Liebe Familie, Samstag 11 Oktober 2008
Although the day started out very stressful, it was absolutely amazing! I got up bright and early, breakfasted, and then waited for my friend Willow to get ready. However, while she was in the shower the water in the entire hotel went out, and so I ended up having to wait for her a lot longer, as she needed water to wash the shampoo out of her hair. When we finally got water again we were leaving much later than we thought we would be, but luckily we ran into the Brewers at the ferry, and they were going to try to visit both Murano and Burano—which was our goal but we had been told we wouldn't have enough time. However, as there is no way the group would leave the Brewers' in Venice, we figured we'd be safe if we went with them.
We bought a 12 hour ferry ticket—sadly we were so lost yesterday we didn't have the chance to see any of the islands around Venice before today. We hopped on a ferry and went to Murano and saw a man make a glass horse. Apparently different kinds of horses stand for different glass-making families, so they keep their secrets within their families. Also, the artist has at the most a minute and a half before the glass is too cool to work with, so they know how to make these within 30 seconds, it's so cool to see how fast they make them!
We saw several glass shops, and then we hopped back on the ferry to go Burano, an island famous for its lace. The lace factories were closed, so we just looked at the shops and took loads of pictures with the VERY colorful houses there. They were gorgeous.
After getting back on the ferry I advised Cindy on the Berlin program, and then we were back on the mainland Venice, if you can call it that. We went on two of the short, 50 cent gondola rides, purely for picture and bragging purposes. It was really fun, because one of the gondaliers was a very short, old, angry man, who had a voice that brought sailors to mind when he spoke. It was quite funny. He was not a fan of tourists taking pictures on his boat, but as he didn't speak anything but Italian we played the American tourist card.
Leaving the gondola we didn't have that much time left in Venice, so we went to a cafeteria called Brek for lunch (I had the most amazing grilled zucchini and tomatoes, it was fabulous. But far more expensive than expected. Then I had my last gelato, it was a tragic, tragic experience. I shall never forget the scrumptiousness of gelato here. We went back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, and went off to the train station.
The train ride consisted of homework, homework, and homework. Although I did have an hour conversation with my professor and her family about raising children bilingually. I am DEFINITELY doing that. Just need to work on finding an Austrian.....
Anyway, let it comfort you to know that I am safely back in Vienna, and will be sleeping in my own bed tonight! Yay!
Deine Anna
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Friday, 10 October 2008
Gelato times Three
Liebe Familie, Freitag 10 Oktober 2008
Whew! What a day! Turns out I love Italy. Haha, or Venice, I haven't really seen that much of Italy. This morning we got up early to eat breakfast at the hotel and then run to the other side of Venice and meet our tour guide at the San Marco. Italian breakfasts are so wimpy compared to Austrian ones! It's so weird, at home I don't eat much every morning, but here I'm so accustomed to stuffing myself for breakfasts that eating only two rolls in the morning seems so small...
We speed walked through the city, and after a half hour made it to the columns on the pier right as the church bells were ringing for the hour. Our tour guide took us through some interesting parts of the city, although when a sea gull attacked a pigeon and tried to eat it, it was far too loud and distracting for me to hear about the library...although I didn't miss the business about how much they hate Napoleon Bonaparte.
After several hours we were let out to do whatever we wanted. I fairly promptly got lost with a friend, and we spent the next 6 hours being completely unaware of where we were in the city, and wandering around. It was so much fun! We saw so many small alleys and pretty buildings, and we did a really good job of speaking German throughout the entire day.
At night we went to a cheaper restaurant and splitting with a friend I got to try the pizza and the pasta, which was good but not fabulous. After making some Italian men fall madly in love with us with the helpful phrases courtesy of Daddy, we got my third gelato of the day. Nutella, Hazelnut, and Milk were the flavors of today in case you wanted to know.
Coming back to the hotel I've just been resting my feet and getting rid of a headache. All in all, it was a great day, although I wish I could have visited Murano or Burano or Lido. Tomorrow maybe I'll see one of the islands...but we're leaving in the early afternoon, so I cannot get lost tomorrow if I'm going to be doing this...
Cross your fingers I'll be able to do everything I want to!
Deine Anna
Whew! What a day! Turns out I love Italy. Haha, or Venice, I haven't really seen that much of Italy. This morning we got up early to eat breakfast at the hotel and then run to the other side of Venice and meet our tour guide at the San Marco. Italian breakfasts are so wimpy compared to Austrian ones! It's so weird, at home I don't eat much every morning, but here I'm so accustomed to stuffing myself for breakfasts that eating only two rolls in the morning seems so small...
We speed walked through the city, and after a half hour made it to the columns on the pier right as the church bells were ringing for the hour. Our tour guide took us through some interesting parts of the city, although when a sea gull attacked a pigeon and tried to eat it, it was far too loud and distracting for me to hear about the library...although I didn't miss the business about how much they hate Napoleon Bonaparte.
After several hours we were let out to do whatever we wanted. I fairly promptly got lost with a friend, and we spent the next 6 hours being completely unaware of where we were in the city, and wandering around. It was so much fun! We saw so many small alleys and pretty buildings, and we did a really good job of speaking German throughout the entire day.
At night we went to a cheaper restaurant and splitting with a friend I got to try the pizza and the pasta, which was good but not fabulous. After making some Italian men fall madly in love with us with the helpful phrases courtesy of Daddy, we got my third gelato of the day. Nutella, Hazelnut, and Milk were the flavors of today in case you wanted to know.
Coming back to the hotel I've just been resting my feet and getting rid of a headache. All in all, it was a great day, although I wish I could have visited Murano or Burano or Lido. Tomorrow maybe I'll see one of the islands...but we're leaving in the early afternoon, so I cannot get lost tomorrow if I'm going to be doing this...
Cross your fingers I'll be able to do everything I want to!
Deine Anna
Thursday, 9 October 2008
David and the First Gelato
Liebe Familie, Donnerstag Oktober 9 2008
This morning we got up far too soon for our level of tiredness. My friend Willow and I walked over to the first hotel, which was still feeding us breakfast, and ended up being the first ones there. No one spoke English, and apparently they had not done a very good job of conveying information the day before. We were told that we could eat between 7:30 and 8:00. Apparently they had meant that they wanted the entire group at 7:30. With just the two of us we were yelled at in Italian for 5 minutes, before she forced us to sit down and watched us like a hawk as we ate.
Afterwards I ran off to the Accademia to see the David at 8, but then there was a sign on the door saying that it didn't open until 10:30. Was that sign there the night before? Nay. So we went to the Duomo and climbed that instead. Pretty fun, it was very pretty to see the inside of the dome so close, all of the frescos and everything. Then you climb up a little more to go out on the outside and see the city of Firenze from above.
After airing out a bit up there, we went back down and explored the markets some more. I even rubbed the nose of a boar statue, which apparently means I'll be coming back to Firenze someday. Oh, and I had my first Italian gelato at 10:00 in the morning. That's right, 10. And it was amazing. And amazingly expensive. They gave me two scoops of mint instead of one, and didn't speak English, so I had to pay the €4 to avoid a scene. But it was scrumptious!
At 10 we went back to the Accademia, and the line for entrance was already wrapped around the building. We got to the end of the line, and then waited a little over 2 hours to enter the museum. €10 for entrance to a museum that does not allow you to take photos....AGAIN! Apparently you're not allowed to take pictures anywhere in this city. But don't you worry, I got one. It's not very good, and very blurry, but I have it! The weird thing is they don't have signs or anything telling you you cannot take pictures, you just have to wait until someone working there sees you and yells at you to know.
I ran off to the famous market in the middle of the town, and grabbed some fresh fruit, and even bought some dried fruit which was AMAZING. I will definitely be buying more of that!
Meeting at the train station, we boarded for a 3 hour train to Venezia. I was definitely too tired to do much homework, but it was too loud to sleep at all, so it was just a time to talk and watch the countryside. Upon arriving in Venezia, we went straight to the hotel without getting lost at all! That was appreciated. We checked in, unloaded our stuff in our room, and went out on the town.
Wandering around the city was so much fun! The water wasn't as dirty as I expected it to be, and due to the lack of cars here there isn't much pollution, and it's much cleaner than Firenze. PLUS, it's so much cheaper here! We were warned so many times how expensive Venice would be, but it's so much cheaper here so far! The Venetian masks, the gelato, the post cards, the glass, it's all so much cheaper here. We even went into a glass shop where the owner was sitting there in a corner at a work bench making the glass figures. We sat there staring for probably 15 minutes, it was so interesting to see him do it! I had some Nutella gelato here for only €1 for this humongous scoop, it was fabulous. I will definitely be eating at least two more while in this city. I shall remember this for always.
I cannot wait to see the city in daylight tomorrow, so I'll need to go to bed to be up bright and early for VENICE!
Deine Anna
This morning we got up far too soon for our level of tiredness. My friend Willow and I walked over to the first hotel, which was still feeding us breakfast, and ended up being the first ones there. No one spoke English, and apparently they had not done a very good job of conveying information the day before. We were told that we could eat between 7:30 and 8:00. Apparently they had meant that they wanted the entire group at 7:30. With just the two of us we were yelled at in Italian for 5 minutes, before she forced us to sit down and watched us like a hawk as we ate.
Afterwards I ran off to the Accademia to see the David at 8, but then there was a sign on the door saying that it didn't open until 10:30. Was that sign there the night before? Nay. So we went to the Duomo and climbed that instead. Pretty fun, it was very pretty to see the inside of the dome so close, all of the frescos and everything. Then you climb up a little more to go out on the outside and see the city of Firenze from above.
After airing out a bit up there, we went back down and explored the markets some more. I even rubbed the nose of a boar statue, which apparently means I'll be coming back to Firenze someday. Oh, and I had my first Italian gelato at 10:00 in the morning. That's right, 10. And it was amazing. And amazingly expensive. They gave me two scoops of mint instead of one, and didn't speak English, so I had to pay the €4 to avoid a scene. But it was scrumptious!
At 10 we went back to the Accademia, and the line for entrance was already wrapped around the building. We got to the end of the line, and then waited a little over 2 hours to enter the museum. €10 for entrance to a museum that does not allow you to take photos....AGAIN! Apparently you're not allowed to take pictures anywhere in this city. But don't you worry, I got one. It's not very good, and very blurry, but I have it! The weird thing is they don't have signs or anything telling you you cannot take pictures, you just have to wait until someone working there sees you and yells at you to know.
I ran off to the famous market in the middle of the town, and grabbed some fresh fruit, and even bought some dried fruit which was AMAZING. I will definitely be buying more of that!
Meeting at the train station, we boarded for a 3 hour train to Venezia. I was definitely too tired to do much homework, but it was too loud to sleep at all, so it was just a time to talk and watch the countryside. Upon arriving in Venezia, we went straight to the hotel without getting lost at all! That was appreciated. We checked in, unloaded our stuff in our room, and went out on the town.
Wandering around the city was so much fun! The water wasn't as dirty as I expected it to be, and due to the lack of cars here there isn't much pollution, and it's much cleaner than Firenze. PLUS, it's so much cheaper here! We were warned so many times how expensive Venice would be, but it's so much cheaper here so far! The Venetian masks, the gelato, the post cards, the glass, it's all so much cheaper here. We even went into a glass shop where the owner was sitting there in a corner at a work bench making the glass figures. We sat there staring for probably 15 minutes, it was so interesting to see him do it! I had some Nutella gelato here for only €1 for this humongous scoop, it was fabulous. I will definitely be eating at least two more while in this city. I shall remember this for always.
I cannot wait to see the city in daylight tomorrow, so I'll need to go to bed to be up bright and early for VENICE!
Deine Anna
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
The Night Train
Liebe Familie, Mittwoch 8 Oktober 2008
Whew! It's been crazy these past two days. I got up very early after staying up very late completing homework on Monday night, so Tuesday was a little painful. However, everything seemed to go well, my presentation in class, staying awake and paying attention to class, not keeling over throughout the day, etc. After my last class I went home and packed while watching the last session of General Conference. It was so good, but it definitely didn't feel like 2 hours, it went by so fast!
I left for the train station, and then we were introduced to sleeping cars for the first time...Wow. A little bit of a squeeze, but it was really fun hanging out in there before bedtime. Every time we stopped into a station I woke up, because I'd move a bit. It was one of the most terrible nights I have ever experienced. Waking up for real at 5:30 for breakfast hurt a lot. We got ready in that teeny little space and arrived in Firenze at 6:20 in the morning. We wandered around the city for an hour trying to find our hotel, then dropped off our luggage. I explored a bit, finding the San Marco Church, as well as a big one I forget the name of at the moment, that was Renaissance and really gaudy. Oh, it's the Duomo, and has a cool bell tower.
We met up with the tour guide and wandered around the city, seeing all of the cool stuff and learning all about it. Afterwards we went shopping in the markets, and it was so sunny and pretty! Absolutely fabulous.
We checked into our hotel, which ended up not having enough space for us even though we had made reservations, so they had to call around until they found a hotel that could fit us and we all walked there. Throwing our stuff down I immediately went out on a trek with some friends to see the Duomo and then find Vivoli, the supposed name of the best gelato in all of Florence. The Duomo's line was too long, we would have run out of time, so after waiting a while we left, and then we went hunting for Vivoli. We wandered around until we were out of time, and then ran over to meet at the Uffizi. The Uffizi is said to be second only to the Louvre. Well, after hearing that I was terribly disappointed. The student price was €14, and we were not allowed to take photos. They only had their information about the art in Italian except for the really famous pieces of those of Botticelli and Da Vinci. It was cool to see those well-known and studied pieces, but the high expectations I had for it were not fulfilled.
I started to feel pretty negative about Florence, and Italy in general, until I realized that the reason I was so depressed about being here was the prices. Once I realized that I relaxed a bit, and will see the David tomorrow, even though I wasn't going to because of the price, and I will also climb the Duomo, even though the price was dissuading me. So after the museum with my new-found attitude, I found a cheap-ish pizza with a wood fired oven. I split it with a friend, so it was only €3 and it was so good! I still haven't had gelato yet, which is kind of depressing, but I will definitely be remedying that tomorrow. I just want to eat the famous stuff though....
After dinner we ran off to see the David, but it was already closed.
Completely beat we limped back to the hotel and collapsed there to rest our poor little lower appendages. So yeah. If I run out of money I'll just take some out of the ATM, even if the exchange rate is not so good at the moment.
So yeah, Italy has greatly improved, even if they do try to suck as much money out of you as possible, so I cannot wait to go to Venice tomorrow night!
Whew! It's been crazy these past two days. I got up very early after staying up very late completing homework on Monday night, so Tuesday was a little painful. However, everything seemed to go well, my presentation in class, staying awake and paying attention to class, not keeling over throughout the day, etc. After my last class I went home and packed while watching the last session of General Conference. It was so good, but it definitely didn't feel like 2 hours, it went by so fast!
I left for the train station, and then we were introduced to sleeping cars for the first time...Wow. A little bit of a squeeze, but it was really fun hanging out in there before bedtime. Every time we stopped into a station I woke up, because I'd move a bit. It was one of the most terrible nights I have ever experienced. Waking up for real at 5:30 for breakfast hurt a lot. We got ready in that teeny little space and arrived in Firenze at 6:20 in the morning. We wandered around the city for an hour trying to find our hotel, then dropped off our luggage. I explored a bit, finding the San Marco Church, as well as a big one I forget the name of at the moment, that was Renaissance and really gaudy. Oh, it's the Duomo, and has a cool bell tower.
We met up with the tour guide and wandered around the city, seeing all of the cool stuff and learning all about it. Afterwards we went shopping in the markets, and it was so sunny and pretty! Absolutely fabulous.
We checked into our hotel, which ended up not having enough space for us even though we had made reservations, so they had to call around until they found a hotel that could fit us and we all walked there. Throwing our stuff down I immediately went out on a trek with some friends to see the Duomo and then find Vivoli, the supposed name of the best gelato in all of Florence. The Duomo's line was too long, we would have run out of time, so after waiting a while we left, and then we went hunting for Vivoli. We wandered around until we were out of time, and then ran over to meet at the Uffizi. The Uffizi is said to be second only to the Louvre. Well, after hearing that I was terribly disappointed. The student price was €14, and we were not allowed to take photos. They only had their information about the art in Italian except for the really famous pieces of those of Botticelli and Da Vinci. It was cool to see those well-known and studied pieces, but the high expectations I had for it were not fulfilled.
I started to feel pretty negative about Florence, and Italy in general, until I realized that the reason I was so depressed about being here was the prices. Once I realized that I relaxed a bit, and will see the David tomorrow, even though I wasn't going to because of the price, and I will also climb the Duomo, even though the price was dissuading me. So after the museum with my new-found attitude, I found a cheap-ish pizza with a wood fired oven. I split it with a friend, so it was only €3 and it was so good! I still haven't had gelato yet, which is kind of depressing, but I will definitely be remedying that tomorrow. I just want to eat the famous stuff though....
After dinner we ran off to see the David, but it was already closed.
Completely beat we limped back to the hotel and collapsed there to rest our poor little lower appendages. So yeah. If I run out of money I'll just take some out of the ATM, even if the exchange rate is not so good at the moment.
So yeah, Italy has greatly improved, even if they do try to suck as much money out of you as possible, so I cannot wait to go to Venice tomorrow night!
Monday, 6 October 2008
In the Chamber of Mummies...
Liebe Familie, Montag 6 Oktober 2008
Difficult day, I got up early to do homework and study my Dative verbs while on a run. I went off to school, took a test, then spent the next few hours in class.
In between classes I went to Michaeler Kirche with some friends, and we had a tour of the crypt there. It was so cool! They stopped burying people there in the 1500s, and sealed it up until 1923 when monks decided to go in. Because of cold drafts going throughout the crypt, many of the bodies in the wooden coffins had been mummified—and it was natural. Originally when they first built the crypt they would just take bodies out of coffins that were no longer recognizable, put them on the ground, and cover it up with dirt, so I walked around on a meter and a half of dead bodies. Gruesome no? But yeah, there was a big flood when a bomb in WWII hit a pipe line, so many of the mummies were damaged, and many have been stolen, so they only have 27 left. They take turns and only display 3 at a time, so we only saw a man and two women. One of the women still looked pretty real. One of the mummies is of a pregnant woman and she has one of the more decorated coffins.
When the monks came there in the 1920s they piled bones and such as I've seen in loads of crypts over the past month. However, they also hung skulls all around the crypt on the walls “to make it look more alive.” Seems like not very good reasoning to me....but was auch immer. The coolest part of the crypt is being worked on right now, so we didn't get to see that part at all, but maybe someday I'll go back there and get to see it...Most of the crypt hasn't even been opened yet, many of the walls are still sealed and they do not know what's back there.
In case you were interested in how to mummify yourself naturally, you need to be buried in a wooden coffin—metal doesn't let in enough of the draft, and put yourself in a very cold, drafty place, not too moist though. It has to be just the right temperature to be too cold for bugs, but not too cold for you either. Then sit around for a couple hundred years and wait. Oh, and pure silk is the fabric that all of the mummies I saw today were wearing, so you should probably be buried in that.
After the tour I went back to the school, had another class, and then ran off to FHE at the Institut. I talked to my favorite JAE member, Robert. He learned English on his mission just from all of the other missionaries using it with each other! How funny...not that we were speaking English. Definitely Deutsch.
I've come home, sat around doing homework and taking care of some last business before leaving for Italy. I'll be getting on my train at 7 tomorrow evening, and arriving in Venice at 6 the next morning, wahoo for me. I'm excited to see Italy though!
Arrivederci!
Anna
Difficult day, I got up early to do homework and study my Dative verbs while on a run. I went off to school, took a test, then spent the next few hours in class.
In between classes I went to Michaeler Kirche with some friends, and we had a tour of the crypt there. It was so cool! They stopped burying people there in the 1500s, and sealed it up until 1923 when monks decided to go in. Because of cold drafts going throughout the crypt, many of the bodies in the wooden coffins had been mummified—and it was natural. Originally when they first built the crypt they would just take bodies out of coffins that were no longer recognizable, put them on the ground, and cover it up with dirt, so I walked around on a meter and a half of dead bodies. Gruesome no? But yeah, there was a big flood when a bomb in WWII hit a pipe line, so many of the mummies were damaged, and many have been stolen, so they only have 27 left. They take turns and only display 3 at a time, so we only saw a man and two women. One of the women still looked pretty real. One of the mummies is of a pregnant woman and she has one of the more decorated coffins.
When the monks came there in the 1920s they piled bones and such as I've seen in loads of crypts over the past month. However, they also hung skulls all around the crypt on the walls “to make it look more alive.” Seems like not very good reasoning to me....but was auch immer. The coolest part of the crypt is being worked on right now, so we didn't get to see that part at all, but maybe someday I'll go back there and get to see it...Most of the crypt hasn't even been opened yet, many of the walls are still sealed and they do not know what's back there.
In case you were interested in how to mummify yourself naturally, you need to be buried in a wooden coffin—metal doesn't let in enough of the draft, and put yourself in a very cold, drafty place, not too moist though. It has to be just the right temperature to be too cold for bugs, but not too cold for you either. Then sit around for a couple hundred years and wait. Oh, and pure silk is the fabric that all of the mummies I saw today were wearing, so you should probably be buried in that.
After the tour I went back to the school, had another class, and then ran off to FHE at the Institut. I talked to my favorite JAE member, Robert. He learned English on his mission just from all of the other missionaries using it with each other! How funny...not that we were speaking English. Definitely Deutsch.
I've come home, sat around doing homework and taking care of some last business before leaving for Italy. I'll be getting on my train at 7 tomorrow evening, and arriving in Venice at 6 the next morning, wahoo for me. I'm excited to see Italy though!
Arrivederci!
Anna
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Missing Out
Liebe Familie Sonntag 5 Oktober 2008
Saturday morning I accidentally slept in, to 10:45! It was ridiculous, but I really did need the sleep. I've been waking up so often every night this week added to the fact that I've had a pretty bad cold for the past 8 days meant that I really needed that extra sleep.
I sat around the apartment doing homework until the middle of the afternoon, when I went to see another wing of the Art History museum from the night before. Well, I have now finished the Gemaelde Galerie and completed the Greek/Roman/Egyptian exhibit as well. After several hours in there I went out to begin the “Lange Nacht der Museen” festivities. It's the one night of the year that Vienna sells these 13€ tickets to the public (11€ for students) and you can go to nearly any museum in the city with it, from 6 P.M. To 1 A.M. So I ran off to the Albertina, shoved through all of the lines, and finally got to see the Monet/Picasso exhibit I'd missed from before. I then ran off to the Museum of Torture next door (didn't stay there long, don't worry), then the Butterfly house. That once was worthless, as I saw 2 whole butterflies. They don't really like to hang out in the dark.
I ran off to Museums Quartier, hit up the Toberlone exhibit (where I got a free piece of Toberlone!) and then the “Western Motel” exhibit where I set off an alarm. It was complete accident, it's one of those modern museums where they play movies throughout each room. Well, we entered a room painted black, with black pillows on the floor to sit in while watching the film, and the film was over, so it was a black screen. Black, black, black means you can't see anything, and blindly going through the room I accidentally opened an emergency exit door. Whoop! Don't know why they didn't have a neon light above it....I'm surprised me feeling along the wall opened the handle. Weird.
At 7:15 I ran off to the Volkstheater to see “Besuch der alten Dame,” a very creepy, creepy, yet thought-provoking play. Very strange, but I enjoyed it. Afterwards I finished Museums quartier, seeing the Arkitektcentrum, and then the Leopold Museum. However, I was beat after straining to understand everything from the play, so I turned in relatively early at 11. Did some more homework, and went to bed.
Happy General Conference Day! It's always so much fun to see General Conference—that is, when you are not plagued with homework. I've spent today sitting around the apartment making German flashcards, listening to conference, and organizing my photos. I would have gone to the stake center to see it, but then because of last night I never got to watch the Saturday morning session, and I wanted to see them in order.
Eve gave me some tastes of this Hungarian dessert, as well as a big of a raw meat delicacy. The dessert was really good, but the delicacy was kind of gross. I don't know, I'm not so much a fan of it, whatever it was.
After a very tiring day of sitting around, I really need to get to bed for all of my many things tomorrow, first of which is a test in Germ 320...
Deine Anna
Saturday morning I accidentally slept in, to 10:45! It was ridiculous, but I really did need the sleep. I've been waking up so often every night this week added to the fact that I've had a pretty bad cold for the past 8 days meant that I really needed that extra sleep.
I sat around the apartment doing homework until the middle of the afternoon, when I went to see another wing of the Art History museum from the night before. Well, I have now finished the Gemaelde Galerie and completed the Greek/Roman/Egyptian exhibit as well. After several hours in there I went out to begin the “Lange Nacht der Museen” festivities. It's the one night of the year that Vienna sells these 13€ tickets to the public (11€ for students) and you can go to nearly any museum in the city with it, from 6 P.M. To 1 A.M. So I ran off to the Albertina, shoved through all of the lines, and finally got to see the Monet/Picasso exhibit I'd missed from before. I then ran off to the Museum of Torture next door (didn't stay there long, don't worry), then the Butterfly house. That once was worthless, as I saw 2 whole butterflies. They don't really like to hang out in the dark.
I ran off to Museums Quartier, hit up the Toberlone exhibit (where I got a free piece of Toberlone!) and then the “Western Motel” exhibit where I set off an alarm. It was complete accident, it's one of those modern museums where they play movies throughout each room. Well, we entered a room painted black, with black pillows on the floor to sit in while watching the film, and the film was over, so it was a black screen. Black, black, black means you can't see anything, and blindly going through the room I accidentally opened an emergency exit door. Whoop! Don't know why they didn't have a neon light above it....I'm surprised me feeling along the wall opened the handle. Weird.
At 7:15 I ran off to the Volkstheater to see “Besuch der alten Dame,” a very creepy, creepy, yet thought-provoking play. Very strange, but I enjoyed it. Afterwards I finished Museums quartier, seeing the Arkitektcentrum, and then the Leopold Museum. However, I was beat after straining to understand everything from the play, so I turned in relatively early at 11. Did some more homework, and went to bed.
Happy General Conference Day! It's always so much fun to see General Conference—that is, when you are not plagued with homework. I've spent today sitting around the apartment making German flashcards, listening to conference, and organizing my photos. I would have gone to the stake center to see it, but then because of last night I never got to watch the Saturday morning session, and I wanted to see them in order.
Eve gave me some tastes of this Hungarian dessert, as well as a big of a raw meat delicacy. The dessert was really good, but the delicacy was kind of gross. I don't know, I'm not so much a fan of it, whatever it was.
After a very tiring day of sitting around, I really need to get to bed for all of my many things tomorrow, first of which is a test in Germ 320...
Deine Anna
Friday, 3 October 2008
Cultured and Beloved
Liebe Familie, Friday, October 3rd 2008
What a cultured, dignified woman I am. After finally being home for a little while, I'm now mentally preparing myself to take off for Italy next week. All of this traveling is really fun and everything, and I have no idea how long it will be until I am ever in Europe again, but I just wish we could stay in Vienna for awhile and see the city! I have been making an extra effort to go out there the past few days, but it's hard to find the time!
Wednesday I got up nice and early to go running, complete with my new flashcards! I am currently doing poorly in my German 320 class, so I'm going to be spending every second working on that. It's a grammar course though, so new vocabulary can only help so much....
After breakfast I went off to the Albertina, an art museum owned by the Son-in-law of Maria Theresia. There's an exhibit there of Van Gogh's work, which was really cool to see. I have definitely wikipediaed him since then. However, Museums here tend to be in old palaces and random buildings like that, so they were not built to be a museum. Therefore, the rooms usually don't connect, and it's really hard to make sure you've seen everything in the museum. In this case, I missed out on the Picasso/Monet exhibit, which is rather upsetting as it's €7,00 to go in with the Student Price. But don't you worry. I have a plan to rectify the situation.
I had an afternoon class, and then ran home to do homework like mad. That evening I went to Institut, understood most of the class, and ate some amazing tacos afterwards. I'm meeting a couple new people every time, but we're just not here enough for us to be friendly enough to hang out all of the time.
Thursday I had school until 2, and then I took off for cultural experiences. I went with a couple of friends to the Secession building in Vienna, where they have some modern art exhibits. Did we know that when we went? No, but we sure do now, after staring at posters of fungi, cars with their windshield wipers going for all of eternity, and tvs with strange repeating programs on them. Do I like modern art? Nay. I do not. Although, to give credit where it is due, the Gustav Klimt Beethoven Frieze isn't bad at all.
After the Secession we ran down the street to see the Wagner Apartments. They're just buildings decorated in a weird style that was looked down upon at that time period, but they are very pretty. Also on that street was Theater an der Wien, and I got to see the famous Papageno statue, as “Die Zauberflöte” is my favorite opera. After hanging out in the Naschmarkt, I tried to go to the Academy of Fine Arts. For some strange reason, the Academy is closed until December 15th for renovation. I fly home on the 16th. What a cruel, cruel world.
After several nights in a row of waking up fairly often, I'm exceedingly tired, but as I'm in Vienna, I'm pulling through still. I got up this morning to go meet some people to see the “Morning Exercises with Music” at the Spanish Riding School.
Horses are pretty, but I completely understand why we never had a pony growing up.
Directly afterwards we went and saw the Roman ruins they discovered in the middle of the city in the early 1990s, then to the famous Loos Haus, a few other things you've probably never heard of, before going to the State Apartments and Treasuries. A free museum for Austro-American Institut students, and it was amazing! I've seen enough jewels and golden robes to last a lifetime. They of course had loads of crowns, scepters, and the robes that Popes wear, coronation robes, etc. However, they can also boast having an 8 foot tall “Unicorn” horn (I'm not going to tell you what it really is, it would ruin the magic,) the biggest emerald in the world, and a baby bassinet made of 2,000 pounds of silver. I need to research the Habsburg who married Napoleon, I got to see their wedding present there....
After seeing all of the splendor I toned things down and went to the Kunsthistoriches Museum—or Art History Museum. I didn't even finish one wing. Thank goodness that place also free for me, because I think I'll have to make at least two more additional trips to finish it. Luckily, it's just down the street from me, so I am perfectly ok with this.
Now for the title...Yes, I am beloved. The maid who comes on Friday adores me, as she shows by making me late to everything on Fridays by telling me all about her grandchildren and life here. Eve also adores me. She invites me personally to come eat the left over food, and not my roommates. I kind of feel bad, but they're not willing to put in the time it takes to talk to her and make her love you, so I guess it all works out. Tonight she invited me to try her chocolate carrot cake. Very delicious, as usual. I guess she has to make food for parties for the next few days, so she's going to be busy, and I can only hope that there will be leftovers, as grandchildren are coming into town for these.
Still working hard at the homework, I've taken on extra homework (and quite a bit of it, to) so that I can catch up on grammar, so we'll see how soon I can be up to par. I wish everyone well,
Love,
Anna
What a cultured, dignified woman I am. After finally being home for a little while, I'm now mentally preparing myself to take off for Italy next week. All of this traveling is really fun and everything, and I have no idea how long it will be until I am ever in Europe again, but I just wish we could stay in Vienna for awhile and see the city! I have been making an extra effort to go out there the past few days, but it's hard to find the time!
Wednesday I got up nice and early to go running, complete with my new flashcards! I am currently doing poorly in my German 320 class, so I'm going to be spending every second working on that. It's a grammar course though, so new vocabulary can only help so much....
After breakfast I went off to the Albertina, an art museum owned by the Son-in-law of Maria Theresia. There's an exhibit there of Van Gogh's work, which was really cool to see. I have definitely wikipediaed him since then. However, Museums here tend to be in old palaces and random buildings like that, so they were not built to be a museum. Therefore, the rooms usually don't connect, and it's really hard to make sure you've seen everything in the museum. In this case, I missed out on the Picasso/Monet exhibit, which is rather upsetting as it's €7,00 to go in with the Student Price. But don't you worry. I have a plan to rectify the situation.
I had an afternoon class, and then ran home to do homework like mad. That evening I went to Institut, understood most of the class, and ate some amazing tacos afterwards. I'm meeting a couple new people every time, but we're just not here enough for us to be friendly enough to hang out all of the time.
Thursday I had school until 2, and then I took off for cultural experiences. I went with a couple of friends to the Secession building in Vienna, where they have some modern art exhibits. Did we know that when we went? No, but we sure do now, after staring at posters of fungi, cars with their windshield wipers going for all of eternity, and tvs with strange repeating programs on them. Do I like modern art? Nay. I do not. Although, to give credit where it is due, the Gustav Klimt Beethoven Frieze isn't bad at all.
After the Secession we ran down the street to see the Wagner Apartments. They're just buildings decorated in a weird style that was looked down upon at that time period, but they are very pretty. Also on that street was Theater an der Wien, and I got to see the famous Papageno statue, as “Die Zauberflöte” is my favorite opera. After hanging out in the Naschmarkt, I tried to go to the Academy of Fine Arts. For some strange reason, the Academy is closed until December 15th for renovation. I fly home on the 16th. What a cruel, cruel world.
After several nights in a row of waking up fairly often, I'm exceedingly tired, but as I'm in Vienna, I'm pulling through still. I got up this morning to go meet some people to see the “Morning Exercises with Music” at the Spanish Riding School.
Horses are pretty, but I completely understand why we never had a pony growing up.
Directly afterwards we went and saw the Roman ruins they discovered in the middle of the city in the early 1990s, then to the famous Loos Haus, a few other things you've probably never heard of, before going to the State Apartments and Treasuries. A free museum for Austro-American Institut students, and it was amazing! I've seen enough jewels and golden robes to last a lifetime. They of course had loads of crowns, scepters, and the robes that Popes wear, coronation robes, etc. However, they can also boast having an 8 foot tall “Unicorn” horn (I'm not going to tell you what it really is, it would ruin the magic,) the biggest emerald in the world, and a baby bassinet made of 2,000 pounds of silver. I need to research the Habsburg who married Napoleon, I got to see their wedding present there....
After seeing all of the splendor I toned things down and went to the Kunsthistoriches Museum—or Art History Museum. I didn't even finish one wing. Thank goodness that place also free for me, because I think I'll have to make at least two more additional trips to finish it. Luckily, it's just down the street from me, so I am perfectly ok with this.
Now for the title...Yes, I am beloved. The maid who comes on Friday adores me, as she shows by making me late to everything on Fridays by telling me all about her grandchildren and life here. Eve also adores me. She invites me personally to come eat the left over food, and not my roommates. I kind of feel bad, but they're not willing to put in the time it takes to talk to her and make her love you, so I guess it all works out. Tonight she invited me to try her chocolate carrot cake. Very delicious, as usual. I guess she has to make food for parties for the next few days, so she's going to be busy, and I can only hope that there will be leftovers, as grandchildren are coming into town for these.
Still working hard at the homework, I've taken on extra homework (and quite a bit of it, to) so that I can catch up on grammar, so we'll see how soon I can be up to par. I wish everyone well,
Love,
Anna
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