Today was jam-packed, crazy, and involved an outrageous amount of running.
We woke up and rushed out (met alicia, cleaning lady), and moved quickly - we had an icky-sicky housemate that we wanted to get to the institute as soon as we could. We made it, and everything was fine, but somewhere in the phone call where I explained "My housemates and I are at Karlsplatz, and [insert name here] is sick" they interpreted "All four housemates are dying from explosive vomiting, and have somehow made it all the way to district 1 together." So reconciling the two was interesting.
In class, we had 2 presentations jammed into an hour, and then left for a field trip! Wolfgang ushered us out of the classroom, down the 2 flights of stairs, and through the city to get to the next subway station over. I wish I had filmed this entire endeavor, because it was very entertaining. Imagine 11 college students lightly jogging through the crowded streets of the 1st district trying to keep up with a curly-headed organ professor. The thought is entertaining on it's own, but factor in the last 3 minutes when we thought we'd miss the train, and Riesinger broke into spurts of jogging. We made it just in time, but it was a close call. A hilarious close call.
Our field trip was to the Central Cemetery, one of the biggest cemeteries in Europe. The only one bigger is in Hamburg, Germany. The cemetery holds 3 million - with room to grow. It's still very much in use; we saw a funeral procession as we walked through the cemetery this morning.
A word about Austrians and death - very different perspective than our views on death in America. In Austria, death is a part of life, and they don't think of it as depressing at all. People venture to cemeteries on the weekends to have picnics and visit the graves of their relatives quite frequently. So, visiting this cemetery was not at all a somber occasion - we got to see the tombs of people who were greatly admired.
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| Johannes Brahms |
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| Franz Schubert |
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| Ludwig van Beethoven |
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| Arnold Schonberg |
We also ventured into the beautiful church they have at the cemetery. They don't use this church as much for funerals anymore, except for really big-deal people. It was really beautiful inside.
We left the cemetery after exploring the church, navigating the subway on our own (Wolfgang left us), and stopping at Billa to grab super quick lunches. We all loaded onto the bus, and left for Salzburg 20 minutes later!
About an hour into the trip, we stopped to see Melk Abbey. The abbey is the home of Benedictine monks, and has been running for over 900 years.
The building is very cool. We had a very intelligent and darling tourguide, who took us through the museum portion of the abbey. Tourism is one of the most lucrative operations that the monks have these days, which allows them to continue to support themselves independently (along with other forms of income and donations).
The museum has different rooms all in different colors, which signify distinct aspects of the Benedictine tradition. One of the coolest things for me was the handwritten book the Benedictine creed, which is on display here. Very cool. They also have many treasures, some still used in religious ceremonies, and some preserved.
Lots of cool things to see.
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| Model of Melk Abbey |
We saw one of the rooms where they used to feed the guests who stayed at the abbey, around the time of Maria Teresia. Those three windows at the top of this picture were where the orchestra played.
View from the balcony of the abbey. Beautiful!
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| Girlies after the tour. |
We also got to tour the library of the abbey, which was extensive. No pictures allowed :( but I can assure you, it was incredible. Many of the books were re-bound to match the decor of the library, as per the custom of the Baroque period. They have reading rooms where anyone can come and stay for a time. They also have scrolls from the works of academics who were involved in the monastery at some point - including one from the Dalai Lama!
We also got to see the chapel of the monastery. It was incredibly ornate, with tons of gold, ornaments, and treasures. There were several different altars for different saints, which was interesting. The space was certainly incredible, but too ornamented for my taste.
After the church, we explored the gardens of the abbey, and took more pictures of the view before piling again into the bus.
On the drive to Hallein, the town where we would be staying the two next nights, there was absolutely beautiful scenery to enjoy. Rolling hills leading up to peaks of the Alps, fields with flowers and waving grasses, houses with animals in the gardens, everything.
For me, nothing could have enhanced this experience more than listening to Mumford & Sons. It was a really wonderful thing.
We also drove past a significant landmark - we saw the church where Maria and Georg were married in "The Sound of Music!" It's a gorgeous church, and a dramatic sight to see from the road, part of a town tucked in between the mountains. We reached Hallein soon after, and enjoyed a fabulous, filling dinner. A small group of us were tucked into a smaller dining room, which allowed us to have quality dinner conversation, covering everything from hidden talents to pokemon tournament attire.
After dinner we explored the chilly, rainy town, enjoying ice cream and live performers on the square.
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