![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I can't help it. I am a obsessive counter. There must be a number somewhere. Ergo, week 2. The week end was somewhat busy. Friday night I went to a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic (this is where you go "Oooh" appreciatively'). They played Brahms' 2nd Symphony, which was absolutely smashing, and 2 Hungarian composers. They had weird names that I cannot remember. But one of them Julie has mentioned to me before: the _____ hand signs for teaching music? I liked his better than the other one. The adventure came after the concert.
Andrew, Haley, Elanna, Brooke, and I all decided to go to the Danube. This isn't all that hard in Vienna. The U1 Line stops at the Alte Donau, or old Danube. But we didn't take the U1. Instead, we took the U4 or U2 and stopped at Schwedenplatz because the map showed the Danube Canal was near there. Schwedenplatz is not the nicest neighborhood. There was graffitti everywhere, though it seemed overall safer than some of the neighborhoods in my city. We decided that we wanted the real Danube, and set off on the U2 line, Andrew was thinking we could catch a train from there. But the trains are not included in the passes you buy for transport, and only come every hour or so. That plan was caput. So we looked on the map, and went to the very end of the U2 Line. Then we walked about eight blocks, over a bridge, and through a Hilton Hotel to find the Danube. At that point it was dark, but we could still see the rushing water, and hear it, and smell it. It was peaceful there. We stayed there for half an hour, took pictures, they talked. Then the hotel started locking its outside doors and we left. We were a bit worried that the U-Bahn lines would quit before we got home, but we made it. They stop running about 12:30. We got home, and I read for far too long, but I realized how nice it is to be 'not here'.
On Saturday there was a class trip to Rohrau and Eisenstadt. We saw where Haydn was born, baptised, grew up, worked, but not where he died, that is tomorrow. My only problem was leaving all my stuff on the bus and having to borrow money to buy lunch. Not to mention it was hot enough to sweat in a bus without proper airconditioning. On the plus side, I did get more knitting done. I also found out that I am unreasonably jealous of people who speak German even a little better than I, and that my flatmates are children when I would rather be around adults. Again, on the plus side, the lemon (zitrone) ice cream (eis) here is fantastic.
Sunday I slept in, got up and ate, and then we all went to the Albertina. The Albertina is an art museum. They had a big collection or collection of collections that went from Monet (impressionism) to Picasso (abstract expressionism). That is like 1700's to mid 1900's. I enjoyed it, wrote down the pieces I especially liked. Perhaps I will try to find prints for later. Then we had lunch at Cafe Central, which was quite good, and went for dessert at Cafe Sacher. Aparrently the Sacher Torte is a big deal, we had that. It was just chocolate cake (kinda dry) with a apricot flavored chocolate covering. They served it with unsweetened whipped cream. I thought it was weird at first, but the flavors really mesh well, and they had this little chocolate medallion that said 'Hotel Sacher'. Also, there was Austrian ginger ale.
After that we all went home, about half of the apartment went to a concert. I thought about it, but there was homework to do. I am determined that I shall go to a string quartet concert in Vienna while I am here.
Today I suffered through German, and made it through Music History. Only a rehearsal (our first violin trio rehearsal!) and Music Performance to go (I will be performing the Meditation from Thais. 'cringe').
Talk at ya'll later.
Greeny
Andrew, Haley, Elanna, Brooke, and I all decided to go to the Danube. This isn't all that hard in Vienna. The U1 Line stops at the Alte Donau, or old Danube. But we didn't take the U1. Instead, we took the U4 or U2 and stopped at Schwedenplatz because the map showed the Danube Canal was near there. Schwedenplatz is not the nicest neighborhood. There was graffitti everywhere, though it seemed overall safer than some of the neighborhoods in my city. We decided that we wanted the real Danube, and set off on the U2 line, Andrew was thinking we could catch a train from there. But the trains are not included in the passes you buy for transport, and only come every hour or so. That plan was caput. So we looked on the map, and went to the very end of the U2 Line. Then we walked about eight blocks, over a bridge, and through a Hilton Hotel to find the Danube. At that point it was dark, but we could still see the rushing water, and hear it, and smell it. It was peaceful there. We stayed there for half an hour, took pictures, they talked. Then the hotel started locking its outside doors and we left. We were a bit worried that the U-Bahn lines would quit before we got home, but we made it. They stop running about 12:30. We got home, and I read for far too long, but I realized how nice it is to be 'not here'.
On Saturday there was a class trip to Rohrau and Eisenstadt. We saw where Haydn was born, baptised, grew up, worked, but not where he died, that is tomorrow. My only problem was leaving all my stuff on the bus and having to borrow money to buy lunch. Not to mention it was hot enough to sweat in a bus without proper airconditioning. On the plus side, I did get more knitting done. I also found out that I am unreasonably jealous of people who speak German even a little better than I, and that my flatmates are children when I would rather be around adults. Again, on the plus side, the lemon (zitrone) ice cream (eis) here is fantastic.
Sunday I slept in, got up and ate, and then we all went to the Albertina. The Albertina is an art museum. They had a big collection or collection of collections that went from Monet (impressionism) to Picasso (abstract expressionism). That is like 1700's to mid 1900's. I enjoyed it, wrote down the pieces I especially liked. Perhaps I will try to find prints for later. Then we had lunch at Cafe Central, which was quite good, and went for dessert at Cafe Sacher. Aparrently the Sacher Torte is a big deal, we had that. It was just chocolate cake (kinda dry) with a apricot flavored chocolate covering. They served it with unsweetened whipped cream. I thought it was weird at first, but the flavors really mesh well, and they had this little chocolate medallion that said 'Hotel Sacher'. Also, there was Austrian ginger ale.
After that we all went home, about half of the apartment went to a concert. I thought about it, but there was homework to do. I am determined that I shall go to a string quartet concert in Vienna while I am here.
Today I suffered through German, and made it through Music History. Only a rehearsal (our first violin trio rehearsal!) and Music Performance to go (I will be performing the Meditation from Thais. 'cringe').
Talk at ya'll later.
Greeny
