Yet another craazy week

Hello everyone once again!

So where did I leave off.....ah yes, Prague. So Monday was the BIG Austria vs. Germany game in the first round of the Euro cup. Throughout the day, I saw jerseys for both teams all around town! It was unbelieveable. Naturally, we decided to go to the fan zone....like everyone else in Austria and Germany. Arriving at 18.45, the plaza between the Rathaus (city hall) and Burgtheater was already PACKED. Now, I have never been in a crowd like this in my entire life. I say this because once you wedged yourself in, there was literally NO WHERE to go. Impatient fans often just pushed the crowd, almost knocking people over. It was so crowded, one of the other group members and I (we got separated from 5 others who were with us) watched the first half with people pressing up on each side of us. It was nuts. For the second half, we pushed our way down to the Ringstrasse, where we had a little bit more room to move around. I also got a huge sweet pretzel and man was it good! Unfortunately Germany won 1-0, but it was still great fun.

On Tuesday, I went and checked out the Stephansdom (St. Stevens Cathedral), the single-towered landmark of the city. The four of us went inside, admired the excellent (but simple) gothic architecture of the 1300s, and then returned outside. We found out that 3.50 Euros bought a chance to climb the south tower, so one of the guys and I took up that offer. 10 minutes til closing was no match for us as we climbed up the 339 steps in under 5 minutes, took some pictures, then charged back down, wobbley-legged. Next on our schedule was to meet up with the rest of our study abroad group for Austrian cooking night. We made Wiener Schnitzel (using turkey), potato salad (different than the US!), cucumber and tomato salad, and for dessert, Apfel- and Topfen-strudel! mmmm good! Finally, to finish off the day, I picked up a fellow Caldwell, Marjorie, from the airport. She is interning in the Netherlands this summer with Unilever and she's joining two of us study abroaders on our trip to Budapest this weekend.

Wednesday was fun because our classtime was spent visiting the Secession muesum just outside the Ringstrasse. The Secession was a movement started by a bunch of turn of the 20th century artists to reinvigorate art. Its leader and first president was the famous Gustav Klimt, whose "Beethoven Frieze" adorns the walls of the museum's basement. After class, I met up with Marjorie at the train station, where we reserved our tickets. Then, we headed over to take a look at the Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles). We chose not to pay 4 Euros to go inside...but I might go back there next week. We'll see.

Wednesday evening was the most exciting part of this week. Three of us went to the Rote Bar at the Sacher Hotel for dinner. Complimentary starter: Shrimp with sauce and pastry with caviar. Very good! Then, I had the "Sacher Tafelspitz mit Apfelkren, Schnittlauchsauce und Erdäpfelschmarrn" (Beef filet with Apple-horseradish and chive sauces, with Viennese potatos). Naturally, dessert was my first slice of official Sacher Torte. OOOOhhh, was that good. And we paid like it was good! 40 Euros for me, our total for 3 people was 144 Euros!!! Well, we got our super fancy meal in, and I loved it. So why the fancy dinner? Well, it was OPERA NIGHT. The Staatsoper (State Opera house) was right across the street, and we met the entire group for Verdi's Don Carlos. Now I'd never seen an opera before, but this was amazing! Spoken in Italian, little individual screens translated into either English, German, or French. We had Loge seats on the 2nd level, so we had a great view of the orchestra. Obviously, the music was great, as was the performance overall! What an evening.

Today, Thursday, our Arts in Vienna class met at the Schloss Belvedere (Belvedere Castle), the summer residence of Prince Eugene (fought off the Turks, woo hoo!). The castle (which looks more like a Baroque mansion) has a great skyline view of Vienna, which gives it it's French name Belvedere or "Beautiful View." It's upstairs ball room is where the joint occupation of Vienna ended in 1955, but now it houses an art gallery- Klimt, Sichle, a couple Monets, and some others. Also there is "The Kiss," Klimt's most famous work (gold, silver, and oil on canvas-ooh ahh, special). As usual, we had a great time. Afterwards, I met up with Marjorie, and we went to see the Modern Art Museum in the local Museum Quarter. Perhaps the most interesting piece to me was a 4 page blank musical score marked "Pastoral Symphony"....but blown through with about 30 airgun holes. Irony? I think so.
In the evening, I introduced Marjorie to Wiener Schnitzel and local potato salad before we headed over to the FanZone. Tonight's game featured Germany against Portugal, and it was really a lot of fun (especially because we could breathe!). So, as you can see, it has indeed been a pretty busy week, but I'm looking forward to seeing what this weekend brings in Budapest!

Thanks for reading! Tune in next time for Indiana Dan and the Search of the Lost Budapest!