All Roads Lead To...

I had a quiet morning yesterday and in the afternoon made my way to the airport for my flight from Vienna to Rome. When I arrived at Fiumicino airport in Rome, there was a driver waiting for me from my hotel. The hotel offers a free pick up service from the airport and I must admit it was really, really nice just being able to get in a car and be taken to where I needed to be – no catching trains, no trying to follow directions ad no hassle. I really must be waited on more often!

As to the hotel itself, let's just say that the photographer obviously used a room-widening lens when he took the shots of the single room I am in. It's far smaller than the room I stayed in in Prague, and unfortunately not nearly as hotel like. Kind of ironic! For instance, I realised that I have to pay for use of the internet – which I think is a bit rich given most hostels have free wireless access and I am paying a lot more than I would if I were at a hostel. I hope it's not too expensive (I am writing this currently in Microsoft Word and will copy and paste it to the blog so I have yet to find out how much it will be). Also, there is a bidet in the bathroom! I'm sure as hell not using it (sorry my Italian friends – our conversation in Tasmania has scarred me for life:)

This morning I spoke to Mum, Dad and my younger brother which was fantastic – I won't have another chance before Christmas so I wanted to have a chat. It's my first Christmas away from home – sniff! I also finished my book, Middlemarch, last night. I was sad to have it end – I always get attached to characters! I shall have to find another book now – though I don't know if my chances of finding a novel in English over here are that high.

The good thing about this hotel is that it is right near the Vatican City (in fact you can see the Dome of St Peter from the hotel restaurant), so this morning, after calling mum and dad, I went exploring.

I looked up the weather forecast for today and it was 17 degrees! No snow, no fog – just a bit of wind and would you believe it, sunshine!! That's the first sunshine I've seen for a while (and that's including the last few days in Melbourne would you believe). Having been walking around in temperatures of around -5 degrees in central Europe, it felt like summer when I went outside today! It made me laugh to see people walking around in jackets and scarves and saying 'e freddo!!' (it's cold!) I suppose it's all relative.

After a quick lunch (for which I think I paid for the luxury of sitting down in the cafe rather than for the quality of the food!) I headed up to St Peter's Square. I came around from the side, so it wasn't until I was actually walking through the columns to the side and turned a corner that it actually came into view. And I must say, buildings don't usually inspire an emotional feeling in me so I was surprised at my reaction to being in the square. I just couldn't stop smiling and giggling in sheer delight. It sounds like of totally uncool I know and generally I would think that such a place would inspire a more sedate reaction of wonder (that happened once I got inside) but it was absolute excitement that dictated my reaction – St Peter's!! And at Christmas! And the sun is out!

I spent a good 30-40 mins just walking around the square, basking in its greatness and the amazing feeling of actually physically being there. Then I went inside. At this point I must say that the decoration of some of the churches I've seen in the past few weeks can look as though the architects have tried to cram as much opulence into a tiny as space as they can and can therefore look quite crowded. Not St Peter's. The decoration is definitely extravagant, but (to me at least) nothing seems out of place. Every statue and marble tile is balanced out perfectly. And St Peter's is lucky that it is in Rome in that it is not so dark as further up north in Europe, so it gets wonderful natural light.

A lot of seats were set up, presumably in time for the Christmas mass and most people were there to take photos and generally look around, so at first I wondered where one went to actually pray in St Peter's. However they did have a separate chapel on the side curtained off where one could go to pray. It was very quiet in there and mostly contained nuns and priests.

This brings me to make a certain gripe about cameras. Photos are fantastic to look at for memories and I also can appreciate a well taken photo. But I just can't fathom why some people go to places of beauty and look at them only through a lens. Time and time again I have seen tourists at various sites walk around, taking photos of absolutely everything, but never stopping to actually see with their own eyes. How can looking at them later on your computer or in an album possibly beat appreciating the real thing while you are there? That's not to say don't take photos (and I certainly do!) but this act of walking around with a camera or video camera glued to one's eye is ridiculous!

After that little rant, here are some shot I took. Believe me, I didn't take that many in comparison to others!

After doing the loop a few times I went to the museum of various treasures that the Vatican has been given or collected through the ages. Wow, there are some truly amazing pieces there. I think my personal favourite has to be the chest that holds the skull of St Sebastian (who was martyred by being shot with many arrows). Or if not that, then the cross that holds parts of the True Cross (that Jesus was crucified on). Some of the objects come from as far back as Emperor Constantine!

By the time I came out of the museum it was past 5 o'clock and the sun had gone down, so I grabbed something to eat and then have come back to the hotel. I now need to do my research as to what happens for Christmas Eve mass at the square – I've heard that tickets are notoriously difficult to get for inside the church. I tried a few months back but was unable to get any, so I will be outside in St Peter's along with thousands of others I suppose. The weather forecast is for a thunderstorm so I really hope that is wrong! In any case, given the popularity for Christmas Eve mass at St Peter's square, tomorrow I'll have to stock up on supplies and be ready to wait for a while out there I imagine! If I see a group of Australians I'll try to weedle in there!

I'm checking my world clock and can see that it's early Christmas Eve morning in Australia. I may not be able to get on to the computer again for a while, so I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Being overseas, away from family and friends at this time of year, has certainly been very hard and I miss everyone horribly. However, if I was to spend a Christmas away, then St Peter's is the place I would choose! I hope your Christmas is as blessed as mine. And mum and dad, save me some presents! ;-)

 

A little reflection

Just a really quick post of something I forgot to mention earlier. All my learning about the history of the Hapsburgs and the formalities of the court and various hierarchies of propriety has really struck me - how often we seek to better our own positions with thoughts gaining disctinction through a better reputation or riches! I know I am certianly guilty of such thoughts at times.

Anyway, there is a movie that shows this kind of man-made hierarchy very well. It's called Gosford Park (released in 2001), and it is set in the early 1930s. The whole movie is fantastic but there is a particularly memorable scene where as the lords and ladies sit down to their dinner party on the upper level of the manor, the maids and servants sit down also to their dinner on the lower levels. And no where is the seating arrangement so important as the servants' quarters - everyone must sit according to the level of distinction of their master or mistress. This kind of forceful reminder of one's position at the table (and hence society) has nothing to do with economic class but the much more important idea of 'nobility'. The movie goes on to portray the devastation that such ideas of proper place can have on people's lives.

Definitely a movie to rent out if you haven't yet seen it and have some time over the Christmas break!

Butterflies!

Today I decided to do something new so I went to the Butterfly House! It's actually kind of attached to the Imperial Palaces and the museums, though I am not sure how old it is. Who knows, perhaps the Hapsburgs got sick of balls and had butterfly parties now and then?

I haven't been to a buttergly house since I was about 10 I think so it was quite nice to re-live my youth (well younger youth I suppose!). It was also a perfect day to go because just as yesterday the weather was clear and beautiful, today it was damp and cold - a fog hung over the city all day making it rather grey. It made the city look like the perfect setting for some kind of 19th century gothic novel!

It was really nice to spend some time in the tropical warmth and be surrounded by greenery. I had forgotten how relaxed being around trees and flowers makes me. And there were butterflies fluttering around everywhere, reducing even grown men to exclamations of "oh, how sweet they are!" (Except they said "Super! Sie sind alle so suss!") Who says German and Austrian men aren't sensitive new age guys?!

I've included a few shots - I admit I got a bit trigger-happy. I love taking photos of nature. Those are gold fish in the pond in pciture 3.

Due to the weather and it making it difficult to see much I went back to the hostel this afternoon to do some preparation for Italy - I needed to book some more hostels and decide what I want to see when I'm there. I discovered that Italian hostels are super-expensive. So I ended up just going for 2-3 star hotels that were the same price, if not cheaper, and I get my own room! However, I am readily finding that the original budget I had planned for this trip is not going to be enough. Luckily, I have extra savings - but when I get home I'll be nice and poor and living on my parents' charity - thanks Mum and Dad!

Tomorrow evening it's off to Rome - 3 weeks in Italy. After living with an Italian for most of the year and having lots of Italian friends, I am super excited to see their country and find out more about their culture!

And just lastly - there was a bit of scandal in the hostel room last night. The two American girls I mentioned last post ended up having one pretty big night and in fact this morning when we got up, there was a boy in our room (this is an all girl room) and a few of the other girls were not impressed at all and told the receptionist, who came in the room and threw him out!! Quite a bit of excitement to start the day off with :) One of the girls lay in her bed groaning "The pain! My head hurts! Why did I drink so much?" Can't say she got too much pity from the rest of us!

The Hapsburg Palace (sorry if this sounds like a history lesson!)

Today was a good day! For starters, I had the whole 8 bed hostel room to myself last night so I got the best night's sleep and then this morning awoke to a simply stunning day. The sky was blue and it was not nearly as cold as it has been the past few days. So, despite my original plans to have a quiet one - I ventured out!

Today I spent the day at the Imperial Palace of the Hapsburgs of the Austrian empire. The history of the Hapsburgs was not one that I was familiar with before coming to Europe but it really is a fascinating one, full of interesting people.

The palace complex is very large - I've learnt in the past few weeks the palaces were not just castles, but really more like mini-towns. In Vienna, the huge Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum are part of this complex that also has many squares and platzes. Today was a perfect day to explore it, as I could actually see into the distance, rather then there being a snowy haze!! Plus it was far easier to stand being outside than the last few days.

The ticket that I bought allowed me access to the museum that houses the collections of many of the objects used in banquets - table settings, cultery, crockery and linen. That doesn't really sound very interesting but then, this is no ordinary dinnerware. The size of all the different collections and their sheer opulence is mind-blowing. Sometimes certain sets couldn't even be used for their purpose beacuse they were too precious or fragile. However, most of the sometimes seventeen courses at dinner were served on silver or gold plates. Everything had the stamp of the official royal coat of arms.

I also saw the Imperial Quarters of Empress Elisabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph I. These were also incredible, though it was touching to see the personal effects they put on their quarters - for instance, the Emperor, surrounded by such splendor, actually kept quite modest quarters and had few indulgences. Of such indulgence was to decorate his private office where he did most of his work with large paintings of his wife and children. And when I say large I mean huge - and right in front of his desk! He loved his wife dearly and was heartbroken when she was assasinated in 1898.

The third place I got to see and the one that struck me the most was a museum set up in honour of Empress Elisabeth. She was a most intriguing woman who, sadly, never warmed to her title as Empress and seems to have been, personality-wise, very much unsuited to such a public office. If you have a chance, I thoroughly recommend reading something on her life - it was actually quite tragic. She had a happy and blessed childhood with her family in Bavaria, away from the pomp of the imperial courts, but was betrothed to her cousin Franz Joseph at the age of 15 after going with her mother and sister to Vienna. Her older sister was actually intended for Franz Joseph but he fell in love with Elisabeth instead.

When told of his intention to marry her, she apparently burst into tears and as the time came for her to leave her town and enter the society in Vienna, she grew more melancholy. Perhaps today's doctors would diagnose her with depression; I don't know. But she certainly, in her writing and increasing withdrawal from public life, gave much attention to her own unhappy circumstance, as she saw it. She is also said to have suffered from anorexia (though it was not recognised as such in her day) and gave much attention to her own physical appearance. She took to travelling a lot, away from her family and Vienna to try and find her elusive freedom and wrote bitterly in her diaries of the life that had been thrust upon her.

She was assasinated in 1898 by an Italian anarchist in Geneva when she was taking a trip there - her assasin had been planning to kill another aristocrat in Geneve, but when he changed his plans at the last moment and Elisabeth was reported to be in Geneva, he took his chance and stabbed her in public with a small blade to the heart and knocking her to the ground. Apparently she did not realise she had been stabbed and got up and went to her hotel, where she collapsed and died.

It was quite sad to learn about this woman and see her personal belongings - they really were stunning she herself was beautiful, but her inner struggle with her freedom that she saw was taken away from her in becoming Empress and her sadness also with the death of her oldest child at the age of 2 and suicide of her only son at 30, made it a tough history lesson. I felt, as I was coming out of the museum, like I did when I finished Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

I spent more time at the palaces than I usually do at museums and was surprised - I usually have a tolerance of a few hours before I find myself either overawed or tired out by what is around me. However, this time I felt, more than any other, that the palace came to life as I learned about his history. I could almost hear the music as I walked into the grand hall that was for dance parties and the chink of knives against plates at the dinner parties. And as I walked outside, through all the royal streets, the clatter of horses could be heard (for real) as there are many horse-drawn carriages giving rides to tourists. It really was like stepping back through time.

Unfortunately I don't have many photos of today - cameras weren't allowed inside the palace. I have put a few professional ones in of the palace to show what it is like.

This afternoon, being a Monday, the town centre was much less busy so I was able to get around with much more ease than the past few days - it made it infintely more enjoyable also!

This evening I spent some time with some American girls who are from Chicago and studying in Italy and Spain (everyone I meet seem to have such exotic lives!) It's really nice being able to chat to easily to people you just meet - they have a big night planned with some friends in Vienna so there was much talk of 'how will I most easily and least expensively get drunk?' Hmmm, some things are the same wherever you go!

A little observation

I forgot to add this to the last post but I've noticed in Vienna that it seems to be a popular spot for a lot of Europeans for the Christmas vacation. I noticed that it was so busy compared to a lot of the other European cities I'd been to so did a bit of research and found that indeed a lot of Europeans come here for their holidays.

Aparently many Europeans go to skiing in the mountain regions of Austria (I remember my cousin in Holland saying that her family did this around Christmas time each year).

Anyway, what I found interesting was that when I first arrived and went out walking that first night, I noticed that so many shops were selling really expsensive wares - lots of jewellery and brand name clothing, and I figured I must just be in a upmarket area. But then I went into the main part of the city and what I had orginally seen was cheap compared to what was on offer here! Every shop is either a Gucci store or Prada or many others I've never heard of but look very exclusive (they are probably all very famous stores but I know as much about the different brands as I do about the Madagascan economy). And I noticed that here more than anywhere else, people are dressed to the nines. So many women are in fur coats and the men in tailored suits. They certainly look very glamorous!! And then when I did a bit of research I found that rich people from all over Europe come to Vienna specifically to do their shopping for the weekend then go back to their Chateus in the south of France or Switzerland.

I didn't have the guts to go into the stores that looked expensive (and that was about 90% of them) but the souvenier shops for instance were astronomically expensive too! Like, a tacky magnet saying 'Vienna' was over 10 euros or a cheap looking cherub sitting on a doll of Mozart was around 50 euros.

So, really all this is the long way of saying that no one is getting any presents from Vienna :)

Success!

Today I finally found a nice cafe where I could sit and relax in the warmth with my book and a pretty good coffee. In the past 3 weeks I have seen many amazing and beautiful things, but sometimes nothing quite compares to the harmonious hours spent in a cafe.

I confess that I was not really in a good mood this morning when I woke up - I know I complain about the hostel room but seriously, last night one girl decides at 1am that now is the time to go through all her bags and sort through every kind of plastic and paper bag and repeatedly drop her suitcase. I think I may have said something but to be honest I can't be sure - I was a little delirious by that point. Maybe it was someone else!

Anyway, this being a Sunday I went to mass this morning - the high mass at St Stephen's Cathedral in the centre of Vienna - it's being renovated at the moment so there's scaffolding all around it, except (and this made me laugh) they have wrapped the Cathedral in plastic that has a photo of what the Cathedral would look like if the plastic were not there. They're conscientious, the Viennese - I'll give them that!

The Cathedral was packed which was heartening to see. The mass was entirely in German but I know the procedure of the liturgy well enough to say the responses in English - and I've found a lot of German is coming back to me from high school.

The Cathedral is once again very impressive - it's often hard to know where to look when you step into such magnificent buildings - and when Catholics churches are ornate, they are extremely ornate! I love how I can sit there for long periods of time, just looking. If you pay close enough attention, you can see that there is a story to the architecture - in fact, I think for the first time I am truly understanding the beauty in buildings - they are like poems in that everything in them is there for a reason.

After mass I was really hungry and didn't even bother to go searching for somewhere nice to eat and headed straight to McDonalds and ate a hamburger. Before I left Australia for Europe I hadn't eaten McDonalds for months, perhaps even a year or two. Now it seems like I'm going every few days, dammit! When I get back it's vegetables in every meal! Because it was early I managed to beat the lunch rush and scored a table.

Oh, and now I must humbly admit that it is extremely cold here. Not until now have I thought Europe cold but man, Vienna is absolutely freezing. It's so cold that after 1 minute being outside my ears and nose hurt like crazy and my hands throb! I'll admit it takes the fun out of sight-seeing when you're gasping because the air is so cold when you breathe! I found myself going into every store I could to get 5 minutes of warmth, then ducking back out again.

I had heard that Peterskirche (St Peter's Church) was definitely a highlight of Vienna and as it was a Sunday I thought I'd get in 2 visits to church :) This church was much smaller but actually far more ornate than St Stephens. It had a beautiful atmosphere and is actually an Opus Dei chruch so there was a section dedicted to St Josemaria Escriva. We were allowed to take photos in this church and as there were no postcards to purchase of the really good bits, I took a few shots.

The high Altar

Looking towards the back of the Church - you can see the organ.

An altar to St Michael the Archangel - the grey part at the bottom of the shot is actually the bones of a martyr killed during the Middle Ages in Rome, brought back to the Church.

After this I felt sooo ready for a coffee and would you believe that after only 15 mins of walking I found a really nice cafe! It was not busy at all, and given that it was right next to a Starbucks where it was impossible to get in, I was happy to chose the former one. Oh, I cannot express the bliss of being able to sit in the warmth and read Middlemarch!! I really am loving it now - I'm past halfway and at this rate will have it finished in the next week I think. I will have to find an English bookshop in Rome and buy another classic!!

After a few hours and 2 coffees I made my way back to the hostel. To be honest, this morning I had planned to go to the Fine Arts Museum (which is opposite the Natural History Museum) but I felt a little museumed out today and I imagine it would have been packed with the weather being so cold. Tomorrow most of the city attractions are closed (apparently Monday is the day of rest!) so I think I will perhaps go to a Christmas market and stick around the warmth of the hostel.

Lastly, here's a few shots of the area around St Stephen's Cathedral - it's the trendy area.

Dear Santa - this Christmas I'd like a pony...

As predicted, it was a hot night last night and being in an 8 person room, it meant that people kept coming in during the evening to bed as they pleased so the lights didn't go out until after midnight. It's not that late I know, but when people again turn on the light at 6am to get their stuff to leave for trains and airports it doesn't leave much time for uninterrupted sleep! Oh, and did I mention the snoring? Sigh – I asked for this – it all comes with back-packing!

Anyway, it was lucky in the end that I was up early this morning as last night I had planned out my days here in Vienna and forgot that my tickets to the Spanish Riding School performance were for this morning, not this evening. So when I realised my mistake, I got ready super-fast and headed down to the main part of Vienna, where the Riding School is part of the Imperial Palace. When you see the Riding School you'll understand why it is part of the palace – the place itself is like a castle. So, so beautiful!!

The Spanish Riding School is world renowned and has been for the past 300 years or so, since it was set up Emperor Charles VI and continued by his daughter, Maria Theresa. Walking into the performance hall I had the feeling (which I've had a few times while travelling) that I was certainly not dressed for such a beautiful venue. When I see these places I always feel like I should be dressed as women used to – glamorous and feminine. Instead I'm in a puffy jacket, beanie, trousers and walking shoes. Mind you, I look like a lot of other people – very few get dressed up for the different performances I've been to. Anyway, it's been a lesson in me getting over myself, but at the same time I feel a certain pining for the days gone by when there was a sense of glamour in fashion.

The Peformace Hall

Moving on, the performance was simply breathtaking. Apart from the beauty of the horses themselves, watching what they can do is such a treat. We're talking years worth of training here and they fly through the air. The only way I can describe it is like watching the ballet. You watch the dancers, entranced by what they can do with their bodies and the magnificent way in which they do it. It was the same with the horses – they leap, they dance, they fly – everything about them is beautiful... and then they crap all over the arena floor just to remind you that yes they are animals, not heavenly beings :)

If anyone is ever in Vienna, do not miss this performance – it is totally worth it! 

The horsies at rest after their big performance, and the stables' cat!

After the performance I was pretty hungry and feeling a little cold so I went looking for somewhere warm to get a bite to eat. And I gotta say, this is where Vienna let me down. I went searching... and searching and even more searching but the only places I found in an hour of walking were either a)McDonalds – which were all so packed that I couldn't get inside b)Starbucks - which were busier than the McDonalds and are again really expensive and c)really exclusive places that have men at the door to take your hand and lead you in. I've said it once and I'll say it again – where the hell are all the cafes?? Everyone knows its going to be cold outside so why aren't there more places to go inside and relax?

After an hour feeling very peeved at not finding anything, I gave up trying to be cultured and found a McDonalds that wasn't as crowded as the rest and pushed my way through the crowds to get a hot chocolate and shared a table with 3 Viennese kids.

I should say at this point that I really, really don't like crowds. I don't feel unsafe or worried in them, but I hate them because all manners really just go down the drain. I noticed this in Berlin too, but it is especially pronounced here, that no one will give way to you nor will they give any acknowledgement or thanks to to you if you do. So I started off the day making way for old ladies and parents with children and after about 2 hours of getting pushed around because of it, I gave up. It must just not be a thing of politeness over here to give way or of impoliteness to push in front quite forcibly. So I've decided that while I'm here I'll be more like the locals - while old people still get my deference, anyone under the age of 60 can bloody well wait for me. I can be like a brick wall if I want to be.

I stopped in to St Michael's Church, which is right near the Spanish Riding School as I was in need of some tranquillity and I've learned that in Europe (like Australia) if you want to go somewhere where it is quiet and no one around, go into a church. As I had hoped (for my own selfish reasons of course; I'd love it if it were full too!) it was practically empty. It is one of the purest examples in Vienna of Baroque architecture so though it is quite small, it is very beautiful with a lot of history behind it.

Speaking of history, I was very excited to see that just outside the church in Michelsplatz, there are ancient Roman fortifications going down a long way. These are from around 180 AD – the Emperor Marcus Aurelius died here in Vienna in that year.

The photo doesn't look much but you should see how far down they go!!

By now it was about 2.30pm and the light was already fading so I went to the Natural History Museum. Half of the fun of going to these places is seeing the actual buildings that house the collections – they are all palaces themselves! And it was nice to learn about history from a more scientific and biological sense rather than the cultural aspects I've been seeing lately.

Some photos of the museum - inside and out.

The museum was full of kids, which I should have realised would be – what do parents do with children on a cold wet day? Take them to a warm public place like a museum! It was ok – at least they want to learn and see things – there was a group of German emos who bagged out everything in the museum as being “totally unoriginal” who made me want to turn a hose on them so their mascara would run.

The animal collection there is impressive – the wild cats were my favourite. And the halls of meteorite were pretty cool – it reminded me of the fantasy write Terry Pratchett who had a sword made out of meteorites – how awesome!

As I was leaving the museum there was a Christmas market in the garden at the front – it was really nice but totally packed so I didn't try to have a thorough look at the wares – I'll wait until the working week starts and it's less crowded.

The Market in the afternoon.

And I think I have discovered how people eat cheaply here – it's all in the vendors on the street. Now in Australia I would never buy anything from a van on the street – but here it's how its done and its either kebabs or Bratwurst (and they are bloody good!) Give that I can't afford to eat at the restaurants here and I don't want to do my own 'Supersize Me' with McDonalds, it looks like that's going to be how I do dinner for the next week. Mind you, there go my hopes of returning home as a slimmer Christina – sigh.

Just one last little thing I've noticed here – the Viennese are crazy committed to recycling. They have 5 different kinds of recycling bins! I wanted to throw out my coffee cup and stood I front of the dammed bins for about 5 mins trying to figure out which one to use. In the end I just chose one and said a prayer for the baby seal I probably just killed with my act of environmental sin.