pictures outside the palace

#Lutesaway

Girls picture

Meine abenteuer in Wien

Ich muss nur sagen, dass ich eine tolle Zeit in Wien hatte! Ich habe einige unglaubliche Dinge gesehen und habe einige ziemlich gute Leute bekommen. Als ich auf diese Reise kam, kannte ich nur ein paar Leute, aber jetzt, wo wir hier sind, habe ich ein paar tolle neue Freunde gefunden !!

Das erste, was mich wirklich umgehauen hat, war St. Stevens Cathedral. Es ist ein imamulantes Gebäude und hat eine so große Geschichte. Als ich es zum ersten Mal sah, wurde mir der Atem genommen und ich blieb gut 20 Minuten stehen und starrte nur. Sobald ich hineinging, wurde es mit den Skulpturen und dem Altar noch besser. Ich liebte es auch, dass ich die Fakten über die Kathedrale, die ich auf der Tour gelernt habe, nutzen konnte, um ein tieferes Verständnis dafür zu bekommen, was ich wirklich sah.

Zuletzt möchte ich über die Katakomben der Kathedralen sprechen. Leider waren wir nicht laut fotografieren, aber ich werde Ihnen sagen, dass es fantastisch war !! Dort unten gab es ungefähr 12 Särge zusammen mit einigen Urnen, mindestens 30, würde ich sagen. Jedes Verdienst enthielt die Organe der Verschütteten und einige Einäscherung von Familienmitgliedern. Obwohl es eklig und gruselig klingt, war es super cool. Bevor wir die Katakomben verließen, zeigte er uns ein paar Räume voller Menschenknochen. Ein Raum enthielt die Knochen mehrerer Pestopfer! Es war traurig, aber wirklich faszinierend, einen menschlichen Schädel zu sehen.

Insgesamt bin ich sehr gespannt darauf, was als nächstes kommen wird und bin sehr glücklich mit den Erfahrungen, die ich gemacht habe.

My Adventures in Vienna

I just have to say that I've had such an amazing time in Vienna!I have seen some incredible things and have gotten to k ow some pretty great people.Coming on this trip I only really knew a few people but now that we are here I have made some great new friends!!

The first thing that really blew my mind was St. Stevens Cathedral.It is an imaculant building and has such great history.When I first saw it my breath was taken away and I stood there for a good 20 minutes just staring.Once I went inside it just got even better with the sculptures and the alter.I also loved how I was able to use the facts about the cathedral that I learned in the tour to have a deeper understanding of what I was really looking at.

Lastly I want to talk about is the cathedrals catacombs.Unfortunately we were not aloud to take photos but I will tell you it was awesome!!There were roughly 12 coffins down there along with several urns at least more then 30 I'd say.Each earn contained the organs of the buried and some cremations of family members.Even though it sounds gross and creepy, it was super cool.Before we left the catacombs he showed us a few rooms filled with human bones.One room contained the bones of several plague Victims!It was sad but really intriguing to see a human skull.

Overall I am super excited to see what is to come next and I'm very happy with the experiences I have acquired.

First Days in Vienna

It’s only been a few days of being in Europe, and I already feel like I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve explored parts of Vienna, and it has been an unforgettable experience.

I had lunch with some friends at a café near St. Stephen’s Church. Our tour guide recommended it and I really wanted to go there because Mozart and Beethoven had given some performances there. I think it is really impressive, but also strange, knowing that I’m having lunch in a place where such famous and influential composers performed. In general, the buildings in that part of Vienna are very interesting, because it really seems like there is a mix of old and new buildings within the same area. I really enjoyed the walking tour we took through the city. Seeing some of Mozart’s former residences was very interesting. I remember that he was an extravagant spender when he established his career, but the buildings I saw did not really stand out as particularly luxurious when looking at them from the outside. If I hadn’t been told, I would never have guessed that Mozart lived in those places.

I also went on a tour of the catacombs under St. Stephen’s Church. It was a rather haunting experience. While some of the bishops, cardinals, and Habsburgs were buried in marked coffins, it was a little hard to look at the bones of the plague victims in the mass graves. In some places, the arm and leg bones were piled so tightly and so high that they formed a wall whose top I couldn’t see. In other places, the bones seemed to be almost carelessly thrown in heaps. However, I don’t really know about that for sure, and I don’t mean to judge. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if I would want to pay money to visit a mass grave again. I know that it’s important to be conscious of and respect the people who are buried there, but I honestly get a little uncomfortable whenever money is involved in that. At least no one took photos.

I enjoyed the experience of going to our first concert. I really like how the performers dramatically read the Schumann letters, as actors. It kind of reminded me of opera, in that there was a mix of spoken and sung portions of the performance, combined with drama, and costumes. It wasn’t done in as large a scale as traditional types of opera, but it seemed to be larger than a regular recital. I was really impressed that the singers were able to sing while slouching in their seats. Many people are trained to maintain good posture in order to produce a good sound, but I really liked how the performers were able to sing well, even when they were seated in atypical performance positions. I also thought it was interesting that the piano accompaniment was written in a way that shows off virtuosity. A lot of times, there is a clear line between soloist and accompanist, in that the accompanist will often play very simplistic texture. However, the importance of the parts seemed to be pretty equal. There was one portion of the performance in which the singer and the pianist both had the melody, but the piano part had lots of fancy embellishments between the main notes.

I can’t wait to explore more of Europe! It’s going to be a fast-paced, and exciting month ahead!

 St. Stephen's Cathedral

 Tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral

Inside of St. Stephen's Cathedral

Concert hall where we slept through Schumann Letters performance

A Palace, Some Paintings, and a Puritan Opera

It's hard to believe we've only been in Vienna two full days - we've already seen so much! A few cathedrals, two palaces, a concert, an opera, and the graves of many famous composers amongst countless other things. What a beautiful city! 

The Belvedere Palace

Everything has been incredible, but my favorite thing so far was the Belvedere, a baroque palace complex in the middle of an expansive park that houses a beautiful art collection, including Gustav Klimt's most famous work, The Kiss. This museum rolled in at the top of my list of things I wanted to see in Vienna, so I was very pleased when a group of my classmates agreed to go with me! I was most excited to see the Klimt pieces (which indeed did not disappoint), but the rest of the art collection was beautiful as well. There was a large exhibit on impressionism, one of my favorite art movements, that housed many stunning pieces. I had only really seen English and French impressionist pieces before, so it was quite interesting to see Austrian and German approaches to the style. The collection even had a few paintings by Edvard Munch (the painter of The Scream), a Norwegian painter that my older sister loves! The palace itself was incredible, with ornately decorated rooms and hallways with beautiful views of the palace grounds. I can only imagine how beautiful the must be in the spring and summer with green grass and blooming flowers!

Gustav Klimt, The Kiss

View from the Belvedere

Interior of the Belvedere Palace

After the Belvedere, we went to the Vienna State Opera House to see I Puritani. I've only seen one opera before so I don't have much experience with the genre, but it was quite interesting to see. This play was set during the English Civil War, a period of English history that I found fascinating, so that made it made it so much more engaging to me, a history major. The stage design was relatively simple yet beautiful. The first act began with the stage surrounded by decapitated statues of kings, a clue to the opera's setting of the during the Civil War (a quick explanation: Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentarian side of the conflict against King Charles I, wanted to destroy artifacts that represented the monarchy, such as statues of kings). Thankfully the opera house provided personal devices with subtitles in different languages, so it was much easier to follow the story and stay engaged. Hopefully the next three operas we see do the same!

Today is our last day in Vienna for this leg of the trip, and we're set the Schönbrunn Palace and the Vienna Philharmonic. Stay tuned as we continue our journey!

A Wonderful Way to Begin 2018

    Surreal. That is the best way to describe my feelings over the past couple of days. After a long journey Sunday afternoon that somehow landed us in Vienna at noon the next day, I officially began my month-long European musical adventure. 

    Despite having had time to explore the city Monday afternoon, it didn't quite feel like I had even left Tacoma. It wasn't until Tuesday morning when I found myself staring up at Stephensdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) did it hit me that I was once again in Europe. And Vienna, no less! Walking down the narrow and cobbled streets brought back memories of just how much I love European cities and the history that is held within these cities. 
    Tuesday was filled with walking, churches, and more walking. I forgot just how sore my feet could be after one day. Courtney and I started a game that we have decided needs to be played in every city we visit this month: Guess That Statue! On the list so far has been Gutenberg, Empress Maria Theresia (Maria Theresa), and Dr. Karl Renner. Updates will follow as more statues are encountered.

    Wednesday started with a visit to the graves of some famous composers in what had to be the biggest cemetery I'd ever seen. The middle of the day was devoted to The Belvedere and Gustav Klimt. A visit to the art museum is a perfect way to avoid the rain outside. 'The Rose Picker' by Anton Romako was easily my favorite painting there. The evening ended with a chance to dress up and watching a performance of I puritani. What a wonderful experience this has been so far.

My Introduction to Vienna

This has been an incredible journey so far, and it’s only been a few days! I spent most of our travel day (thankfully) asleep, and the first day in Vienna was a blur of walking, seeing incredible architecture, and eating delicious food. The latter ended up being a little more challenging than it should have—when we went to get lunch (at a place near our hostel called Mr. Schnitzel) we barely managed to order, since our server didn’t speak much English, and collectively our group knew about as much German as an Austrian dog. Dinner went much better, though, so don’t worry.

Our first full day in Vienna was incredible. For me, the highlight had to be St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Bearing black stains from the aftermath of World War II and design elements indicative of how people in the Middle Ages saw religion and the forces of darkness, the building is like tangible, visible history. Older than the country I live in, almost older than I can imagine, it’s like something out of a book, almost too incredible to be real. Its past is so deep and rich you can feel it in your bones.

Speaking of bones, St. Stephen’s lies above extensive catacombs, which I couldn’t resist touring. The catacombs contain a variety of remains, from the internal organs of an Emperor and his family housed in ornate urns to the bones of bubonic plague victims, piled in a small room. Parts were renovated, but the sections that really struck me were the narrow, dirt-floored, low-ceilinged brick tunnels dimly lit by lights that looked like they belonged in an archaeological dig site, which brought us to mass graves and “bone rooms” filled with skeletons. Part of me felt like I was in a movie or something, but most of me felt this intense connection to history and the people buried in the catacombs. I remember thinking… we’re all connected, across distance as well as time. In addition to visiting the catacombs, I walked around the interior of the cathedral for a while. I couldn’t stop marveling at the decorations—so insanely ornate. It’s hard to imagine how people with old-timey-technology could have done it, but they did. I also got a kick out of seeing vaulted ceilings—like the ones I come across in books all the time, but now they were real and I was actually standing beneath them! My fantasy-nerd senses basically exploded.

The day culminated with Light and Love, Letters and writings by Clara and Robert Shcumann. The stage was simple, there were only four performers, and it was amazing. That night I definitely heard some of the best singing of my entire life. Even though the whole thing was in German, it wasn’t hard to catch at least the emotions contained in the letters because the acting and music were so good. (I felt more of the whole “human connectedness” thing when I realized that). I definitely plan on looking up English translations of the letters now! And of course, I’m looking forward to more adventures.

I See Dead People

today we went to the cemitary and saw some of the great composers grace stones. I have never seen a more eligant grave sight than this cemitary was. I struggled with a migraine today so I didn’t do much after that until we went to the opera I Puritani. I enjoyed the opera much more than I thought I would the plot was a little hard to follow at times but the singing was gorgeous and I especially liked the music the pit played in act 3. Unfortunately for the characters in this opera no one got a happy ending.

Brahms

Franz Schubert

Memorial to Mozart since he was buried in a mass grave.

Beethoven

The church at the cemetery featuring Tomick 

Inside the Church

The State Opera House

Opera 

Saw a Sweet Motorcycle

A day and a half completed here in Vienna, and I have completed one successful interaction entirely in German: a krainer hot dog has never been so rewarding...

Anyway, last night at about 2130 marked the end of our first concert attendance at the Vienna Konzerthaus. We saw a performance of Lieder composed by the Schumanns, the Mendelssohns, and Brahms presented by four performers: a pianist, a mezzo-soprano, a tenor, and an actress who read the correspondence of the Schumanns as Clara Schumann. The concert was performed in two acts with no applause breaks between songs until the end of the first act. Altogether, the performers were stellar and put on what was essentially a musical revue (of Lieder) that leaned more toward drama than I anticipated going into the concert.

As someone who was only able to understand the general message of about a quarter of the text at most, it was a bit of a strain to stay engaged in the performance for over two hours- a strain reflected by the seven classmates who fell asleep at one point or other. But the presumably German-speaking audience seemed to love the performance, reacting with four continuous rounds of applause. Whether or not such an audience reaction is out of the ordinary for the Viennese, I cannot confirm; if it can be compared to my own experience, then I imagine that we got to experience something quite special last night.

It's been a wild couple of days

The past few days have been wild for me, to say the least. This is my first time traveling outside of the US, and going to a completely new place, with people I do not know very well if at all, has been pretty nerve wracking, but honestly still very exciting. I'm the type of person that gets a considerable amount of anxiety about trying new things because I have no clue what to expect. Just going to the airport on Sunday was a lot for me, but I did my best to talk to some people and focused on getting where I needed to go. On top of that, I am not a huge fan of flying, but the 10 hour total trip to Vienna was not as stressful as expected! Unfortunately, I was unable to sleep and by the time we'd arrived in Vienna, I was completely exhausted, and still had not spoken to most of my classmates. I also had no cell service, so trying to contact my family and friends to let them know I was safe and sound (and tired), was a no-go.

At this point, my traveling experience had been a little bumpy. Once
we got to our hostel (and found out check-in time wasn't for another hour), I went with a group to find lunch at a small café, which was actually super nice. After checking in, I went out again with a few other people to explore the area around our hostel, which seemed to be a large strip mall. It was misty and cold, but really cool to see life in Vienna and get to know some of my classmates, as well as who I am rooming with! That evening we went to an underground restaurant called the Twelve Apostles, which served traditional Viennese food, wine, and beer. When looking at the menu there I saw vegetable strudel, and the first thing I thought of was toaster strudel, but I knew what they were serving could not possibly be that. I asked the waiter to explain to me what it was and he told me it was multiple layers of vegetables and mashed potatoes. It was actually really tasty and I'm glad I got it!

Considering that I was extremely sleep deprived, I was very tired on the way back to our hostel and ended up going to bed by 9:30pm. This was good though, because I wanted to be at least a little bit more rested for the next day's adventures, which included a(n awesome Austrian donut) tour in Vienna around St. Stephen's Cathedral, finding a small café for lunch and figuring out how to pay as a group in euros, going back to St. Stephen's Cathedral to look inside, and going on a tour of the catacombs that resided underneath the cathedral and the square surrounding it. We ended the day with a performance of Light and Love; Letters and writings by Clara and Robert Schumann. Despite my lack of understanding of the language and storyline, I really enjoyed the performance. My favorite part of the day however, was seeing and going inside of St. Stephen's Cathedral. As we came up from the U Bahn station earlier that day, I was amazed to see the cathedral right there, and I was amazed at it's size. Every inch of the cathedral was extremely ornate and seemed so thought out. Our tour guide even explained to us that the animals and their wild looking expressions were purposeful as to keep darkness or evil from entering the building, as well as the word of God. I probably could have spent a couple of hours wandering through and around the cathedral, if things were not blocked off and time permitted. Even without sleep, I've enjoyed my time in Vienna so far, and can't wait to see what the rest of the month holds.

Never Skip Leg Day

This trip has started of to a great bang! After a long flight from Seattle to Frankfurt, which lasted a little more than nine hours, we made it to Frankfurt! At least I was able to get some little 5 to 15 minute naps in, eat some food, write some music, and watch both of the Kingsman movies which are really great movies! Once we landed in Frankfurt, we then got on the quickest flight I have ever been on (an hour long flight). It really felt like we just went up in the air and then came down.

We then arrived in Austria I could not see anything! It was like I had returned to Washington because the fog was so thick! We got on a bus and then headed to the city and our hostel. The Wombat! But we couldn't move in yet..... because we were an hour early. So then stuffed all of our packs in a room and went to lunch. I had a cappuccino and a pizza which was not bad!

We then were able to move in and start exploring the city. I then headed out with Konner, Tomick, Aaron and just wanted to get lost. We just started walking and taking random roads until we crossed a bridge over the train tracks. We then continued and found a subway station and what happened there.... we are still not entirely sure. We headed down and went to one side of the tracks and started to wait for the train as the other train on the other side just arrived. We started to look closer at the signs and realized that we should be getting on the other train! The one that just got here and will be leaving very shortly! We then headed to the other side, but the train had just closed its doors. We then started to wait for the next train.... and waited... and waited.... but nothing came. The other train on the other side then came to the station and we decided to actually take that one because we were done waiting for the other one. A mass of people then came down from the above world to get on the subway and we had to quickly get through the crowd. But we still did not make the train. The next train then came and we got on. The an announcement came on that there was an accident and we had no idea what to do. We could even see the locals faces held that look of pure confusion. We decided to just use what God gave us, our legs. We were very glad we did because we then ended up in a beautiful cathedral.

The carvings, the stain glass windows, and the other pieces of art in this church were absolutely amazing!  We walked into the church slightly expecting to be kicked out, but we weren't. Instead we were greeted by a silence I have only heard a few times before. It was heavenly! We walked around looking at the different parts of the cathedral and then sat down in the pews, taking in the peace of Gods house. It was reviving and rejuvenating for my spirit.

After the cathedral we headed back to our hostel to get ready for the first group meal at the Twelve Apostles Keller. The food there was absolutely amazing! I had a beer and some pickled pork which was so tender it just melted in my mouth. I then walked/took the subway back to the hostel and found that there was a bar/lounge downstairs, which my group I was with decided to just go down and check it out. It was a cozy place. But we didn't stay there long because our beds were calling us. And we could hear then loud and clear. But our lesson from our first day in Vienna......
NEVER SKIP LEG DAY!

Viennese CHAD

Here CHAD stands for Cuisine, History, Architecture, and Dead People. On the cuisine part of things, Vienna had all sorts of delicious food to try; from Kämpfen, a sort of jelly donut like pastry filled with warm apricot jam; to Bierfleck, which is a bit like think crust pizza which we believe was covered with Gruyere; and Ham and Eggs, fairly simple with heartiness and flavor to spare. In the History aspect, our walking tour with Herbert was quite delightful, as we learned quite a bit about the politics of Vienna and how the Architecture of the city has much to do with it’s history. One of the more important museums, the Albertina, was built because of a law requiring citizens to house soldiers, so a new law was passed, allowing nobles and rich people to house soldiers by building on top of the city wall. However, Albert of Saxony and Maria Christina built a palace on the city wall and housed the soldiers elsewhere, leading to the Albertina. There are so many hidden things to find in Vienna, one of them being the catacombs of St. Stephans. Here, our group saw a fraction of the nearly 11,000 dead bodies buried there in mass graves to the internal organs of the Hapsburg Emperors, don’t ask, look up what happened to the Hapsburg’s after they die yourself and be amazed.

Deez Old Bones

After a long 30 hour day of travel and then a shorter day of exploring, the best way I can describe myself right now is tired! Let's back track in the trip to explain why I feel so tired and why the title of this blog post is talking about bones. 

We left SeaTac on Sunday and started out journey with a 10 hour flight to Germany. After that we got on another plane ride to Vienna. This will be my third time traveling to Europe and I know that I can't sleep on planes! By the time we got out of the airport, I wanted nothing more than to sleep but that was the worst thing to do. So I forced myself to stay up until that night. Here is are photos of some of us right off the plane refusing to show how tired we are! 

After checking into the Hostel, Erika and I set out to find a burner phone to use for emergencies. I have taken one semester of German. In this semester, I felt like I learnt a lot of grammar and not a lot of vocab so my ability to communicate is still very limited! After a long frustrating time with the phone, we figured it out and ended our day with a group dinner! It was great to sit around and get to know the rest of the class. There is such a wide variety of people here and it's great to hear of the different perspectives.  Thanks for a great night of conversation to those sitting with me that night!! 

Day 2!! 

Today we had a walking tour of the main part of Vienna! It was amazing to see all the old architecture and actually witness the sites of the city that all my friends have been telling me about! Seeing all the music history and German culture that I have learned about in my classes was such a surreal experience. During the free time, I went with some other student to take a tour of the Catacombs under the St. Petersburg Cathedral. There we walked around the underside of the Cathedral. We got to see many rooms that were the resting place of many Bishops. The last stop of the tour was a small room where they moved the moved bones to line the walls and form a room of bones! It became a joke between me and some other students that we felt as tired as those old bones. That phrase quickly turned into "deez old bones." 

We ended the day with our first concert of the trip. It was a beautiful performance and very relaxing. So relaxing, I felt myself starting to fall asleep. I felt bad, until I looked around and saw about 7 other classmates completely asleep. 

Overall I am loving my time here and can't wait to spend the rest of the month traveling! While I may be as tired as the "deez old bones" from earlier, my excitement will carry me through the rest of the trip!