Going Multicultural Monday, May 24 2010

16 November, Monday.

Even Rome has its bland days. Today was such a day, nothing more than merely Evil Philosophers, the frantic writing of an Ancient Rome paper left too long, and a harrowing night spent in the bowels of the JCU basement with Thuy and a glaring architecture-studio style light. I won’t curdle your brain with the rest.

17 November, Tuesday.

One out of three classes? Yes please. Brit lit and Italian were both occupied by paper writing, leaving Mystics as my one haven of intellectual advancement for the day. At night was our first cross-cultural JCU event, Indonesian night! I, along with Hugh, Marcelo, Roberto, Thuy, Katie, and Genie, I think, walked with the degree-seekers to an elegant Indonesian restaurant where the tables were set into plateau-like steps of carpet with low, cushioned seats in large strips around them. The music was trippy electronic stuff that added to the haze of our half-starved states, helped along a little by Katie and Thuy snagging a bag of chips from the cart behind us. After a painful wait, we were released like famished lions onto the delicious buffet assortment of spicy rice and chicken and shrimp dishes in savory sauces, which were scarfed down in shamefully short time. After that, we proceeded to obliterate the raffle, collecting between us a couple of candle holders, free drink coupons, and the prize of the night, an eight-euro bottle of maple syrup with equally pricey pancake mix. Score.

Leave a Response »

 

Legacy of the Emperors Monday, May 24 2010

15 November, Sunday.

The Hofburg palace, former winter residence of the Austro-Hungarian emperors, was our stop today. Though less impressive in its simple, classically inspired pale stone architecture than the spindly spires of Neuschwanstein, it has a certain imposing quality to it. It curves around Heldenplatz, commanding a view of two important faces of the city and staring down the main boulevard. Inside, we saw a little too much of the imperial silver and cookery collection and were saved by a trip through the posh imperial chambers, richly guilt and upholstered in damask and plush and silk. The highlights was a tour through the life of Sisi, the empress Elisabeth. A withdrawn but beautiful woman, her life was a tragedy from her marriage to emperor Franz Joseph, and ended with an assassination. The diamond star hairclips for which she was famed surrounded the museum, and her death mask was an eerie ushering back into the sunlight.

Starved at this point, we made our way down the winding streets, utilizing a little bit of German to find a quaint café where we someone secured a reserved table and had the best cake I’ve ever eaten. Salivating for more substantial food, we took the waiter’s recommendation to a restaurant down the street where we gushed over schnitzel, beef stew, and hearty rye bread. Sadly, a little more souvenir shopping and a last stroll down the picturesque streets was all we had time to manage. In another few hours, we were out of our hostel and on our flight.

Leave a Response »

 

Early Christmas Spirit Monday, May 24 2010

14 November, Saturday.

Yes, I happen to be back in the States now. But thanks to my detailed notes and clutch memory, the Roman adventures will continue! So let us go back, and pretend that I’m still writing this from the 14th of November. Right? Right.

The day dawned much too early, so once we left Katrina and Caitlin in Prague and hopped our train to Austria, we all fell asleep in our compartment, no matter how beautiful the rolling hills of the Austrian countryside—yes, Sound of Music fans, it really does look like that. Once we arrived, we found ourselves running very unhappily for our train on the Bann to our hostel (thankfully our little bit of German came in handy here too) and following a group of chatty Brits to the Wombat hostel. Without our camel packs, we were free to walk the streets of Vienna—clean stones lined by Victorian white-walled buildings, a view out of Mozart’s time. St. Stephen’s cathedral was our first stop, a gorgeous gray stone gothic with a roof tiled in shifting shades of blue, green, and purple, like the underbelly of a sea dragon crowning walls carved in the usual gargoyles and effigies. Outside in the square, lights hung in the shapes of chandeliers and stars signaled the coming Christmas season. We ate our delicious Austrian sausage (mine was something delicious with cheese in it) and listened to calming German shouts of the Austrian activists protesting the fur stores.

As the sun fell, we walked to the Christkindlmarkt, the hallmark of the Viennese holiday season. Just outside the city hall, whose windows were lit and numbered to make a giant Advent calendar, the platz glowed with Christmas spirit. The trees, netted in huge lights in the shapes of hearts, angels, and snowflakes like fairylights, looked like star-studded dandelion puffs or animations out of Kirby’s Dreamland. They lit paths clustered with miniature log cabin booths hawking every imaginable ware, from glass ornaments and spiced apple cider in commemorative cups (of course I bought one) to handdipped chocolates and fluffy wool ski caps. A cheery oompah band provided the soundtrack, in addition to the voices of about a thousand locals and tourists that we pushed through, happily sipping our cider.

After a much needed nap at the hostel, we finished the night with a tram ride around the whole of Vienna, breezing by such sights as the Danube, the opera house, and the little food stands where we desperately purchased, of all things, Chinese noodles. By the time it was dark out and we returned, it was time for bed.

Leave a Response »