from buda to pest

view from the citadell

budapest was a lot of fun! we saw a ton in a very short period of time and got to experience a lot, both touristy and just normal stuff you would do if you lived there.

here are my pictures: BUDAPEST

friday afternoon, ezra and i took the train to budapest and got there at night. we were met by ezra's friend ferenc, with whom we stayed for the weekend. we did a quick drive by of the sites at night (pretty lit up buildings and all) and making a stop at heroes square. We then spent the night out on the town, walking from one place to the next. saturday we drove out to Visegrád castle along the danube river at the very top of the long island that splits the danube. it had gorgeous views of the surrounding area. we had some typical hungarian food and then visited the city of Vác, ferenc's home town which was much quieter than Budapest and seemed quite quaint. It was fun to see the large number of people skateboarding and doing stunts of sorts in the main square.

Vác center square

Sunset on the way back to Budapest

It was a little chilly, and as the sun was setting, we headed back to Budapest where we spent the night partying with ferenc's friends. I didn't understand much of what was said, though some of them were able to speak some german or english, enough to allow me to follow parts of the conversation.

Matthias Church

sunday morning, since I was the only one of the group who had not seen budapest prior to this weekend, I wanted to see the sites. after some rolled eyes, we figured out a plan that would let me hit up the main sites in a few mere hours. We walked to the budapest castle, which was cool. Rather than the type of castle i am used to, this was a much larger walled in area of the city where people actually lived and there were shops and restaurants (more a modern version of the castle cities that existed way back when). The main site at the near end of the castle was the Matthias Church. From the castle wall there was a gorgeous view of the river where you could see parliament and most of the city. After the castle, we walked down to the rivers edge to see a closer up view of the gorgeous parliament building.

Parliament with boat bus going by

While looking at the parliament, and with perfect timing (right on cue to ferenc's conversations), the tour bus that also floats as a boat in the river slowly made its way in front of parliament. comical site. we headed back to get our bags and make a brief stop at the mall so i could buy shoes! (and while this seems like a dumb thing to do on a trip to a new city, i needed new good shoes for my up coming trips and the prices here in austria are super high!! hence the reason for looking in budapest where i found shoes that were only 40% of the cost of the shoes i found here in austria, so totally worth it). next stop, the citadell. driving by the budapest castle another time, across the chain bridge and around parts of the city to get to the citadell allowed me to see much more (even if it was a a very fast speed). the citadell was cool, mostly because of the view that we had of the whole city. you could see the pretty parts of both buda and pest and the more ghetto like areas where you could see all the low rent buildings that were built. we also at this traditional pastry type thing (very similar to the one that we had in prague) freshly made with coconut. yummy. running out of time before our train came we did one more round about through the city, down Andrássy avenue to heroes square and then off to the train station, with perfect timing.

View of Heroes place while driving down Andrássy Avenue

It seemed perhaps a little bit rushed, but considering we saw so many different places in 2 days, it was amazing. and it just made me want to go back to budapest to see it again (perhaps at a slower pace). but hey, i gotta leave stuff for my next euro trip :)

next stop, prague

last thursday night ezra and i left for prague....getting there however, was more difficult than planned since our train ended up not going to Prague...somehow it ended up going direction Moscow rather than direction Berlin so all the people traveling with us (trying to get to poland etc) had to figure out other ways to get there...So we ended up in Prerov for a couple hours....needless to say we made it to Prague but 3.5hrs later than desired and a couple more trains than originally planned....

arriving in Prague at 7:30am friday we checked into our hostel and then full of energy (haha) we set out to check out the town. it was colder and windier than i had packed for but the city was very pretty. I think there were way too many tourists in the city and the language i heard most was english. we headed into the center of the town, seeing a number of the highlight buildings and then joining up with a free tour or the old town area. Apparently, the Israeli President was in the town center when we were there because we saw a bunch of police. The center square was also filled with easter market stands very similar to the christmas stands you see all around Graz in the winter. We spent the day walking around the city, seeing the sites and checking out the beautiful park and castle before heading back to the center for a classical concert that was performed in a church. After the concert we headed straight to bed (having not gotten any sleep on our night train to who knows where).

picture courtesy of ezra

day 2 we set out to find a bunch of galleries ezra had googled....i guess google and the czech republic haven't really joined forces yet because we didn't find ANY of them...we did see more of the city though and then found an info office that directed us to a cool photography gallery and then the modern art museum. In the middle of that, we checked out the famous charles bridge and saw some pretty graffiti, sat on the island in the vltava river for a little. The modern art museum took us out of the main city a ways but it was nice to see the "normal" streets where people live. we finished off our evening with a concert in the famed rudolphinium performed by the czech philharmonic orchestra. one piece was ~1hr long! but very well done. we had a little bit of time to kill before catching our midnight train back to austria (hopefully) so we ended up going to a bar that had live music performed by a trio (singer was from boston and said he had been living in prague for ~20years).

overall, prague is a beautiful city, luckily protected from all the bombings, but i think 2 days was enough to see the sites and experience some of the wonderful music (the concerts were only ~13euros with student tickets, which was great!!)

check out some of our pictures: PRAGUE (and Vienna)

the train made it back to vienna without much trouble. i had sunday free so decided to check out the vienna since i realize that i have hardly seen it. though 6:30am on a sunday morning in Austria...almost nothing is happening/open. It was very pretty with the morning light. saw the austrian parliament and some pretty churches but since i was exhausted i found a nice bench in the sun and just relaxed a while ;) when it got late enough for the city to be a little more alive, i met up with a friend of mine for lunch and then later for coffee and cake. oh austrians and their coffee shops ;) vienna was wonderful in the afternoon (once the sun warmed it up enough that the ever-present wind wasn't so biting!) but i headed back to graz ready for another week to start :)

austrian parliament building

me, die Bergsteigerin

lunch time

after a beautiful friday afternoon and saturday on the raßberg soaking in the beautiful sun and seeing the newly missing lower Stadl and some really adorable cows, I was roped into climbing a mountain. I had absolutely no idea what i was getting myself into since i was asked if i wanted to go "wandern," which i naïvely translated as to go wandering aka on a walk. turns out it meant climbing a steep mountain. me, having brought a limited selection of shoes to Austria did not, in anyway, have the proper footwear. nevertheless, i was able to last minute borrow a pair after finding out what i was in for. it was the most perfect day. a little too hot for hiking in jeans (yet another way i was unprepared for hiking). But after climbing the steepest part of the mountain to get to the top ~1400km we ate a soup at the Gasthaus and enjoyed the beautiful 360view of the area with numerous para-gliders/sailors floating in the air.

the view from the Schöcklkreuz

Stereotypical Styrian music being played at the Gasthaus

after our hike down, taking a slightly windier path that was slightly easier on the knees (the pictures do not accurately show the steepness, but most people hiked with ski-poles :-) we stopped at the Mariatrost Kirche/Church which is quite famed. It was huge and beautiful.

Inside the Mariatrost Kirche

all in all, it was a fabulous day, though i got a little too much sun on my face (even with sunscreen application)

in the north of italy

The City of Trento, view from Castle Buonconsiglio

On thursday night I took a night train (with 2 changes so not really the best conditions for sleeping...) to Trento, Italy. Little city nestled within the Dolomite Mountains to visit a friend of mine. I arrived Friday morning at 8am to sunshine and beautiful views! I walked around and explored the city (which is actually quite small and if you are in a hurry you could probably walk from one end of the main city to the other in about 15 minutes). It was rather surprising how quickly I would stumble upon some site that looked much further away on the map...for example the main castle (castello buonconsiglio). I saw castles, beautiful churches, plazas, fountains, little parks, cafes etc. It being such a beautiful day as well as being italy meant it was time to RELAX. I enjoyed reading in the gardens and eating a gelato by the duomo fountain. we went out with a couple people for coffee (at about 8pm) dinner (at about 10pm) and then another coffee (at about 12:30am) and then drinks after that (until about 4am) in true italian style, hopping from one eatery to the next.

The city of Verona (this same river flows through Trento as well)

Saturday we took the train to Verona, which is about an hour south of Trento and just beyond the mountain ranges. It was an absolutely beautiful city, filled with old buildings from almost every era of history, people enjoying the warm weather and strolling about. Naturally, yet again we also had a list of things to do that included coffee (and by coffee, if you order just a coffee you end up with an espresso that is about one sip size), followed by pizza on the piazzo, followed by gelato, a little bit of site seeing on route to another coffee place by the river with a gorgeous view of the roman theater, followed by wine and little edibles (a must try, verona wine), and then rounded out by a second of gelato. despite the fact that it seemed like all we did was eat our way through the city it was amazing. I really don't know how italians get anything done! as it was explained to me, there is no tipping in italy and as a result the waiters dont really care about speedy service and whether you want to or not you sit there for however long it takes, no rush. the atmosphere of verona was incredible. i did manage to find one souvenir from my time there which was a pillow case (to add to my collection :) made by a woman who specializes in repairing rugs of all kinds. It was really fun to watch her working in this little room filled with strings/threads/yarns of all kinds and working on carpet like items of all varieties.

Arco Castle

After the long day in verona and then enjoying the evening with people in trento we got up on sunday and took the bus to riva del garda which is a little town on the edge of Lake Garda, nestled in between the mountains. It was rather overcast but still beautiful and great because it was before the touristy season when apparently the area is packed! only about ~6km from Riva del Garda is Arco which has this really cool old castle on the top of a cliff/mountain. we walked up to it on this gorgeous path that sports lots of flowers and herbs and gives you a gorgeous view of the valley. Then we took the bus back to Trento. and i must say, it was really nice taking the bus because you wind up and down the mountain scaling roads and through valleys and vineyards and see all these rather isolated little towns surrounded by beauty in every direction.

Castle Toblino, Sarce, Italy

that is about it for the quick summary of italy. we had a quick beer/fries/gelato combo before i had to hop back on the train to the border followed by a sbahn to innsbruck followed by an absolutely PACKED night train to Graz that didn't allow for much sleep at all because there was hardly room to sit. I arrived back in Graz at 7am walked home and then got ready for work.

here are a few pics from my trip: TRENTO, VERONA, RIVA DEL GARDA, ARCO

i took a ton of pictures of balconies as well in the various cities in northern italy since they were everywhere and very different. might try to make an album out of those eventually too...

human planet

i discovered a new show. and while in most cases i keep them to myself...i thought this one was worth sharing. for any who enjoyed BBC's Planet Earth, or Blue Planet, HUMAN PLANET is similar but focuses on people and their relationships to animals and nature. Really quite fascinating. I highly recommend it. There are 8 episodes that are ~48mins long and then there is ~10mins on how they were able to film certain things and more details (behind the scenes). If you can't figure out how to watch it and you want to, let me know!

link to the show's site: HUMAN PLANET

link to the show's gallery: GALLERY

spring like saturday

although it looked nice and sunny outside, it took a little bit of convincing for me to believe it was actually as warm outside as it looked.

I have recently been looking into a whole variety of nearby places to travel to for long weekends and realized that I should also look into "the sites" of Graz, ones that I may not have known existed. Touristy sites weren't all that helpful so Ive decided that I should just go check out different parts of the city every time I get the chance. So thats what I set out yesterday to do, only to get distracted by the niceness of the park with the sun shining and people playing music and games. I decided to sit and read/write a little while, while the sun was still warm and then continue on my walk. It was such a nice evening that I then stayed longer along the river.

guy playing his guitar in the park

It was really nice to have music playing while i sat in the park reading/writing. He played for about an hour.

two little girls playing in the park

It was a lot of fun watching these girls run around the park. The smaller one in particular kept walking circles around the guy playing his guitar.

Nice path along the river

Despite this path being not far from the busy center of the city, it seems surprisingly like it's out in nature. Sitting down here you hear the leaves rustling, the water rushing, and you don't feel at all like you are at the heart of the city. This path is also highly used by walkers/runners/and people just hanging out.

candle lit vigil

Each evening a group comes to light these candles in an effort to save the "8000 trees" along the river.

face under the bridge

I was happily surprised to see this face under the bridge. It reminded me of the on I saw just a day earlier at the Hundertwasser church. This one, however, was creatively painted like almost everything in this area along the river.

Glöcklspiel at Glöcklspielplatz

I walk by this building every day on my way to work, but until yesterday had only seen these windows open up once. After doing a little research online, i discovered that they open every day at 11am, 3pm, and 6pm so I had decided to plan my walk so that I would get here in time to see the Glöcklspiel. Normally there are just metal windows, but at these three times, the windows open and these figures slide out and they then dance around in circles for about 7minutes to various chimes and bells - the Glöcklspiel. Apparently, there is a different routine at each of the times so hopefully my work schedule will allow me to see the other ones too :)

a morning in the countryside

I finally got to see some of the towns that surround Stallhofen on Friday and it was amazing to see what little gems are hidden away in these towns!

view of Voitsberg through the Burg

despite the town having 10,000people in it, it felt very small town (like most austrian towns/cities). Featured in the middle you can see the church right in the center of town.

the burg wall. the stones were beautiful in the sunlight

it was so warm! that i walked around the burg in just a t-shirt. unfortunately the gates were closed so you couldn't go inside of the burg. (also it was explained to me that while in english we just say Castle there is a difference between a Schloss (more modern) and a Burg (medieval), where burg is more like a fortress.

Hundertwasser Church in Bärnbach

This church is really cool. It is surrounded by archways that have symbols from the world's religions and the church itself is very colorful and it has a spotted roof and the ground around it is intentionally uneven (more rolly). Makes me think of something you would see in a fairytale.

Hundertwasser church window

 While all the other windows in the church were normal looking, this one window was very different and beautiful both on the inside and out. From the outside it looks like there is a giant orangish splat surrounding the window.

random head coming out of the church back wall

you can stand under this random head and look up at it, do something funny with it, or whatever. i attempted to grab it but was a little shocked when a chunk fell off so i decided it was probably better to leave it alone.

the famous lipizzaner horses!

it was so cool to just get to walk around the breeding barns and fields in this very picturesque location. and we were told that the females were pregnant!

Piber Church right next to the horses

This church was made in 1060BCE and is in amazing condition. when we walked in there was a casket laying in wait in the middle of the church so i felt a little bit like i was disturbing something even though there was nobody else around.

Random little playground thing near the Piber Schloss

I played little kid and climbed up, though I hardly fit through the opening at the top.

It was such a gorgeous, sunny, and warm day, that after all of this we went back to the Raßberg, had lunch and just enjoyed the unbelievably warm weather for a while. it was perfect.

check out more pictures at:   2010-2011 Austria Album   (scroll down since its a continuous album)

Fasching/Mardi Gras/Carnival

regardless of where you were... Fasching, Mardi Gras, or Carnival or some other name... here in graz it was an excuse to get out of school early, stop working, and dress up as anything you want or just put on the clothes you would never wear any other time... and for many of the people it's an excuse to start drinking in the wee hours of the morning.

the ~20ft tall jester

This guy was the main commentator for ORF television, he was wearing a really cool jacket that was covered in some very cool buttons, all very unique :) but as the parade continued he got progressively covered in silly string.

ORF Commentator

Slovenian animal or something...

looks a little less menacing when covered in neon silly string

Austrian ski bumb lodge :)

the message to use glass containers instead of plastic, there were other environmentally friendly messages as well, including paper bags instead of plastic, and oil spills

creative way to be a potted plant

police keeping order with the masses

these pastries were everywhere as the traditional Fasching food. though most didn't have pretty heart-shaped sugar on top

it was a lot of fun to see people just relaxing and having fun for the day, the parks were filled with people just hanging out and playing games. I unfortunately had no ridiculous items of clothing to wear, but it was fun walking around taking pictures of people who did. I was a little unprepared for the number of people dressed up. When I saw everyone else dressed up, I wished I had had some crazy thing to wear... oh well, next time.

if you want to see more Fasching pics, view this album: 2011 Graz Fasching

and ps. i just found out that in Scotland the tradition is just to eat pancakes on the day :) yum.

the weekend that grew

so thanks to Berlitz's approach to scheduling, I found out thursday that I had friday off and my 2 day weekend became a 3 day weekend i could suddenly do something more exciting with. I then found out on sunday, that I didn't have work on monday and my 3 day weekend suddenly became a  4 day weekend....hence. the weekend that kept growing.

nevertheless, i started my friday by walking to the bus station and taking a bus out to the Raßberg in Stallhofen and was happy it was a nice day so some outside work could be done (cleaning up stuff and just soaking in the sun that made it so the temperature wavered at warm, though there was still a crisp chill that the warmth at bay.)

girl statue in stadtpark sitting alone. i have walked by it many times without really noticing it. this time i made sure to take a picture.

the crocuses peaking out!

the wreckage of the Raßberg's lower barn

after the sun went down i went to st. ulrich im greid with my dad for the actual weekend. i saw an exhibit there of photographs from the micro and nano scale which was pretty cool (check out my 2010-2011 Austria Album for a couple pictures from it if you so desire). after that we went for a walk around part of the rural valley.

crocuses also peaking out, an hour south

 

the main feature of the town, the church, nestled on a beautiful hill

 

footprints across the melting ice

a glimpse into the heart

beauty hidden under a weathered dock

a sure sign that spring is arriving

in the evening. the church that cannot be ignored!

this beautiful church never fails to ring every 15 minutes, enough times for each hour, and an extra string of rings at 6am and 7am and for sunday church...good luck sleeping.

then returning to stallhofen on sunday. ezra had gone out to help and we met up with him for some more work on a beautiful sunny monday before heading back to graz.

~1000BCE, beauty in its decay

smile on the drive by!

despite it being an unexpected long weekend, it was a nice breath of fresh air, all the better to prepare me for the wonderfully wild "Fasching"...

oscar, the little golden man

unfortunately i didn't get to see the oscars (being 6hrs ahead and all), i thought getting enough sleep for work would be a better idea. (i actually did have something oscar themed for this post but then the week flew by and all my wit regarding movies dissolved. but, if you need movie recommendations, I am more than happy to point you in a direction since i do love my movies ... but for those who asked, of course i checked out the red carpet photos of the beautiful and the awful dresses)

and so, first week of work went buy. it went relatively well considering i didn't really know what I was doing for any of the lessons, and that on my third day, my bike broke on my way to work so i had to run the rest of the way there just to get there in time and had literally zero preparation time. but hey, the show must go on. i only had 12 units monday thru thursday, and none on friday so i skipped town which is another story. but as for my students that week for those who care... i had a single woman, a couple (husband and wife), a younger guy who is studying for his matura (13th year of highschool thats all the tests they need to get into the University system and it determines what fields they can study), the single woman again, and then a duo (two very different people who are learning english for work), and lastly a pair of 15 year old girls who for the most part just want to improve their german but of course for my lesson were hoping to get help on the specifics of tenses for a test. fun times. but overall a good week.

I also taught a private lesson for a couple who are planning to go to Scotland in the summer and then continued my babysitting/english playing with my 8 year old...who unfortunately broke his hand. but he was getting dressed up for a costume birthday party as a pirate so we made a hook to cover up his wrapped up hand.

we shall see how week 2 goes...

when you search "oscar" on google.at this is the first pic that comes up. guess, he is the most famous oscar out there...though his facial features could be improved.