Last week was another jam packed week in Wien!
On Monday, my Fin de Siécle class took a field trip to the Upper Belvedere. The Belvedere is a Baroque palace built as a summer home for Prince Eugene. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve seen and has incredible grounds. From the top of the stairs outside the Upper palace, you can see Stephansdom and the surrounding Inner Stadt. The palace houses a museum featuring the works of a ton of Fin de Siécle artists, including Klimt, Kokoshka, and Schiele.
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| This is part of the gardens... a GIANT pond. |
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| The spire of Stephansdom in the distance. |
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| That building directly in the middle is the Lower Belvedere |
After classes on Monday, I went with my roommate Gabby to get her nose pierced. I was very nervous watching, as nose piercings are supposed to be pretty uncomfortable, but Gabby handed herself very well and only squeezed my hands a couple of times.
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| Before... |
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| ....After! |
On Tuesday, after my night class, I went to the outdoor viewing of Anna Bolena outside the Wiener Staatsoper with my friend Ben. I was an hour late and only stayed for about a half hour, but it was still one of the coolest things I’ve done in Vienna. Opera is such an important part of the Viennese culture, and the hype for Anna Bolena was outrageous. The title role is being played by Anna Netrebko, arguably the most famous opera singer in the world. I’ve watched a few of her performances in my music class, and she really is an incredible performer. Also in the opera was Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, the highest paid male opera singer on the scene. There are a few other really famous opera stars in the show, and the whole thing is a huge deal in Vienna. My music professor is constantly talking about this dream team.
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| Anna Netrebko as Anna Bolena |
On Wednesday, I went to the Lower Belvedere with my Fin de Siécle class to see a Schiele exhibit. I’m not really a huge fan of Schiele, but the field trip was still pretty enjoyable.
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| The Lower Belvedere |
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| The Upper Belvedere seen from the Lower Belvedere |
On Thursday I went to a festival in front of the Rathaus celebrating Steiermark, or the region of Austria called Styria. It was an AWESOME festival that served delicious wine, beer, pretzels, etc. It was really cool seeing so many people wearing Lederhosen gathered in one place!
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| One of the fountains in the Rathaus park. |
On Friday, I left for a brief visit to Budapest, but that will be another blog post!
I can’t believe how quickly my time in Vienna is going... it feels like yesterday I was packing my suitcase (or, rather, Michele was packing my suitcase) and getting on that plane to Austria. I’ve started compiling a mental bucket list of all the things I have to do before I leave Vienna in 5 weeks...
Auf Wiedersehen!
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