Monday, May 11, 2009

Another week in Vienna...

So last week consisted of the usual lunches and wanderings through Vienna. Which of course is quite wonderful. So Friday I decided that I would wander about Vienna. I went to lunch with Nayeem, Loedia and Jasmit and then headed to the Rose Gardens. As I was passing Minoritenkirche (my favorite church which was completed in the 1300's) I decided to see if I could go inside. so I wandered over there and discovered I could go inside (and for free which is always a plus).
Of course it was beautiful. Very old stone. Much less elaborately decorated than the other churches in Vienna...and Europe in general but it still had its grandeur and was beautiful! I wandered around in the church for a long time. I was basically by myself in there for most of the time...I don't think it's a huge tourist destination. Afterwards, I went to see if there were any roses blooming in the Hofburg Rose Garden (again.) I got there and there were about 5 but it was still a nice day and great to walk around the gardens.

In a week or two I think there will be a lot more roses! Then as I was walking past a fountain leaving the gardens I noticed a crowd of people around the fountain (lots of kids) and went to investigate, where I discovered my ducks. They were sooo cute. I took a ton of pictures of them.

Towards the end of my picture taking, a lady came over to let her dog cross over the fence into the grass and let her dog go to the bathroom. A woman who was feeding the baby ducks said to her "Excuse me, please do not let your dog go to the bathroom where the children are walking and playing" (in german. since there were a lot of kids in the grass looking at the ducks and feeding them with this woman). The two women got into quite the argument about whether or not this woman could let her dog go to the bathroom there. The dog woman basically said (in german) I can let my dog go to the bathroom in the grass it is allowed with the other woman responding "But there are children!" etc. Basically it was a heated argument. As I began to leave the ducks, I suddenly hear "Polizei, Polizei." Crazy dog-lady had gone over to the police and told on the woman! Apparently she's not allowed to feed the ducks due to the pigeons coming...but the ducks were soo cute! Though the pigeons did interrupt my picture taking...like this one.

So after that I headed home for the evening. Chatted with friends, emailed family. It was a nice day. On Saturday I slept in for the first time in a while which was great! I decided I would go to Karlskirche that day, then over to the Stadtpark for the festival they were having there. I went to Karlskirche. The Church is, of course, beautiful. Elaborately decorated with wonderful paintings. However, they have built this horrendous elevator going into the dome with a platform for people to stand on that completely ruins the entire dome...

However, I of course went up the elevator. It was included in the price, obviously it was a necessary thing I had to do...and it was terrifying... So first you're in a glass elevator and you can see everything. (Apparently I am afraid of heights now) and you go to this platform which is approximately 200 feet high. Once off the elevator, you're on this platform that shakes around when people move and it feels like it's bajillions of feet in the air and then you have to climb these stairs that have a sign saying "no more than ten people up the stairs at one time" so basically i sprinted up and down the stairs and got in the elevator as fast as possible. But elevator man decided he didn't want to send me down by myself so i'm standing in a glass elevator looking straight down practically panicking for about 15 minutes (not exagerrating it actually was about 15 minutes) before TWO people got on and he sent the 3 of us down. i was irritated. I felt like yelling at him "ICH HABE ANGST ICH HABE ANGST." So, afterwards, rather than go to the stadtpark I went home to lie down. But first I bought myself a piece of chocolate as a reward to myself for not dying. About an hour or so later I headed to the Prater to go bowling with Hyojeong, Martin, Liviu and Alina. which was quite fun. We played 3 games. I won one with a grand total of 74! haha. Afterwards, we wandered around the Prater a bit then headed home. I then talked to Kellie and Emily til about 2 in the morning since I hadn't talked to either of them for a while! Overall it was a pretty good night =) Sunday I slept in again. Then, Nayeem called and invited me to watch Cricket! Cricket! It was fun. We missed most of the cricket match (but we're going to go to another one soon.) The owner of the cricket club used to play for the Sri Lankan National Cricket Team....After the game, there was also a Touch Rugby game. They had a special coach there doing practice for them. It was the guy who helped WRITE the rules to touch rugby...anyway we were at the field for a long time. Even though it was supposedly touch rugby, a guy still got hurt enough that they had to call an ambulance. He hurt his ankle somehow and it swelled up like a balloon and he couldn't walk AT ALL...they put him on a lawn chair and carried him off the field. He was obviously in a LOT of pain, So the paramedics came, put him in this funny rolling chair then laid him down in the ambulance. Anyway, it was very hot but it was a lot of fun! Afterwards, we chatted for a bit, had dinner (Indian food yumm) and I got home extremely late! hah. I tried doing my homework but made a lot of mistakes so I decided to do it this morning (Which I did). Today, I went to class. Afterwards, Jasmit, her husband, Nayeem and I went to lunch. We discovered Jasmit's husband literally works directly across the street from me...As in if I lived a couple floors up I could probably stare into his office. I also went in search of Hunderwasserhaus again. I don't know why I can't find that stupid house but I can't. I'll try again sometime this week but seriously it would be nice if I Could find it! I REALLY WANT TO SEE IT!
Pictures from Friday
I will post the rest of the photos from this weekend tomorrow...

4 comments:

  1. Great post, Lauren! I read it to Grammy and she enjoyed it too. The church is amazing -- still wowed that it was completed in the 1300s. WE'RE all excited that Oregon is celebrating 150 years of statehood this year, but a 700 year old church puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

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  2. why thank you mother! haha I know it does put everything in perspective! 150 years is nothing! thats younger than the new houses in Venice!

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  3. Hey Lauren, loved your photos...Judith took us to the same places for our week there and we lost all our photos! so it was nice seeing it again. I loved the castle on the river. We didn't get to cross the border as it was not open at that time. So you got a real teat now. Sounds like you are really feeling comfortable there now. Even understanding arguments!!! Hehe, All I ever knew was Doug was called a pig in German..(he had his feet on the seat of the train!) You are doing so much now. Hey I got to see the Rosetta Stone! Spent 5 hours in the British Museum! And I still am going back to see more of it. We are all busy as Allison turns 18 this week and she has AP tests and soon prom..Still havn't got her senior photo...hey I d/l skype on my baby dell so I will call you when I get to London, May 30..we will be somewhat on the same time zone...sorry I didn't have your blog on my little dell, so couldn't wirte. Love all the info...feels like I am a part of your life there!

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  4. ELICE!! heyyy so I will totally make sure to be on skype that day. and if i am not send me a text message and i will get o immediately!! I am feeling more comfortable it's really great! The British Museum is great! How long will you be in london on the 30? just curious...I can't believe ALlison will be 18! crazy!

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