The Vienna Trip Part 6-Actually Vienna!

 Finally, Vienna! After several adventures, I finally get to my final destination. Unfortunately my camera died, so these were taken with my phone. Crappy pictures are better than no pictures at all, right? Anyways, and I stand on the trolly, shooting through the Ring Streets I got a glimpse of this ancient city and the high class aura that surrounded it.

 With multiple tours came a realization that I can remember the layout of cities and streets very well. I explored many different parts of Vienna, and some specific places will be touched on in the next posts. This picture shows one of the many churches littered around Vienna.

This building sports the Austrian crest, a double headed osprey. I think this is the parliament building, but I am not for sure. So many buildings had elaborate designs and pillars that "fancy" was the common building style at the turn of the century.

Even on the top of some regular building is the sign of a bright age past. This huge angel just stands up there, marking a building of no real importance.

The famous Ring Streets featured these wide walkways that were used in the 19th century primarily for showing off your newest poofy dress or mustache. They really add to the charm of Vienna, but were constructed for more than just looks. With the addition of these wide walkways, it made it harder to barricade off routes (which had happened before).

This is the entrance to the Hapsburg Palace. The center of the Hapsburg Empire was here in Vienna, and the castle was huge. This picture only shows 1/6th of what I saw. The Empire eventually falls around WWI, but left remnants of its glory behind.

This was just one of the exits of the Palace. I thought it looked cool. :)

The Vienna Trip Part 2-Regensburg

My second stop on my trip to Vienna was Regensburg, one of the only cities not damaged in WWII. Upon exiting the train station, I was greeted by a lovely fountain with a statue of some guy on top. I don't know the history behind this, but it was sure pretty! After a little navigation I located my hostel and set out to see historic Regensburg.

The first thing I found was an ancient church, but photography was prohibited so no pictures from that. I found the second church of Regensburg, which is shown below. This monster of a church can be seen over buildings and isn't very hard to locate. Unfortunately, because Regensburg is an old town there are no main roads, just a bunch of alleys. I tried to relocate my hostel and ended up at this church three different times.

Even though they were very frustrating to navigate, the alleys were very pretty and housed many shops to visit. My favorite shop by far was the hat shop, seen on the right side of the picture...

So many wonderful hats! Very expensive hats, but wonderful, elegant hats that I would love to bring home! It was around $100 per hat...I was ok with this. I didn't buy anything, but I think I should have. Hats!

Of course I ran around in the alleys, taking pictures of the old fashioned charm. I have no idea what "Kuss" is, but it looked cool. I may have gotten lost, but I really enjoyed it. I wish my hostel was in the area around the church and not next to a bunch of gothic clothes shops and pot joints. 

I asked the receptionist at the hostel about a good place to eat. She recommended Da Luigi, which was located by the church. I was told to look for a small alley on the left of a certain road. It took me half an hour and several trips up and down the road to find the alley. It was so small I had to turn sideways to get in. Once past the main entrance the alley widened to reveal Da Luigi. The food was delicious and the waitress was very nice. She wanted to practice her English skills with me, a common occurrence in Europe. After one night's stay in Regensburg, I headed to the third stop in my trip...

The Vienna Trip Part 1-Wurtzburg

For my Vienna and Modernity course my class was required to head to Vienna for half a week. Starting on Friday we had until Wednesday to get to our Viennese hostel. I took the chance to do a little traveling through Germany and Austria beforehand. Interestingly enough, there were several groups formed for traveling before also, but they included expensive Italian hostels and other things out of my budget, sooo...I traveled alone until Salzburg, where I planned to meet up with one other student. With itinerary in hand, I set out on my solo adventure.

My first planned stop was Wurtzburg, a town full of castles, churches, and a statue bridge. It sounded like a cool place to stay, and I was right. My hostel was on the other side of town, so I was able to get a glimpse of everything before I settled in. I wandered down the quaint little streets happily, my only goal to find the river. My hostel laid on the other side of the river...somewhere.

Everything was cute! 

I eventually found the bridge, but not before annoying everyone as I drug my suitcase across cobblestone (thump-thump-thump-thump). The bridge was one of the prettiest things I have seen since I have been to Europe. The scene was set by an accordion player who played his lovely tunes as I wandered dumbstruck over the bridge. The scene was helped by the huge castle sitting on the hill. Yes.

The small red building at the end of this street is a wine joint that opens up only at night. You can pay 8 euros for a glass of wine and a poker chip. You return the chip with the glass to get 6 euros back. This was they can cover costs for lost glasses.

This looks even better at night when they light it up.

I was able to make enough awkward hand gestures for the German man who took this to understand I wanted a picture.

As I got closer to my hostel, I realized I would be right under the castle and not too far from the bridge. Right below the castle were vineyards. So. Pretty!

Unfortunately I didn't get to go to the castle. :(

So, I settled into my hostel room and decided to explore more! I went back across the bridge to see the famously pretty churches. One was medieval, one was renaissance, and the other appeared...uh, red. I have no clue.

The red one shown above also had an interesting archway above the main entrance. Jesus with swords in his mouth? Wow, that's....odd.

???

As night fell, I wandered back to the bridge to enjoy a glass of wine from the previously mentioned wine joint. It was beautiful. The castle was lit up along with the church steeples, the lights reflecting on the water, the small street band playing music. People everywhere, enjoying wine and life. It was wonderful...Until the very drunk German guy threw his arm around me and offered me free alcohol. When I said I wasn't interested he proceeded to ask me on a date for the following night...No thanks.

 

I walked back to the hostel, happy with how the night had gone. I met a girl in the lobby from a nearby American college. Back to the bridge! She got a glass of wine and we walked around to the churches. We stumbled across this chalk street art when a second German guy threw his arm around me. Apparently this one was having his bachelor party and wanted some girls to come along...No thanks. :\ After a night at the hostel I got up and headed back to the train station to head to stop #2...

I hope it never rains, or else this is going to be lost forever :(

The Lovely German Town of Trier!

On one of the trips organized by the school took us to Trier, which is right over the German border. This town was first created by the Romans, which then gave way to the medieval times, and then to present day. This means that Trier has tiers, and every times someone excavates in order to build Roman artifacts are found. Trier also sports several large Roman ruins, some larger than the ones found in Rome! For example, here is the ruins of the largest Roman bathhouse.

 Apparently Italy isn't too thrilled with such a ruin belonging to Germany.

This bathhouse is very well preserved and is featured on the opposite side of the courtyard. The courtyard, surrounded by well trimmed hedges and white statues, opens up to reveal the wonderful pink mansion built by an archbishop. Behind this mansion is a Roman Basilica built with thin bricks. The scene is odd because the two buildings class, but its so cool to see so much history in such a small area!

 Mmmmmyes

Once I approached the house the wonderful details began to become clear. The house is covered in gold accents and beautiful statues. The building has now been turned into an office building, which I suppose is...ok but I really wish it had become a museum. 

Right behind the archbishop's mansion is the Roman basilica. Not only is it huge, it is also in impressively good shape. It is now a christian church/museum that still uses the Roman heating system built into the church. It is very hard to believe that this building wasn't made in the past 200 years, that is how good of shape it is in.

Because the archbishop lived in Trier, he had to have a church. What ended up happening is the archbishop took the old medieval church and updated it by sticking a newer styled church on the side. When the shroud of Christ was "found," a new Italian church was stuck onto the back of the previous two. Its very...interesting looking. 

 Here is the inside. You can "see" the shroud of Christ in the very, very back.

Once you walk a little further, you run into the shopping district of Trier. The whole street is pedestrian only, and all the buildings look like they come from a kid's book. It is wonderful. The shopping is cheaper in Germany, so I try to come back here whenever I can. Its only 6 euros. :)

 

 The third Roman ruin in Trier is the Black Gate. It was once the entrance to the Roman city and was a sandstone color, but all the pollution has turned it's patina black. The black coat actually helps preserve the sandstone, so it is never removed. Oh, and back in the old days some old guy climbed into one of the rooms and refused to come out for 5 years. People fed him through a hole in the top of the room, and he spent the whole time praying. I guess after 5 years he came out and became a saint.

 

 The Black Gate was made into a church after the saint crawled out, but when Napoleon came through he freed the Gate. He was a huge fan of the Romans and wanted to see the Gate in all of its glory.

 Oh, and only a stone throw away from the Black Gate is Karl Marx's childhood home. The only thing to indicate this is the small plaque under the window. The lower portion of the home is now a Euroshop, the European equivalent to a Dollar General. 

Orval Abbey

On September 2nd I traveled with a group of Miami students to the Orval Abbey, a catholic abbey in Belgium. I  could not stop singing "The Sound of Music."

It only looked modest from the outside. Once you got past the main gate the abbey transformed into a huge, well manicured courtyard. It was very impressive, but not very humble for monks oddly enough.

Anyways, as the tour continued we were brought to a small spring. Legend has it that the Queen dropped her wedding ring into the well on accident. She went to the church to pray for a miracle, and when she returned a fish jumped out of the water, the ring in its mouth. The well was then dubbed sacred and is now the water supply used to make the beer.

The abbey is from the medieval times, with the ruins of the first abbey crumbling near the newer abbey. The old abbey was destroyed in the French Revolution, when the French peasants thought the abbey was hiding an important official. It actually wasn't, but it was destroyed nonetheless.

After getting to see all the cool ruins of the abbey, we were taken through the beer museum. The monks brew beer as a way to make money, and all of us were given a bottle of free beer. Be jealous.