Last night was the 'lange Nacht der Museen'/ long night of the museums. Basically, almost every museum in the whole country (Austria, if you weren't paying attention) opens its doors from 6pm to 1am, and you can buy a ticket to as many museums as you want to visit for a measly €11... This is a BRILLIANT IDEA. There was a real festival atmosphere as parents and children wandered around from museum to museum, and combined with the natural beauty of the city and the bright full moon it was really a special feeling evening.
First museum was the clock museum of Vienna, and there isn't much I can really say other than it contained a vast number of incredible clocks, varying in size from beautiful pocket watches with tiny miniature paintings (the best I think) to huge astronomical clocks recording more things than I even knew could be measured. Other clocks were just stupidly ornate or included weird extra details like the clock that played a different tune (waltz, polka etc) for every single hour.
We then aimed for the Mozarthaus (my companion being a musician) but were distracted while lost and found the Schottenstift Museum. This appears to be a museum connected with a nearby monastery, originally founded in the 12th century. I had no idea what to expect in this place, and really, despite an overlying religious theme, there didn't really seem to be any definite rules on hat was included. Highlights were endless incredible 16th century paintings, a big set of panels of the life of christ from the middle ages, and the amazing wooden flooring of the museum itself, including one room floored with a 3 tone diamond pattern that made it look like a wall of cubes. Also cool were decrees on parchment or vellum written in 1200-odd, very odd to see something in handwriting from that time, and then to imagine it being handed over and read.
Next was the Mozarthaus. Parts of this were rather dissapointing, very little in the exhibition about Mozart and his time was actually directly related to him. The magical thing was finally reaching the floor of Mozart's flat, and looking out the window at exactly the same views he looked at while composing 6 pages of original genius music a day, or giving concerts to his contemporaries etc etc. The manuscripts of things he had composed were interesting as well, the rough, rushed appearance of each individual note really brought home how composers write in music like authors write in sentences.
A brief break for a fast food dinner led to my discovery of an originally Hungarian food called the langos (lAHNgosh according to wikipedia), a deep fried flat bread spread with a garlic sauce. Warm, terribly unhealthy and completely worth it. I am sad it has not taken the world by storm because it is probably one of the tastiest fast foods I have ever eaten.
Next we visited the Schatzkammer, the treasury of Austria through its various incarnations as kingdom, empire, seat of the Holy Roman Emperor, etc. This place was stunning, there was seemingly no end to the gold and jewellery on show. There were crowns (one from the 8th century) worn by every King imaginable, christening and coronation gowns, Knight's robes, dazzling reliquaries, preposterously large jewels (one emerald was over 2500 carats) ancient swords and spears, a cabinet for the storage of the keys to the coffins of the ruling line, chalices galore, and several purported pieces and nails of the true cross. Far from being jaded by the constant stream of unbeatable artisanship, I was just more and more impressed at the sheer power represented by the collection. You could probably spend a good half hour staring at and learning about any one of the things in that plac,and I may be forced to return.
After a brief chocolate grape break we ended the night at the Albertina, one of the many art galleries in Vienna. This one is a modern art gallery mainly I think, and we only had time to see the new Impressionist exhibition. As so often happens in the case of exhibitions, I was left with a much greater impression (haha) of these paintings than could ever be conveyed by a book. Seemingly wrong or impossible colours up close coalesce into perfect depictions of light glancing off skin or walls. Huge brush strokes somehow convey every detail of rippling water. Every important artist of the period was represented. I count myself lucky that I am able (at least nowadays) to visit an art gallery and to truly enjoy myself, exclaiming in happiness when I find a new amazing picture, always wanting to stare for hours at the current painting while running off to look at the next. It seems that these artists like Monet, Manet, Toulouse Lautrec et al are renowned because they made really, REALLY good paintings. Who would have thought it?!
Everywhere should have this as a tradition. One of the best evenings I have ever spent doing anything. Great atmosphere, great art, great history.
Today I went to a traditional Heuriger, tavern like places on the outskirts of Vienna where people gather to drink the new wine of the season. Maybe not mature, but sweet, alcoholic and delicious, and full of great people. I actually managed to speak German quite a bit tonight (with the aide of educational tool number wine), and I have the encouraging feeling that at least where it comes to german german, I may be making some progress.
I feel like I have dumped poor old London for this glamourous new girl Vienna, poor London, we had a good thing going for 2 whole years, and now I'm dallying araound with this new more beautifulcity. It can never last, right? But whatever, Vienna is much better even than I expected. I am very glad to be here.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Thursday, 1 October 2009
-Interlude-
Nothing to do with me personally (apart from that it was found on some geology blogs), the link below is to a site where US science teachers in poor schools put up posts detailing exactly what projects they would like to do with their students, and why, and exactly what they will cost. Donors can then get the feeling that they are helping progress to a small but easily defined goal, and nobody is going to run off with their money and spend it on a new coffee machine or something. I think it is an amazing idea.
http://www.donorschoose.org/
However, looking at the site I find myself quite shocked that it should even be necessary to have a program like this. It really brings home just how poorly equipped some kids in america are to learn science, and I can't help but think that this must contribute to the fact that supposedly under half the US population 'believe' in evolution. (I don't want to even start on the question of whether evolution should have to be 'believable; rather than merely 'proven', but yeah.)
Schools in the program that are classified as 'high poverty' have at least 40% of children claiming free school meals. To claim free school meals the family income (for a family of 4) has to be below $23,920. So over 40% of children at these schools come from families where the yearly income is less than £3750 per person.
Of course, I have no idea what the corresponding facts are for the UK. Basically, I just think it is a cool way to run a donation website.
http://www.donorschoose.org/
However, looking at the site I find myself quite shocked that it should even be necessary to have a program like this. It really brings home just how poorly equipped some kids in america are to learn science, and I can't help but think that this must contribute to the fact that supposedly under half the US population 'believe' in evolution. (I don't want to even start on the question of whether evolution should have to be 'believable; rather than merely 'proven', but yeah.)
Schools in the program that are classified as 'high poverty' have at least 40% of children claiming free school meals. To claim free school meals the family income (for a family of 4) has to be below $23,920. So over 40% of children at these schools come from families where the yearly income is less than £3750 per person.
Of course, I have no idea what the corresponding facts are for the UK. Basically, I just think it is a cool way to run a donation website.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
If this was a livejournal...
... then my 'current mood' would be 'relieved'. Today I decided it was time to stop sending repeatedly unanswered emails to my coordinator and actually try phoning him. I had been putting this off because I don't really like phone calls if I can avoid them, and especially not phone calls in German, to someone who for all I knew could have had the worst and least intelligible accent this side of, well, Vienna is probably ground zero for unintelligible Deutsch actually. Never mind.
So anyhow, I phoned him, and I am now going to meet with him on monday afternoon. And he gave every indication of understanding everything I was saying, and didn't try switching to english! (This may be bad if he knows none, but you do not get to head an academic department without passable english I would think). Monday afternoon is after the supposed deadline for applying for courses, but he does not seem to think this will be a problem. I was confused when he said he had received my emails though, because why in hell would he just read them and not even reply with his visiting hours?? Hmph.
Other gargantuan achievements today include (and are in fact limited to) obtaining and charging with money the card we have to use to pay for the washing machines. Apparently coins would be too low tech or something. It does eliminate the change problem I guess, even if we do have to go to the bank to put more money on it. Washing is cheap (€1,60 for washing, drying free!), I may not actually wait until all my clothes are dirty and then wash them all at once now!
It is erasmus orientation week, which is like freshers week with better people, cheaper drinks and constant repetition of the three most important definitions of one's personality, to whit: nationality, home town, and course of study. On monday I went on a tour of the university led by a gloriously vague man who was obviously more concerned with fun than academia during his time as a student. This was followed by a semi regrettable trip to the erasmus club night, overcrowded, too loud and terrible music, but if you get there early drinks are actually free. It is mighty weird to be standing by the bar, cash in hand, and have a random cocktail thrust at you before you can even open your mouth to order. I left this at around ten and went on a long meandering walk through the near deserted streets of central Vienna (not sure if people don't go out late on Mondays, or more likely all the bars are further out of the centre than in London) with a new Finnish friend. If you will allow me to put on my T-rex voice a second: 'Guys! I have learnt more about Finland this week than I ever expected to know, it seems like a pretty OK country to me!'
Interestingly, though we all do a fair amount of drinking round here, nobody I know has taken it upon themselves to drink themselves into an embarrassing stupor, and were someone to suggest this as the sole goal of a night out, I think they would be looked at most oddly. This is made all the more topical following the extremely sad death of a UCL fresher after a fresher's event last weekend. It looks like he probably had an existing unknown health problem, rather than drinking himself to death, and he may not have imbibed much or anything at all, but still, there are many Sun etc articles recounting with horror and disapproval the plethora of cheap drink nights and adverts geared towards students that merely boast about how wasted it will be possible to get.
I don't really know what to think, except that there is something slightly off with the British attitude to drinking and yet I do not think it will ever be possible to change it, it is just what we do. The drink prices in Vienna and the ease with which beer can be obtained, combined with the bebevolent attitude to people sitting down and drinking it in public, are somewhat refreshing, and make an interesting counter argument to recent UK arguments about cutting down on supermarket booze deals etc.
So anyhow, I phoned him, and I am now going to meet with him on monday afternoon. And he gave every indication of understanding everything I was saying, and didn't try switching to english! (This may be bad if he knows none, but you do not get to head an academic department without passable english I would think). Monday afternoon is after the supposed deadline for applying for courses, but he does not seem to think this will be a problem. I was confused when he said he had received my emails though, because why in hell would he just read them and not even reply with his visiting hours?? Hmph.
Other gargantuan achievements today include (and are in fact limited to) obtaining and charging with money the card we have to use to pay for the washing machines. Apparently coins would be too low tech or something. It does eliminate the change problem I guess, even if we do have to go to the bank to put more money on it. Washing is cheap (€1,60 for washing, drying free!), I may not actually wait until all my clothes are dirty and then wash them all at once now!
It is erasmus orientation week, which is like freshers week with better people, cheaper drinks and constant repetition of the three most important definitions of one's personality, to whit: nationality, home town, and course of study. On monday I went on a tour of the university led by a gloriously vague man who was obviously more concerned with fun than academia during his time as a student. This was followed by a semi regrettable trip to the erasmus club night, overcrowded, too loud and terrible music, but if you get there early drinks are actually free. It is mighty weird to be standing by the bar, cash in hand, and have a random cocktail thrust at you before you can even open your mouth to order. I left this at around ten and went on a long meandering walk through the near deserted streets of central Vienna (not sure if people don't go out late on Mondays, or more likely all the bars are further out of the centre than in London) with a new Finnish friend. If you will allow me to put on my T-rex voice a second: 'Guys! I have learnt more about Finland this week than I ever expected to know, it seems like a pretty OK country to me!'
Interestingly, though we all do a fair amount of drinking round here, nobody I know has taken it upon themselves to drink themselves into an embarrassing stupor, and were someone to suggest this as the sole goal of a night out, I think they would be looked at most oddly. This is made all the more topical following the extremely sad death of a UCL fresher after a fresher's event last weekend. It looks like he probably had an existing unknown health problem, rather than drinking himself to death, and he may not have imbibed much or anything at all, but still, there are many Sun etc articles recounting with horror and disapproval the plethora of cheap drink nights and adverts geared towards students that merely boast about how wasted it will be possible to get.
I don't really know what to think, except that there is something slightly off with the British attitude to drinking and yet I do not think it will ever be possible to change it, it is just what we do. The drink prices in Vienna and the ease with which beer can be obtained, combined with the bebevolent attitude to people sitting down and drinking it in public, are somewhat refreshing, and make an interesting counter argument to recent UK arguments about cutting down on supermarket booze deals etc.
Monday, 28 September 2009
Opera etc
Oh, hello blog! Why, yes, I have been quite busy. What's that? Oh, ok, I will write about what has been happening then.
Mostly, I have been going out. Thankfully, unlike in London this means going to bars and actually talking to people, unlike going out in the first week at UCL, which appeared to involve bright lights and deafening noises in an attempt to unite us in collective shellshock. (Disclaimer: this may not be the actual aim of the delightfully named 'UCL Ents' team). On friday night we went out and drank in various bars in central Vienna, and then went to an underground club where I thoroughly enjoyed myself as stupid dancing seemed practically encouraged, and the music was pretty good. I may just be inexperienced, but I am not sure that disco remixes of the Pirates of the Carribbean main theme are in any way guaranteed when one enters a club. The most significant vent of the night for me though was definitely that at 3.30 am we went home on a nightbus called the N29, the same name as the trusty/crime ridden nightbus that has brought me home in London for the last 2 years countless times.
Saturday brought a failed attempt to vist a cafe with FREE BOARD GAMES (it was closed, but a pilgrimage will definitely be attempted again) , and a more successful stroll through the beguilingly sunny main streets of Vienna to locate an excellent dingy coffee house covered in posters and modern art. Here I was informed of a plan to visit the opera that very evening!
And so it was that, dressed in smart trousers and shirt but foolishly lacking any shoes except trainers, I had my first experience of opera in Wien. We went to the slightly cheaper and less architecturally baroque Volksoper, as opposed to the Opera in Vienna, the Staatsoper. Having waited in line until 5 minutes before the performance began, we finally obtained returns (Resttickets, I believe) for €12 each. The performance was of probably one of the most Austrian operas, Die Zauberflöte/Magic Flute.
As with my previous opera experience, I found some parts utterly fantastic, and other parts reasonably dull. My understanding of the plot was rather incomplete, as there were no subtitles (even german ones), and I stupidly forgot to look up the plot beforehand. That said, when I did look it up afterwards most of the transitions that seemed to have little or no reason behind them weren't relly explained there either, I think exposition in opera is pretty light in general. You can google the precise story, as for all its slight lack of logic, it is quite complex.
The hero was as usual the least interesting character, as he just had to be heroic, and the heroine only redeemed herself through amazing singing. The best character is a guy called Papageno, who is having none of all this grandiose questing and challenges rubbish, and just wants good food, wine, and an attractive and equally uncomplicated Papagena to love. The guy who played him was a good actor, and although he wasn't required to do any crazy vocal stunts, he still really made the whole opera for me, Papageno is just such a likeable guy. I thought he had some pretty good chemistry with the princess too, she could have done a lot better than generic brave prince with a flute.
The vocal stuff was stunning of course, Die Zauberflöte contains what are apparently some of the hardest vocal solos in opera for the character the Queen of the Night, and although you wouldn't recognise the name, I guarantee that if you hear them, you will recognise them. I have never ever heard a human voice used in such a way, and with such incredible power as well. We were right at the back and everyone on stage was still loud, despite being unamplified.
All in all, I would definitely see an opera again, but I think that the Magic Flute had a very good mix of beauty, humour, and welcome spoken word sections, and I do not think I will enjoy all or maybe many operas as much. It being sung in german helped, as I do love the language so much after all. I completely get what I was told by someone in the Macbeth opera I saw about english being a rubbish language to have to sing opera in. It is too hard to elongate the ends of words, so you have to maaaaaaaake do with the miiiiiiiiiiddle too much.
Sunday I did some work (!!) then went to a bar and hung out with more Erasmus people. Have not met more than one British person here, the largest proportions seem to be from Italy, Spain and Denmark, I know not why.
Mostly, I have been going out. Thankfully, unlike in London this means going to bars and actually talking to people, unlike going out in the first week at UCL, which appeared to involve bright lights and deafening noises in an attempt to unite us in collective shellshock. (Disclaimer: this may not be the actual aim of the delightfully named 'UCL Ents' team). On friday night we went out and drank in various bars in central Vienna, and then went to an underground club where I thoroughly enjoyed myself as stupid dancing seemed practically encouraged, and the music was pretty good. I may just be inexperienced, but I am not sure that disco remixes of the Pirates of the Carribbean main theme are in any way guaranteed when one enters a club. The most significant vent of the night for me though was definitely that at 3.30 am we went home on a nightbus called the N29, the same name as the trusty/crime ridden nightbus that has brought me home in London for the last 2 years countless times.
Saturday brought a failed attempt to vist a cafe with FREE BOARD GAMES (it was closed, but a pilgrimage will definitely be attempted again) , and a more successful stroll through the beguilingly sunny main streets of Vienna to locate an excellent dingy coffee house covered in posters and modern art. Here I was informed of a plan to visit the opera that very evening!
And so it was that, dressed in smart trousers and shirt but foolishly lacking any shoes except trainers, I had my first experience of opera in Wien. We went to the slightly cheaper and less architecturally baroque Volksoper, as opposed to the Opera in Vienna, the Staatsoper. Having waited in line until 5 minutes before the performance began, we finally obtained returns (Resttickets, I believe) for €12 each. The performance was of probably one of the most Austrian operas, Die Zauberflöte/Magic Flute.
As with my previous opera experience, I found some parts utterly fantastic, and other parts reasonably dull. My understanding of the plot was rather incomplete, as there were no subtitles (even german ones), and I stupidly forgot to look up the plot beforehand. That said, when I did look it up afterwards most of the transitions that seemed to have little or no reason behind them weren't relly explained there either, I think exposition in opera is pretty light in general. You can google the precise story, as for all its slight lack of logic, it is quite complex.
The hero was as usual the least interesting character, as he just had to be heroic, and the heroine only redeemed herself through amazing singing. The best character is a guy called Papageno, who is having none of all this grandiose questing and challenges rubbish, and just wants good food, wine, and an attractive and equally uncomplicated Papagena to love. The guy who played him was a good actor, and although he wasn't required to do any crazy vocal stunts, he still really made the whole opera for me, Papageno is just such a likeable guy. I thought he had some pretty good chemistry with the princess too, she could have done a lot better than generic brave prince with a flute.
The vocal stuff was stunning of course, Die Zauberflöte contains what are apparently some of the hardest vocal solos in opera for the character the Queen of the Night, and although you wouldn't recognise the name, I guarantee that if you hear them, you will recognise them. I have never ever heard a human voice used in such a way, and with such incredible power as well. We were right at the back and everyone on stage was still loud, despite being unamplified.
All in all, I would definitely see an opera again, but I think that the Magic Flute had a very good mix of beauty, humour, and welcome spoken word sections, and I do not think I will enjoy all or maybe many operas as much. It being sung in german helped, as I do love the language so much after all. I completely get what I was told by someone in the Macbeth opera I saw about english being a rubbish language to have to sing opera in. It is too hard to elongate the ends of words, so you have to maaaaaaaake do with the miiiiiiiiiiddle too much.
Sunday I did some work (!!) then went to a bar and hung out with more Erasmus people. Have not met more than one British person here, the largest proportions seem to be from Italy, Spain and Denmark, I know not why.
Friday, 25 September 2009
A photo blog: the Prater
I have now fulfilled almost all of the small administrative quests set before me (except the now rather pressing one of actually being able to apply for any modules, hmmm...). I have an Ausweis (uni ID card), made rather charmingly out of cardboard, a real photo, glue and a sticker. I have registered with the authorities. I have my 4 month all travel anytime pass (less than 120 pounds!!!). So, today I thought I would explore more fully the magnificent park near my halls called the Prater. I also thought I would take some photos.
First up we have this crazy ball shaped house. This is Das Kugelmugelhaus (seriously!), roughly translated as the ball on a hillock house. Not only does it have an awesome name, note the the barbed wire! You are looking at the entirety of the self declared Republic of Kugelmugel, which has been in existence in the Prater for over 25 years, and as of 2008 claimed around 600 citizens. The big plaque on the left explains how the thieving corrupt mayor of Vienna in the 80s reneged on his deal to provide the house/ country with power, water and sewage piping, and how he and his successor are not to be trusted. The one on the right reads (in german) 'This square (the name of which is 'Anti-Fascism Square') is dedicated to the great democratic revolutionary leader Edwin Lipburger, who has here begun to get rid of the old morals, and to identify and fight all forms of corruption behind every mask'. Cool, huh?
This little dude is telling you to clean up your dog's doings. Around the picture of the poo it says 'Sind dir Wurst?', which as far as I can tell means 'do these look like sausages to you?'
The differing landscape of the Prater, grass and honest to god woodland.
The best pic of a squirrel I took. They are small and fast. This one is notable for it's dark brown coat and white belly.
Arty stuff above.
A crow. Crows here are hooded, like in scotland, but also seem larger. Other birdwatching news: saw a Nuthatch (10 points if you know what one is) and probably also a woodpecker.
I'm pretty proud of these 3. It is important to note that the Prater combines not only 4.5 straight kilometres of park (with a specially paved central shady walk designed to be easy on the joints of runners, with water fountains at regular intervals, if you like that sort of thing) but also a large permanent funfair AND the aforementioned woodland etc.
Et finalement, the obligatory tourism shot of the 'Riesenrad'/big wheel. A little bit more old school than the London eye, but no less impressive.
Well, that was fun. Stay tuned for next time, when I don't make your poor computer work as hard.
First up we have this crazy ball shaped house. This is Das Kugelmugelhaus (seriously!), roughly translated as the ball on a hillock house. Not only does it have an awesome name, note the the barbed wire! You are looking at the entirety of the self declared Republic of Kugelmugel, which has been in existence in the Prater for over 25 years, and as of 2008 claimed around 600 citizens. The big plaque on the left explains how the thieving corrupt mayor of Vienna in the 80s reneged on his deal to provide the house/ country with power, water and sewage piping, and how he and his successor are not to be trusted. The one on the right reads (in german) 'This square (the name of which is 'Anti-Fascism Square') is dedicated to the great democratic revolutionary leader Edwin Lipburger, who has here begun to get rid of the old morals, and to identify and fight all forms of corruption behind every mask'. Cool, huh?
This little dude is telling you to clean up your dog's doings. Around the picture of the poo it says 'Sind dir Wurst?', which as far as I can tell means 'do these look like sausages to you?'
The differing landscape of the Prater, grass and honest to god woodland.
The best pic of a squirrel I took. They are small and fast. This one is notable for it's dark brown coat and white belly.
Arty stuff above.
A crow. Crows here are hooded, like in scotland, but also seem larger. Other birdwatching news: saw a Nuthatch (10 points if you know what one is) and probably also a woodpecker.
I'm pretty proud of these 3. It is important to note that the Prater combines not only 4.5 straight kilometres of park (with a specially paved central shady walk designed to be easy on the joints of runners, with water fountains at regular intervals, if you like that sort of thing) but also a large permanent funfair AND the aforementioned woodland etc.
Et finalement, the obligatory tourism shot of the 'Riesenrad'/big wheel. A little bit more old school than the London eye, but no less impressive.
Well, that was fun. Stay tuned for next time, when I don't make your poor computer work as hard.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
A 15 page epic poem about squirrels...
...is what I promised Tim would be my next blog entry. I wonder if he will be disappointed?
Having arrived after the first lot of Erasmus students (all here a month ago for german courses) but before the second round of freshers-esque speed-befriending events, I actually don't know very many people here. So at the moment I'm spending a looot of time not doing very much at all. This was nice for a while, but now i've finished reading two whole new webcomics, all 600 pages of Best New SF 22 are gone and I'm close to finishing the last season of 30 Rock, I am starting to get a little bored.
It's all very well going to see sights, but some of the sights I'd like to save for later when I have people to see them with, and you can't spend the entire day and night sightseeing. Well I can't anyway. So sometimes I feel like I am wasting my days, although other times I see it as a nice rest.
In the spirit of relaxation I decided to go for a lovely walk in the sunshine today. It is genuinely still summer here, as warm as it ever is in England at any time of year. The destination for my walk was the Donauinsel, a really long, really thin island separating two strands of the extremely wide and straight man made channel which directs most of the Danube to the East of Vienna. It was amazing, because it is basically a really thin but seemingly infinite park, strolling along it you feel you should keep going to see what is at the end, but, it never stops... It is a paradise for sunbathing, barbecuing, dog walking and going pretty fast on/ using your wheeled contraption of choice. Because you can only get onto it from some reasonably scarce bridges it has a nice wild and deserted feel, grass growing between concrete and graffiti on the benches sort of thing. There is so much anarchist graffiti around, I am not sure what to think about all the graffiti saying 'no to sexism' and 'down with racism'. Should I be impressed? Or do people just write it because they think that's what anarchist graffiti kids ought to do? Better than SHIT in ten foot high letters, anyway, though there is plenty of that sort of thing too.
Here we see an example of how sunny it is, and how long and hyponotically straight the island is. (this is looking north from a footbridge, with the island to your left)
My walk was great until I atempted to cross the river back to mainland Vienna and ended up walking through an area that was just building sites until I reached the bottom of the Prater, another huge park just south of my house. It is a bit bigger than the inner city london parks, with a lot of woodland, a bit like the Tiergarten in Berlin. Looks like a nice place to go on sunny days, all shade and rolling grassy bits. But by this time I was very tired and quite hot, as I can't tolerate temperatures over 15 degrees for too long. The photo below sort of conveys the length of the park, I could see this view to vanishing point in both directions for a good while.
Got home, grilled some Bratwurst (no seriously) and now I have a headache because I am completely evolved for UK temperatures. I will be a wreck come June next year...
Having arrived after the first lot of Erasmus students (all here a month ago for german courses) but before the second round of freshers-esque speed-befriending events, I actually don't know very many people here. So at the moment I'm spending a looot of time not doing very much at all. This was nice for a while, but now i've finished reading two whole new webcomics, all 600 pages of Best New SF 22 are gone and I'm close to finishing the last season of 30 Rock, I am starting to get a little bored.
It's all very well going to see sights, but some of the sights I'd like to save for later when I have people to see them with, and you can't spend the entire day and night sightseeing. Well I can't anyway. So sometimes I feel like I am wasting my days, although other times I see it as a nice rest.
In the spirit of relaxation I decided to go for a lovely walk in the sunshine today. It is genuinely still summer here, as warm as it ever is in England at any time of year. The destination for my walk was the Donauinsel, a really long, really thin island separating two strands of the extremely wide and straight man made channel which directs most of the Danube to the East of Vienna. It was amazing, because it is basically a really thin but seemingly infinite park, strolling along it you feel you should keep going to see what is at the end, but, it never stops... It is a paradise for sunbathing, barbecuing, dog walking and going pretty fast on/ using your wheeled contraption of choice. Because you can only get onto it from some reasonably scarce bridges it has a nice wild and deserted feel, grass growing between concrete and graffiti on the benches sort of thing. There is so much anarchist graffiti around, I am not sure what to think about all the graffiti saying 'no to sexism' and 'down with racism'. Should I be impressed? Or do people just write it because they think that's what anarchist graffiti kids ought to do? Better than SHIT in ten foot high letters, anyway, though there is plenty of that sort of thing too.
Here we see an example of how sunny it is, and how long and hyponotically straight the island is. (this is looking north from a footbridge, with the island to your left)
My walk was great until I atempted to cross the river back to mainland Vienna and ended up walking through an area that was just building sites until I reached the bottom of the Prater, another huge park just south of my house. It is a bit bigger than the inner city london parks, with a lot of woodland, a bit like the Tiergarten in Berlin. Looks like a nice place to go on sunny days, all shade and rolling grassy bits. But by this time I was very tired and quite hot, as I can't tolerate temperatures over 15 degrees for too long. The photo below sort of conveys the length of the park, I could see this view to vanishing point in both directions for a good while.
Got home, grilled some Bratwurst (no seriously) and now I have a headache because I am completely evolved for UK temperatures. I will be a wreck come June next year...
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Bloggen
This blogging thing is tricksy. It takes over your mind a bit. You are constantly looking at the world through a blog shaped lense: how can I write that incident in aclever and interesting way? Little phrases pop into my head. I suppose this is what journalists do, except they then write that stuff down in a moleskine notebook.
Today I have wanted to write about: the Viennese underground train, my thoughts on the first part of Cory Doctorow's new book, interesting cultural misunderstandings I have encountered/ perpetrated (already!), the british language education system, my trip to the Vienna Natural history Museum (and consequently a discussion of German rock names). I'm sort of posting this as a reminder to myself . Plus, it's nice to let people know what they're missing, haha.
I am sticking to the tradition of reporting stuff that has actually happened to me, for now at least. So: Today I went to the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. It is situated in the rather impressive Museumsquartier of Vienna, which coincidentally is a 15-20 minute journey from my halls, door to (somewhat more impressive) door. I managed to get in as a student by showing my UCL ID, so it cost me a fairly reasonable €3.50 to get in. The place was quiet, probably due to today being sunday, and there was a lot of space to stand in and stare.
Now, the London Natural History Museum is impressive architecturally, but what hit me about this museum was its sheer sense of grandeur. It is a lot more like a stately home, with huge ceiling paintings and imposing doors, and maybe it being older it was maybe more designed as a storehouse of treasures for more private viewing than our own NHM? I speculate, but what was very noticeable as I wandered around is that there is a lot less emphasis on big, themed experiences than the NHM London. The zoology section is basically a stuffed example of a reasonable proportion of large modern bird, fish, reptile mammal and other assorted species organised in accordance with traditional taxonomic order. There are a few little interactive exhibits but by and large you are left to explore the museum for yourself. You learn what you want from it, which I found very enjoyable.
So what did I discover on my first exploration? (for I will surely return). Lots of animals are way bigger than I thought. I think I am so used to seeing animals on TV that I think they are all TV sized. Albatrosses are HUGE, as are elephant seals, bears, whales etc. Kiwi birds look amazingly silly. Pangolins are cute. The german word for sloth is even more to the point than ours, they are called 'Faultiere' (lazy animals). Aardvark in german is 'Erdferkel'. Butterflies are pretty. etc etc.
I also spent a long time in the geology section, quite unsurprisingly. There was a meteorite ROOM with more meteorites than I have seen in the rest of my life combined stored in it. Incredible. The mineral collection was wierdly identically displayed to the London one, but slightly bigger, and accompanied by very detailed landscape paintings on all the walls that I didn't even notice till half way through. They had a lot of salt crystal lumps presented to them by various people in the past, all of them over 1000kg, including a 1680kg actual pillar of salt. Very biblical eh? It was all good revision, I learnt a few translations of rock names from english I hadn't known before. They aren't all as easy as I'd expected, and I'm considering taking a very low level class just for vocab purposes.
In the middle I stopped in the very posh cafe for a Struedel and a tea. It was expensive, but what the hell, i'm on holi... oh. Well, tasty Struedel and proper loose leaf darjeeling tea, so all was not lost. Mild confusion when I forgot to tip the waiter, but I got the hint in the end.
I now appaer to be off back to the Museumsquartier, but am reliably informed this is because there are bars there, not to go to a late night museum opening. Although they do stay open till 9 every thursday.
Today I have wanted to write about: the Viennese underground train, my thoughts on the first part of Cory Doctorow's new book, interesting cultural misunderstandings I have encountered/ perpetrated (already!), the british language education system, my trip to the Vienna Natural history Museum (and consequently a discussion of German rock names). I'm sort of posting this as a reminder to myself . Plus, it's nice to let people know what they're missing, haha.
I am sticking to the tradition of reporting stuff that has actually happened to me, for now at least. So: Today I went to the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. It is situated in the rather impressive Museumsquartier of Vienna, which coincidentally is a 15-20 minute journey from my halls, door to (somewhat more impressive) door. I managed to get in as a student by showing my UCL ID, so it cost me a fairly reasonable €3.50 to get in. The place was quiet, probably due to today being sunday, and there was a lot of space to stand in and stare.
Now, the London Natural History Museum is impressive architecturally, but what hit me about this museum was its sheer sense of grandeur. It is a lot more like a stately home, with huge ceiling paintings and imposing doors, and maybe it being older it was maybe more designed as a storehouse of treasures for more private viewing than our own NHM? I speculate, but what was very noticeable as I wandered around is that there is a lot less emphasis on big, themed experiences than the NHM London. The zoology section is basically a stuffed example of a reasonable proportion of large modern bird, fish, reptile mammal and other assorted species organised in accordance with traditional taxonomic order. There are a few little interactive exhibits but by and large you are left to explore the museum for yourself. You learn what you want from it, which I found very enjoyable.
So what did I discover on my first exploration? (for I will surely return). Lots of animals are way bigger than I thought. I think I am so used to seeing animals on TV that I think they are all TV sized. Albatrosses are HUGE, as are elephant seals, bears, whales etc. Kiwi birds look amazingly silly. Pangolins are cute. The german word for sloth is even more to the point than ours, they are called 'Faultiere' (lazy animals). Aardvark in german is 'Erdferkel'. Butterflies are pretty. etc etc.
I also spent a long time in the geology section, quite unsurprisingly. There was a meteorite ROOM with more meteorites than I have seen in the rest of my life combined stored in it. Incredible. The mineral collection was wierdly identically displayed to the London one, but slightly bigger, and accompanied by very detailed landscape paintings on all the walls that I didn't even notice till half way through. They had a lot of salt crystal lumps presented to them by various people in the past, all of them over 1000kg, including a 1680kg actual pillar of salt. Very biblical eh? It was all good revision, I learnt a few translations of rock names from english I hadn't known before. They aren't all as easy as I'd expected, and I'm considering taking a very low level class just for vocab purposes.
In the middle I stopped in the very posh cafe for a Struedel and a tea. It was expensive, but what the hell, i'm on holi... oh. Well, tasty Struedel and proper loose leaf darjeeling tea, so all was not lost. Mild confusion when I forgot to tip the waiter, but I got the hint in the end.
I now appaer to be off back to the Museumsquartier, but am reliably informed this is because there are bars there, not to go to a late night museum opening. Although they do stay open till 9 every thursday.
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