Normal life in Vienna

            Becca and I have been doing more research in church offices around Vienna. One day we decided that we didn’t want to do our homework in our apartment so we went in search of a more exciting place. We ended up in a library in the Rathaus (city hall)! We now have a library card so we can use the library in the Rathaus anytime we want!

            I have now seen the inside of the opera house! I went to “La Traviata” and “Die Zauberflöte”. I liked “Die Zauberflöte” better because I knew the story and was more familiar with the songs, but “La Traviata” was also good. I had standing tickets for both of them so the tickets were only 3 Euros. To get standing room you have to go early and wait in line then they let you in so you can claim a spot by tying a scarf to the spot of your choice on a railing. Now we joke that people wear scarves so they can mark their spot at the opera.

            We visited an old flak (FLiegerAbwehrKanone)tower in Vienna from World War II. The lower part of the building is now used as an aquarium. It was interesting learning about what happened there while looking over the city. I can’t imagine how scary it would be to see planes coming towards your city. I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about that!

on a flak tower in Vienna

Hallstatt: the cold, the rain, and the salt

     Day 1-Our journey began with a train ride (I slept becuase we had to get up at 6:00 a.m. so we had time to get ready and on the train before it left at 7:40). We had to 'umsteig' only once before we got to a lake. We had to take a boat across the lake to Hallstatt because it is built right on the side of the mountain. Because of this, many houses in the city use the mountain as the back wall of their house. I was not prepared for how wet our trip would be so it was miserable at first. My coat was soaked after the first few minutes in the rain and I forgot my umbrella in Vienna, so it was of no good to me. I was glad I wore a sweatshirt under my coat or I would have frozen to death.

     After we arrived, Maddie, Becca, Mary, Professor Minert, and I went and looked at the old church records at the local catholic church. We got to see an entry for a man who was found by miners who had died many years earlier when he got crushed by salt. The body was preserved for a long time because of the salt. We then got to see the cemetery and a room full of skulls and femurs. The skulls had the name of the person and when they died written on them. Some were also decorated in painted flowers. They were there because they had needed more room in the cemetery so they dug up the remains of the people and put them in the room so new poeple could be buried. I didn't feel comfortable in that room so I was glad when we got to look at the inside of the church.

taken by Kendal Babbitt

taken by Kendal Babbitt

        Mary and I then set out on our quest to find our bed and breakfast. We had no map so we were hopelessly lost and soaked. I gave up after an hour of looking and walked back to the center of town and met up with Maddie and Amanda. We went in search of lunch where I ordered an Apfel strudel. It was nice to be inside and eating something warm.

     We then met up with more people from our group and walked around the church again with people who hadn't seen it yet. We then found a pizza place for dinner. It was great to get out of the rain! We had to go back to our B&B early because all the restaurants were closed by 7:30. We had walked all the way across Hallstatt in one day. I had had a nice first day, but was still upset that it had rained the whole first day.

     Day 2- We got up and had a nice breakfast of hot chocolate and semmeln with meat and cheese. Our hostess was very nice. I was able to speak with her for a few minutes in German. I found out that she is actually from a town near Nürnberg, Germany and that she moved to Hallstatt with her husband because he was from there. I felt so great knowing that I could have a conversation with a legit German lady!

     Mary and I were on our way wandering around town when it started raining again. We didn't have a lot to do so when we stumbled upon an outdoor chess set, we felt compelled to play. We played for almost a half an hour in the rain when I finally won the game. It was odd because lots of asian tourist kept taking our picture while we were playing chess.

     We were again soaked so we went in the Protestant church so we could get out of the rain. It didn't help much as far as warming up, but at least we weren't getting wetter! (Wetter! :D)

      We then met up with others from our group and went to the salt mine. We had to put on oversized shirts and pants so our normal clothes wouldn't get dirty in the mine. We got to slide down two huge wooden slides in the mine. Ali and I went down together on the second slide together and went about 25 km/hr! It was so fun. We also saw some salt exhibits and a few short films about the history of the mine.

       By the time we got out of the mine the sun had come out and it had stopped raining. We saw a rainbow and got super excited. We were so glad it had stopped raining! We walked back to the center of town to catch our boat when we saw a funeral procession. We had to get off the street so they could pass by. They had a little band playing. Soon after they arrived at the church down the street it started to rain again.

   

 We took the boat back across the lake to our train and rode home. It was great not having to be outside anymore. It was an excellent experience even if it was rainy most of the time.

Bike Trip

     I really enjoyed our bike trip from Melk to Krems and our tour of the Monastery in Melk. The monks have a huge library which takes up several rooms! Today parts of the Monastery are used as a school while other parts still house monks.
    

Monastery in Melk

library

     Our bike trip took several hours because we went about 30km. It was a beautiful sunny day for us, but it wasn’t super hot. We had to follow little signs that pointed us in the right direction. Sometimes we didn’t see the sign, or had to go back to catch some of our friends who had missed the sign so they wouldn’t get lost. For the most part it wasn’t too hard to figure out where to go because we followed the Danube. Sometimes were biking in the country in little forests, in orchards, or near a cornfield, but at other times we got to bike around in little cities.

Cornfield

Castle ruins on a hill

Lindsay, Amanda, and I taking a short break

On the trail

     Most of us ran out of water early on, but were able to fill up when we found a hose connected to a spigot randomly on a street corner. We also found a little fruit stand with a sign advertizing pears as being 20 cents each. Food sounded great, so we put our money in a little glass jar next to the box of pears and took the appropriate number. We ate some of the pears before continuing on our journey and found that they were still hard, but we didn’t mind because we were so hungry. We saw lots of castle ruins on the hills along the trail. By the time we made it to the train station in Krems we were sore and sweaty, but had had a great time.

The "Short Trip"

            Our short trip was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. The beginning was depressing with our excursion to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. While many of the other people I was with broke down in tears at some point, I tried to block it out and therefore didn’t cry. I am glad I didn’t visit the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen while I had the chance. I don’t think I would have done well going to two camps. I will not show many pictures or explain what it was like to go there at this time.  If anyone really want to know what it was like they can ask me about it later.

Gate to Mauthausen

            I’m glad we had a few hours between seeing the camp and our next stop so we could pull ourselves together a bit. I enjoyed going to Mondsee to see the Cathedral where Maria (in the Sound of Music) gets married. I still wasn’t completely recovered from the prior experience from that morning, but the sun and the church helped me to feel more hopeful about the world.

Elysse and I by a cute gate in Mondsee

            I bought my first European scarf while we were in Salzburg! I had debated with myself for several weeks as to whether or not I really wanted one. Some of the other girls bought dirndls. They look so nice in them, but I couldn’t find one I liked enough to buy. I loved climbing up to Hohensalzburg (a really old castle) and reading the Fraktur from the 1500s on the walls. It made the castle so much more interesting and real!

Me wearing my new scarf!! Hohensalzburg is the castle up on the hill in the back.

Me at the castle...

Me in front of the house used as the von Trapp family home in "the Sound of Music"!!

We are at Chiemsee about to take a boat to see Herrenchiemsee!!

Woods near Herrenchiemsee.. we had to walk about 15 minutes from the dock to the palace.

       We got a tour of Herrenchiemsee by our professor because he worked there when he was younger. We were so surprized when he told us!

       I liked being able to see new things when we went to Munich. I had already visited the city once, but it was only for a short time so I didn’t get to see much of it. I liked learning about the Hitlerputsch and being able to climb the church tower, even if it was a bit scary.

Frauenkirche

Me on top of St. Peter's Church with the 'Rathaus' to the left.

            Visiting the Eagle’s Nest was an amazing experience, because I had no idea what to expect. As we drove up the mountain I felt as though I had never seen anything so beautiful. It was the most perfect weather. It was sunny and warm and we were able to see for miles in every direction. It was cool to see Salzburg from the top of the mountain after we visited it. I don’t think any other mountains will ever be able to match the grandeur of the Alps we saw.

I took this picture while we were driving around Austria. I thought it was cool.

Nature vs. Man