weinerschnitzel for all!

hello world,

well, it's a new week and we have a lot to tell about. since we last wrote, we've been to vienna and back. it was a really great trip that exceeded my expectations. i always picture vienna as a rural countryside. i suppose the only idea of austria that i have is the sound of music, even though that took place in salzburg.

so our first day consisted of alot of travelling, since it took around 5 hours to get from praha to wien. once we arrived at our destination, i was surprised to find out that vienna is very beautiful with massive monuments and statues. friday we walked as a group to the center of town, and then dispersed to explore for the evening. then on saturday morning, "z", an AIFS tour guide gave us a tour of the city. he took us to a few churches that were amazing as usual and we were also able to see where beethoven and mozart lived. i never knew that vienna possessed so much history. after the tour we were given the opportunity to go some nearby museums and do whatever else we pleased for day. this is when alie and i unfortunately got split up. i thought that she had gone off with another group of people, so my friend bradley and i when to a couple museums on our own. we went to the museum of modern art where there were some works by warhol, yoko ono, sigmer polke, and others. after that we went to the museum of fine arts which was in a beautiful building. my favorite part of that museum was the egyptian artifacts.





ok, so i'm going to let alie take over from here, but before i do, i need to take this moment to express my excitement for some recent news:
RADIOHEAD HAS FINISHED THEIR ALBUM "IN RAINBOWS" AND IT WILL BE RELEASED ON THE 10TH OF OCTOBER!!! i have preordered this album and i'm so excited to get it. i've been waiting for 4 years to get this album!!! ... ok here's alie. see ya.

hey all. when drew thought that i had gone off with another group, i was actually sitting in the grass reading a map. when i looked up, the group had dispersed. so i spent the afternoon alone, but i didn't let it ruin my experience. i, too, went to the museum of modern art. i also spent some time in a few of vienna's amazing parks, sampled their famous "sacher torte" (dense chocolate cake that was first created at a hotel in vienna), and wandered around because it was such a beautiful day. eventually, drew and i were able to meet back up in the evening and, of all places, guess where we ended up? that's right, starbucks. i'm not sure how he did it, but drew was able to go a whole month without starbucks here in prague. so, of course, we had to visit when we found one in vienna.







the next morning, we woke up early to go hear the famous vienna boys choir perform at a catholic mass. they sounded amazing, but unfortunately we weren't the only tourists who tried to take advantage of this free event (how can they charge for holy mass?), so we were left standing in the lobby of the church. that afternoon we visited the hundertwasser-krawinhaus, which is a 15 apartment complex designed by a contemporary artist. i can't really describe it with words, so pictures will have to do.



we then spent the rest of the afternoon at the schonburn palace, which was the summer palace where the hapsburgs lived, and also where marie antoinette spent a lot of time, and where the movie took place. it was gorgeous and we could have spent the whole day there. they had emaculate gardens that stretched for miles, the reminded me of the gardens in alice and wonderland. also on the grounds was a state of the art greenhouse and a zoo. we were sad to leave vienna because it was so pretty, and we both agree that we could have spent much more time there.







so that wraps up the weekend. monday we had classes, and today we had the day off because the school was closed to prepare the pipes for the winter (or something). we went to the john lennon wall, which is a giant wall that during communist regime was a representation of peace fueled by lennon's music. the wall is covered in graffiti, stating mantras of peace and love. several times, the soviets painted over the graffiti, but it kept being repainted by the czech people each time.





we then went to a restaurant that a teacher of mine recommended for their hot chocolate. i ordered this as my drink, but when it arrived i found out that it was literally hot chocolate- it tasted like warm brownie batter. nonetheless, it was a really cool place to eat at. it probably sounds like we eat out a lot, because we're always writing about different restaurants, but i promise we really don't. we only eat out about once a week.



the rest of the week looks pretty quiet. it's supposed to rain a lot, so we might visit the museum of communism and a few art galleries. this weekend we are going to cesky krumlov for the day, i won't say too much about that now because i really don't know too many of the details. the only thing i've heard is that it reminds people of a town in a fairy tale.

we miss you all, and we love hearing about what's happening back home. we're sad to miss sam's 2nd birthday on sunday, but that just means that you bergens will have to send us lots of photos.



love, alie