Maria Theresa:
Mozarthaus:
Hofburg:
For Thanksgiving, we had a group dinner in Botín, a relatively fancy restaurant in Madrid. My host mom Cristina went and we met with Miky, the housing director who has become a friend of Cristina, and head over together. When we arrived at the restaurant, there were three tables with pretty strict divides between them: one with Marquette students and Reunidas professors, one with Georgetown students, Georgetown mentores, and recent Georgetown grads, and a third with Georgetown staff, Georgetown host mothers, and Georgetown alums. I was kind of sad because I had heard a lot about Concha, Ryan’s host mom, and Teresa, Allison’s host mom, and wanted to say more than hello before being shepherded to the kids table.
The dinner was pretty good, although there were no mashed potatoes so I was sad because that is the favorite part of when my mom cooks for Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve (P.S. I have a list of what I need to eat while I am home). We got to meet Edmundo’s 15-year-old host sister. After dinner, we went to a nearby site for some sangria. I got home at 2 a.m. My taxi for the airport for my trip to Vienna was coming at 4:30.
When my alarm went off in the morning, I thought I was dying. I hope my host family didn’t come in my room this weekend because everything was strewn all over the place, including an empty container of boxed wine.
I got to the airport and tried to sleep across some seats. Unsuccessful.
On the plane I was freezing cold, so I put my coat over me like a blanket. Then I spilled orange juice on myself in a way that at the time looked a lot like vomit. I had to stop in Munich, but by the time I got to Vienna I was in a pretty good mood. I found the bus I had to take to the city right away. It was too good to be true. Right before dropping us off at the Sudbahnhof, the bus passed the Belvedere, the first stop on my tour. I was pumped.
I rushed off the bus in the direction of the Belvedere only to realize that I had left my lovely and helpful guidebook and map on the bus. I tried not to be too sad as I made my way to the Belvedere. The Belvedere is a former palace turned museum that houses Gustav Klimt’s master work, The Kiss. I got scammed because the painting is in a special exhibition, so I had to pay for that too. I also had to pay to check my bag, twice, since the special exhibition is in a separate building. I decided to just grab something to eat in the museum café. I ordered a sandwich, but the waitress told me that would take too long and suggested that I order a pastry instead. I am not sure how that is possible, since the sandwich was just cold cuts, tomato, and cucumber. Instead I had a lovely pastry and a coffee with whipped cream, as is the Viennese way. I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m dying for having whole milk in my café con leche here in Madrid, let alone with whipped cream.
I asked how to walk from there to the Secession Building, since it had looked definitely walkable on my map, but the woman at the museum information desk told me to take the tram. I definitely rode without paying. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for when I got off at Opera, so I asked one of the ridiculously costumed men trying to sell me a ticket to a tourist concert. He told me that it was really far away, which was a lie, or maybe an honest mistake. Losing my guidebook and map really took the wind out of my sails. I am a very independent traveler and like to walk and do things on my own terms. I ended up buying a map in a tourist shop. The other customers were from Madrid and speaking in Spanish. It was great. I really did like that in Austria people talked to me in German (as opposed to in Spain where I feel like people can immediately tell that I am not Spanish and often just use English), but unfortunately, especially with the loss of my guidebook, my German vocabulary covered “yes,” “no,” “do you speak English,” and “thank you.” Infinitely bigger than my Czech vocabulary though.
Map in hand, I made my way to the Secession Building, home of Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze. It was cool to see but I was kind of underwhelmed. If only Mr. Page had been there to make me more fully appreciate it.
I then wandered to the MuseumsQuartier, where I went to the Leopold Museum, which also has a substantial Klimt collection. I left there at about 5 and was supposed to meet Kayleigh at MariaTheresien Platz, across the street at 6 so I debated going to the modern art museum for a bit. Instead, I followed the flashing lights and bumping music to a little seasonal bar where they were serving all kinds of warm drinks. I thought they were overcharging me by two euros, but that was actually the mug deposit. It’s a pretty good system.
I then crossed over to MariaTheresien Platz. With even a cursory understanding of European history, you know that Maria Theresa populated basically all the royal houses of Europe. The plaza was full of booths selling crafts and the like as well as warm drinks and food. I got another gluhwein and settled in to wait for Kayleigh. Then another. It became 6 and still no sign of Kayleigh. I saw a group that looked like it could be from CIEE Prague. I approached them (probably would not have happened without the gluhwein…) and received an affirmative response. The professor was leading a night tour for an hour or so and decided not to wait for Kayleigh and her friends. I didn’t have a phone, so I opted to go with the group and hopefully meet up with Kayleigh later at the hostel.
The professor was charming and at the end bought us all a…gluhwein. I head out with the group in search of food. We tried to find somewhere with inexpensive wiener schnitzel unsuccessfully and just bought gelato. We took the Metro to another area but were still unable to find anywhere to eat. Some people in the group decided to see Quantum of Solace, but I decided to head to the hostel and try to find Kayleigh. Two girls decided to go with me to make sure I made it back ok, which was really nice but not necessary. I checked in and found Kayleigh’s stuff but not Kayleigh. I went to McDonalds and bought a hamburger for a euro and a beer from a street vendor for a euro. It was a pretty solid meal. I was sitting in the hallway outside the room in the hostel enjoying my beer when Kayleigh came back. We decided to take the party downstairs to the little hostel bar. We ended up sharing iPod earbuds and singing loudly and getting people checking in to stare at us big time. We also saw on CNN that a Walmart employee was trampled to death in New York, which registers much higher on the horror scale for me for some reason than the terror attacks in Mumbai.
My plans for Saturday were to see Mozart and Beethoven’s houses, enjoy a traditional café, and perhaps see a palace if time allowed.
We headed out to Mozart’s house. We weren’t sure about whether or not we should enter, but we figured it could be our only trip to Vienna so we might as well. The cost of admission covered the audioguide, which, as it turns out, was excessive. Mozart lived in an apartment on the first floor, but today the whole four-story building is a museum. I would have greatly preferred that the museum was smaller but had a more compact collection of artifacts and such. Maybe the audioguide would have fascinated me if I were Patrick ;)
From there we headed to Beethoven’s house. Maybe. From my guidebook I had written down three addresses for Beethoven and had looked all of them up on Google map. Two were far from the city center, so we went to the third address. Without the guidebook, I wasn’t able to check that there was actually some sort of attraction. You would think that there would be a plaque or something at the very least. Thus frustrated, Jax and I set out for MariaTheresien Platz, where we were supposed to meet Kayleigh and Emily at 1 p.m. For dinner, we found a nice little restaurant on a side street. I ordered wiener schnitzel, which as it turns out is just breaded pork. At least I can say that I’ve tried it.
Then we went to Christkindlmarkt, the biggest Christmas market in Vienna. Jax and I stopped in a café on the way back and had coffee and pastry, which was probably one of the highlights of the trip to Vienna.
The Vienna airport is weird. You check in, then are technically supposed to flash your boarding pass to get into an area full of shops and cafes, although the checker didn’t seem too concerned. Then you have to go through security right before accessing your gate or a few gates, which means that you can’t just get there well in advance of your flight and just chill, which is my airport habit.
Back in Madrid, I found out on Monday that my friend Allison has a rash that her doctor attributed to an allergic reaction to bedbug larvae. I have some very itchy bite-like things on my leg and a rash on my arms and a little on my neck. I am very concerned that it is from bedbugs but there is an excellent chance that it is psychosomatic. I don’t think there are actual physical bedbugs here with me in Madrid. If you get bitten you would know it. I have two types of intense itch relief lotions with me already (thanks, Mom), so hopefully those will do the trick.
Basically I am just kind of relieved to be back in Madrid for a while before home and the grand UK adventure with Patrick (don’t tell Mom about the possible bedbugs, she will cancel London!!!). I also need to start being a student again. Today I had a midterm in my Reunidas Spanish Painting in the Prado class. I didn’t study perhaps as much as I should have (I am no longer able to focus or study, it’s really bad). I also went to the library to get some books for my Hispano-American literature paper. I miss libraries, even gross university ones.
The dinner was pretty good, although there were no mashed potatoes so I was sad because that is the favorite part of when my mom cooks for Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve (P.S. I have a list of what I need to eat while I am home). We got to meet Edmundo’s 15-year-old host sister. After dinner, we went to a nearby site for some sangria. I got home at 2 a.m. My taxi for the airport for my trip to Vienna was coming at 4:30.
When my alarm went off in the morning, I thought I was dying. I hope my host family didn’t come in my room this weekend because everything was strewn all over the place, including an empty container of boxed wine.
I got to the airport and tried to sleep across some seats. Unsuccessful.
On the plane I was freezing cold, so I put my coat over me like a blanket. Then I spilled orange juice on myself in a way that at the time looked a lot like vomit. I had to stop in Munich, but by the time I got to Vienna I was in a pretty good mood. I found the bus I had to take to the city right away. It was too good to be true. Right before dropping us off at the Sudbahnhof, the bus passed the Belvedere, the first stop on my tour. I was pumped.
I rushed off the bus in the direction of the Belvedere only to realize that I had left my lovely and helpful guidebook and map on the bus. I tried not to be too sad as I made my way to the Belvedere. The Belvedere is a former palace turned museum that houses Gustav Klimt’s master work, The Kiss. I got scammed because the painting is in a special exhibition, so I had to pay for that too. I also had to pay to check my bag, twice, since the special exhibition is in a separate building. I decided to just grab something to eat in the museum café. I ordered a sandwich, but the waitress told me that would take too long and suggested that I order a pastry instead. I am not sure how that is possible, since the sandwich was just cold cuts, tomato, and cucumber. Instead I had a lovely pastry and a coffee with whipped cream, as is the Viennese way. I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m dying for having whole milk in my café con leche here in Madrid, let alone with whipped cream.
I asked how to walk from there to the Secession Building, since it had looked definitely walkable on my map, but the woman at the museum information desk told me to take the tram. I definitely rode without paying. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for when I got off at Opera, so I asked one of the ridiculously costumed men trying to sell me a ticket to a tourist concert. He told me that it was really far away, which was a lie, or maybe an honest mistake. Losing my guidebook and map really took the wind out of my sails. I am a very independent traveler and like to walk and do things on my own terms. I ended up buying a map in a tourist shop. The other customers were from Madrid and speaking in Spanish. It was great. I really did like that in Austria people talked to me in German (as opposed to in Spain where I feel like people can immediately tell that I am not Spanish and often just use English), but unfortunately, especially with the loss of my guidebook, my German vocabulary covered “yes,” “no,” “do you speak English,” and “thank you.” Infinitely bigger than my Czech vocabulary though.
Map in hand, I made my way to the Secession Building, home of Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze. It was cool to see but I was kind of underwhelmed. If only Mr. Page had been there to make me more fully appreciate it.
I then wandered to the MuseumsQuartier, where I went to the Leopold Museum, which also has a substantial Klimt collection. I left there at about 5 and was supposed to meet Kayleigh at MariaTheresien Platz, across the street at 6 so I debated going to the modern art museum for a bit. Instead, I followed the flashing lights and bumping music to a little seasonal bar where they were serving all kinds of warm drinks. I thought they were overcharging me by two euros, but that was actually the mug deposit. It’s a pretty good system.
I then crossed over to MariaTheresien Platz. With even a cursory understanding of European history, you know that Maria Theresa populated basically all the royal houses of Europe. The plaza was full of booths selling crafts and the like as well as warm drinks and food. I got another gluhwein and settled in to wait for Kayleigh. Then another. It became 6 and still no sign of Kayleigh. I saw a group that looked like it could be from CIEE Prague. I approached them (probably would not have happened without the gluhwein…) and received an affirmative response. The professor was leading a night tour for an hour or so and decided not to wait for Kayleigh and her friends. I didn’t have a phone, so I opted to go with the group and hopefully meet up with Kayleigh later at the hostel.
The professor was charming and at the end bought us all a…gluhwein. I head out with the group in search of food. We tried to find somewhere with inexpensive wiener schnitzel unsuccessfully and just bought gelato. We took the Metro to another area but were still unable to find anywhere to eat. Some people in the group decided to see Quantum of Solace, but I decided to head to the hostel and try to find Kayleigh. Two girls decided to go with me to make sure I made it back ok, which was really nice but not necessary. I checked in and found Kayleigh’s stuff but not Kayleigh. I went to McDonalds and bought a hamburger for a euro and a beer from a street vendor for a euro. It was a pretty solid meal. I was sitting in the hallway outside the room in the hostel enjoying my beer when Kayleigh came back. We decided to take the party downstairs to the little hostel bar. We ended up sharing iPod earbuds and singing loudly and getting people checking in to stare at us big time. We also saw on CNN that a Walmart employee was trampled to death in New York, which registers much higher on the horror scale for me for some reason than the terror attacks in Mumbai.
My plans for Saturday were to see Mozart and Beethoven’s houses, enjoy a traditional café, and perhaps see a palace if time allowed.
We headed out to Mozart’s house. We weren’t sure about whether or not we should enter, but we figured it could be our only trip to Vienna so we might as well. The cost of admission covered the audioguide, which, as it turns out, was excessive. Mozart lived in an apartment on the first floor, but today the whole four-story building is a museum. I would have greatly preferred that the museum was smaller but had a more compact collection of artifacts and such. Maybe the audioguide would have fascinated me if I were Patrick ;)
From there we headed to Beethoven’s house. Maybe. From my guidebook I had written down three addresses for Beethoven and had looked all of them up on Google map. Two were far from the city center, so we went to the third address. Without the guidebook, I wasn’t able to check that there was actually some sort of attraction. You would think that there would be a plaque or something at the very least. Thus frustrated, Jax and I set out for MariaTheresien Platz, where we were supposed to meet Kayleigh and Emily at 1 p.m. For dinner, we found a nice little restaurant on a side street. I ordered wiener schnitzel, which as it turns out is just breaded pork. At least I can say that I’ve tried it.
Then we went to Christkindlmarkt, the biggest Christmas market in Vienna. Jax and I stopped in a café on the way back and had coffee and pastry, which was probably one of the highlights of the trip to Vienna.
The Vienna airport is weird. You check in, then are technically supposed to flash your boarding pass to get into an area full of shops and cafes, although the checker didn’t seem too concerned. Then you have to go through security right before accessing your gate or a few gates, which means that you can’t just get there well in advance of your flight and just chill, which is my airport habit.
Back in Madrid, I found out on Monday that my friend Allison has a rash that her doctor attributed to an allergic reaction to bedbug larvae. I have some very itchy bite-like things on my leg and a rash on my arms and a little on my neck. I am very concerned that it is from bedbugs but there is an excellent chance that it is psychosomatic. I don’t think there are actual physical bedbugs here with me in Madrid. If you get bitten you would know it. I have two types of intense itch relief lotions with me already (thanks, Mom), so hopefully those will do the trick.
Basically I am just kind of relieved to be back in Madrid for a while before home and the grand UK adventure with Patrick (don’t tell Mom about the possible bedbugs, she will cancel London!!!). I also need to start being a student again. Today I had a midterm in my Reunidas Spanish Painting in the Prado class. I didn’t study perhaps as much as I should have (I am no longer able to focus or study, it’s really bad). I also went to the library to get some books for my Hispano-American literature paper. I miss libraries, even gross university ones.
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