Vienna 2016

[vienvalz]

Back home is the US! This experience has been amazing and I'm never going to forget it. I'm sad that I had to leave Vienna, but being back home is really nice. We had to drive back from the airport through the snow and ice for two hours, but we made it!

[vienvalz]

Last day in Vienna! I finally went to the Albertina, an art museum I have seen almost every day this entire time. They had a lot of amazing paintings from famous painters, from Degas and Van Gogh here, to Andy Warhol. After that I went home and had the last meal with my host family. I haven't talked much about them, but they're super nice and their kids are great. It was a little weird to have tacos for my last night in Austria, but hey. It was good. After that, a few friends and I went ice skating for the last time. And I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of it, which kinda sucks. I am going to be sad leaving here, but it means that I'm going home, which is nice. And I fully intend to come back someday, so I'm not seeing for the last time. See you all soon!

[vienvalz]

This week we went to the Kunstkammer in the art history museum. It was the private collection of the Hapsburg rulers, and was brought together to the museum in 1891 from several separate locations. The amount of gold and other precious materials in these rooms was really incredible. Also, it's a bit late to do this, but I'm going to link to the blog of one of the other people in the group. He posts more than I do and has a nice camera so his pictures are actually good. You'll also learn a lot more about what we do and some of the trips we've been on grey280.net/blog/category/travel/austria

[vienvalz]

These are from two different places, but I thought I would combine them into one post because there's not enough for either to have their own. The first three pictures are from the Wien Museum. The two portraits are of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth. Franz Joseph ruled from 1848 to 1916. The country is celebrating his 100 death anniversary in the 21st of November. His wife, known more often as Sisi, is well-loved and has been the subject of numerous films and plays. She pops up literally everywhere. There was a cafe named after her in Krakow. Her Venice apartments were part of a museum she went to, there are pictures and and books and random things with her on it anywhere you go. The other pictures are of the Nationalbibliothek, the Austrian national library. It is in the Baroque style and was finished in 1723. It is absolutely gorgeous and I wanted to stay there forever and just live there.

[vienvalz]

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" George Santayana Today we visited Auschwitz. The day was beautiful, blue sky, the sun filtering through the fall leaves. Red brick buildings surrounded by green grass. The contrast between this and the way we all felt was very extreme. I cannot begin to explain how it felt. Mostly numbness. Passig under the gate, walking alongside the train tracks that millions passed through on the way to their deaths was...indescribable. The first camp, Auschwitz I, was the first place where we went. It is the site of the famous gate and Block 11. We were taken into several barracks, some with piles of prisoners' belonging, shoes, suitcases, glasses, and hair. We saw the few pictures that were taken of the camps, most by SA officers and a few by prisoners themselves.we passed through one of the first gas chambers, the design later taken to extreme lengths in the second camp, Birkenau. The second camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was immense. Most of it was actually torn down, with only a few barracks remaining standing. This is the place where the mass extermination took place, the sorting upon exiting the train, leaving behind belongings, and going to the 'disinfecting showers.' This size of this camp and the amount of people that passed through it is truly incomprehensible. Auschwitz was made a Memorial and a visiting site mainly at the demands of the survivors. As the plaque at the ruins of the Krematoriums states, "For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews, from various countries of Europe." Auschwitz needs to serve as a reminder for us. A reminder of what humanity is capable of, a reminder of what humanity has done. That we can never allow something like this to happen again, a mass extermination of people for believing in something different, for being of a different race. To speak out against ideas and the kind of thinking that will lead to things like this happening again.

[vienvalz]

Day one in Kraków! We took the night train and arrived at 7:30 am. We went on a tour though the old center marketplace and the castle, and saw some of the old university buildings. Kraków was never damaged during any wars, so there is still a large amount of medieval buildings.

[vienvalz]

Our day in Monaco! We stayed in Nice, France for two days, but we spent one of those in Monaco. We saw Monte Carlo, the prince's palace, the oceanography museum/aquarium, and the princess grace rose garden. Everything was amazingly gorgeous. We walked pretty much the entire length of the country, starting at Monte Carlo and working our way back to the part closest to Nice. We also walked past the Monaco Yacht Club on our way, which we looked through the windows and then promptly walked away because we were pretty sure we didn't have enough money to even look inside.

[vienvalz]

More Florence! This day, we went to the Leonardo da Vinci museum and the Uffizi Gallery. The Leonardo da Vinci museum was really cool, they had quite a few of his machines and inventions, several of which were interactive. You could actually move the pieces and see how they worked. There was also a room with copies of his paintings, some of which we saw later that day at the gallery. 

The Uffizi gallery was where we spent most our our day. It is the 25th most visited museum in the world, with almost 2 million visitors a year! My favorite part was the renaissance painters section, where we saw works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Botticelli. 

My pictures are horrible and do none there painting justice. 

[vienvalz]

I know that these pictures don't look real, but they are! We climbed to the top of the bell tower and the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. They were 414 and 463 steps respectively, but we did it. And the views were worth every single step.

[vienvalz]

Since I will never be able to post all of the pictures I am taking, I’ve decided to organize things into albums and just share the whole album! This is just the one from Vencie. And I will still be posting updates and the best pictures, I just thought it would be cool if people can see all the pictures I take. https://goo.gl/photos/5QAhvWDFqJXEC91y8

[vienvalz]

More Venice! We mainly did St. Marks Square this day. We saw the basilica, the Doge's palace, and several museums. The statue here is just one of many in the museums we saw. This one is of Icarus and Daedalus.

[vienvalz]

First batch of Venice pictures! Our first view of Venice was a foggy and eerily empty one. We took the night train from Vienna at 9:30 pm, and arrived in Venice at 8:30 am. By the time the fog had cleared, the city had woken up. And that also means the tourists. The amount of tourists in Venice was astounding. There are two pictures of/from famous bridges in this batch. The first (#5) is of the Rialto bridge, and the second (#6) is from the bridge of sighs. The bridge got its name from the sighs of prisoners being taken away as they got their last view of the city. The last picture is of the lagoon from our waterbus, heading back to the island where we were staying.

[vienvalz]

Pictures from our first day in Prague! These are from our first walking tour of the city, and tomorrow we go to the castle, a church, and the beautiful monastery library. The astronomical clock has been something I have wanted to see forever. It was amazing. We were at the square on the hour, so we got to see the 12 disciples statues go around the two windows at the top. The figures at the sides also move. The big church with the spires made it feel like we were in a fairy tale. I don't remember the name of it, but we are going tomorrow.

[vienvalz]

Pictures from Carnuntum! It is an ancient roman city that has been somewhat reconstructed. There are two houses, a small merchant's and a larger villa. One of the most amazing things was the completely reconstructed Roman bath. It's the only reconstruction was done with using original techniques to heat and move the water. The floor was also heated, which is what you can see in the picture with the broken floor. There was a fireplace at the side of the house, and the heated air flowed under the the floor through the gaps in the pillars. The interiors of the houses looked surprisingly modern. Except for the kitchen, it wasn't anything I wouldn't be surprised to find in a normal house.

[vienvalz]

Pictures from my visit to the Natural History musuem! I've gone there twice so far, because it's only 5€ for students and we didn't finish the first time. It has a lot of really cool things, the coolest of which, in my opinion, is the dinosaurs and the archaeology section. The museum is also the home of the Venus of Willendorf, which is the last picture, a 30,000 year old carving of a female figure. It was really cool to see something that I've read about in books in person.

[vienvalz]

Sorry I've been so behind on posting pictures! These are all of Schönbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburgs. It was gorgeous and unbelievably huge, the palace and grounds both. There is a zoo on grounds, which I will post pictures from soon.

[vienvalz]

More Salzburg photos! These are all from two churches in Salzburg, most from the baroque one, but the last two are stained glass from an older church.