Weekend time!!!
Klosterneuburg monastery! Most of the class took the bus to Klosterneuburg (north of Vienna on the Danube) and walked to the monastery from the bus stop. We bought our tickets for the monastery tour and explored the small town. There was a heurigen near by so we stopped by to look around. After exploring for about an hour, we walked back to the monastery and went on the tour. The Klosterneuburg monastery or Stift Klosterneuburg was founded by St. Leopold III, patron saint of Austria, and his wife Agnes in 1113. They were walking a long and found her veil that she had lost 9 years earlier and took it as a sign so they had a Catholic monastery built in that very spot.

- Klosterneuburg Monastery (exterior)

- Klosterneuburg Monastery (interior)

There’s a monument outside of the monastery called the ‘lighthouse.’ This place used to be a cemetery, but was later moved to another location. The lighthouse is now in its place commemorating the victims of the black plague and WWI.

Today, the original monastery’s clock towers were replaced by 19^th century Neo-Gothic clock towers due to massive decays.

This is one of the original stain glasses from the 13^th century. Not all the stain glass in the monastery is original. Most of the originals have been replaced and only a few of the old ones remain.

At the end of the tour, we got hungry so we walked back into the small town and found a place to eat at. It was getting late so we decided to leave. We didn’t know where the bus stop was so we decided to take the train back to Vienna. The train was definitely late and the weather turned pretty chilly!

The next day, a couple of us wanted to go to the oldest zoo in all of Europe… the Schönbrunn Zoo! The buildings are of Imperial Baroque architecture and the animals are so awesome.

- left: giraffe... right: polar bear

-left: koala....right: red fox

Later that night, Sherry, Laura and I went to see the Weiner Imperial Orchestra at Beethovensplatz. It was an Orchestra/ Ballet / Opera performing J. Strauss, W.A. Mozart, and L.v. Beethoven. It was a wonderful experience. We got lost trying to find the place! Running in heals around the city was quite painful. After the performance, the girls and I took a stroll in the park in the middle of the night. It was really peaceful there.

- The Wiener Imerial Orchestra.

August 3, 2007

First day of class! During class, we learned about the Babenberg history. Am Hof—at the “aristocratic” court— was set up during the Babenberg rule from 955 to 1246. When the Babenberg dynasty died out there was a power vacuum fight over territory. King Ottokar of Bohiemia took over and was eventually replaced by the founder of the Habsburg empire Rudolf I in 1273. Rudolf I was elected King of Germany and a monarch of the Holy Roman Empire. The Habsburg ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1273 onward.

After lecture, the class explored the city on foot. We visited the ancient ruins of Vienna (top image) and toured the streets of Vienna. We walked to the front of Hofburg (image below) and the Vienna Library.

During lunch, Laura, Sherry and I went to a small Café called Michele for lunch on Mariahilfer Strasse.

Next, we hung out in the courtyard of the Museumsquartier before heading off the Stephansdom for the catacombs tour.

-Interior of the Stephansdom

The St. Stephen’s Cathedral was built in 1147 as a community church of the Diocese of Passau, but was later extended and rebuilt by the year 1511. Today in present day Vienna, St. Stephen’s Cathedral is still being restored and repaired. This Romanesque and Gothic cathedral was dedicated to St. Stephen, who was the patron of the bishop's cathedral in Passau.

-Catacombs gated outside entrance way.

Below the Stephansdom lie the catacombs. It is basically a burial ground for the dead dating back to the 17^th century. When the black plague hit, the dead was stacked in rooms in the catacombs because of a new law that forbids burials within the city. Today, the skeletal remains of those who were buried back in the 17^th century can be seen below the cathedral. I found the catacombs completely fascinating! The ancient skeletons or just bones in general are all scattered in the catacomb rooms… and the best part… they bones were real!!! Too bad photos weren’t allowed during the tour…

-left to right: Me, Sherry, and Laura in front of the catacombs outside entrance.

After that amazing tour, the girls and I went to Vienna’s famous Original Sacher Torte and had ourselves the best mouthwatering sacher torte, apple struttle, and not to forget the 7 Euro original sacher café! Oh my! It was the so incredible.

- the 3 of us right before we devoured the sacher torte: Laura (left), Sherry (middle), and me (right)

- the famous and delicious sacher torte!

-the amazing fluffy apple struttle...

- Me and my really good 7 Euro sacher cafe!

August 2, 2007

Word of the day— (g) andere ; (e) other

Orientation day! I woke up extra early to make myself toast and cheese. The class met downstairs of the dormitories at 10 am to go to class together. This was the first time that I was meeting everyone (including the professor) because I wasn’t able to attend the Davis orientation back in May. I was exhilarated seeing all the new faces. This trip will be so much fun… new place, new friends…how exciting! After everyone gathered in the hallway, we walked across the street to the U-Bahn station to head off to school. From Simmering, we took the U3 line going towards Ottakring to Landstraße, got off and switched lines to U4 going towards Hütteldorf to Karlsplatz. The Austro-American Institute of Education (AAIE) was directly across the street from the Opera House. Orientation started off with an ice breaker so that everyone can be acquainted with each other, then the subject matter flowed into orientation stuff and ended with the distribution of museum ids. I must say that it was quite stuffy in the classrooms since there was no a/c and the only available source of ventilation was the windows. Apparently, air conditioning is considered a luxury item, since most of Europe does not have A/C in its buildings.

Around noon time, class was dismissed for lunch! I joined a couple students from the class for lunch at a buffet. Using Euros was a bit confusing… It has been only 2 days into the program; I guess I will eventually get familiar with currency. After lunch my classmates and I returned to school to meet up with the professor and the rest of the class for a bus tour around Vienna. The tour was guided by Dr. O. We went around the famous Ringstrasse and saw the Wien museum, Karlskirche, Hofburg (court castle), Rathaus (city hall), United Nations, the Ferris Wheel from the 1949 movie ‘The Third Man,’ lastly the Danube. The Bus took us to the Belvedere in the 3^rd district of Wien. The upper and lower Belvedere is a museum in present day Vienna, but currently the lower Belvedere is being renovated. The lower palace was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1714.

-The lower palace (top image...way in the back past the garden) was built as garden villa for the Prince, but to make the garden axis symmetrical the upper Belvedere (bottom image) was constructed in 1720 to act as a villa for his guest. The upper guest house was grandeur and beautiful. However, the lower Belvedere where Prince Eugene resided was not so impressive. It is greatly more petite than the upper Belvedere. I enjoyed the sight of the upper than the lower Belvedere because it was much more magnificent.

After the Belvedere, we headed off to the Kalenberg mountains and on our way, we passed by some really neat looking heurigens (wine gardens)...

-The church Kahlenbergkirche was built in the late 1620’s and was destroyed by the Turks in 1683. The church was reconstructed and restored after the being destroyed and this is what it looks like today.

-The view from the top of the Kahlenberg mountain was so beautiful. I could see everything! It was seriously amazing.

-We also visited the Hundertwasserhaus designed by the architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser in 1983. This apartment was quite interesting and unique.

When the bus tour ended, my newly found friends and I went exploring around Vienna.

-I tried the Käsekrainer (aka puss dog) at a vendor near our school. It was delicious!!!

We walked and found the Hofburg and eventually made our way to the Rathaus for dinner. Every night there’s a ballet or opera screening right in front of the Rathaus. The atmosphere is so lively, crowded and energetic. All the Viennese comes to the Rathaus every night to eat, drink, and relax. Maybe 45 mins into the opera screening, it started to rain. My friends and I got up and started running towards the U-Bahn station. A couple of the girls and I needed to used the WC and so we found one. 50 Euro cents for using the WC!!! I was not used to paying to use a public restroom....

-The Hofburg Palace

- top: the Rathaus film festival... bottom: the Rathaus just before night fall.

August 1, 2007

Arriving in Vienna was quite an experience! I've never experienced such speedy service before. With 2 luggages in hand and a backpack on my back, I went to look for Cafe Wien (that was the meeting point). I walked back and forth, back and forth, but I couldn’t find the café. I finally asked a waitress who was standing at a near by bakery where Cafe Wien was and she pointed in the forward direction. After 20 minutes of walking around the airport, Cafe Wien was right in front of the baggage claim exit. While waiting for Siobhan and Rricha to arrive, the waitress at the café tried to teach me some German. I learned how to say “Thank-you” (Danke) or “Thank-you nicely” (Dankeschön). When the girls arrived, we all took a taxi to the dorms. I was totally amazed to see that Vienna reminded me a lot of L.A because the drivers were on the left side of the car!
After arriving at the dorms, Siobhan, Rricha and I checked in and struggled to fit ourselves and all our luggage in the tiny elevator. I walked into my room and suddenly yelled out, “WOW!” because the room was so big! I met my roommate, Emily, and we started to talk while I unpacked my stuff. We definitely needed toilet paper and food so we journeyed across the street to the grocery store; that was an interesting experience! The cashier lady must not like us very much because we were holding up the line. I guess she expects us to have all our groceries out of her way by the time she gives us the receipt. I was not used to bagging groceries myself.
A big group of us took the U-Bahn for the first time to Stephansplatz (location of the St. Stephen's Cathedral) for dinner. We strolled along the Danube Canal and found some local Viennese food. It was delicious, especially the kebabs… yum!

- The famous St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) at the center of Vienna.

- The beautiful busy sites of Stephansplatz.

- The outside of St. Peter's Cathedral.

- The interior of the St. Peter's Cathedral. This was my first time stepping foot inside a cathedral like this. It was a jawdropping sight!

July 31, 2007

I left Riverside approximately 12 hours ago. It's been a rather long day with getting boarding tickets and running through security check. Oh and not to mention almost missing my flight! I've never flown by myself before, so this is definitely the first. LAX wasn't as bad as Chicago was. Comparing the two, LAX was pretty simple. You've seen movies where the character is late for his/her flight and you see him/her run like crazy to their destined terminal... yeah that was me today at Chicago.
Now, I'm on my way to Vienna, Austria, where I will spend the next month learning and exploring the beautiful city.