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.

A long overdue blogpost

Its Wednesday night and I’m writing a long overdue blog post on Word, Ill hopefully get a chance to put it online at some point tomorrow. I apologize for the long delay in contact over the past few days. Between all of the amazing sites, late night concerts, enjoying the complimentary gym in the last couple of hotels, and studying for a music test I took yesterday, getting online has taken a backseat for the past few days (especially because you have to buy it by the hour and I haven’t had nearly that long of downtime in the last few days). I hope nobody was too worried about me during this short hiatus in contact.
Anyways, on to the important stuff, the trip that has only gotten more incredible as it has gone along. Venice was every bit as beautiful as I had hoped it would be, we took a water boat into the city and it absolutely took my breath away. It was the first time I had gotten a chance to see so much water since making the trip over the pond and it was really something special. Canals run through every part of the city with people riding along in them on the narrow Gondolas. Their was also a large main river, where you had to take a boat to get around anywhere in the city, as the only other legal alternative was to walk. Riding around on the boat was not only a great way to get around, but also an awesome way to see the city.
While in Venice, we got a chance to also see some live music. We saw a group called Interpreti Veneziani, a thirteen musician miniature string orchestra who did songs by some of the great Baroque era composers, like Vivaldi. The star of the show was a cellist by the name of Davide Amadio, who would get taken away in his music and gesticulate about wildly. He was very entertaining to watch and the group got a big photograph with him at the end of the show.
Some other things we saw in the area were Giotto’s Scrovvegni Chapel, which was small but so rich and ornately decorated that it still made my jaw drop, which is saying a lot at this point of the trip because I’m beginning to grow numb to the overload of incredible sights I see every day.
We also got a chance to see the Accademia collection, which had some interesting older art work, as well as the Peggy Guggenheim collection, which contained mostly modern and contemporary pieces. Of the two I definitely enjoyed the Guggenheim more. Even though one of the highlights of the Guggenheim was the Pollock collection (I never have been a fan of Pollock), the rest of the works were certainly interesting enough to keep me interested. I got a chance to see a couple of more works by Kandinsky, along with some pieces by Salvador Dali, Duchamp, Mondrian, Magritte, and Brancusi.
Sunday we got to enjoy a free day and a group of us took the train into Venice and took some time in San Marco square, which has more pigeons than I have ever seen in one place in my life (that’s saying something considering I go to school in the heart of Atlanta). People would throw out food and hundreds upon hundreds of pigeons would gather around for food. A lot of people could be seen holding feed in their hands and taking pictures with several pigeons all over their bodies.
After San Marco we took a boat over to Murano, famous for the glass masters who make all of the glass sold to thousands of tourists every year. As soon as we got off of the boat we were directed to a free demonstration of the glass making process. It was pretty cool to see the family trade of glass making, passed from father to son for generations, was done. The glassmaker used his bear hands while he crafted molten glass into shapes.
Venice was a remarkable city, but we soon had to leave it behind along with the rest of Italy (where we had been for over a week) as we headed to Vienna, Austria. My expectations for Vienna were not extraordinarily high, but so far, it has been easily one of the coolest cities I’ve been to. The world may be going through some tough economic times, but they appear to be having no effect here, where beautiful architecture, expensive shops, and construction can be found all over the main square of the city. I can’t wait to see what the city has in store as we stay here for the next few days.
Ill be sending my next post from Prague, given that there is internet available there), and then after that I go to Bruge for the last stage of the traveling portion of the trip (I can’t believe how fast it is going by!) Anyways, Ill be in Prague Sat and Ill hopefully have another post up by the end of the weekend so keep an eye out.

Final Post from Rome

So my last blog seemed to have gotten cut off some how and when I went to edit it the rest of the material had gotten cut off as well so unfortunately I think I just lost the last little bit of the last blog, hopefully the problem doesn't happen again, but just to be safe, Ill be saving this post to a word document for backup.
Anyways, that being said, Rome has been truly amazing! In the last couple of days I have seen so many of the things that I have been longing to see for my entire life. Monday was spent touring the incredible Vatican City. I’ve seen a lot of amazing things in my life, but walking though the lush garden and halls of Vatican City was truly an experience unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed, and it took my breath away. Everything is massive, ornate, and awe-inspiring. From the statues, to the Egyptian artifacts, the architecture, the massive paintings by the School of Raphael, everything was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The finale of the incredible trip was finally getting to see the greatest piece of artwork in Western history, Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel. This was the number one thing I was looking forward to seeing coming to Europe and it blew away my expectations. We also got to tour the crypts where all of the Pope's are buried, including St. Peter.
Yesterday we took a couple of walking tours and I got to see even more phenomenal structures. I walked the steps of the Coliseum and the paths where the Senators used to walk, talk, and convene. It was truly something incredible. Last night we also went out as a massive group (35 people) and did a bar crawl together to celebrate the birthdays of a couple of girls in our group. It was a lot of fun and nobody got hurt or into trouble so it was definitely worthwhile.
Today was spent going to a couple more places to enjoy even more of the incredible Italian art. We visited museums and churches and saw even more amazing things, including the original chains that St. Peter was bound with. Tomorrow we head out for Padua, which is right next to Venice. I’ve always wanted to see the underwater city and I can’t wait to go and check it out. Ill post soon from Venice, so if you have any questions, feel free to email me or put them in the comments section.

Greetings From Rome!

Hello everyone! Writing from my hotel room in Rome, Italy! The trip so far has been truly incredible, Ill try to keep the blog updated more often so that I don't have to make posts quite as long as I'm sure this one will be.

Anyways, I guess I'll pick up where my last blog left off, Munich, Germany. Munich was truly one of the most beautiful and cleanest cities I've ever been to, the center square is the home to a bunch of great shops and restaurants, as well as one of the biggest clocks in the world. It would have been nice to have had an extra day in Munich, as I didn't feel I had quite enough time to truly get to know the beautiful city, especially because the first day we were there we didn't even spend anytime there.

Instead, we headed to Salzburg, Austria, and took the Sound of Music tour, where we got to see many of the beautiful locations for the filming of the movie. I was skeptical at first, not really particularly fascinated when I got to see the steps where "Do Re Mi" was sung, but about half way through we took a bus ride up to the top of the mountains and saw some great scenery. Also in Salzburg we got to see a group of guys who spent all day playing chess with giant chess pieces against each other. I don't know much about chess, but they were apparently pretty good because Jeremy, one of our group members who went to National's for chess competition played one of their guys and lost (I think the Austrian's might have cheated though, they were all chatting in German throughout the game).
After Germany we headed to Florence, Italy. Florence was a great little city with winding, narrow roads that you have to share with some crazy cyclists, motorcyles, and cars as you make your way around town. In Florence, we got to see some great museums (including the Accademia with the incredible David sculpture by Michelangelo), go to the top of the Duomo, and eat delicous gillato. At night we found a little place on top of a hill where we could see the entire city and have a picnic diner before we would go out to the Italian night life, which surprisingly was almost all Americans