My adventures in Vienna and Prague: Week 2

August 11, 2007
Welcome to Budapest, Hungary!

Sherry, Laura and I woke up extremely early to make the 6:45 am train to Budapest. Man it was quite a morning! Right when we were about to leave the dorms, it started pouring in Vienna. We all returned to our rooms and grabbed umbrellas. We ran to the U-Bahn station to catch the U3 to Westbahnhof for the train. At the Westbahnhof stop, I decided to buy some breakfast to eat since it was going to be a 3 hour long ride without food. By the time I got my food it was already 6:44 am! I ran to the platform to look for the girls and I found them out in the pouring rain yelling and knocking on all the doors to let us in. With only 1 minute left before the train leaves, a door slides open and we got in and let out a giant sigh of relief! During the train ride, Hungarian Police stormed in and demanded to see passports twice. That was an interesting experience; although I must admit that I was a bit scared.

Budapest Keleti Railway Station

When we arrived at the Budapest Keleti (Eastern) Railway Station (on the Pest side), I exchanged some us dollars for Hungarian Forint… man the train station totally ripped me off. After obtaining a map of the city we headed out towards the city. I looked around and Eastern Europe was exactly like how it was portrayed in movies. The weather was not so nice. It was grey, hot and muggy.

We walked to Heroes' Square from the train station and took pictures…

Next, we paid a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts….

After, we strolled along in a beautiful park and found a famous well-known restaurant, Gundel… The food was incredible and the service was excellent! A bit on the pricy side, but it was definitely worth it.

Me with my roast duck, carmelized baked apples with sourberry sauce.

Once our 2 hour lunch ended, it started pouring cats and dogs! We were soaked with Budapest rain so we found shelter from the wetness at the subway station.

We took the subway to the Opera House.
I bought neat little souvenirs from the small shop inside. It was really cool, except for the part where I didn’t have enough Forint and the place did not accept credit cards. But in the end, I paid with Euros.

The girls and I visited the Szt. István Bazilika… We couldn’t make our way inside since there was a wedding going on.

We made our way to the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. There was some kind of a festival going on with live entertainment and food vendors. It was so much fun.

From the bridge, we saw the Hungarian Parliament over looking the Danube.

Finally, we crossed the Chain Bridge and entered the side of Buda! Buda is much less Eastern Europe like than Pest. In Buda, Sherry, Laura and I visited the Buda Castle!

We found a café called the Sisi Café around the evening time and had dessert and coffee. After we finished eating and drinking, we received the bill and the waitress woman tried to swindle us!!! She gave us a heck of a rough time with the bill. We ended up paying and just leaving.

With only half an hour left before the last train leaves to Vienna, we made a mad dash to search for a taxi that would take us to the Pest train station. After yelling and hollering down the streets of Buda, we found a speedy taxi driver that took us to the station just in time for the last train! Oh what great adventures! I had a blast running around Buda and Pest.

August 10, 2007
Mozart’s Vienna! Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg. His music influenced the course of the Enlightenment period. He was a musical prodigy (wunderkind) at age 3. Mozart was son of Leopold, who was a music teacher as well as a violinist. Leopold was employed by Prince Bishop of Salzburg, but later abandoned his musical career for his son. By the age of 5, Wolfgang Mozart already wrote his first composition! Life as a musician and status of artists changed. Musicians grew more dependent on patronism; they must suck up to their patron to get money. Mozart worked on commission for the Prince Bishop, but was eventually dismissed from the Prince Bishop’s court due to a feud. In 1781, Mozart moved to Vienna and got married without his father’s consent in the very Stephansdom that lies in the heart of Vienna. He and his wife had 6 children, but unfortunately only 2 survived. Mozart began to write operas and his famous “The Marriage of Figaro” premiered in 1786. Italian operas dominated the opera houses and only comedy operas we played. The comedy operas do not have tragic endings; some has a potential to be tragic, but the ending is always happy. The year after, Mozart succeeded in achieving a position at Joseph II’s court. In 1791, Mozart died of a very high fever and was buried at St. Marc’s graveyard.
Following the Mozart lecture and continuing with the Mozart theme, Laura, Sherry and I walked across the street to dine at the Mozart Café.

(left to right) Laura, Sherry and I eating lunch at the Mozart Cafe.

Delicious warm and creamy Mozart cafe... Yummm.

There's ALWAYS room for dessert!!!

Around 7pm, the class went to see Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Opernhaus. This was my first opera! It was such a blast getting all dressed up and attending a formal event. The opera was really wonderful; although, I was hoping to see something a bit more traditional. It was a modernized modern day version of the original “Le Nozze di Figaro.” The lady who played Cherubino was my favorite. She played a male character and pulled it off so well. I didn’t exactly understand what the characters were saying since the libretto was in Italian and the subtitles displayed were in German. It was truly a wonderful experience!

the lovely girls and I getting ready to go to the Opernhaus.

The anticipation before the show starts...

After “Le Nozze di Figaro,” a few of the students and I went to a gelato place in Stephansplatz and had sandwiches and ice cream! Delicious!

August 8-9, 2007
In class, we learned about the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. I found connections between the lecture and the paintings at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Peter Breugel, a Flemist artist, painted “The Battle of Carnival vs Lent” in 1559. This painting is from the Catholic Reformation. Half of the painting represents carnival (mardi gras….fat Tuesday --> a period of excess and precession) and the other half of the painting represents lent.

This painting is a depiction of “The Last Judgment” (1565) by Frans Floris. Images of demons and hell present themselves in this painting. The depiction represents the resurrection, when Christ returns. Christ is beaconing with his right hand towards the heavens and all those who are rejected goes towards hell.

This painting by Peter Paul Rubens “The Lamentation” (1614) depicts Rubens concept of the Counter-Reformation. He concentrates on the passion and redemption of Christ.

During class we also studied on Martin Luther (1483-1536). Luther came from a second generation family in Saxony and studied law. One night during a frightening thunder storm, he yelled out “Help St. Mary! I will become a monk!” This was a promise/contract to the St. Mary if she does help him. So as a result, she helps him. Martin Luther enters a monastery and does everything required and more.

After lecture and before heading to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Laura, Sherry and I went to the Naschmarkt (farmer’s/ flea market) to have lunch and to shop for fresh fruits! We had kebabs and I bought peaches, strawberries and raspberries to satisfy my cravings for yummy fruits.

The next day was the visit to the United Nations and lecture on the IAEA!
The United Nations was first founded in 1957 and the first conference was held in San Francisco, CA. The international headquarter in Vienna is one of four in the world; others would include New York, Geneva, and Nairobi. There are a total of 192 countries in the UN, although a few countries are missing. According to our tour guide, approximately 1,000 UN conferences are held each and every day. In a conference room, problems and possible issues are confronted. Six official UN languages are spoken during the conferences (English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese). It gets quite intense when there are so many interpreters interpreting all the many different languages. At the UN, majority vote is needed for certain issues. If an issue lies outside of a country and becomes a global issue, then the UN is involved. Otherwise, the United Nations is not above elected governments.

Memorial fountain of war veterans in front of the UN

One of the UN buildings

After the UN fun, Sherry, Laura and I headed off to the Danube and ate lunch at this wonderful Mexican food place. Yum! Kebab fajitas!

Word of the day--- (g) Deutschstunde ; (e) German class

August 6-7, 2007

During class, we watched a short film on the Habsburgs (The Habsburgs, Part 2: Cross and Crescent). I learned that the Habsburg name is property of present day Switzerland because the Swiss lands were a part of the German Holy Roman Empire!
A couple people from the class and I went to the Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury) after class….

Rudolf II’s crown of Austria

The Habsburg coat of arms

St. Leopold’s relic
Saint relics are sacred embodiment of saints. The body parts/ remains of Saints are kept in elaborate ornamental cases that are displayed in churches all over Europe. The body parts/ remains can be anything ranging from toes, fingers, and even heads.

After visiting the Schatzkammer, the group went to the Danube to hang out. Fun times!

The Blue Danube... so beautiful!

We were getting ready to get comfortable!

Me sitting back and relaxing... it felt so nice to be out near the Danube.

The next day was our trip to Melk Abbey! The class met up at 9am at Westbahnhof. Melk was about a 2 hour train ride from away from Vienna and is across from the Danube.

Melk Abbey or Stift Melk was founded by Leopold I and was built in 1089. This Baroque Austrian Benedictine Abbey is educated through the rules of St. Benedict. The Rules of St. Benedicts outlines how monks are supposed to live to find his way to God: poverty, chastity, and obedience. This abbey has been a museum for 80 years and was almost destroyed by wild fires.

The first words of St. Benedicts was Höre (listen)

A casket… During the Enlightenment reformation, people were buried in caskets for a few years. After a few years, the bodies were dumped in the ground by the lever on the coffin and the coffin is then reused. This was economically frugal, but the reformation didn’t last very long.