Vienna and Prague

The last few days have been jam packed with beautiful sights and very little time to write for my blog, even now I have only a few minutes to give a quick update and then I’m off to go see the famous Opera, La Traviata . So here is Vienna and part of Prague in a nutshell, Ill be in Oxford soon, so everyone can look to a much more flavorful blog, with more pictures and information.
We arrived in Vienna Monday night and on Tuesday we visited the Kunsthistorisches museum, which held a lot of really famous art from every time period. We then headed to the Viennese Opera house. The music loving population of Vienna packs the house every night and the Opera shows a different show every night. Tuesday also gave me the opportunity to walk around the beautiful city and enjoy the incredible scenery of one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to. On Wednesday we saw the Belvedere, which had some great works by Klimpt, including his famous work “The Kiss.” Thursday, we saw the Stephasdom, Karlsplatz Station, the Succession Building, and the Kunsthistorisches. I got an opportunity to see more of Klimpt’s work inside of the Kunsthistorisches, where there was a mural painted inspired by the poem “Ode to Joy.” I also spent some free time on Thursday touring the Momuk and Leopold modern art museums which both had some very interesting abstract exhibits, my favorite being the Scheiele exhibit at the Leopold. Friday night we got the opportunity to wee the Vienna Phil Harmonic, considered to be the top orchestra in the world. The music was great, but unfortunately we were packed into a blistering hot standing room only section that made the music very difficult to enjoy.
We left for Prague on Saturday and I got the opportunity to dip my feet into Eastern Europe for the first time in my life. The city is actually very modern and well kept, the people are certainly a little different than you average westerner, Ive seen some interesting sights including people dressed as witches (never did figure out why) and a topless protest. Prague has some beautiful 13th century architecture virtually untouched by the war. I’ve gotten a chance to explore some incredible things, including the largest castle complex in Europe that encompasses the breathtaking St. Vitus Cathedral. The nightlife in Prague has been pretty fun as well; last night we got the opportunity to go to a five story disco club, which is the largest in central Europe. Tomorrow we leave for the last city of the traveling portion of the trip, Bruges. It’s hard to believe that the traveling portion is already coming to an end, although it is also harder to believe that a month ago I was in America and didn’t know hardly any of the people in my group, who have become some of my closest friends over the past few weeks.
Look for a final post sometime in Bruges, which will be followed by a much better done blog as soon as I get some free time in Oxford.