Thursday, January 31, 2013
This was a very busy day. We got up and headed for the train
station to board the two and a half hour train to Budapest. We got there at
about 1 pm after a beautiful ride through the countryside. We dropped our bags
off at the hotel and then headed to lunch, where I had a spätzle goulash dish
that was excellent. We then walked around Budapest, which is an amazing city.
It is very unique, just like Vienna and Berlin are. It resembles Vienna but it
is different though. It’s hard to explain. We went to the top of a hill near
the Danube and saw the entire city next to the river, and it was absolutely
gorgeous. There were so many colors and so many varieties of buildings. It was
the picturesque European town. Then, we walked by a building that still had war
damage from the shelling as a reminder of what happened in those years. While
walking to our next destination, we saw a 30 to 40 year old Trabant, which is
an east German car built in the communist period. You can google Trabant and
see them. They are very distinctive and quaint. Our next stop was the
cathedral. I can’t remember what it is called and I can’t look it up because
the internet is down, but it looks nearly identical to Stephansdom in Vienna
except smaller. In the Austria-Hungary empire, everything in Vienna had to be
the most grand and everything else had to be second. Budapest is somewhat like
a miniature Vienna in several ways. At the cathedral, we were able to look off
an even higher hill at the city and river, which was again amazing. We rode a
1970’s trolley back down the mountain to the river and saw a wonderful
Holocaust memorial. Near the end of 1944, many Jews were shot on the edge of
the Danube in front of the Parliament building. The memorial was a row of metal
shoes near the edge of the walkway right in front of the river. It was very
moving. We then went to dinner and I had a noodle dish that was very good, as
well as goulash soup. I love the food here!
Hungary is very different that the other countries we
visited. First, the language is very very different. It is an Asiatic language
and has many accents on letters. Also, the pronunciation is very difficult, so
I have had to get used to that as well. Finally, this has been the only place
that has not used Euros. Euros are close to dollars, so not much thinking is
required when buying things. Here, they use Forints, and it is 220 Forints to
the Dollar at the moment. Every purchase is a very large number. For example, a
bottle of soda might be 350 Forints, and a lunch can be 1500 Forints. It is
very strange!
This was our last day in Vienna! I’m sad to leave this
wonderful, beautiful city, but I’m very excited to see Hungary. Today, we did a
walking tour of the Holocaust in Vienna where we just walked around the city
and found the plaques dedicated to the Holocaust. Unfortunately, they are few and
far between, and they are all on the sidewalk and fairly discreet. It was hard
to find some of them, but nevertheless at least they are there. After this, we
headed to the Hundertwasserhouse apartments. They are very famous, strange
apartment buildings in Vienna. Google them because, again, my internet isn’t
really working. They are worth a look! The floors and walls are not flat and
every unit is different. I don’t think I could live in them for very long
though. Then, we headed to dinner where I had a wonderful pork dish with
potatoes. After this, it was time to pack up everything for the train ride to
Budapest in the morning!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Yesterday was one of the days I had anticipated from before
the trip. We went to the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, or Military History
Museum. Germany doesn’t have one of these for the obvious reason that they don’t
feel their military history should be celebrated in this way. However, the
Austrian one was amazing. I got to see something I have wanted to see for quite
some time. For those of you who remember anything about World War One, you will
remember Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He was the man who was
assassinated, and that event triggered the war. The problem was too many secret
alliances and emerging nationalism, but his assassination by the Serbs set of
the conflict. In the World War One exhibit at the museum, I got to see both the
car (with the bullet hole) that he was riding in when he was shot and his
bloody uniform, also with a bullet hole. It was eerie to think that nearly a
hundred years ago, all that happened in that car and to the man wearing that
uniform. I was so happy to see that. After this museum, three of us went to the
art museum in Vienna, where I saw so much beautiful art. I saw many Monet
paintings as well as a special Gustav Klimt exhibit. I spent several hours in
here, and I could have spent more. That was some incredible art that I unfortunately
was not able to get any pictures of since that was not allowed. However, again,
google images can help if you are curious. Finally, we went to an amazing
dinner at Brigittenauer Stadl, which specializes in Viennese cuisine, and I had
an amazing pork and spätzle dish. Spätzle is an egg noodle that I am in love
with. After that, we all came back and I went to bed early!
Sunday, we got to sleep in until about 11, which was much
needed. We got up and went to a very fancy hotel for an amazing brunch buffet.
Every one of us stuffed ourselves to death and the rest of the day was kind of
horrible because of it, but it was totally worth it. We walked around after
that and headed to the Wien museum (Wien is Vienna), which is a humongous
building dedicated to the entire history of Vienna from Roman times to the
twentieth century. This was a great museum, and again, I could read the Latin
inscriptions on displays from Roman times, which was really cool. I don’t ever
want to lose my Latin because it is so much fun to know what the things in
Catholic churches and monuments, etc. mean. This museum did a great job of
showing Vienna evolve from a small Roman fort to the large, beautiful city it
is today. Since we were all stuffed, we didn’t eat a real dinner and most of us
took a nap after the museum, so that’s it for Sunday!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Some pictures so far
Yesterday, Saturday, was a good day as well. We went to the
Maria Stiegen Kirsche (Kirsche is church) and explored it. It was very
beautiful inside, and I planned on going to the Sunday service this morning,
but sleep won. The church is very old, built in I think the early 1400s. We
then went to the Holocaust memorial of Vienna, which is sadly very poor. It
does a terrible job of commemorating the Holocaust and is unnoticeable unless
one is specifically looking for it. Berlin’s memorial was much better and more
obvious. Vienna needs to work on that, but that’s pretty much the only fault I
can find with it. After that, we visited the monument to the Plague. Again, you
can just google Plague monument Vienna and I’m sure there will be tons of
information. It was very Catholic in the way it looked and it was even
partially gold plated. There were Latin inscriptions on it that I could pretty
much read which again made me feel special. That Latin did pay off. Then, we
went to the Hofburg museum. The Hofburg palace was the one that the Habsburgs
lived in before they had Schönbrunn built. It was an interesting exhibit,
overly focused on their lifestyles but still interesting. It was basically
rooms and rooms of dishes and silverware (and goldware) that the royalty used
for state dinners. It was very impressive and beautiful, and I took many
pictures, but the exhibits were a bit narrow. After that, we went up to a
mountain near Vienna. I can’t remember what exactly it is called, and I can’t
look it up because the internet is evil here. However, it was about 1500 feet
high and the view of Vienna was even better than from Stephansdom, the
cathedral. My only regret is that it was January so it was somewhat hazy, but
other than that, it was amazing. After that, we went back into Vienna to
Stephansdom to look at the inside of it. Earlier, we had only gone up into the
tower. It was very ornate and beautiful inside. People were taking communion in
it and a beautiful band was playing the appropriate classical music. It was a
perfect scene. I have had so much fun these days in Vienna!
Friday was our excursion to Bratislava, Slovakia. We got up
and got on the train headed for Bratislava. After a little more than an hour,
we were there! We got out into the blistering cold and walked up to the
Bratislava Castle. The first thing I noticed was what it is like to be in a
country where I know none of the language again, and it reminded me why I am
learning German. Slovak is a very interesting language. It is closely related
to Russian and it does sound a lot like it, so it was enjoyable for me to
listen to. Anyway, we got up to the castle and it wasn’t a huge, amazing thing,
but the view of Bratislava from it was spectacular since it was high up. We
admired that for as long as we could and then took our freezing selves to
lunch. We had excellent Goulash which warmed us right up. Then, we explored the
Jewish museum, which was a little eerie again since it was commemorating a
people who just do not exist anymore. There are basically no Jews left in that
city. It is weird to see household items used just eighty years ago and now
none of those people are there anymore. It’s very sad. We then went for Torte
again, and of course it was excellent. Since all of us were freezing by this
point, we voted to get on the train and head back to Vienna for dinner, where
we went to a Japanese place. It was unlike most Japanese food I have had in the
past though. I and everyone else thoroughly enjoyed it as expected.
January 24th was a great day. I got to see
something I have wanted to see for a very long time. We went to Schloß
Schönbrunn, or the imperial palace of the Habsburgs, the rulers of Austria
Hungary for several hundred years. I have heard so much about this palace and learned
about it in classes in school, and it was so special to visit it. My internet
does not work, but you can just google Schonbrunn Palace and it will tell you
all about it. We toured the inside, which was quite touristy but it was still a
fun experience. After this, we went to Stephansdom, or the very old cathedral
of Vienna. Four of us and Dr. Moser climbed up to the top (well, as high as
they will let you go) and looked out. It was an amazing view, totally worth the
500 steps up the tiny spiral staircase. I love climbing up to the tops of
cathedrals like that. I have been to the one in Cologne as well, and from now
on, I plan to do that in every city I go to that has one. After that, it was
time for Jause of course, so we had some more tortes, which is a special cake.
They were spot on like usual. If I lived here I would be so fat. After a little
break, we went to dinner at a Turkish sit down restaurant where I had some of
the best hummus I have ever had. A theme here is good food if you can’t already
tell. Then, four of us went to the Weiner Eistraum, which is an ice skating
rink outside, in the downtown. However, it is nothing like you have seen
before. This one is humongous. It had two huge main areas and then ways to go
down paths in the trees and past beautiful buildings. I had so much fun ice
skating in downtown Vienna!
Sorry about not posting for five whole days!! This internet
truly is awful. I cant believe how bad it is. They say we have internet here
but I don’t believe it. Anyway, let me catch you up. On January 23rd,
we visited the Central Cemetery of Vienna, which is where many famous people
are buried. A unique thing about this cemetery is that people from all
religions rest here. Some of the most famous people we saw were composers such
as Brahms, Strauss, Schubert, Beethoven, and Mozart, although not all of their
bodies are located here. However, their graves or monuments to them are.
Unfortunately, most of the Jewish graves are not kept up like the Christian
ones are. That is a sad reality of the Holocaust; if all the Jews are driven
out of the city, then no one is there to take care of the graves anymore. A lot
of these graves are over a hundred years old, and it was very sad to see many
of them in disrepair. We even got to see some of Dr. Moser’s family there.
Those graves were well taken care of since he visits often though, so that made
me feel better. He placed a rock at the foot of the graves and explained to me
what that meant since I did not know. It dates back to Old Testament times when
people would throw rocks on a grave to keep the animals from getting to the
body since it was buried in the desert. After this somber excursion, we then
went to lunch, which is very typical of this trip. There is a lot of “hey look
at this beautiful city” and then right next to that will be a reminder of the
tragedy that happened there. Then, we did the Riesenrad, or giant Ferris wheel,
of Vienna. We were able to see most of Vienna from the top of it, and it was
very very beautiful. I highly recommend that for anyone who gets to Vienna.
After this, we had a little break and discussed what we wanted to do for
dinner. Dr. Moser suggested that we could eat at his apartment if we wanted,
and we all wanted to do that, so we met him there at dinner time and cooked up
some bacon covered bratwursts, which were to die for. I usually do not like
sausage, but here it is an art. We all had a great time at his apartment, and
how many people can say that they ate dinner at their professor’s apartment in
Europe?
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Continuing with yesterday, we flew to Vienna and walked to
the hotel in the First district, which is downtown. We deposited our bags and
then walked to McDonald’s for a quick lunch. McDonald’s here is quite amazing
actually. It is run by different people in Austria than in America, and the
American executives have no idea what other McDonald’s’ are like. I had a very
good burger there. Look up the Big Rösti in Austrian McDonald’s. It was
excellent! Then, we walked around and quickly saw many important things, such
as the rathaus, or parliament building. We then went to the Hofburg Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofburg_Palace)
and saw what it was like. This was the original palace for the royalty of
Austria until they built Schloß Schönbrunn, the palace everybody thinks of when
they hear “Austria”. Then, we saw Roman ruins that were discovered while
constructing the underground subway system. All my Latin memories came back and
I thought of Mrs. Brand and my six years of Latin. I can read inscriptions, and
it makes me feel important or something. We then went to the crypt for the
royalty and saw such people as Maria Theresa and Emperor Franz Joseph. Then, it
was time for Jause (say yowsa), or afternoon pastry break. Yes, I could totally
live here. I put a picture of the pastries of facebook, as some of you have
already seen. Then, it was time for a break and then dinner, where I had
authentic Wiener Schnitzel. It was exceptional. I felt like everything was as
it should be, eating the classic dish of Vienna in Vienna with a Viennese man.
After that, it was off to coffee with Elliot and Kiefer, where we had our male
bonding time. That was it for yesterday!
The first thing I noticed about Vienna was that it is a
beautiful city. Berlin is wonderful, but it is not a beautiful city on the
level that Vienna is. Every building here is in the classic architecture and is
pretty, even apartment buildings or normal city buildings. The blocks all look
similar because the buildings are so exquisite. I mean that in the way that
every part of this city is like the small, old downtown section of other cities
that one so likes to visit. I can’t wait to have another week here!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Hello all! I
have good internet today so I will catch everybody up. I will start with
Sunday. We woke up and had breakfast like usual, and then we went to the
Deutsche Kinematek Museum, or German Film Museum, which had the chronology of
movie cameras, films, and television programs as well as actors and actresses.
It was great to see a history of film not centered around Hollywood and to see
how the Nazis influenced and controlled films. Censorship was a big part of the
Nazi regime, and it is something I am very against. As Mark Twain said,
censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak because a baby can’t chew it.
We then went to the ruins of Anhalter Bahnhof, a train station that several
hundred Jews were deported from over a few years. However, at this station,
they were deported in passenger cars instead of cattle cars, as to not arise
suspicion since this station was a very busy one. This was a very large station
with many tracks, and the Germans built a museum, the Deutsches Tecknik Museum
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Museum_of_Technology)
around the tracks. Many trains and planes are in this museum, including a
cattle car that Jews were deported in. I am going to try to upload a picture,
and just imagine 75 or more people being forced to stand in this car for days
on end, recently evicted from their homes and uncertain of the future, without
water. It is a horrifying reality that the Germans are very good at owning up
to. Thankfully, that part of history is not being ignored like it was a few
decades ago. We then went to dinner at Mutter Hoppe (http://www.prostmahlzeit.de/mutterhoppe/),
where I had a wonderful steak. The menu is in German, but your browser should
have an option to translate to English, and you should be able to see their
entire menu. This is Prussian cuisine. I had my favorite dessert, rote grütze (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B8dgr%C3%B8d),
which was simply amazing. Then, we had a nice little unplanned walk to the
Brandenburger Tor and Reichstag at night, and they look very neat at night all
lit up. The most interesting part of the day was actually seeing a cattle car
the Jews were deported in. I have read so many books about the Holocaust, such
as Elie Weisel’s Night, and to now
have a visual for what they are all talking about is stunning. I would like to
read that book again keeping that vision in mind.
Right now, it
is 4 pm, but I will write about what we have done today so far. It is our last
evening in Berlin! As sad as I am to leave this amazing country, I have a
wonderful new country to visit where they still speak German. I can’t wait to
see what Austria has to offer. Today, Keifer, Elliot and I woke up and skipped
breakfast, but walked to Edeka, the grocery store, and bought soft pretzel
rolls. These things are just the best. That was our breakfast, then it was off
to the Oranienburger Straße (that letter is a double s) Synagogue, the main
Jewish synagogue in Berlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Synagogue_(Berlin)).
It was partially destroyed in the Kristallnacht, or night of broken glass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht).
It was also heavily damaged in the next few years as the war ensued. However,
it was partially rebuilt and turned into a museum, which we visited. It was a
very good museum, and we did go to the top and look out from the dome. Then, we
ate lunch, and I just had a sandwich on a brötchen, which is nice bread. I then
exchanged some more money and here I am sitting at the hotel waiting for
dinner!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Hello everyone! Sorry about the lack of posts, we are very
busy and the internet is quite sketchy here. Anyway, the last two days have
been great. Friday, we started with breakfast at the hotel like usual. It’s
going to be hard to face Estes breakfasts again after this. We then left for
the Jewish museum in Berlin, which had the history of the Jews in Germany from
as far back as we can trace, which is several hundred years BC. That was
interesting and eye opening, as I got to see the anti-Semitism from not only
the Nazi period but also the periods before that. This is part of the reason
everyone went along with the anti-Semitism in the Nazi period; they just
thought it was another episode like others in the past. No one was able to
foresee the events coming soon. Then, we went to the tv tower in the East (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin).
This was very cool, as I could look out of the “dictatorship windows” (Dr.
Moser Quote) and see all of Berlin. Pictures will come when the internet is
acceptable. Then, we went back to the hotel and I left, walked to Zoologischer
Garten S-Bahn stop and rode to Hauptbahnhof and picked up Felix! It was so good
to see him. I was also quite proud of my navigation of Berlin by myself without
my Google Maps. I think that is quite an accomplishment. We then went to the
apartment of the friend he was staying with and dropped off his stuff and rode
back to Ersnt-Reuter Platz on the U-Bahn, which is a little closer to our
hotel. We all then went to an Indian restaurant for dinner, which was very
good. I know I have been saying that for every meal, but it is so true. The
food here is way better. Each time I visit this continent, I want more and more
to live here, and I hope to realize that dream someday.
Next was Saturday. We woke up and had breakfast as usual,
and then we went to the Deutsches Historisches Museum, which was an engaging
display of Germany from Roman times (the Romans never got to Berlin however) to
recent history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Historisches_Museum). I
loved this museum! I got to see so many neat things. For example, I got to see
the original portrait of Martin Luther (the guy who invented Protestantism and
therefore Lutheranism). I have seen that picture so many times in textbooks and
I was shocked to see it in real life. Also, a lot of what I saw was written in
Latin or a combination of Latin and German, so that kind of messed with my
head, as I could pretty much read it but not really. I also got to see
Napoleon’s hat that he wore at his defeat at Waterloo. I saw a Nazi uniform and
many weapons from WWI and WWII. There were original propaganda posters as well.
The museum was excellent, and I would enjoy coming back one day where I could
spend the entire day there. We then visited the Berliner Dom, the Protestant
cathedral in Berlin. I kept having to remind myself it was Protestant because
it was so pretty and Catholic-esque. We then went to a shopping area and I went
to the Ampelman Store. The Ampelmann is the cute little crosswalk guy in Berlin
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelmännchen).
My internet isn’t working so I can only hope that link works, but if it
doesn’t, just google Ampelmann Berlin. He is actually the East Berlin crosswalk
man, but now he is all over Berlin. I fell in love with him and had to buy tons
of stuff at the store. It was expensive but definitely worth it. Then we went
to the department store to look for European wallets. They are so much smarter
than us silly Americans in so many ways. One example is that their wallets have
a built in coin purse, and I found a good one for relatively cheap, under 20
euros. Then came my favorite part of the trip so far. Dr. Moser said he was
going to the east to see a very old trolley and I went along. Everyone else
went back to the hotel on the S-Bahn, but he and I went together to the east.
On the way we talked about everything from Randolph Macon to his family and
travels. I learned so much about him and it made me even more sure about coming
to this school and having him as a teacher and mentor. We arrived out in the
east and took lots of pictures of this cute little trolley that still runs and
is about a hundred years old. On the way back, we had equally wonderful
conversations, and it made me feel really special. Then, we all went to dinner,
including Felix, to the only Norwegian restaurant in Germany. It has served the
King of Norway! I had elk and special berries that we do not have in North
America that were excellent. Like I said, all the food here is exceptional.
Felix and I hung out until he had to go back, and it was so great to see him.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
What a crazy two days. Our flight was delayed from Amsterdam to Berlin. We ended up staying in the Amsterdam airport from 5 am until about 1 or 2... Way too long. We all (including Dr. Moser) played Go Fish, and that was pretty fun. We then went to Frankfurt, where I finally had a Mezzo Mix, and then on to Berlin! Thats where we are now. The first day we got there, we didn't do much. We were all tired, but we did go to dinner and walked around the city thanks to the S-Bahn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-bahn). Then, this morning, we went to breakfast at the hotel, which was quite good, then to the Reichstag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag). We went up into the Kuppel, or dome, and I listed to the German audio tour and understood most of it. It's nice to finally be able to understand this wonderful language. Then, we went to the Brandenburger Tor, or Brangenburg Gate, the main gate betwixt East Berlin and West Berlin. It was amazing to see the division that was East and West Berlin. We then went to the Holocaust memorial, or Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, by its correct name (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe). This was a great memorial, and we were there for an hour and a half, but it felt like 5 minutes. It was a very moving memorial. We then went to lunch at a steakhouse, where I had steak and chicken. Es war ausgeseichnet! We then went to the Geisterbahnhöfe, or Ghost stations. The S-Bahn of course goes through the entire city of Berlin, so when the city was divided, several stops (in East Berlin) were sealed off and guarded to prevent travel between the two Berlins. We were in Orainenburg Straße. There was an exhibit explaining certain things about what happened to them during the separation. We then went to the awesome department store in Berlin, KaDeWe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaufhaus_des_Westens). It was seven floors and absolutely huge. Then, we went to a Saturn (electronics store) where I bought a SIM card and found out I can use my phone in Europe! Yay! Then, we ate at a Prussian restaurant, which was excellent! I have pictures of all of the food. Now, we are back in the hotel, and I believe it is time for bed.
Monday, January 14, 2013
We are sitting here in Richmond airport. I am so excited to leave! I just want to be in Germany practicing the language. Also, it is going to be great to see Felix. I have missed him so much! I like long plane rides, contrary to most people, because it means a fun trip is in the near future. Long plane rides are great!
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