Guys and Dolls. Männer und Mädchen?

Some classmates and I decided to get Stehplatz tickets for Guys and Dolls. Stehplatz is a standing room ticket. They're really cheap (around two or three Euro), but you stand through the entire performance, so it can be challenging. Still, for students it's a great deal.

There are two operas in Vienna. The Staatsoper performs everything in the language in which it was originally written. The Volksoper performs everything in German. Guys and Dolls is playing at the Volksoper. I got to see one of my favorite musicals performed in German. Oh yes, I was excited.

As I got ready to go I told my Hausfrau that I was going to the Volksoper. She asked if I knew how to get there. I told her I planned to take either the 1 or the D (Strassenbahn) to the Volkstheater. I'm glad she asked, as I'm not sure why I didn't realize that Volkstheater and Volksoper were different. She was headed down to the Tram stop as well and came with me. She pointed to really any of the trams in the range of 40. I arrived at Volksoper just in time for the performance.

I was probably at an advantage while watching this musical, as I once had both the entire dialogue and all of the songs memorized. The songs were really well translated, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was essentially a complete copy of the film as far as costuming and choreography. I think it would have been more enjoyable if they had taken a bit of a different approach, but I guess there's only so much you can do with it.

Stehplatz wasn't so bad, really. It was a little bit hard on my feet, but still not terrible. I would say that Stehplatz is totally worth what you pay for it. The view was even pretty good.

The Hapsburgs: Only Three Seem to Matter

I have heard a lot about the Hapsburgs since getting here. Specifically, I have heard a lot about Maria Theresia, Franz Josef, and the wife of Franz Josef, Elisabeth, who is affectionately referred to as Sissi. We went as a class to Schönbrunn Palace today, and these are really the only three we heard about. I have a feeling that these are the most admired of the Hapsburgs, and therefore are the main focus of any Hapsburg discussion. In fact, I am only even aware of the other Hapsburgs so far as they lead up to Maria Theresia.

Maria Theresia was brought into power through the Pragmatic Sanction, which was created by her father, Charles VI. He had no sons, but wanted the empire to continue to be run by his line. Thus, he wrote up the Pragmatic Sanction which allowed for a female ruler of the Hapsburg empire. She's regarded as a fine ruler for her skill in lawmaking. She's probably most well known for her educational reforms. The Austrian school system would not be what it is today were it not for Maria Theresia. She also had a LOT of children. She gave birth to sixteen, three of which died in infancy. Her most famous child is probably Marie Antoinette. Maria Theresia ruled for 40 years from 1740-1780.

Due to the fact that talk of Franz Josef always seems to come along with talk of Maria Theresia, it took me learning the dates of their rules to realize that they were not connected. He ruled from 1848-1916. His assassination in 1916 brought about the beginning of World War I. Franz Josef is an interesting character. During the tour I tried to get a bit of a feel for the guy, but he's just kind of an odd character. He seemed to be a minimalist, and preferred to have pictures of his family around him rather than overly elaborate decoration. He was militarily minded, and was not very interested in the arts. He had a simple bed, he woke up early and sat at his desk for hours getting work done. He spent hours holding audiences which anyone could request, and he always ended them the same way with, "Es hat mich sehr gefreut." He also had a lot of sadness in his life, largely because he married a psychotic woman.

Kaiserin Elisabeth, or Sisi/Sissi was married to Emporer Franz Josef and seemed to have accepted marriage to him out of some mutual feeling. Sissi was renowned for being extremely beautiful. Her hair was extremely long and her figure extremely slender. Franz Josef fell in love with her immediately. She, unfortunately, couldn't hold up to life in court. She became completely depressed, and began to shirk her duties to the court. She also became obsessed with her looks, would skip meals to maintain her figure, and would take long and vigorous walks around Vienna. Sometimes these would last six hours. Her hair took hours to wash and brush, and she couldn't do it herself. She was eventually assassinated, having led a seemingly unhappy life.

The palace itself was, for me, overwhelming. My tastes tend to be much simpler, and baroque architecture is not in any way simple. All through the tour they would talk about the decoration here in this room or in that room, and all I could think was "wasteful decadence." In some cases, based on the sheer number of people they would sometimes entertain, the scale of a room would make sense. However, a great majority of it was somewhat exaggerated. It was all a show of importance.

The gardens were extraordinary. There is, essentially, a small forest in this garden. There is also a zoo, a labyrinth, several fountains, the Glorietta, and fake Roman ruins. Compared with the stiflingly ornate interior, the gardens are a welcoming release. I could imagine Sissi, fed up with court life, taking to these gardens and longing for a life that she might have had elsewhere. I sat on a bench for a while among the trees with a couple of other girls from the group, and it was terribly relaxing. Where the palace left me gasping for air, the gardens left me at peace.

Starting off Slow

The Weekend in Vienna began later than I had planned. I blame continued jet lag for the fact that I slept in oh so much more than I wanted. I meant to get up fairly early to go to the Erntedankfest, which is something like Thanksgiving, but I think it revolves more around the Harvest rather than having a set date. I'll have to look this up some time. At any rate, they have been setting up booths in Heldenplatz by the Hofburg and it looked like it would be really cool. I wanted to get there and check it out early, but... well, I didn't get there until the afternoon.

My goal was to find my way there without a map, and to some extent I managed. It did take me quite some time, though. I find myself completely and hopelessly lost in this city. I just can't get a handle on the layout. I carry a map with wherever I go, and I consult it often. I did my best this time around to just try to follow the landmarks I could remember and make it there, and amazingly it worked!

There were a lot of interesting things to see. I wasn't sure what everything was, so I decided to just walk around a bit. There were a lot of little stands set up handing out fliers for programs I had little hope of understanding. One area seemed to be mainly dedicated to preservation efforts around Austria for wildlife and woodlands and such. In the middle were a lot of stands selling pretzels, other forms of bread, loads of beer, bratwurst, and pretty much what you might expect to see sold at a festival in Austria. There was a stage with a large band on it, and even a rock climbing wall and a mechanical bull. I ended up running into a few other people from my group who had been there a while already. As my curiosity had largely been satisfied by some brief browsing, I decided to tag along with them to the next adventure. On the way out I was accosted by a kangaroo and either a garbage can or an outhouse, I never could figure out which. I was also given a free sample of Bio-Milch. Cold whole milk. Glorious. I actually hadn't had cold milk since arriving, as my Hausfrau puts my breakfast out the night before. I'm not sure why I haven't died yet from drinking milk that sits out all night, except that it's really essentially water.

We ended up at the Stadtpark. It's beautiful and packed with statues. We found statues of Mozart, Bruckner, Schindler, and a million others that we both had and hadn't heard of. There are large grassy areas and in the middle is a lake with ducks. It actually reminded me quite a bit of a park in Sacramento... except that has a golf course and not really any statues. I think the clock was possibly one of the coolest features of landscaping that I have ever seen. It was just a large clock made entirely from plants and a huge mechanism. As parks go, this one was fairly ornate. Normally a park is something I expect to have a lot of grass, trees, flowers, and maybe a lake or some other special feature. I wasn't expecting statues, obelisks, large landscaped clocks, and carefully trimmed hedges. It also seemed like the grass wasn't actually to be walked on, but more just admired. I did see people on it, but not as much as I might have expected. I'm beginning to feel that this city will take some getting used to.

After the Stadtpark we went and checked out the Votivskirche. I had of course seen the outside several times, as my apartment is very nearby. This was my first time inside. I much prefer this interior to that of Stephansdom. It is much simpler, yet still beautifully decorated. It's a fairly typical gothic interior, with the gothic ribcage arched ceiling. The stained glass here was either still intact or had been restored as typical stained glass, which gave the interior absolutely beautiful lighting as the sunshine filtered through blue and red. Heavenly.

The rest of the group told me that they had been invited by one of the locals to come to a pub and watch a European Football match (a.k.a. Soccer). I decided to go. It was a good choice. The pub was filled with smoke, of course, and the fans are fairly passionate so there was a lot of noise. Still, I had a fantastic time. I tried an Almdudler, which is a local soda. It was alright, but overall lack-luster. I just felt odd being there without ordering something, and it was a good a time as any to try something new.

Naturally, I became ridiculously lost in trying to get home. I think I was actually really close to my apartment, I just went really the wrong way. I am really hoping to get the hang of this soon. It's just not going very well at all. The problem is that every building here looks so similar. You would think that it wouldn't be quite so hard, but there really seems to be an overwhelming amount of baroque architecture here. Even the shops repeat. Billa, BIPA, Palmers, Tabak, and Spar are everywhere, as are Zanoni und Zanoni Eissalons. There are landmarks visible from a distance, such as the mountains in Provo. Normally statues might even be helpful, but here they're all over the place. I even attempted to photograph every statue I saw in a single day, but decided it wasn't really worth the effort after 20 or so in less than half an hour. There are even multiples of subject matter! I know of at least two statues dedicated to Mozart. The street I live on has three different names depending on where you are along it. I'm sure I'll get it in time, I'm just so sick of wandering around alone in the dark staring at my map trying to figure out where I am and how to get back to my apartment. Oh well. I finally made it home safely.

My first Sunday didn't go very well. I was terribly late to church, after an unfortunate incident of me being lost (again) and making way more U-Bahn transfers than should ever be made by one person in one day. Ever. I got there in time to realize that 1.) the schedule here is different somehow. 2.) I don't understand German. 3.) I am still tired. Still, it was good to at least have found the building. I also felt ridiculous when I realized that the tram that stops right outside the church building is the same tram that stops right by my apartment.

We had dinner at the Holmes'. Yes, I did get lost on the way there. I got off one U-Bahn stop too late, but I figured it out... after walking down the street in both directions and not finding what I was looking for. Oh well. Dinner was delicious. Afterward we had a bit of a fireside. It was a pleasant Sunday evening. Bonus: I didn't get lost on my way home this time! I am so proud.

Wienerschnitzel? I wasn't expecting that...

Today I registered with the city of Vienna as an extended traveler/temporary resident. It wasn't very challenging. I handed them a piece of paper with my information on it, and they didn't even attempt speaking with me. They handed me a "Bestätigung der Meldung" with a stamp and some initials on it, and now I just need to remember to take that paper back when I leave and un-register with the city of Vienna. Apparently they get really mad if you don't do this.

After registering, we went with Brother Holmes for a bit of an orientation on his class and the way things would be run. Later we ended up at Stephansdom (for the third day in a row for me) for a tour. The tour was really interesting, but I still hate this cathedral. The inside is absolutely full of decoration, and much of it is rather macabre. A lot of the carvings are really skillful and intricate, but the interior is so busy that it's just overwhelming. Our tour guide took us around and explained some of the more notable bits of decoration, including the amazingly carved pulpit carved from a single stone and requiring long thin chisels to get inside the spaces. Really, it's amazing. We also learned about the reconstruction that took place after World War II, when Stephansdom was partially destroyed. In the cathedral are the coats of arms of various parts of Austria, all of which pitched in for different parts of the cathedral for reconstruction. Most of the stained glass was destroyed, and instead of replacing this with more stained glass they replaced it with light pastel rectangles because they wanted the interior of the cathedral to be brighter. The cathedral is actually under constant renovation efforts because sandstone was chosen as the building material. Why would you ever choose sandstone as a building material? It's actually quite lovely when it's new, but it absorbs every toxin from the air, and as it does the stones are slowly eaten away. Entire stones can be completely hollow, and the exterior over time turns a dark black. Thus there is always scaffolding on some part of the cathedral. (Actually, scaffolding seems to be a Vienna theme.)

For me the catacombs were the most interesting, but of course we weren't allowed to take pictures of them. It was really a shame. The catacombs tunnel below the cathedral and contain the remains of some notables as well as mass graves. During the plagues people died so quickly that normal burial was impossible, and thus a mass grave was established here. You can imagine that this created a rather unpleasant stench, as well as a health hazard. The cathedral was shut down for a while because of it. Later on in history the catacombs would be used as a bomb shelter during WWII. I cannot think of a more terrifying bomb shelter.

Today's food experience: Wienerschnitzel. We had dinner at "Herb's" which has apparently been study abroad famous for quite some time. It's a place called Schnitzelwirt, and oh my goodness, they serve Wienerschnitzel. First off, based on the not very popular U.S. fast food chain "Wienerschnitzel," I was expecting something completely different. I thought that it would be something more like a chili dog. Instead I received a large plate of fried veal. Compare the lemon slice for a size reference. It was really good, but fried veal does not represent a full meal for me. It would have been so great with rice or bread or potatoes. I took my leftovers home, but I'm not sure how good they'll be reheated. Oh well. I can check this off of the "things I am pretty sure you're required to do in Vienna" list.

Whirlwind City Tours

I am sure that there are a dozen noteworthy events that took place today, but I simply can't remember any of them. We had our "Welcome and Briefing" at the Austro-American Institute. This was basically a brief introduction on classes and some other information. We then had a tour of the city with Markus. Never go on a whirlwind tour with jet lag. You won't remember a thing. I know that we saw some of the shopping areas. I know we walked through the Hofburg past the dome I fell in love with yesterday. I remember passing the Spanish Riding School, which I only noticed because Nate talked to me about it a bit. We ended up by Stephansdom again, and basically repeated the day that I had lived yesterday, but in fast forward and with more useful information. Still, I really didn't absorb anything. Being in a group I basically just followed where they were going, listened to Markus talk, promptly forgot what he said, and then moved on to the next amazing feature of Vienna. We covered transportation. All I really remember from this tour is this: Lunch at the Naschmarkt.

The Naschmarkt is a beautiful place where dreams come true. Okay, so not exactly, but maybe a little. It's an outdoor marketplace with fruit stands, a few tea and coffee places, flowers (some of which are amazing!), and on the other side of the food are stands with scarves and skirts and other random rip-off items. Markus gave us 10 Euro and let us loose for lunch. I purchased (insert dramatic pause) a Hühner Kebab. It was a little bit like heaven on Earth, in the form of meat, bread, and veggies. There is a solid slab of meat roasting on a vertical rod. You order a kebab, they grab some bread, slice it open, take a large sword/knife, shave off quite a lot of meat, and put it into the bread followed by lettuce, onion (oh so much onion), cabbage, way too much salt, and some sort of sauce. It was so delicious, the meat was so tender, and my mouth was so happy. It was actually more food than I really needed, but I couldn't bear to throw it away. I see myself becoming a frequent visitor of the Naschmarkt.

We ended the day by meeting our host families. I am staying with Frau Thierry, an elderly woman with two cats. She is actually a Baroness. She now lives alone as her husband passed away last year. We left the school and met a taxicab downstairs. I spent most of the time trying to mentally piece together German statements, giving up, and speaking English instead. She told me a little bit about herself, and pointed out the Votivskirche which is very near her apartment. She said, "You will always know you are home when you see the towers." When we got into the apartment she showed me around a bit. It's a larger apartment than I expected. It used to be two, but she and her husband had three sons and so bought the apartment next to theirs and turned it into one. Her bedroom is in the back. Her husbands bedroom is connected to it and remains empty. She said she could rent that one out, but people would need to cross through her bedroom to get to it, so she doesn't. The living room and dining room are in the front, and both contain chandeliers. The kitchen is just off the dining room, and a corner of it is walled off. This is the shower. Yes, I will be showering in the kitchen. She showed me my bathroom, which is essentially a toilet in a hallway. There is a hole cut into the door so that the cats can come in and out, as I share the bathroom with their litter box. The whole time I couldn't stop smiling. Finally, she showed me my bedroom. It is perfect. There is a large window overlooking the courtyard of the building (the courtyard is a small cement slab) and directly across from another window with a large window box full of red geraniums. The bed was already made, and there is an old white tubular construction metal armchair with yellow cushioning, which she has covered with a brown plaid blanket. Next to this is a small table with a white lacy cover, and next to that a tall brown coat rack. There are two wardrobes in the room, one for her coats and one for me. Across from the bed is a white desk with a television, a radio, a desk lamp, and what looks to be a collection of pens and pencils of students past. The floor is a checkered pattern of dark green and light green carpet squares which cover what I'm assuming is the same hardwood as the dining room. Every inch of the floor squeaks terribly, and parts of it feel as though one more step will have your foot going straight through. I couldn't stop smiling. It was perfect. This was my European bedroom. It was simple, and actually had more than I expected. The furnishings had clearly been collected over the years and were horribly out of fashion. Green carpet, yellow armchair, green wardrobe, red and white peruvian rug on the floor, blue paisley bedspread, and pink and white french country curtains. I was at home.

I set about unpacking, which took me about 15 minutes, then stowed my suitcases in the wardrobe. I am incredibly blessed, as Frau Thierry has wifi internet access, thus I will be able to communicate with all of my friends (and, of particular concern to me right now, with Nate). To conclude the evening, she gave me a list entitled "Eight Golden Rules for Living with Angela." They are :

1.) Please close entrance door always by key - there are 2 locks!
Do not loose key, we have a safety door, in case of loss I would have to charge you for the replacement.

2.) In case of travelling away, please give notice in advance about departure and return date.

3.) Turn off lights in your room when leaving, also turn off heating of oil stove when room is warm enough or when you leave the apartment. Heating is expensive!

4.) Door of refrigerator in kitchen has to be closed with special attention, sometimes it stays gaping.

5.) Please rinse your used dishes and kitchen utensils- I will then locate them in the dishwasher.

6.) Your used laundry and underwear should be deposited in the special bag in your room, I will wash it, when the bag is full.

7.) Turn off the heating in the bathroom when you finished showering, it is not only expensive to leave it on, but also dangerous.

8.) Keep your room tidy, neat and proper, don't leave anything lying on the floor as the room has to be vacuum-cleaned regularly. Make your bed every day before leaving.

She seems to be a fairly easy-going woman. I think that we will get along. She also speaks really great English. It's going to be difficult to practice German when everyone speaks English so well. Oh well. For now, it's just nice to be in my apartment and have things set up and ready to go.

First Day in Vienna

My first day in Vienna is a bit of a blur. It seemed like the longest day in existence. This is probably due to the fact that, for me, it was the longest day in existence. I spent the night before packing and largely unable to sleep. The fact that I was about to leave the United States for the first time, and for three months solid at that, was a little bit difficult for me to wrap my head around. My flight was at 7:00am on the eighth of September. I wanted to be there by 6:00am at least, which left me getting up around 4:30am. I went to bed around 2:00am. When I sleep this little, I somehow lose a night and live one extended day with a brief nap in the middle. I double checked my bags, tried to organize the things I would be leaving at home, said a prayer with my parents, and (already exhausted) headed for the airport.

Are you ever in those experiences where something feels normal, but because you feel that it shouldn't feel normal it feels abnormal? This describes the drive to the airport that morning. It was just a few minutes in the car with my parents. It was altogether ordinary. I went to the counter at the airport, checked my bags, accidentally left my pink Nalgene bottle there (a tragedy, truly), and said goodbye to my parents. It was all just ordinary.

The first leg of my flight was from Sacramento Metro to Washington Dulles. I ended up being on the same flight as a few of the people from my group. I met up with Jessie, who gave me what she had left over of her chicken salad wrap. We noticed Dan, who sat on the other side of the gate and looked somewhat unhappy. Kristian, Carolyn, and Melissa showed up and we all chatted a while. All except for Dan, who stayed on the other side of the gate looking somber.

None of us ended up together on the flight. I stepped onto the plane and sat next to an old woman who eventually put in her iPod and couldn't figure out the volume. In demonstrating how to work the wheel, I ended up blasting Christian Easy Listening in her ear. She later began to sing along to this. At any rate, before the flight even took off the Austrian Airlines stewardess came over and said something in German, which I absolutely didn't understand. At this point I sent a text message to my boyfriend that read something along the lines of, "EPIC FAIL!" This is when it hit me that I was headed for a foreign land.


I spent a lot of time on that flight staring out the window. I also watched Cars in German and The Notebook in German, even though I hate that movie. Every once in a while I would flip to the feature on the screen that tells you where you are in the flight. It was interesting to look at the screen and out the window. "Oh, we're over England. Oh, look. That's England down there." I looked for icebergs while we were over ocean, but it was dark and there was nothing to be seen. The moon was lovely, though.

16 hours after my departure from Sacramento I landed in Vienna. It was 7:40am the 9th September local time, making it 10:40pm Sacramento time. I had been awake now for around 18 hours. I had been instructed to stay awake the entire day if I could and then sleep a normal night. This would ease my transition and lessen the jetlag. This is, I must say, excellent advice. It is also ridiculously challenging.

We were met at the airport by Markus from the Austro American Institute. We took a van/bus to our hotel, the Pension Baronesse, where we left our baggage and decided to go exploring. We met up with Melinda, who had been there since earlier that morning, and we called up to John in another room, who had been in Europe for a while already. Up to this point, I was fairly lucid. It is around this time that things start to blur.

We didn't have to be back at our hotel until 6:00pm, and I knew that if I went back to the hotel early I would fall asleep, which I didn't want to do. It ended up being a lot of walking around in a city that I didn't know at all. It was, however, beautiful. The buildings were stunning. Walking through Vienna was like taking a stroll through my Interior Design class during the chapter on architecture through the ages. Every different style was here. We started out looking for a park, which we found next to the Rathaus. This is basically the city hall. We spent some time wandering through. We found a statue of a knight with very long pointed shoes. He is henceforth known as the Pointy Shoed Man. It's not a very creative title, I know. I later noticed that this statue was a copy of the statue that tops the Rathaus.
It was sitting down on the benches in the park that was the real beginning of the end. At this point I realized that I was absolutely exhausted. From here on out, everything I did was something for which I was just slightly less awake.

Jet lag is awful. I had never been this kind of tired. Counting the hours I had been awake already was both torturous because I didn't really need to know how long I'd been up, and frustrating because I was too tired to do math all that well. I would like to say I never want to feel that way again, but it's a bit of a lost cause as I'll go through it at least once more on the return to the States in December. I am not looking forward to that feeling again.

We eventually found our way to a shopping area with a huge cathedral (Stephansdom). We wandered around and took a few pictures. The architecture was gothic. I have never been a fan of gothic architecture. The large and over-decorated spires are not appealing to me. The gargoyles are even less so. I was more fascinated by everything else around the cathedral. This is where I saw the first really modern building I had seen since getting in to Vienna. There was a dog lying in front of a small building next to the cathedral, which was just such a peaceful scene. There were also street performers everywhere. This was easily identified as a HUGE tourist area because of the street performers. The thing is, most of them weren't actually performing. The street performing there seemed to be people who dress up and paint themselves, then pretend to be statues. Some are better than others. One was a violinist who would play a simple tune every time someone gave him a tip. Another was a man painted entirely silver. The variety of costumes was at least interesting. The silver man was fairly simple. He was dressed in silver. That's about all there was to it. The violinist had on dark clothing with a black coat. Somewhere down the way a bit from the cathedral was a woman in a large billowy dress. She was seated on the ground, her face painted white, keeping her eyes closed. I'm assuming that she had yet to master the art of not blinking.

We eventually ended up back at the hotel where we met up with Markus and the rest of the group. We first went for Pizza where I discovered that Buffalo Mozzarella is amazing. Next we went to the LDS Institute building where I literally fell asleep standing up. Once we got back to the hotel I was out. Thus, the day had passed in a complete blur. I remember bits and pieces, such as attempting to order ice cream in German and failing, or not being able to understand a word of what was happening around me, or Melinda's face when she tried to exchange money in the bank... in German. I was sure of one thing: This would be a grand adventure.