Enjoy the Ride: September 2007

What a week. Actually, the past few weeks have been so busy and so amazing! This past week was reasonably slow in comparison to the weeks before. We had class and we took a trip to three little towns just outside Vienna, including Carnuntum to see the Roman ruins! It was pretty cool. I bought a German cook book in our stop at Eisenstadt and I’m really excited to try it out. All the recipes look fantastic! The week before last was our trip to Italy, and the week before that was Salzburg.

Our trip to Salzburg included stops at Mauthausen, Hallstadt, the cathedral at St. Wolfgang, and of course, Salzburg. Our first stop was Mauthausen at the Concentration Camp. I took a few pictures, but I really struggled going through the whole thing. They had a museum with pictures of the prisoners and some of their clothing, and some of the "tools" used to "discipline" them (i.e. whips, etc...) It was very sobering. It was kind of ironic, but really nice - across the street from the Camp was a huge field of the most beautiful sunflowers I've ever seen. It helped to kind of lighten the mood.

Our next stop was in Hallstadt. A beautiful little alpine town tucked into the mountains on the edge of a lake. Can things really get more beautiful that that? We were there for only one night, but it was spectacular! We had the whole afternoon/evening to wander around the town and that’s exactly what we did. We found a giant chess board next to one of the building, so Anne and I challenged Eric to a game. We lost. :_( We also went into a lot of the little shops. There were quite a few that sold soap and salt! One of the shops had the most amazing soaps that I’ve seen! There were roses that looked absolutely real, and fruit that looked and smelled good enough to eat!! For dinner we ate at this amazing restaurant where the ivy that's growing up the outside of the building actually comes in the windows and grows around the room. It was really cool, and the food was spectacular. I had a filet of deer with a spectacular mushroom sauce and the most amazing mixed vegetables and potato croquets, and other things. Mmm… Lecker! It was one of the best things I've ever eaten and after dinner, I decided that I would never eat again because food can never quite compare with that. : )

The next morning we went on a tour of the world's oldest salt mine that just happens to still be running! Apparently, they started mining salt in Hallstadt around the same time that the Egyptians started building pyramids, and there's even a historic period named after this town. (you know, like all of the dinosaur periods and stuff). We also went to see the “Bone House.” The big church in the town has a beautiful little cemetery, but the problem is that it’s too small. So, to fix that problem, a long time ago they made it more of a rented space. So… after about 10 years, they’ll dig you up to make room for someone else. For years, after digging up the body, they would take the bones, paint the names and dates (and any other decoration on them) and put them in the bone house. It was cool, but kind of weird at the same time. Of the places we visited during this trip, Hallstadt was by far my favorite.

We stopped on the way to Salzburg for a mini-tour of the cathedral in St. Wolfgang. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we enjoyed sitting along the wall outside the cathedral, overlooking the lake…especially after our tour - It was very cold inside the church. We learned that, as the story goes,(the builder of the cathedral??) made a deal with the devil to help build the cathedral. Apparently, he promised the devil the soul of the first living being to enter the cathedral after it’s completion in return for help building the cathedral. When it was completed, the first thing that walked into the church was a wolf, and the devil was so mad that he shot right out of the church through a hole in the roof… which is still there! Crazy.

There were a lot of cool carvings here... this was one of the more crazy ones.

Super awesome picture with a fine door specimen.

Eric making fun of my door picture...

Marie and I soaking in the sunny afternoon.

From there we went on to Salzburg. It was a beautiful town, and there was so much to see. It was definitely much more touristy. The two (huge) things that Salzburg is known for are: 1) the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (and part of his growing up days), and 2) the setting/filming place of The Sound of Music. Needless to say, there were a lot of people and a lot of things going on. They were also having a festival/carnival thing celebrating their patron saint, St. Rupert. We went on a tour of the city in the morning and then we were free to wander. We went to Mirabell gardens, which were so beautiful! We also found a cute little park in the middle of them with the most amazing slide! It was super fun…and definitely made it up there in the Top 10 Slides list. : ) On one of the streets (as part of the festival) there were multiple booths set up where you could see different professions and watch the people working. It was so cool! There was a watch/clock maker, a baker, a rug maker, a blacksmith, a hat maker, not to mention many other things! There were so many fun things going on, and so many guys wearing lederhosen! It was quite funny. There was a stage set up in one of the squares with a bunch of men doing some traditional dances. It was quite fun to watch. We hiked up the hill to the castle and while we were up there we decided to eat dinner. The food was pretty good and the view was spectacular! While we were up there, I found a little marionette museum. It was cool, but kind of freaky at the same time. There was one set up so that you could try it, so I put on my own little puppet show. After dinner, we went back into town for dessert. We went to what could very well be the oldest restaurant in the world! The restaurant (St. Peter’s) was established in 803! We ordered Salzburg Nockerl, (which was divine) and we had the coolest waiter ever! Besides the fact that we witnessed him switch (fluently) between four different languages, when I asked him what was in the Nockerl, he told me exactly how they make it and told me I could make it at home! Most restaurants like that won’t tell you how to make the food… The next day we found a spectacular tree (the one in some of the pictures that Michael Voge sent me) and took a big group picture on it. After that, we took at tour of the house that Mozart grew up in. Very cool. Then for lunch, Eric and I decided to sample some of the gourmet food back at St. Peter’s. We figured that since the restaurant it’s self was beautiful, and the dessert was really good, the actual food would probably be phenomenal. I ordered “three kinds of salted herring with pumpernickel” (we were in Salzburg… I though the salted fish would be a nice addition to my experience) and a creamy tomato soup. It was served beautifully and the food was so good! The fish was definitely salty, but oh so good! After lunch we all loaded back onto the bus and headed back to Vienna.

Our Italy trip was so great! We stayed in two different towns: Florence and Venice! I still can’t believe that I was in Italy! We left Monday afternoon and took a night train to Italy (it was terribly uncomfortable). There were little fold down bunks, scratchy blankets, and pillows that don’t deserve to be called pillows. After folding it into quarters it was still too flat! We arrived in Florence at about 6:30 Tuesday morning and dropped off our bags at the hotel. Then we headed out into town and had one of the longest days ever! Our first stop was the Duomo, as they say it in Italy. We got there while everything was still closed and there were (amazingly) hardly any people around, so we got to walk around the outside and admire the beautiful architecture and watch the sunrise! Finally we were able to go inside and we walked up all 464 steps to the very top of the dome. We were able to see all of the beautiful frescos on the ceiling, and then we went up a little further and it took us right out onto the roof! We had the most spectacular view of the city, and with the sun just coming up, it kind of gave you the feeling that you could just fly! From the roof, we could see a little market, so eventually we went back down all 464 steps and went over to the market. By the time we were supposed to meet the group back at the hotel at noon to check in, we were all pooped and so we took naps and showers and got all freshened up to head back into town. There were so many people!!! We went past the Duomo again and the square was so thick with people that it was actually hard to walk through! (I've learned that I really don't like tourists, or being a tourist, so I tend to avoid the huge throngs.) Heather, Liesl, Eric and I spent the day wandering the streets of Florence and it was spectacular! We found a little gelato (Italian ice-cream) shop and it was so good! After eating it there, all the rest that we tried wasn’t even mediocre! That evening we met the whole group at Michelangelo Piazza and we were all going to get some food and watch the sun set. Heather, Eric and I had heard of a really good restaurant that we wanted to try, so we set off on a hunt for the restaurant. After walking for an hour, we still hadn’t found it, so we decided to turn around and go to this amazing little pizzeria that we had seen earlier. After the 1 hour walk back to town and then walking to the other side of town, we were really hungry! There was a half hour wait to get into the restaurant, so we went to a little park/square nearby and watched a guy running around on crazy springy shoe type things. The pizza was exceptional, and I think the fact that we were so hungry made it even better! We calculated that, subtracting a few hours for showering, napping, and eating, we had been walking for 14 hours straight that day! Amazing. No wonder my feet were a little sore!

On Wednesday most of the group was going to Pisa. It sounded kind of fun, but the 3 hours spent on a train, not to mention waiting time, was a slight deterrent especially when there was so much to see and do in Florence! So, needless to say, I didn't go. Instead I hung out with Liesl (the professor's daughter – he’s so worried about her, and so worried that she’s going to be a burden on us because she’s younger…) and Eric. We went back and wandered around the different street markets. They’re some of my favorite places in every town. There are so many different sights, smells, and sounds to take it. It’s so fun! Well, we were in Italy, so after a lot of haggling with three different vendors, I bought an Italian leather jacket! I quite like it, and I even got complements from other jacket vendors on my jacket while walking through the market! It was pretty funny. Actually, everything I've been told about how Italian men are very forward is so true! I got hit on so often I just had to laugh! For example, when we were finally leaving the market, on of the vendors said hi as we passed - they all do that - and then he was like, "Remember me? This morning you told me you loved me!" We all laughed pretty hard after that one. On Thursday we went to see Michelangelo's David. It was amazing! There were little David souvenirs all over town, and two big replicas in different parks, but after seeing the really thing, they looked so terrible! It's so amazing that someone could create something so perfect, and doing it in stone makes it just that much more spectacular! I really could have sat there all day. There was so much emotion in the face. Although the sculpture seems too muscular to be a young boy (however young David actually was), it's as if Michelangelo was using that to show David's inner strength. It was interesting to look at the sculpture and think that only Michelangelo could create something so beautiful and so perfect, and then to realize that God did the same thing, in creating something so beautiful and so perfect, but the amazing difference is that God’s creation works! Wow. I took a picture of David and then was told by the guards to put my camera away, so it's not the greatest shot, but it's better than nothing. : ) After that, we were going to go to the Medici palace and gardens, but it was a little too expensive, so we just kind of wandered around enjoying all the sights, sounds, and smells of Florence. We came across a beautiful little winding path lined with trees so we followed it to a park. It was just lightly raining on and off and the sun kept coming out and it was so beautiful! We took a lot of pictures in the park and then kept walking. We were already pretty far off the beaten, tourist track, discovering some beautiful new stuff and it was great. We ended up in some little neighborhoods and they were so cute! We had to get back to the hotel to catch the train to Venice and at this point we had no idea where we were! Eventually we found a gorgeous hotel and they had a little map showing where they were in relation to town. As Eric put it, we were a good 3-4 inches off the map, south of town! It started raining a little harder and we saw a bus so we jumped on. Just in time too - when we sat down, it started hailing! The bus dropped us off right by our hotel and we even had time to stop for lunch (we had been ready for lunch for about 4 hours)!

We got to Venice and I was so excited! It was evening and raining when we got there. Apparently there had been flooding the day before, so the hotels we short some rooms and we ended up being split up into 3 different hotels! At this point I was starting to feel a little sick (everyone in the group was getting sort of sick), but I decided to ignore it and enjoy Italy. I'm sure I wasn't the only one praying for sun while we were there, but when we woke up it was still overcast, cold and rainy.

Friday was our only full day in Venice and after about 5 minutes we were officially lost. Basically we spent the day wandering around and it was so great! I think it’s impossible to NOT be lost in Venice. It makes me wonder how people could live there. We had 2 different maps, but they didn't help much because the little alleys - aka "roads" were not labeled at all! After being very cold for a while, the sun did finally come out and it was quite warm. My very favorite part of Venice was when we went to St. Marco's Piazza. From the direction we entered it, you could see the beautiful buildings down at the far end, and the rest of the plaza was full of pigeons! There must have been thousands! And, they were fairly tame. At first we just stood there and watched what was going on around us and they would just walk right over our shoes! Then one came and landed on my shoulder! It was so cool! They were selling birdseed for 1 Euro, so I bought some and as soon as the birds saw the envelope in my hand, I was covered in birds! It was so fun! They were on my head, shoulders, arms, hands, clinging to my coat, sitting in my purse, everywhere! They were even cooing in my ear! It was the most fun thing ever! I would definitely go back to Venice just to go play in the birds again! On Saturday, Eric and I found an amazing post office, built in the Spanish influence style (also perfect for Italy), and sat down to write/send off our postcards. The day went by far too quickly. There were so many things that we wanted to do, but before we knew it, we were on a train back to Vienna. At one of the first stops, they announced that we were waiting for a train from Rome and it would be a 30 min wait. Well, David and Prof. and Sis. Hansen got off the train to grab a water bottle and some McDonalds really quickly. Prof. Hansen was really worried about the train leaving because he had the tickets so he came back as quickly as he could. After 10 minutes the conductor announced that we were leaving and David and Sis Hansen weren't back yet! Prof. Hansen started to panic, so he gave Liesl the tickets and jumped off just as the train left. Then it was just us on the train. What a scary thought… the Professor and the most responsible person in the group missing. I’m amazed we didn’t end up in Greece or something! About an hour or so down the road another announcement was made, saying that we were waiting for a train with some people going to Vienna. It was the one they were supposed to wait for the first time, but didn't. So, after sitting at that station for over an hour, the train caught up with us and lo and behold, there was David, Prof, and Sis Hansen! It was great! Unfortunately that put us getting back to Vienna at about midnight.

All in all, it was a spectacular trip and a great couple weeks. They’ve been fairly rough on all of us though and I think the slowness of this week has been a welcome break for everyone. Our next trip is to Budapest and I can’t wait!