Who could ask for more?

I spent my first week of travel break exploring Vienna, Budapest, and Prague with my roommates Clare Margaret and Sarah.

Friday night, Clare and i were so excited that we were ready to go hours before it was time. Margaret on the other hand, left off packing and eating until the last minutes :)

i fed her as she finished packing haha

wasting time at the airport waiting for our flight

once on board we could watch our flight progress

they gave us yummy bread with butter and chives :)

when we were over the ocean, the video screen told us what our view would be.... yeah...

blue screen = water  who knew?

when we got off it was in the middle of the tarmac and we had to be bused to the actual airport building

Tada! we were in VIENNA!!!!

our flight landed late at night at we found the right bus to our hostel.

as we were boarding the RUDEST lady sat down in the seat next to Margaret before Sarah could get there, and when Margaret said, 'um, sorry, we wanted to sit together," she just responded with "then you can do that in the back" and refused to get up. we were all shocked. finally Margaret asked her to move so she could get out and we found a seat in a different part of the bus. i still cannot understand what would cause someone to be that blatantly rude!

once at the train station we followed our printed direction to our hostel. they were a bit confusing and when we asked a store owner for help, another guy in the store said, oh, i know that, and wanted to show us the way there.

 at first we were like, OK, um thanks, but as he wanted to take us down a back alleyway we were not down to follow anymore. he was really insistent that his was the right way, but he could barely speak any English and we just did not like the idea of following him into a dark back street, so we said thanks and left to find it on our own. a few minutes later, we did! thank goodness!

check in, unpack and hit the sheets by 1230am

the next morning, after breakfast,  we realized that the way the man was trying to show us was a shortcut.

 but at night in the dark it just hadn't seemed like a good idea to follow him.

oh well, I'm still glad we followed our guts!

our first stop of the morning was to buy tickets to a Mozart Concert we had found online.

at the Opera House, we bought our tickets from guys dressed up in olden days clothing.

they were really friendly and gave us advice on what to do and see while we were in town

from there we headed to Brunnenmarkt, the 'everyday stuff' market in the city

 it was full of random toys, sweaters, cakes, veggies, lots of eggs, cheese, hats, flowers, and children's Vienna dresses

i was longer than some of the cars we passed!

after the market we were wandering and came across this random church. it was simple compared to some European churches but i thought is was beautiful.

 

from there we headed across town to Naschmarkt (a fancier market near lots of restaurants and cafes)

i got a fodleboller in a cone ( it looks like a dipped ice cream cone, but the top is really a yummy gooey marshmallow frosting type thing instead)

THESE ARE RAVIOLIS!! i wished so badly i was somewhere where i could make these because they looked fantastic! but i doubt they would have lasted well until the end of my travels. there were all kinds of fillings and flavors

and pretty cookies

here's something odd, a Disney Channel's "Camp Rock" movie poster without the Jonas brothers as the stars... its just Disney, milking all it can out of every storyline

next we headed up the main walking street in Vienna, called Karntner St

we checked out some souvenir shops,

secretly got Clare a special drink for her 21st bday

NUTCRACKERS!

Austrian style  :)

a hole in the wall entrance turned out to be a very cute cute cafe on the second floor. Clare and i split french onion soup and Margaret and Sarah had pumpkin YUM!!! just thinking about it makes me hungry right now.

we also enjoyed wine and juice

and PIZZA!! (oh how i miss pizza!)

after lunch we hit the streets again to enjoy some street art

when we got to St Stephan's cathedral we decided we had to go all the way to the top!

step 300 and counting

the view of the city from the top was impressive!

carved into one of the walls were the initials "CJ" i thought of you Grandma! :)

 outside, there was a mini replica of the cathedral

Clare had fun chasing the pigeons :P

the horses wore hats!!

we wandered through the Hofburg Palace Gardens next

the FALL colors were so great!! 

past Marie Teresien Platz

and onto the Parliament buildings

even the LAMPPOSTS were covered in detailed decorations!

i made friends with a Griffin :P

the concert that night was a lot smaller than we'd expected, but the music was still beautiful.

the Wiener Residenzorchester performed a Mozart and Johann Strauss Konzert at the Palais Auersperg

after all that, we got back and figured out where we wanted to start in the morning then crashed pretty hard!

 

 after a stop at the train station to see about tickets to Budapest we trammed out to Schonbrunn Palace.

WOW

pretty huh?  we thought so too

around the side and through some gardens

BOOM! Cue jaws dropping!

WELCOME to the foot of Mount Olympus!

this was SOO much more than we were expecting! and the clouds converging around the top made the awesome scene even more compelling! i could not help but feel like at any moment a Greek God was going to descend from the sky right where we were! 

on the way to the top we got sidetracked playing in the leaves :)

visual senses overload :)

our next stop was the Cemetery... what better place to go on Halloween right?

there must have been something in the water here that makes people become musical geniuses because there we A LOT of composers buried here

food time :)

Italian again! at Casa Romana Pizzeria Ristorante

my gnocchi with white sauce and spinach was SOOO tasty and filling i could hardly finish it

Clare wanted to see Marie Teresa's tomb, but we didn't want to pay to get in, so after dropping her of at the entrance we enjoyed the Hofburg Palace Gardens some more

so many fall colors!

she looked so tired and small sitting there waiting for us to come pick her up. hahaha

yes, this is a real sign in the subway station... quite a word huh?

 passes Karlskirche Church

 a memorial to Soviets during WW2

BELVEDERE PALACE

 the middle window is my bedroom!

and back to the Hostel! (the Wambat Base haha)

Rewind

A recap of some highlights from the last week of October before I try to tackle my travel break stories.
I went to another ballet with my History of European Ballet class and did my short reflection paper too.

The Fisherman and His Bride

            It’s 7:55pm the night of Monday October 25^th, 2010. Imagine sitting in a plush red velvet chair on one of the balconies at the old stage in the Danish Royal Theater about to enjoy a performance by the Royal Danish Ballet Company. The gold trimmed balconies climb up to the ceiling, and curve close around the playhouse in a way that feels close and intimate with the stage; though it does make some seats more difficult to enjoy than others. The excitement is growing as the last curtain call sounds and the rest of the audience finds their seats. The curtain goes up, and immediately you are pulled back in time and across Europe to the bustling streets of Napoli, the Italian village on the island of Capri, in the 1950’s.  People are everywhere on stage. Dancing and main character action pulls the eyes to the front of the stage while sailors, young women, shop owners, shoppers, street urchins and other town folk mingle and small vignettes can be found to the rear and sides of the stage. As the ballet progresses, the well explored characters, wonderfully impressive sets, and superb music by the Danish National Chamber Orchestra, (directed by David Levi) suck you in to another world for a few hours and you sail away with the love story of Gennaro and Teresina (played by Alexander Staeger and Amy Waston).

            The ballet tonight is a new version of August Bournonville’s classic ballet Napoli, put together by Sorella Englund and Nikoalj Hubbe. The original music was composed by Edvard Helstad, H.S Paulli and H.C. Lumbye and has a lightness and happiness to it that complements Bournonville’s style very well and highlights the ‘I-love-to-dance-and-it-is-so-easy’ feeling the movement has. Maja Ravn’s sets and costumes were two of the most impressive parts of the performance for me. For the first and third acts, the moving picture on the back screen beautifully set the towns location at the base of Mt Vesuvius. The moving film brought the set to life with birds flying in the sky, the rain taking over the stage during the storm, the underwater grotto floating underneath the sea in Act two and even the sun coming out as the sadness of the third act changes to elation and celebration. The sets helped to tell the story in an interactive way that I feel few sets do so well. The many elaborate yet unfussy costumes and the changes in lighting (by Mikki Kuntu) intensified the differences in the acts and brought the characters out in a visually appealing way.

            Many changes have been made from the show that was first performed in 1842 after Bournonville was inspired by all that he saw of the village streets from his window during a visit to Napoli. Supposedly, in the past, the second act has been the audiences least favorite, and people would even use the time to go enjoy a drink at a café down the street. However, in this version, the second act has been entirely remade with brand new music by Louise Alenius and completely new choreography by the two directors. The misty, magical setting of the underwater grotto combined with the performances of the sea demon Golfo (played by Jean-Lucien Massot) and the other dancers and the new intense choreography breathe energy and excitement into the drama of almost lost and forgotten love. The stunningly beautiful costumes accentuate the natural forms of the dancers and enhance the ethereal nature of the movement.  Not having seen the original version, I cannot compare the two, but the new version is something I would be very sad to have missed

            The story itself is another reason the night was so enjoyable. One simply cannot help but enjoy a love story with a happy ending. The couple comes up against Teresina’s mother’s disapproval and judgment from the townspeople before going sailing together and being caught in a storm that leaves Teresina lost at sea and Gennaro blamed and heartbroken. When Gennaro ventures under the sea to find his love, she has been taken in by the sea demon Golfo and has forgotten her human life. Only with his music, a pendant necklace from their life together and a kiss is he able to awaken her memory. Even then they must fight for freedom and the chance to be together before they can journey back to the town of Napoli. There they find Teresina’s funeral in progress. After her mother and other family and friends have been assured that Teresina is still alive, they see the power of the young couples love and finally give their blessings.  The ballet ends in a great wedding celebration full of dancing from start to grand finale finish. The three acts were very different but I feel that, instead of making for an odd choppy show, they balanced each other out and made the performance a well rounded piece. I was so taken with the story and characters that each new surprise or twist simply added to my love of the story. I left with a great urge to visit Capri and see the town of Napoli for myself.



On Wednesday, my Danish Language Class went to the Danish Resistance Museum.

The history of Denmark's experience and reaction to the Nazi's in WW2 was displayed in a toughful detailed way that explained the governents and teh peopels reactions and tried to explain why they reacted this way and the pros and cons of the behavior. I dont want to get into a history lesson right now, but i do suggest googling Denmark and the nazi occupation if you want to know more. basically, the danish government compromised as long as possible with the nazi's in a effort to make things easier on the Danish people and keep the Danish gov in existence. there were resistence fighters (mostly young people who felt that the government was wrong and since they did not vote to elect the politicians they decided to take matters into their own hands). when the time came for the nazi's to turn against Denmarks Jews, the Danish people succeeded in helping the majority of teh danish jewish community to escape to Sweden before the roundup was started. the book, "Leeway Cottage", by Beth Gutcheon, tells a lot of this history in a story format. i only read a few chapters, but i thought it was really interesting ad want to finish it when i can.

practicum (working in the classroom with my kids),

finishing up a few more papers

and getting through my Danish class Oral midterm 

all had to be sqeezed in before my trave break could begin. 

I spent the last two weeks in

Vienna, Budapest, Prague and Amsterdam 

with very full days so the next blog will be a major one.

 it might take a while but only becasue i want to to be good :)