So after having a few very intense and emotional days in Poland, our group loaded up the bus to head back through the Czech Republic to Austria. The first night we stopped in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. We checked into our hotel and I pulled out Rick Steves to decide how to spend my one day in Brno. I chose a few sights and headed out, but due to blizzard conditions made it only one block to a cafe. That pretty much sums up my one night in Brno hah. The next morning we checked out the Roma museum which looked very cool and creatively designed. Unfortunately though the displays were all interesting to look at, there were no English translations and our tour guide didn't speak English very well so we didn't get a lot of information out of the experience. We loaded the bus up once again to go a bit further on our journey.
We stopped in the little town of Mikulov in Southern Moravia. The sun finally came out and the temperatures broke the forty degree zone. Needless to say my mood spiked and I fell in love with Mikulov immediately (sun will do that to you). We went on a tour of the town to see the usual central square and castle grounds. Everything was so quaint and beautiful. As we reached the top of the hill, home to the castle, we looked out at the spectacular view. The sun bathed wine vineyards sprawled out along the rolling hills. The view was breathtaking, and I became even more excited to go to Austria. We spent the night in a wine cellar doing some Moravian wine tasting. The experience was exceptionally strange and uncomfortable, but the wine was delicious, so I'll just leave it at that.
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| Mikulov Town Square |
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| Looking out at Austria! |
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| Moravian Wine Tasting |
We got up the next morning to more sunshine and warm (well warm to us) temperatures excited to get to our last destination. We loaded up the bus and hopped on only to hear the wheels spinning as our bus stood still. We hopped off and proceeded to watch our bus driver and program director try to dig the bus out of mud for half an hour. They went to a nearby construction site for help and received a pick axe. It was hard not to laugh as we watched our scrawny program director hitting mud with a pickaxe. I offered to push but he had too much pride or something. Anyway our bus driver finally pulled out to loud cheers from us!
As we drove along the Austrian country side I was reminded of Iowa. The rolling hills and windmills could have been taken straight from my drive to college if the grape vines were replaced with corn stalks. We arrived in Vienna and I was shocked at how urban the city felt. I guess I didn't realize how small and quiet Prague was until I got to Vienna. The walls next to the river were covered in amazing graffiti and tall imposing buildings rose up around us. I hopped off the bus already feeling a connection with the city. We met up for a tour of the city, and I was practically jumping up and down with excitement. I had read about some of the architecture of the Ringstrasse in my Intellectual History Class and I couldn't wait to see all the buildings I'd read about.
So I suppose I should tell you a bit about the Ringstrasse so you can understand my excitement. In the mid 1800s many European cities were tearing down old fortifications around the city centers. Many of these cities had expanded beyond their walls and with larger empires like the Austrian Empire, attack of large central cities like Vienna, Prague, and Budapest became unlikely. These fortifications were torn down and replaced with large boulevards. Large boulevards surrounding the city center are common to most European cities, and Vienna is not special in this regard. However, the Ringstrasse stands out among these great avenues due to the immense amount of planning that went into the building. The placement of each building was decided and the architecture chosen according to the purpose of each building. Instead of picking one style for the entire avenue or letting the buildings pop up on their own, the entire city of Vienna feels like it was created from a detailed blueprint. The University building is in a Renaissance style, the parliament is in a Greek style, the city hall is neo-Gothic. Maybe now you understand my excitement to actually see the city... or maybe I'm just a total art and history nerd and you're still confused. Either way I'm moving on.
As we started our tour I was blown away by how grand the city is. Every building feels tall and important. The city is also the cleanest city I've ever been in; Vienna is cleaner than Prague which is amazingly clean. What blew me away the most was the amount of open space and sky visible inside the city. Cities can feel a bit claustrophobic and grey which is why, despite the fact that I am a total city girl, I'm also exceptionally crunch granola and need a good hike, camp out, horseback ride, or ski trip every few months. But Vienna felt wide open and clear. The Habsburg Palace sprawls out on the Western side of the Ringstrasse and is home to a sprawling expanse of grass, trees, and a rose garden. I cannot imagine ever feeling claustrophobic in this city. I also got to see my favorite building: the Parliament, which was more powerful, strong, and beautiful than I imagined. It was really amazing to look out across the horizon and spot at least five different architectural styles that were all built during the same period. While most European cities are a hodge-podge of different historical periods and artistic styles, Vienna has all the historical and artistic diversity but feels completely unified and organized. No wonder I love this city, it fits with my history nerd, art lover, and OCD planning and organization freak all at once.
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| The Parliament Building: Greek Style |
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| Hero's Square in front of the Habsburg Palace |
Most of our time in Vienna was unplanned so we could explore freely and I turned to Rick Steves for help (duh). I picked out the four things he gave three stars to and decided to see however many of them I could. I asked around but most people from my program only wanted to go to one cheaper museum and then shop. I debated backing out of my grand tourist plans to join them, but decided that I am fully capable of seeing a city on my own. I'm so glad I did! I started with the Habsburg Palace which was really beautiful, though not much different from all the other palaces I've seen. Mostly the collection of table settings was insane. The museum starts out with a whole floor of plates, pitchers, candlesticks, utensils, and the like which I fully intended to breeze through to get to the good stuff. This would have worked out perfectly if I hadn't gotten lost in the maze of Habsburg extravagance no less than four times. I moved from the palace to the treasury which was just a continuation of luxurious items from the Habsburg times. I saw several sets of crown jewels, quite the collection of coronation robes, a few swords, and some other mostly gold knick knacks before I needed to escape the royal luxuries for something more my scene.
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| My favorite set of Crown Jewels |
I practically skipped across the road to the Kunsthistorisches Art Museum. I knew what art laid inside and I was holding my breath as I bought my ticket. I forced myself to look at every piece and read Rick Steves as I went, but I knew what laid ahead so I'm sure I went a bit faster than normal. As I entered something like the seventh room I squealed. Yes ladies and gentlemen... I, Patty Murphy-Geiss squealed and I'm not ashamed. I had finally come to my favorite painting of all time: Caravaggio's David and Goliath. I came across the painting for the first time in my high school art history class, and decided I wanted to paint. This work started me off on the path towards my art major. I admit I've squealed once before, and it was also in front of a piece of art: Raphael's School of Athens. Again, I'm not ashamed. If I can't squeal at art what reason is there to squeal? None I tell you. None.
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| My Post Squeal Face |
I spent the rest of the day perusing the other great paintings, many of which I knew from my classes. I found a few by Raphael,
Velázquez, Jan van Eyck, Durer, Rubens, and Rembrandt and couldn't have been happier. I even ended the day with some extra time so I sat in the museum and read a book. I read a book sitting in the sun in an art museum, it really doesn't get any better people.
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| Tiny Piece of the Habsburg Palace |
The next day I visited another art history museum called the Belvedere. This museum is home to several Klimt pieces including his most famous: The Kiss. These works were beautiful and much larger than I had pictured them. My favorite was Wasserschlangen which portrays two women and some truly beautiful vines. Though I came for the Klimt, I browsed the rest of the museum quickly before heading to my next stop and came across an unexpected surprise: David's famous portrait of Napoleon. I absolutely love David, and though I really like his revolutionary pieces (google The Death of Marat... just do it), and think he totally sold out to Napoleon, he's still pretty great. It was awesome to see another of his works, though I've still failed to find one from his revolutionary years. I got back up to the city center to catch the tram around the Ringstrasse to complete Rick Steve's Ringstrasse tour (so amazing, I almost did it twice). I finished off my last day at the Naschmarkt to buy some dried kiwi and a teapot to take home. I finally hopped on the bus feeling extremely sad to be leaving what might just be my favorite city ever.
The second leg of our trip was definitely my favorite, and I want to return to Vienna to see the plethora of things that I missed. I'll need to learn either French or German to go into the field of politics I want to do or the field of History I'm interested in. I kind of blew off German thinking it was a little ugly and after being kind of cold to Berlin, but after visiting Vienna I'm rethinking. Even the German in Vienna is more light and beautiful than the German in Germany. I love love loved Vienna and I want to live there someday. The travelling seminar really was amazing. Though a lot of the trip was rushed and planned out for us, I had some amazing experiences and a lot of fun. I'm excited for the last trip we're making to Budapest in a few weeks! Again sorry these blog posts came so late, I'll have to catch you up on my regular life in Prague (hah regular) soon.
-Patty
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