STOP! In the name of Vienna

On our way to Vienna we a made a pitstop in Salzburg (think Sound of Music.) It was a larger town up in in the Alps and despite the rainy weather it was lovely. We got the chance to enter a famed music school known worldwide, Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, and view their concert hall. The performance hall is very different from anything I have ever seen, many musicians come from across the world to perform here and we even got to witness a few impromptu performances. Doe, a deer a female deer; Ray, a drop of golden sunnnn. Our first evening in Vienna we went to the coolest bar I think I have ever been too. Sixth floor, double height ceilings and windows, small, chic, dj, with the best view of St. Stephan's Cathedral and last but not least a french connection in my hand (yummmy!) A few of the things we saw on Tuesday are the Bahnorama tower: a wooden structure offering an EPIC view of the city like no other. Its on the site for the new train station coming up in Vienna and also one of the biggest construction sites in Europe. The Danau City Kirche is located in UN City and is a modern church that basically gave birth to the city that is growing now. That evening we went to a typical Austrian restuarant in the country side, despite the fact that it took an hour of standing in a line to get my food and it was microwaved, I did end up having to sit with the professors and they did keep filling up my wine glass and I did get silly drunk for free (DEFINITELY MOST IMPROVED NIGHT SO FAR) On Wednesday we took a walking tour of the city and it became very noticeable how much older of a city Vienna is compared to Munich. Half way through our tour we passed by the Spanishe Hofreitschule, the home of the famous Lipizzaner horses. We got really lucky and got to see them being walked out of their stables through the building and it was the highlight of my day. Today, our last day in Vienna, we visited Karl's Kirche which was under reconstruction but the scaffolding was open to the public to go up into the dome of the church and despite the shakyness of the structure it was cool to be able to be at arms length away from the ceiling and get such a good luck at the paintings. We ended our day with a trip to the National Library of Vienna, which was started by one of the illegitamate sons of the kings due to his massive collection of books. It was a beautiful library and as odd as it may sound I instantly was reminded of Beauty and Beast when I walked in. My time in Vienna has been great, but I am so ready to get to know Prague.

FROM VIENNA (AUSTRIA), WITH LOVE GRACE

Auf Wiedersehen Munich

Today was my last day in Munich. Tomorrow we are off to Vienna with a stop in Salzburg for a few hours. About the last 2 days: on Friday we visited a beautifully done modern catholic church Jesus Kirche it had the most amazing blue ceramic glazing on the front facade in the pattern of nails (which one would never guess from afar) and we also went to the Soccer Stadium which has an awesome curtain wall. I would not usually be excited to see a Soccer Stadium, but ever since February I've taken up a serious interest in the sport. On Saturday we saw two buildings done by Herzog and de Meuron, one a mall FUNF HOFE created from existing building in which five courts were designed and used as a way to unite the center, the other a museum similar to the MATTRESS FACTORY in Pittsburgh which depending on your taste in art that could be a good thing or a bad thing. And Today we spent our day at the museums of Pinakothek, the first an older one which was bombed during WWII had a great facade because parts ruined from the war were reconstructed in a brick. The second housed modern work, they had exhibits on chairs, antiques, sculptures, paintings and an architecture hall with AMAZING building models. The last Museum Brandhorst had a very COLORFUL exterior and had mostly paintings full of vibrant colors from much newer artists. Till Tomorrow!


FROM MUNICH (GERMANY), WITH LOVE GRACE