Pictures Posted

Soccer mania/An American girl in Paris

To Bern

After the last entry, Dad and I went for a walk around Vienna.  We walked up our street, to the water, and then around the walking area behind Hofburg.  We snacked a little bit, and mostly just watched people, but one thing we did was go inside the Stephansdom, the large cathedral in that area.  It was having a special show, the cdolumns in the cathedral were all lit in blue, and there were white panels all over the cathedral, especially forming a trianglur figure over the high alter.  On the panels between the nave and the aisles were projected pictures of people's faces.  I asked what it was, and the guy said that they were taking pictures of people out on the street, and projecting them onto the white screens.  The screens on the high alter was an angel, with the other screens as its wings.  The point was that everyone could be someone's angel.  I will post pictures, it was beautiful.

Thursday we got up and went to the baker's across the street.  We bought bread for our trip and a chocolate filled crossiant.  Then off to the train station and Bern.  In Bern, we are meeting up with Werner and his family.  Werner was a forgein exchange student that stayed with my family when my dad was young.  We visited him the first time I went to Europe, and he offered to host us this time too.  Werner has two kids, who are about me and my brother's age. 

So Werner picked us up from the train station and brought us to his house.  We had a great dinner, salad and penne pasta with pesto made from the basil in his garden.  Yasmine joined us, but Miro was working. 

In the morning, we had breakfast with Werner and Miro, and then we headed into the city.  We took the long way, along the river.  Werner is a great tour guide, he pointed out all the important sites along the way, including the Münster (the cathedral in Bern), the Zytglogge (an astronomical clock, very similar to the one we saw in Prague), and the bear pits.  Bern was named after the bears, as the founder of Bern said he would name the town after the first animal he killed there, and on the banks of the river he killed a bear.  The bear pits weren't as bad as I thought they would be, they had a lot of trees and were pretty big.  Yasmine and Miro switched, about halfway through our tour, Miro leaving and Yasmine joining us.  We walked the streets a bit and then went to the Kornhaus for lunch- can you guess what it used to be?  A granary, and it is now converted into a beautiful resturant. 

After that, Dad and I found ATMs for cash, bought chocolates to take home, and then I stopped at the train station to buy my next ticket.  Dad and Yasmine went back to Werner's, while Werner and I went to Kunstmuseum, where there was a special exhibit on Ferdinand Holder.  Lots and lots of paintings, mostly landscapes.We went back to Werner's, and got ready to go out for dinner.  We took the train to Thum (which is a lake Holder painted a lot), and did a dinner cruise along the lake.  The boat was beautiful, and it was actually a passenger ferry too.  It stuck close to the shore around the lake, constantly stopping to let people on or off.  Dad and I both had fantastic lamb for dinner, and then we just enjoyed the boat ride. It was a sidewheeler, and the engine was out for everyone to look at - it was a marvel.  I took video, I'll try to post it.

Back in Bern, Dad and Werner dropped me off at a bar called Propeller, where I sat for a while.  I saw a couple of weird drinks, one was where a glass with a shot of absinthe (which is legal here) has a slotted spoon placed over it, with a sugar cube on it (at least I think it was sugar).  Then water was poured over it, and the sugar cube dissolved into the drink.  Then it was set on fire.  I only think it was water, because it was in a big pitcher that they didn't finish - I don't think people would leave alcohol on the bar, as expensive as it is.  Anyway, Miro found me, and we went out onto the streets to the 'lookout point' in Miro's words.  Also in Miro's words - Bern is a city in soccer fever.  The European Soccer Championship is in Basel, Switzerland this weekend, and it is crazy.  We have seen fans everywhere, especially on the train coming in.  Everything is decorated for Euro 2008, as they call it.  So Werner and Miro explained that the games are very expensive, and most tickets are given to companies, while very few are sold to the public (for about 300 dollars).  But, in each city is a party, with concerts and a large screen broadcasting the game.  So Miro and I went to the lookout point, which was the entrance to the concert, where you could see the stage without going in.  Yasmine found us there, and her and I went to a bar called Nordsüd, for a few drinks, and then to a bar called Cuba, which was kind of a club.  Lots of salsa dancing, etc.  We met up with some of Yasmine's friends, and I think I spent the rest of the night talking more in Spanish then in English (Yasmine speaks English, French, German, Spanish, and Swiss-German).  We went to Yasmine's place for a snack, and then Yasmine took me home.

This morning Dad and Werner left for a hiking trip, and an overnight stay in a lodge somewhere, so I am here by myself, but Yasmine is acting as my guide.  She is on her way over to take me into town, so I should be going.  Auf Widersehen!

Two days in Vienna

After waking up on Tuesday, we headed towards central Vienna.  We stopped at the Albertina Museum, which had various collections of art from Impressionists, to Neoimpressionists, to cubists and surealists.  A couple of Monets and Cezannes like usual.  Next we headed to the riding school.  On the way, we say the memorial to Mozart.  Turns out the Lipizzaner Museum at the Spanish Riding school is closed, so Dad and I bought tickets to see the morning workout on Wednesday. 

Wer had lunch at a place called Vapilino's, which is a chain restruant (I'd seen one in Berlin).  They give you a card, and you go to different stations to get what you want and they keep track on your card. I ordered a pizza with serano ham, figs, homey, mozzarela and tomatoes.  It was good.  I also had 2 glasses of Reisling, which was very good.  The only bad thing was that I put red pepper on the pizza.  It wasn't just red pepper, it was Cayenne, so Dad and I had to put up with burning our mouths for a bit.  Good thing i didnt put it on the whole pizza.

Next we found the Naschmarkt, which was really cool.  Stall after stall of spices, exotic fruit, dried fruit, and anitpasta everwhere.  I took some pictures.  Dad and I got food for a picnic dinner later.

Back at the hotel, I used the internet and Dad napped.  When I went back upstairs Dad got on the computer and encouraged me to go for a walk.  So I read in my guide book that Karlskirche (a church) was open till 7. I got there at 5 30, and they told me it closed at 6.  So I went in search of a bookstore instead.  Seeing as how we have 10 hours on a train Thursday, I was going to need some reading material.  I had told Dad to meet me in front of the Karlskirche at 6 30, and I had no luck finding a bookstore.   However, when Dad met me, he said he'd gotten us some wine to go with dinner, and had found a wine bar and a bookstore.  So, Dad and I had dinner in the Karlsplatz (Kalr's Plaza).  We had:

Cheese stuffed peppers
mini-eightball squash stuffed with cheese and almonds
capers (which are ENORMOUS here)
pickled garlic
stuffed grape leaves
artichokes stuffed with cheese and olives
cheese logs wrapped in eggplant
babaganoush

We didn't finish it all.  Dad also treated to some exotic fruit.  I'll have to post a picture cause I have no idea what half of them were.  There were definitely lichis, dragon fruit, and figs.  The figs were great - huge and ripe.

We packed up the rest and walked to the bookstore.  It was closed, but we noted the times.  As we walk home, we run into the wine bar Dad had seen earlier, called Wiener Blut.  It's small, like 10 people there at a time.  But everyone spoke varying degrees of english, and soon we were pretty popular.  The bartender was Walter, who was the front singer of a band that shared a name with the bar.  The people in the bar gave us plenty of recommendations for things to do in Vienna.

Now, it's wednesday.  We started by going to the Spanish Riding School.  There are 2 hours of training, with 4 different sections.  So 6 horses were in the arena at a time.  They rode for a half hour, and then new horses and riders came in.  It was nice to watch, but not what I'd been expecting.  I was hoping to see more difficult manuvers, but most of it was stuff I know how to do.  Next we went to the Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments.  The Silver Collection was an exhibit on all the tableware used throughout the Hapsburg dynasty.  Some of it was really elaborate and beuaitful.  The Sisi Museum was about the Emepress Elisabeth, who was a little odd for a ruler.  She was nuerotic about her weight, and had a very strick regiment of diet and excersise.  She also rode horses and fenced, while completely ignoring her royal duties.  She was very dark - always wishing for death and hating her royal life.  The Imperial Apartments were the home of both Emperess Elizabeth and her husband, Emporer Franz Joseph.

Lunchtime on Naglergasse, at a resturant called something like hfierz.  It was pretty good. Then some shopping.  The whole area behind the Hofburg complex is pedestrian streets, which were very nice.   

Finally we went to Karlskirche, the church built by Emperor Karl VI after the plague left Vienna for the second time.  It is enormous and beautiful.  The best part was that they are retouching the frescoes in the cupola, so they have scaffolding up, but they allow you to go up to the base of the dome (via elevator!) and then climb stairs to the very top of the cuploa.  You can almost touch the walls of the dome as you climb, and then you get a panoramic view of Vienna.  The High Alter is also really fascinating.  It may be one of the best churches I've been in.

Now, Dad is napping, and I am going to take the time to shower.  We're going to eat leftovers from the picnic yesterday - we have alot of capers and garlic left, plus some grape leaves and babaganoush.  With wine of course...

3 Down, 3 to go

Today we arrived in Vienna.  Im going to amke this quick cause we didn't do a whole lot.  Basically we found our hoetl (took a while) then headed out to eat (got lost).  We ate at a great place with a patio (will get name later).  We sat next to a guy who was local, but was in architecture school here.  He spoke great English, so I asked him what exactly Wiener Schnitzel was.  Well I thought it was a kinda of sausage, but it's actually a viennesse classic of pounded veal, breaded and fried.  It was served with a fruit sauce - one menu called it cranberries, one menu said lindonberries.  Either way it was good.  Dad has a ginormous peice of ham leg, which was for two, so he packed what he didnt eat up and we will have it with breakfast.  We stopped at a grocery store and got bread, salami, pate, and some cheese, all for breakfast tomorrow.  We will have to refresh - if you dont get bread in the morning, its all gone later in the day. 

Anyway, we have 2 full days in Vienna, and then we leave for Bern Thursday.  We travel all day (9 40 to 7 30), which stinks, but gives me an excuse to buy more books.  Dad thinks I should ship somethings home, including used guidebooks and gifts.  We'll see. 

Bed time now...or at least a shower and some music in bed.

Night.