The Vienna Whirlwind

Blake visited this weekend and in two days we managed to tour both Bratislava and Vienna. We started at Stephansdom and moved basically walked a fair amount of the Ring, with a traditional Austrian lunch near MuseumsQuartier.

The Vienna Museum sparked a lot of awe at the royal jousting armour and city models as it grew. Its really impressive to look through the history of the site that Vienna sits on and the growth in wide and height of the city over the years.

The Hundertwasser House caused a fair amount of amusement but we realised that if we were to actually live there we might in fact go crazy. It needs to be seen to be believed.

We also stopped off for some dessert along the Danube Canal complete with fancy glasses.

The 3 Ss

Saturday was filled with the 3 Ss: Sight-seeing, shopping and SALSA. My day started with a trip on the U6 to Alser Strasse to visit a dance shop. I am now the proud owner of a new pair of Supadance latin 3.5 inch heels. I walked around the area a bit but its not that sight-seeing worthy.

My next stop was Naschmarkt for a stroll through the flea market. It was very warm yesterday so I promptly bought a Chinese fan to accompany my stroll. The flea market seems very chaotic and frankly a little boring. Its sort of like a Green Point stadium market from way back.

After a quick lunch in the market I delved into the Museums district of Vienna: The Natural History Museum and the Museums Quartier. It seems like every museum building in Vienna is a beautifully decorated architectural marvel. The Natural History Museum is yet another one. The foyer ceiling is worth mentioning and the decor on the walls of each exhibition room. I can't say I was terribly impressed by the exhibitions (Special exhibition: Darwin evolution). The elephant was actually the statue in front of the NMH. I'm Europe and I've been inundated with lions and now elephants.

The photo on the right is the Venus of Willendorf at 25,000 years old. Its kept in a dark room with only a little overhead light. It was found in the Danube valley and believed to be a symbol of fertility. No trip a NHM is complete without a dinosaur skeleton or three.

The Museums Quartier is a young trendy area to grab a drink nestled between lots of museums. I'll go back another day to wonder through the various on offer. They do have the strangest outdoor chairs though: bright pink.

My final destination of the day was Floridita, a Cuban salsa bar near Stephansplatz. Its a non-smoking club, which is fantastic given Austria's lax smoking rules and they have a bag check so you don't have to clutch a purse and try to dance. A couple of people joined me from IIASA and we danced for a few hours before catching various night buses home. The outing reminded me of why I dance, the fun, the energy and most of all the instant stress relief

Eins...Zwei...Drei...

I'm learning German very slowly. I have opted not to do the formal classes which are an hour each for 10 hours total. Markus (German YSSP) has kindly offered to instruct some of us in German. Yesterday we started with counting. I can now count up to 20 and in theory everything past that too. My pronunciation needs a lot of work. We also covered how to ask for a table in a restaurant and how to order a meal and ask for the bill. I got to try some of this on the barman last night while ordering.

Most important phrase of the day: Entschuldigen Sie bitte! - Excuse me please

The picture attached is a sign from a hotel around the corner from the Naschmarkt. Its a black cat and the story goes that these signs were displayed over shop doors to advertise the trade or services available and the name. They are made from wrought iron and can still be seen in a few places around Vienna. The Wien Museum has an example of a hedgehog and the lantern that gave Schonlanterngasse its name. I'll post more as I see them, I think these signs are wonderful.

Blooming and Booming

Today was a mish mash of various events with a lot of soccer thrown in. The day started with a visit to the Museum of Applied Art (MAK) which is Vienna's answer to the V&A in London. The collection itself if not nearly as impressive but the building itself is a work of art. Marble pillars, painted ceilings, fountains embedded in the walls. The building is worth a visit just to gawk at (and its free on Saturdays). The Design Shop off the atrium is a showcase of how art and functionality can be combined to create quirky yet beautiful practical pieces.

The MAK borders the Stadtpark (City Park) and everything in the park seem to be blooming. The clock above is a perfect example (I wasn't tall enough to get a full picture).

On the way to lunch at Naschmarkt I got horribly disorientated and landed up at the wrong exit at Karlsplatz, not a tragedy because I stumbled across the Opera Toilet. It sings whenever anyone enters the toilet, a highly amusing spectacle. My other discovery was a beautiful fountain in the gardens around the U-Bahn exit.

Naschmarkt is a vibrant market with a mix of fresh produce, flea market junk, foreign cuisine supply stores and pavement restaurants. A group organised to Toko Ri, the Japanese restaurant within the market. Ordering sushi in German with Japanese names is amusing.

What followed was lots of World Cup match viewing...

The final bit of excitement for the day was a thunderstorm that materialised within minutes over the Danube Island (we were having a BBQ with the Forestry group). Stunning lightning and thunderclaps heralded the rain and so ended the day of sunshine and badminton and bbqing.

Wien Museum - Karlsplatz

The Wien Museum is free on Sundays (which is a nice discount from the normal 6 euros). It was really interesting to see the changes of Vienna from the Roman occupation to the Hungarian Empire and then the modern day occupation. It has city maps, old plans and statues rescued from renovated buildings.

There is a special exhibition currently hosted at the museum showcasing Vienna in film. Its quite interesting to see the depiction of Vienna after seeing the city.
The Karlsplatz Kirche is currently under construction but beautiful nonetheless. The pillars framing the church entrance are carved with complex scenes. There is rumoured (we of limited funds did not pay the massive entrance fee) to be a massive fresco on the ceiling covering roughly 13500 feet.

Historic Walk

I walked through the Historical District of Philadelphia. I think I learnt more in the walk than I did in school about American history. I saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I walked past the US Mint and the National Constitution Center. I visited the Freedom Center and walked through the Franklin Park.

Walking back to City Hall I went through Chinatown and the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. The market is a huge room filled with a collection of various countries authentic food. It was packed and loud. City Hall is huge and the meeting point of the city roads in the gridded road system. The fountain at City Hall is pink for the Breast Cancer Awareness month. I wonder what they put in the water to make it pink like that? I walked away from City Hall and towards the Science Museum and came across a South African flag. Of course I had a picture!

Manhattan rush

Michelle, Tom and myself tried to go to MoMA but the queue in the cold weather just put us off, instead we ventured down 5th Ave and saw enough designer stores to make your credit card cringe just window shopping. We queued to go to Abercrombie and Fitch club. Its a store designed like a nightclub and has music pounding through the store and glass cube lit stairs. The Apple store is very cool, its this giant cube made of glass that you descend into the floor to the store below.

After a major rush and running through Penn Station to get to the bus I boarded a Megabus to Philadelphia. Very pleasant ride with minimum of fuss. Arriving in Philadelphia at sunset was beautiful.

I started my Philadelphia experience with authentic Philly cheesesteaks. Heavy on the cheese from Geno's. I think I could get to love them. My second day dawned cold and clear with a trip to the Pumpkinland at Linvilla. Rachel and I matched by fluke and had photos with the pumpkins. Our haul included a baby pumpkin for Rachel and a large pumpkin for Kim and Steve.

The afternoon was spent in the Franklin Institute Science Museum and the Real Pirate exhibition from National Geographic. The exhibition included real pirate treasure from the Whydah ship. I thorougly enjoyed it and did the rest of the museum which included an electricity exhibit and an air exhibit. I missed the planetarium but I'm not sure if I missed much.

The city that never sleeps

Getting to NYC took some doing but I am glad I did it. I successfully navigated the subway and arrived in Brooklyn Heights only slightly weary. My first outing was a walk along the promenade to view the Manhattan skyline. Its very pretty but I hate to think what the electricity bill per building is when they are lit like that all night. I'll post a picture once I'm back on my own computer.

My next day started at 8.30am. For those who know me well, this is very early but I survived. I walked across Brooklyn Bridge which has an amazing view of the river and Manhattan. The bridge is a steel wire suspension bridge, the first of its kind. Walking along and looking up feels like you are in a giant spiderweb. The bridge ends at the bottom of Manhattan right next to the courts. I think walked past the supreme court and criminal court. The architecture of the buildings in spectacular.

Walking along you start to realise the scale and height of the buildings. You cannot feel the sunlight at ground level, there are just too many buildings blocking the rays from ever reaching it. I started my exploration of the area in earnest in Chinatown and its confusing, I'm not going to lie. I think I circled the same block about 3 times to find what I was looking for. Everyone is very welcoming and the array of foods and goods is quite unreal.

Finally navigating my way out of Chinatown I managed to miss Little Italy on the way to Soho. Not quite sure how but I think I was expecting an Italian version of Chinatown and it turns out its not. Soho is weird and wonderful and has a number of nice shops. I was stopped and asked if I support Developing Nations, some charity for uplifting poverty in Africa. What a laugh, after their whole spiel about poverty etc I finally had to point out that I'm South African and hence live in the place.

Next on my list was Greenwich Village which seems less spectacular than I imagined. I made an effort and deviated from my target of Central Park for the Empire State building. The queue to get up to the observation deck was 1.5 hours. Not a chance! I decided I didn't really need to wait that long to pay $30+ to see the city from above.

I browsed Macy's but I didn't find anything that fitted within my price range :( The One Day Sale is on today and I think that will be true chaos. I ended up in Old Navy and I have to say I could quite happily spend a fortune in there.

My walking tour back on target I wandered around Broadway til Central Park. Central Park is gorgeous and still very green. Coming from a riot of Autumn colours in Ann Arbor it seems weird. The park as a beautiful tranquil feeling going for it, despite the activity in it. The Besthesda Fountain doesn't quite measure up to the hype but the lake itself is well worth the trek. There was a couple having their wedding pictures taken with the lake as their backdrop. I sat and absorbed the quietness after the noise of the city and then headed out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At $10 for students I appreciate the London ethos of free entry in museums. The museum is huge and you really do need the map they provide. The Chinese scrolls on display are worth the visit alone. I also enjoyed the Temple of Dendur in the Egyptian section which was rescued from the threat of submergence when the Egyptians built a new dam. I'm sad I didn't have time to do the Design and Photography section, I think that would also be worth a perusal.

Once back on the street, I ventured into the subway and down to Times Square. My god, its noisy and busy and an overload of screens. Started in ToysRUs which has a ferris wheel in the store and then went to TGIF for dinner. Next stop chocolate! The M&M store is huge and filled with every flavour M&M available. The Hersheys store added yet more chocolate to the list.

The last stop of the day was the Rockefeller Building which provides a view from above without the long queues to get in. The Empire State Building was lit up in purple and orange for the night as part of the Cat Fanciers Association Conference.

The end result of my whirlwind tour is bruised feet, lots of photos and a lot more information than I can possibly remember. My feet will hopefully recover enough to do Philadelphia :)