Once a week is as good as I can do these days as far as blog posts go. Also, photos are not cooperating, so this post is kind of text heavy. Read if you want.
Because of all the complaining I did about the cold in all of my previous posts, I need to take this opportunity to praise the weather these last few days. Holy macaroni, it's been gorgeous. We are getting a sneak peek of spring right now and I am in love. The number of times I've taken off my coat outside this week is off the charts. I'll recap my week for you and make sure to mention how glorious it has been everyday.
Monday
This day was beautiful. I wasn't brave enough to go without tights under my jeans just yet, but I didn't bring ear muffs, which was pretty daring of me. After classes, Michelle invited Becca and I to venture out into the 11th District to find the Cemetary of the Nameless. I'm a big time sucker for cemetaries and also it was nice outside and we didn't have plans, so we hopped on a bus and cruised out out out of town. When we got off the bus, it looked kind of like we could be back in the U.S. in a hicktown or something. There were a bunch of warehouses and factories and stuff. But Michelle had looked up on the map where to go, so we started walking down a busy road with cars whipping past us. We were close to the Danube Canal, and we thought it might be more pleasant to walk along that, so we followed the path next to it for awhile. It was very pleasant and we even saw two swans land in unison on the water, which was kind of incredible. But then things started looking kind of like a haunted forest and we found a building called the Friedhof der Bücher (book cemetary), which looked like an abandoned restaurant turned into a crack house. We high tailed it out of there pretty quick and found the main road again. But we still couldn't find the cemetary so we wandered onto another path and we may or may not have been trespassing (I really don't know) but we had a lovely nature walk and we found one headstone in the middle of a forest and also I had a hotflash (!) which I didn't believe was possible in Vienna. When we looked at a map later that evening, we saw that we almost walked right out of Vienna (the region) and into Lower Austria. Whoops.
The lone gravestone we found
Becca and I went to Peter Pan at the Burgtheater that afternoon. It was all in German, but we understood a little bit of it since it was geared towards children (Liesl was surprised when we told her we went. She asked if they asked our age when we bought tickets...they didn't).
We hit up a Mexican restaurant nearby after the show. I was curious about Austrian Mexican food and also just super hungry. The man there only spoke a little English, so we used our Spanish and German to communicate with him. It was an extremely multicultural experience. He brought us free shots and when we told him we don't drink he said, "It's only a little bit." Unfortunately, we couldn't trade the shots in for free tortilla chips.
Thanks but no thanks for the free shots.
Also you guys, my hair...I know. I just...meh. Not a lot of options with frizzy hair and 8 AM class.
Tuesday
On Tuesday in our art history class we went to Karlskirche, which is a beautiful old Baroque church. They've been doing some renovation work, so they have an elevator up to the dome. We took it up so we could check out the fresco, but then they have even more stairs and you can go into the tippy tippy top. There are windows up there and you can look out over ALL of Vienna and it was gorgeous. Not to mention we were seriously inches away from the amazing fresco. If you come to Vienna soon, do that, because they're taking the scaffolding down soon. The whole church is really gorgeous and bright and clean. I loved it.
View of Stephansdom from Karlskirche
It was so warm on Tuesday that Becca and I went to a park by our house and worked out. We got lots of funny looks, but I didn't mind too much. Since we worked out, we figured it would be alright to celebrate Fat Tuesday, so Becca and I made palatschinken with our friend Aly and we watched The Bachelor.
Aly and Becca with our pancakes
Wednesday
We don't have classes on Wednesday, so after breakfast, we went to Augarten to check out the playground that our professors' kids recommended. Here's the thing about European playgrounds (and parks in general): they are the best. There's not as many weird safety regulations so the toys are actually fun and most of them are big enough for a person my size to play on. I discovered this in London, but it holds true here as well. Augarten did not disappoint. There was an amazing swing/seasaw that we stayed on for nearly a half hour. I was a little sea sick at the end, but it was worth it. After playing on the playground, we walked around the enormous garden for awhile (carrying our coats) and enjoyed the sunshine.
That evening we had dinner with our host family. Norbert's cousin and his wife have some girls from our group living with them, so they came over and we had a big dinner. Becca and I helped Liesl prepare dinner and tried to pick up some of her cooking skills. She made homemade topfenstrudel and apfelstrudel and it just about changed my life. Also, Sarah and Lisa (the two musicians who live at our house) played a couple of movements from a Mozart symphony and it was just incredible. Sometimes I can't believe my life. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm bragging, I realize that I am so lucky to be having such amazing experiences.
Thursday
This day started beautifully because we had leftover strudel for breakfast. Our schedule got a little switched up on Thursday because our art history class finished on Friday, so we had a final review on this morning. Our teacher also took us to the crypt to "meet the royals," and we saw the tombs of all of Austria's old rulers (Sisi and Franz-Josef and Maria Theresia and the whole lot).
It was just a teensy bit chilly on Thursday, so we spent the afternoon in the Albertina Museum. My heart grew about 100 sizes because I loved the art there so much. They had a special exhibition of really gorgeous drawings (not paintings) from Impressionists like Monet, Manet, Seurat, Degas, etc. The also had a great collection of Impressionist paintings. And they have a big Magritte exhibition that is in its final week (featuring the famous The Treachery of Imagesthat I love so much after studying Foucault and Lacan). I really loved the whole museum.
Friday
On my morning jog I tracked down my parents' old house. Turns out they lived about three feet away from where I live now. Seriously, their old house is just a few blocks from mine. After our art history final in the morning, Becca and I took two of our professors' daughters ice skating at the Rathaus. It was so warm that there was a layer of water pretty much covering the ice and making it that much more threatening to fall. I got taken out by a kid and got a little bit soaked, but poor Kate got it the worst. She fell in a very deep puddle and was a great sport about it. In my interview before being accepted into this study abroad, Dr. Hinckley (the man...his wife is also called Dr. Hinckley), assured me that his kids were really cool. I wasn't even worried, I typically get along with children. But he wasn't joking. His kids are smarter than me, and they are super well-behaved and creative and nice. I'm a big fan.
We grabbed a pastry on our way back to their flat, and then Becca and I went home to rest before going to the institute for waffles and to help clean. The senior couple is so sweet and they whipped up some waffles even though only a few people came. Elder Christofferson is coming in a couple of weeks, so we cleaned up the institute in preparation, then we went to get ice cream from Zanoni and Zanoni. Our friend Dago said this is the worst of all the ice cream places and that it only stays in business because it is open in the winter months when all the good places close. This is hard for me to believe because the banana gelato I had last night was insane, but I'm excited for the other places to open next month to discover that he is correct.
Saturday
In the morning I went for a jog in my neighborhood. I saw a church spire that looked cool, so I ran towards it and was happily rewarded when I finally reached it. Not only was there a lovely church (with nuns) on top of a hill, there was also a really nice cemetary. I spent some time there before returning home to enjoy breakfast with Norbert and Liesl. We went to the Lower Belvedere to see more beautiful art, and then we had to stop at Zanoni & Zanoni to check and see if it was still good. It was. When we got home, Liesl and Norbert's bridge party was just about to begin. They had invited us in the morning, but we didn't know if they were serious. Turns out they were, because there were two seats set for us at the table. We ate dinner with N & L and eleven of their friends. It was really lovely. I feel so lucky to live with the Meinls. They are really good people. They are so kind and smart and friendly and fun. They are NOT required to invite us to things or take us places or introduce us to their friends, but they do so willingly and regularly. I'm in awe of their goodness and welcoming. Their friends were amazing as well. All good people.
Sunday
Today we had Stake Conference, which was broadcast from Salt Lake and was really great. After church, Norbert drove us to the Cemetary for the Nameless, because he had never been there and he was curious as us. It was pretty and tiny and surrounded by industrial stuff. Not my favorite cemetary, but interesting to see. Tomorrow I'm off to Istanbul for spring break. We are going to be extra safe, but I'm sure a few prayers sent my way couldn't hurt.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Wettack family and all of the Mercer Island community right now. I'm so grateful to know that there is life after death and that someday we will be reunited with the loved ones we have lost in this life.
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