Day off school, and a Friday

Yesterday we had no school. It was pretty sweet, and I decided to go down into the old city to look around a bit. Dr. DellaRossa loaned me a guidebook, so I used that to go on a walk through the Stadtpark ad the Belvedere Quarter. There were tons of statues and the like, all of which you can see on facebook... I will put them on shutterfly too, but that takes a long time. Anyways, highlights include a really effeminate statue of Strauss, a fountain of puking penguins, and lots of animals. I got to see the monument to the Red Army that liberated Austria in WWII, and a giant fountain that celebrates the drinking water that comes from the mountains. I also got to the Secession and Postal Savings Bank buildings, which weren't as pretty as Brian would have you think. I don't like the Otto Wagner architecture... it tries too hard. Some was nice, but most... nah.

I got lunch in Cafe Spegel (spelling, unsure) which is a really old and famous cafe. I got the famous chicken salad (9 euro) and a Coke (3 euro for about a can's worth). It was awesome, but the atmosphere inside was better. I didn't take pictures since it was crowded, but trust me, it was great.

I then got to go back to the really old churches I was unable to enter at night. The Peterskirche was probably the most ornate and pretty, but since there was a mass going on I did not get pictures. The Augustinerkirche was the home parish of the Habsburgs, and in the basement, which I didn't get to, they have the preserved hearts of the royal family through the ages. It was part of the mummification process. The Michaelskirche was also gorgeous, although the marble statues of famous Viennese guys up around the altar were really disconcerting. Kinda creepy, actually. I stayed there for the 6:30 pm Thursday mass, which, in the best expression of German culture, was short and efficient. Only difference is that there they don't let you touch the host: they dip it in wine and in it goes, whether you are ready or not. Also, it is kind of a mad dash for the line- no orderly filing guided by ushers.

My favorite part of the day was when I went back into the Stephansdom. I got to see the old carvings and statues and paintings in the light. ALL of them were totally amazing, for the age and the crafstmanship involved. I got to see a statue of Jesus that supposedly has a beard of human hair, and it is still growing! Weird. I hope that if a statue of me is ever built, it has an eternally growing beard.

Anyways, I stumbled upon a guided tour of the catacombs. There was no photography allowed, which was bad, but to make up for it the tour was in English as well as German. We saw the coffins with bodies of cardinals and royal family members dating back to the 1300's, and the copper urns filled with alcohol in which the royal innards are preserved. We then went to the "commoner" parts of the catacombs, which were rooms branching off of the path literally filled with bones. I could see though the tiny window rotted caskets and thousands of bones scattered by rats over the centuries. One room had a small hole in the floor, with a ladder going down, where they would simply drop bodies of plague victims. That was a room literally PILED with bones, skulls scattered here and there as they were carelessly tossed down to avoid spreading the disease. It was all really dark and eerie, too. The creepiest part, aside from the omnipresent pitch black corridors that were gated off, was the ossuary, where they had taken the bones and stacked them like firewood to make space for newly deceased back in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The walls were made of bones, with skulls stuck here and there for artistic value, with a neat pile of bones in the bottom. So scary. I tried to take pics, but none turned out well. Coincidence? I think not (my finger was in the shutter when I tried to be discreet about taken pictures). When we came out we were at the opposite end of he Stephansdom, outside, near some horses. We had crawled all over (under) the city square. It was awesome, and the first thing we saw coming out of the entrance (aside from the guide collecting the 4 euro cost) was a huge crucifix. Cool.

That night I went and saw a Concert/Opera/Ballet. It was a small show, and I had bought my ticket from some nice 18th century courtier (an immigrant from Kosovo) who loved Americans. It was small and kinda hokey in parts, but really well done. I'm no art connoisseur, so I will stop here: it was good.

Afterwards, around 1130, I went to the Cafe Hawelka, one of the most famous bohemian-themed cafes in Vienna. I really wanted a hot strudel, but they were sold out so I had to get a coffee and some cheese/butter bread. It was still good though, and a really cool atmosphere. No pictures, because that would have been awkward.

Today was a normal class day, but tonight I got to hit a bar for the first time. I grabbed a brew and sat with my friends from Japan and Italy. Later on (they were on drink number two but I was on one since I'm apparently a slow drinker) we were approached by two ladies carrying three cards and a cooler. It was a game where (I figured this out between my broken German and their broken English) she would shuffle the cards and I would have to choose one. If I got the right one, I got a free Zipfer, which is a delicious concoction of beer mixed with lemonade. If I chose one of the other two, I would HAVE to buy one for 3.80 euro. Yes, forced to buy and consume alcohol. Well, I hustled them into doing the "hide the queen" style game where I saw which card I wanted and the lady would put them flat on the table and shuffle them on the table top one at a time (she was bad, so it was a slow moving shuffle). I won, and got my free drink. I then cajoled my way into playing two more times to win drinks for my friends (they are girls, so I played the chivalry card). I won all three times no sweat. So hey, free drinks on me!

That is all for now, tomorrow I go to Salzburg. Peace.