Exploring downtown Graz

Finally, a more or less ‘free’ day came when we didn’t have particular tasks to accomplish, unless you count laundry, and grocery shopping as tasks—somehow these don’t seem nearly as burdensome when done outside one’s normal venue.

After laundry was finished and hung out on the clothes line over all the radiators and every available window hook, it was down the hill for us and onto the #1 trolley.  You can ride here for an hour for 1,90 euros –that’s a little more than $2.50 USD– getting on and off where you wish. If that seems expensive, then try buying petrol here.  We don’t have a car, so we don’t even know what fuel costs but guess it is plenty.  And we have seen absolutely KEIN (that’s nada, no, none) SUV’s anywhere in Austria.  Emphasis here is on efficiency and conservation.

The trolleys or street cars are usually at least 3 cars long, and very neat. Best not to stand right where they flex!

Most of the streetcars have little screens that tell you where you are and what stop is coming next.  The screens also display weather, movie ads and other stuff.  I tried to capture the weather information but it moved too quickly, or maybe the camera doesn’t understand German.

the info screen

The street cars are driven by men and women.  I know most of you reading know all of this but I am also writing to my students back in Missoula, who are just beginning a study of work and community.  Here ya’ go, kids….the streetcar driver:

the street car driver is a woman.

 

 

You will note that while inline skates, fires and smoking are NOT allowed on the bus, dogs, handys (cell phones), and baby buggies are.  In fact, we’ve seen more dogs in public places than in Missoula, even in restaurants and stores!  So far, Golden Retrievers seem to dominate.  Bill is highly pleased and considers this one more sign for a new dog for us.

I lied; we actually did have one task on our schedule and that was to pick up OPERA tickets for an opera we are seeing in May with our good friends, Mary and Charles, here in Graz.  After attempting to order the tickets online (even with English ‘translation’ it is a little tricky) I still wasn’t sure we had actually purchased tickets because I never received an email confirmation.  (found it the next day in bigsky.net’s spam filter–guess bigsky.net doesn’t understand German, either!)  Fortunately I did print out the page from the internet and we found the opera box office with not too much trouble and now have our tickets for I Capuleti Ei Montecchi , a lesser known but ‘gem’ of an opera (according to Mary and Charles who are opera buffs), by Vincenzo Bellini.

Here’s where we will see the opera:

Oper Graz

There are at least four venues that take place in this complex, one part of which is to the right of this photo:  Opera, Dance, Musical Concerts, and Children’s Programming.  Already, La Traviata and Don Giovanni are sold out but we can try for turn-back tickets the night of or perhaps check into a waiting list.  It seems Graz is quite attuned to making art and culture accessible to the younger set, as there is a family concert or similar event nearly every week!

Just across the street from the opera in Kaiser Josef Platz was the every morning (except Sunday) Farmer’s Market.  Missoula, they have already started!!!  We could see everything from the early tulips from Holland and pussy willows. Judging from the shoppers walking around with the latter, I would say Austrians are as ready for spring as anyone is!

flowers in the market

 

 

An abundance of food for the soul and also for the body!  We saw eggs, bread, vegetables, fish, many varieties of apples – most local from Styria–people drinking wine, juice and coffee; and some cuts of meat that were indescribable (meaning I probably won’t be that adventurous in my cooking)!  The bread was HUGE!  You just say how much you want and the baker/seller cuts off the appropriate amount!

The butcher or meat seller

 

the baker with bread

potatoes

salad greens and apples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT week, we’ll try for this.  Our goal was to climb up to the Castle (or Schloss) and Clocktower and who wants to climb carrying all those groceries? So we headed into old Graz, eyes wide open to what we might discover.

We hadn’t gone far when we found a beautiful gothic-baroquely revised church (kirche), the Stadtpfarrkirche (city parish).   Austria is about 73% Roman Catholic and we’ve seen only one kirche in Graz that is not.  We went in.

 

 

looking toward the choir of Stadtpfarrkirche

 

The church is quite ornate inside, but has a cool area for die kinder (children), outfitted with materials.  According to the church’s website they have special children’s time here frequently, or maybe it is also a place where restless kiddos can come if the sermon gets too long!

 

children’s area – Stadtpfarrkirche, Graz

 

If you look at the church’s website, you’ll see they have a beautiful courtyard which we didn’t see, but maybe if we go back for a service, we will.

 

stained glass windows

 

 

close up main window

 

 

artwork along stations. Note the skull below

confess your sins in luxury!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The windows for this church, which was bombed in 1944, were re-done by Albert Birkle in 1950.  In some of the scenes, Hilter and Mussolini are depicted tormenting Christ.

 

And now it’s time for a walk! the sun is out and the birds are singing!  More to come!  Thanks for reading!

 

Vienna, the Imperial City

Our visit to Vienna got off to a less than auspicious beginning.   We arrived in plenty of time at the Hauptbahnhof to even have a cup of coffee at, of all places, McDonalds!  Locals here told us that the coffee at McDonalds is delicious and they weren’t wrong.  Here everything is served in a very classy way…even at McD’s, your coffee or cappuccino comes in a ceramic cup, served on tray with a glass of water.  Just the ticket early in the morning.  Afterward, we loaded onto the train and waited.

Bill waiting on the train to Vienna

waiting...waiting...

It is not necessary to ride first class on trains, at least in Austra.  Second class seating is almost as comfortable, and that is how we went.

After 30 minutes of waiting, the announcement came that we must get off the train and make our way out of the station to buses which would take us to the first stop, Bruck an der Mur, (about 57 km north) where we would, presumably, catch the train.  Of course, we understood only a small portion of this almost none of this and were rescued by a nice young woman heading to her finance job in Vienna.  What was to have taken 2 1/2 hours now turned into more like 3 1/2.  Very unusual, we hear, for Austrian trains to break down.  By the time we met up with the train in Bruck an der Mur, the second class seating was completely overwhelmed and we ended up sitting in first class, the only available seating.  The conductor didn’t bat an eye and neither did we.

The trip was great…through the mountains (not the biggest ones), past small villages, into and out of tunnels, to Vienna.  Then, onto the U-bahn (underground train) system of Vienna, catching the U-6, then changing to the U-3 and finally jumping onto the U-2 to reach our hotel.  I was fond of that last train…good name!  What you must realize is that Vienna is like any other big city in this respect, with crowded trains, and almost never anywhere to sit down.  But poles and straps for hanging on are readily available.

Our first night there, we enjoyed dessert of course, with amazing Viennese specialties.

afpel strudel (with vanilla cream sauce and whipped cream) No calories, promise!

mohr in hemd (Moor in skirt)--chocolate overload, if that is possible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our reason for going to Vienna was for the Fulbright Commission’s Orientation, attended by most of the Fulbright Scholars in Austria, as we all began our Summer Semester terms.

Fulbright Office in the 'hip' Museumsquartier

The MuseumsQuartier is home to many businesses and nonprofits.  Neighbors to the Fulbright Office are the Leopold Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, both home to numerous modern and contemporary pieces of art, which we will visit on future trips to Vienna.

The Leopold Museum

The Museum of Modern Art

 

Everyone but Bill was in history, law, languages, political science, psychology, philosophy, anthropology and art.  Not another natural scientist in the otherwise very distinguished bunch! A few other spouses attended, and some children did as well.  We spent the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday in meetings, learning about Senator Fulbright, the history of Austria, current politics in Austria, US-Austrian-EU relationships, and receiving some teaching and university tips from previous Fulbrighters.  All good stuff. I realized, however, I am not used to sitting all day in meetings! Good thing we had a brisk walk to our hotel each day. The orientation finished with a tour around the Hofburg area–the Ringstrasse— by our host and the head of the Fulbright Commission in Austria, Dr. Lonnie Johnson. He has lived in Austria a long time and is so knowledgeable.  Here are some scenes of what we saw.

looking down on the Hofburg. Main gate to the right

we approach the main gate

From Wikipedia:  “The Hofburg in Vienna is the former imperial residence. From 1438 to 1583 and from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, thereafter the seat of the Emperor of Austria until 1918. Today it is the official seat of the Austrian Federal President.”  The biggest and most imposing buildings were created at the direction of the Emperor Franz Joseph, who took down the city walls to create both open areas and the buildings there today.  Walking further in, you come to the older sections of the Imperial City.

coaches and drivers wait for business

the Michaelertrakt (Michael wing) of the Hofburg Complex

excavation of roman ruins (stone is Romanesque; bricks are not!)

crown of the holy roman emperor (you can see the real one in the museum)

Schweizertor (Swiss) Gateway-hofburg

Ferdinand Holy Roman Emperor of Germany, Hungary and Bohemia, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy in the year 1552

No I did not remember all my Latin.  Thank goodness for historians on the tour and also google translate!

Michaelerkirche - Hofburg Quarter

balcony from where Hitler made his "anchluss" speech to Austria in 1938

statue of Maria Theresia surrounded by her many advisors

close up of statuary on building--lots of 'power' implied here!

LONE polizei standing guard outside the Chancellor's office. We are not in the USA!

Loos Haus opposite Michaelerplatz

Coming out on the other side, you enter into the business and chic district of Vienna.  Tiffany, Chanel, and all the big names are along these streets.  We window shopped only.  (sorry Kristina)  The Loos building (above) apparently so enraged the emperor that he never went inside. It was too ‘plain’ for him.

Vienna was and still is a city known for its coffee houses.  Many of them were specialized…for politicians, literary types, artists, etc.  Most still exist in some form or another.  Here is the Literary Coffee House.

Cafe Griensteidl, the 'literary' coffee house

looking down Kohl Markt

Volksgarten on the Hofburg grounds

One of the nice things the Emperor did was to create lots of open spaces for the people, these on the grounds that were formerly used to absorb cannon fire in battles for the city.  The Volksgarten looks like it will be beautiful in the Spring.  We plan to make a return trip to see for ourselves.  The Roses await!

covered roses in Volksgarten

Rathaus (City Hall) at dusk

back of Athena, in front of Parliament Building - the word is 'she has turned her back on the parliament'

Vienna’s imperial architecture is filled with nods to Greek Democracy.  Too bad women weren’t part of the official scene back then (unless you  count Maria Theresia).  But not in the official government in the 1800’s.  Maybe that’s why Athena is looking the other way!

Dome as we pass through one of the many gates, covered in netting, for, you know,the pigeons!

Very near this dome is the headquarters of the Spanish Riding School.    It was one of the few places we actually had time to visit, on the Wednesday after the meetings and before we came home to Graz.  We were only able to see the morning exercise and training session, but I was thrilled to see this, having grown up riding and doing a little dressage myself.  Technically, it is absolutely forbidden to take photos, but seeing as how some official photographer was snapping away WITH FLASH, here are some that I magically happened onto. 🙂  The Lipizzaner horses are bred on a farm very near Graz. 

inside the Spanish Riding school arena

The riders remove their bicorn hats as they enter the ring.

 

this horse and rider are almost trotting in place-the piaffe

 

We saw the pirouettepassage and even one horse doing the levade (asking the horse to hold a position approximately 30-35 degrees from the ground. ) At the end, the riders line up, dismount, couch their stirrups, and give their horse a treat hidden in their back pockets!

 

riders dismount and hoist stirrups, Spanish Riding School, Vienna

outside the Natural History Museum in Vienna

Two of the most beautiful buildings are now Museums…the Art History Museum and the Natural History Museum.   We could see many school groups waiting to go in.     Maybe they were from a school like this:

 

city school in Vienna

These will have to wait until our next trip to Vienna, when we have at least a week to browse.  We can’t wait!

 

close up of statues Natural History Museum, Vienna