Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Some Birthday Fun...and Snow!

My birthday was this past Saturday, and my sweet friend Nora planned a wonderful celebration with some of our friends, a night of Mexican food and dancing in Vienna.  The weather was beyond gross, cold and rainy which then eventually turned over to snow, but we had a really great time.  I still can't quite get past the mix of languages when someone orders "zwei tacos" but this food was definitely the most authentic I've had the whole time I've been here...I had apparently just not been asking the right people!

some of the girls

every birthday should include being slightly terrified of a giant flaming dessert

And then...after a bit of a dusting of snow Saturday night into Sunday...Sunday night into Monday the snow continued so that this was our drive to school Monday morning.   


The leaves are still colorful and on the trees!

Now, as you can hopefully see in this picture, this wasn't just a slight dusting...this is some actual snow.  The forecast however, just seemed to causally mention "oh yeah, and maybe it will snow", and everyone seemed totally satisfied with that.  I guess here there's less of the obsessing on the maps where the 2 inch line versus the 4 inch line is...just oh there's snow...deal with it.  So deal with it we did...slipping our way up the mountain to school, but we made it just fine. 



This was actually taken today on our way up to school...the vineyards covered in snow

And now the clouds are moving out, and we could see the mountains again!  It's actually been a while, we've had quite a bit of fog recently blocking this view way out over the city.


And yes, while a lot of life is very picturesque...this is the view most of my days...in class, with my notebook and a pen...this is actually in microeconomics class during a break...I wasn't really snapping pictures during class.

Busy week this week, but we do have a holiday on Thursday, so class-wise it isn't terrible, just lots and lots of other things going on!  

Glad everyone back in NYC, CT and DC seem to have weathered the storm ok, some still without power, but thankfully no major damage.  Thinking of those that weren't quite as lucky, and hoping for a quick cleanup.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Architecture Recently

One of the things I love about Vienna, and much of Europe in general, is the amazing architecture.  Not that we don't have plenty of beautifully designed buildings and structures in the US, but in many cases here you can see the progression of time through hundreds of years of architecture along a single street.  I don't always take the time out to enjoy this unique feature of the city, especially when I'm going about my normal life, running errands, meeting friends etc., but last week two of my fellow students and I took a little early evening stroll around the city.  Klaus is Austrian, and had offered to show Nora and me some of the sights in the first district that he shows to guests when they come into town, and it really ended up being a very fascinating architectural tour, all the way from Gothic to modern!   

We began at Ruprechtskirche (as I have shown here before) which is in the oldest part of the city, where the original Roman settlement was on the banks of the Danube.

Klaus and Nora

Hoher Markt.  Standing in this one place (as well as many other similar squares) you can see examples of Baroque and Renaissance architecture, all the way up to post-WWII architecture to replace buildings destroyed by bombings.  

The Wedding Fountain at Hoher Markt, dedicated to the marriage of Mary and Joseph

These are new, just the window coverings for the new Merkur market (fancy grocery store) that's there, but I like them a lot.

This is the clock at Hoher Markt, each hour a different figure from Vienna's history passes by. 

Here is an excellent example of buildings being repaired and redone in the current architectural style of the day.  Along this building are very plain Gothic windows, then replaced by Renaissance windows, some windows seem to have a middle eastern influence, and others seem fairly modern...and almost none seem to match. 

This street is where we have examples of the oldest buildings that people actually lived in (not a church or something) and these are mostly Gothic structures. 

Greek Orthodox Church

Back side of Stephansdom

That concluded the end of that particular tour, I would have taken more pictures of various examples Klaus pointed out, but mostly I was too busy listening to him to be taking pictures constantly, but for any of you that come visit me, don't worry, we'll follow a similar route I'm sure :)

Another amazing example of architecture and urban planning is at Gasometer.  I had to go out there yesterday for a conference, and while it isn't really that far away (the U-Bahn stops there, takes me about 30 minutes from home) I don't really ever have reason to go out there.  They have a shopping mall and restaurants and a movie theater, but I have all of those things much closer to me.  I am really glad that this conference was there though, since it really is an amazing thing to see.  


Built in the 1890s, these four buildings were used as gas storage tanks for the city of Vienna.  They each have a capacity of 90,000 cubic meters, and once they were no longer necessary in the mid-1980s, they held a design contest to see what should be done with them.  They preserved the outer brick layer of each of the storage tanks, and converted the insides into shops, apartments, etc.  They really are some of the most gorgeous buildings I've seen, and they are all in amazing condition.
 
Again, not afraid to mix the old and new.

This is the building where our conference was held, directly across the street in the same complex.



So that's a bit of the architecture I've been around recently.  We have a national holiday here tomorrow so everyone is excited for the long weekend...although the forecast still includes snow for Saturday, so we shall see!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Autumn in Vienna

One of the things I was very anxious about when moving to Austria was what the autumn would look like.  New York (and New England) in the fall is completely breathtaking, and I'd been spoiled growing up there...needless to say my expectations of fall are pretty high.  So, when moving to Vienna, I lowered those expectations to nearly nothing.  I told myself that the leaves would just turn brown and fall off, and I would just have to find new ways of enjoying this season.  So...I am happy to report that my lower than low expectations have been way exceeded!  I am actually quite impressed with the show of colors around here.  We aren't even completely at the peak everywhere, but will the forecast of snow this weekend, I'm a bit worried we're getting close to the end.  I have however been taking pictures of the foliage both around town and up at school. (sorry for so many pictures...I had a hard time editing them down :))

The Rathaus



even the flower boxes are decked out appropriately




The Ring

Burggarten



even the roses are a nice progression of color!

this building is actually the public swimming pool on the way up to school



outside Modul


the amazing view off the terrace

the morning view of the city...notice the layer of fog...with the church spires and tall buildings just sticking up out of it





Ok, so the previous few pictures are what the normal drive to school looks like...winding up to the top of Kahlenberg...the pictures below were from this morning...the fog was incredible.


This is the parking lot at school...you should be able to see quite a lot past where the fog cuts everything off

still gorgeous colors though...even in the rain and fog


and...thanks to a dear friend from home...my room now smells like fall!  this is my absolute favorite fall smell, and I got a lovely care package with this candle in it and I am now well prepared until it is time to switch over to holiday things!