Vienna and first impressions of Prague

Sorry for the long delay in updating! Since I already have all of this written down in my journal, I think I may just copy little tidbits about my time in Vienna down for y'all!

9/24/07:
After a looonnnnnggggg bus ride, we're here in Vienna and I am SO PUMPED! I'm in the music capital of the WORLD! AND I get to see my parents tomorrow!! Being on the bus for 16 hours really wasn't as bad as I anticipated, and my first impression of Vienna was that I love it. A lot. I'm excited for what the rest of the time in this city has in store for me.

9/25/07:
I LOVE this city. For some reason it reminds me of Christmas. Is that weird? I know its so completely random, but walking around the city today made me think of Christmas and the WBCC program and snow and home, and I got pretty excited.

We had class this morning and a walking tour of the city, led by none other than our wonderful professors. We ended the tour with a group dinner and I got to eat Wienerschnitzel. It really isn't that exciting, but the name is just so much fun. There was a ripple of fear across the group at first that they were serving us fish, but everything turned out okay and no one had any flashbacks to the Bosnian fish incident. After dinner mom and dad got here! I am so happy and excited to have them here.

9/26/07:
This morning we went to the Vienna International Center (the VIC), which is the Vienna office of the UN. We got a tour of part of the building (in all of its 1970s decorated glory) and then had a lecture by a woman from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Association (agency?)). She talked a lot about the increasing amounts of nuclear power as a fuel source, and the resulting jobs of the agency she works for. One of the most interesting things she talked about was the current situation in Iran, and how that is affecting her office. She was very adamant that we understand that the IAEA are not weapons inspectors, but are advocates of the correct use of nuclear power. It was a really intersting lecture, especially since we had been talking about nuclear energy and other alternate fuels during class. It was a great experience, and it was really cool to get to go inside a UN building.

After that we went to (yet another!) art museum, and then I got to spend the rest of the day with my parents. We took a few of my friends out to dinner, which was great, and then we (the students, not my parents) went to see The Barber of Seville at the Vienna National Opera House. It was quite the experience, and really entertaining, since I had one of the 4 worst seats in the house. I could literally see 1/23 of the stage (that may be an approximation, but I think its pretty close to reality.) and I found myself watching the shadows on side stage to figure out what was going on. However, the music was amazing, and the opera house is beautiful, so I was glad to be be there.

9/27/07:
Today we went to the Heiligenstadt house, which was the house Beethoven lived in when he was going deaf. It had some memorabilia from his life, including a lock of his hair (!!!) and some original pieces of music, which were so incredible. I don't think that, if you have any sort of appreciation for music, you could be in that house and not be in awe. After that I spent the rest of the day with my parents - going to dinner and just walking around enjoying the beauty of the city.

9/28/07:
I met up with my parents after class and we went to the Belveder Palace - one of the big palaces in Vienna that is now an art museum. It was the palace of prince Eugene a long time ago, so there is a lot of historical significance, and it is a truly beautiful building. There are great gardens, too, so I was happy to see some green :). After that we went to dinner and then I said goodbye to my parents.

9/29/07:
Today was a beautiful day! We drove to Melk Abbey, about 1 1/2 hours outside of Vienna. It is a fully functional Benedictine monastary with paret of the building now as a museum. It was really different - the monks encourage the display of modern art, so its really unique inside. One room is lit with blue light - the color of spirituality - and the word "hore" (listen) is projected on to the wall. Another room is green - the color of nature - and its all about the development of the monastary. My favorite parts, though, were the library and the church. The library was amazing just because it was packed full of dusty, old, wonderful-smelling books. The church was ornate almost to the point of gaudiness, but it was still beautiful, somehow. What was really cool about the chruch, though, was that we got to sing a hymn inside. After a picnice lunch in the cloister garden, we had a river cruise down the Danube. It was SO beautiful - we couldn't have gotten better weather. The leaves are just starting to change and the sun was shining - amazing.

10/1/07:
Now I am here in Prague, and so far I am loving it! Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day - church and vespers and getting ready to leave. Overall, Vienna was a wonderful, heartachy kind of place. Something about it reminded me of home - it made me excited for the home times to com and the reunions and joy and the comfort.

Prague shows signs of being amazing, and our incredible penthouse suite has free internet, so hopefully I will be updating more frequently.

all my love...