Bratislava

Bratislava is only a 1hr train ride from Vienna for about 28EU round trip. A friend from the University, Mohammet (hes from Turkey) and I headed out pretty early by taking the 8am train. But that meant that I had to get up at 6:30am and start riding my bike to the trainstation to catch the underground that would take me to the Sudbahnhof station where the train was leaving for Bratislava. A visualization:

Bike 15 min --->Purkersdorf Sanitorium---> 20min to Hutteldorf --> Train for 35 min to Sudbahnhof ---> 1hr Train to Bratislava

Anyways, got there and realized we didn't really know how to get to the main city or even how to exit the station. Well we both fell asleep in the train and woke up when it was fully stopped only to find out we were locked in side (must have been asleep for sometime). I thought this was the end of my trip and I was only a window away from Bratislava...no big deal just had to yell and scream at the top of our lungs at the onlookers and we were out in no time (or just ask the conductor to let us out cuz we fell asleep).

Happy to be out and taking a picture of the train stop that doesn't say Bratislava I know my fault.

After wandering around I asked some lady how to get to the center of the city and she directed me towards the 80 bus, but I still had no idea how to get a ticket and thought I must get it on the bus NNNOOOPPPEE. No ticket, but I asked the guy driving where I could get it and he said "in there" I was like oook (kinda mad that I would have to get off after waiting) then he demanded "SIT" and I didn't ask questions I just took a seat and headed for the city center.

All of the touristy spots were located around the city center. They are easy to get to by foot and no cars are allowed to drive in the city center. Was cool but I was glad to get back to Vienna.

Remodeling the House

Walter and Maria are adding a separate bedroom to their house and I have been lucky enough to watch the whole process from blueprints to spraying cement to building the frame to wiring and plumbing. This is a picture of the room after the insulation has been put in covered with the dry wall. Walter and I were trying to wire the whole room (well I am giving myself too much credit, I was there to push wires while Walter explained everything to me). We wired the whole room but got stuck at the very last switch where the wire could not be fed through (the tubing was wrapped around a tight corner). I wanted to drown the wires in water (i guess i was trying to inflict pain on the wires somehow). Solution was to remove a section of dry wall and redo the wiring.

Butt I'm not Sick!

I got sick after biking in the rain with snow (even with all of the layers) so I had to take my temperature I was like sure no problem until I was presented with this....

I started inventing creative ways this could be used because it didn't go under the

tongue. I quickly told Walter and Maria that the back of my hand is an excellent gauge

of temperature and I knew it was a good bec I saw it once on Scrubs. They

still insisted that I use it, luckily I only had to put it in my armpit haha

Gymnasium School

Gymnasium is like a U.S. high school. I went with Maria one day to visit a local school and see if there was anyway that I could volunteer my time to help out with one of the classes as a native english speaker. I spoke with the english teacher there and he said that we will work out a schedule (i will give updates to let you know how it goes).

The school was built with the political help of the Purkersdors major who previously held office at the state level of Austria. I also met the principal who was with the school from the very beginning of the project. At first the Purkersdorf school was a small building and later with the help of the major the larger school was built and they are now looking to expand it!

Going to School

This is the gear that I am sporting when I go on my way to school. I have realized I can't predict how the weather is and I must bring a waterproof something (jacket, bag, or gloves) and warm socks shoes, hat, and I found out a scarf works well too. The day can start off beautiful and change into rain and hail in a second.

Yes that is my ride. Pink, seat nearly falling off, and chain on its last legs. Its fun ride.

Dinner with Family

From left to Right--> George (the son of Walter), Walter (who is kindly spoiling me at his house in Purkersdorf Maria was on a trip =( so she was not with us), Bob (friend of Bruni), Bruni (my aunt and godmother), and Karin (my loving cousin who I adore)

Uncle Otto

Came over to our house in Purkersdorf to drop off a warm coat an visit. I am spoiled by both my Family in the U.S. and in Wien.

We had dinner at a Nice Heurigen (restaurant) not to be confused with Heuriger. A Heuriger is a place where people can go and taste the wine of a family's newest harvest. Heurigers can only serve their own wine and have a limited selection of food normally specialty bread and wine. But this was just a restaurant and it was delicious. It was also nice to meet with everyone in Vienna!

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Kunsthistorisches (Art History Museum) was one of my favorite non-touch/play museums. They had an extensive Egyptian exhibit that contained sarcophagi (plural for sarcophagases?) large sculptures of important rules like Cesar and and other sculptures from rulers like Imhotep (thank you The Mummy for educating me).

Imhotep via Hollywood vs Imhotep Sculpture. The bald head looks about the same.

The special exhibit they had was "Wer ist Karl der Kuhne?" It means who is Charles the Bold.

Special Historical Props for Karl:

Charles the Bold left unimaginable treasures from the legendary court of Burgundy. An exceptional exhibition dedicated to his life and actions is now on show in Vienna. The KHM offers visitors the unique opportunity to see its important holdings together with the “Burgundian Booty”, shown outside of Switzerland for the first time in 500 years. These precious mediaeval objets d’art document the character of this enigmatic prince and his historical importance for the spectacular rise of the House of Habsburg. Thanks to the clever marriage alliances and the premature death of Charles the Bold the rich Burgundian inheritance fell to the Habsburgs; only two generations later, the duke’s great-grandson, Charles V, ruled an empire “in which the sun never set”. (www.khm.com) <-- read more there

Historical Props:

The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna numbers among the most important European museum buildings put up during the 19th century.

The monumental structure, built at the behest of Emperor Franz Joseph I as part of his expansion of the city in 1858, was intended to both unite and appropriately represent the artistic treasures that had been collected by the Habsburgs over the centuries.

Construction work lasted 20 years, from when ground was first broken in 1871 to the museum building’s completion in the year 1891. (www.khm.at)

Schloss Schonbrunn Garden

The Schonbrunn Garden is ridiculously large. When I was dropped off (saved me 1hr of train hopping) I had all intentions on running literally (thats why I look so ugly, fat, beat, sweaty in the pic) through the whole place. I was stoked on the idea of running through historical sights so I couldnt resist the temptation to run through the gardens featured in James Bond's The Living Daylights. Unfortunatley, I am not as well trained as I thought I was so I could only run through about 1/4th of it (i was running real fast thats my excuse).

Admission to the gardens is free for everyone to enjoy you only have to pay to get inside the Castle. As you probably know by now I like to interact with my surroundings even if its historical, so you can imagine my excitement when I found a garden labyrinth. The maze was constructed resembling the same layout and plants as were present in 1695. I didn't have enough time to make it through the maze no worries you can bet on it that I will be back there to check it out (with pictures and video next time).

Marketing Blerb from the Castles Website:

The palace and its grounds form a unit and reflect each other, in correspondance with the Baroque notion of the princely palace, according to which architecture and Nature should interpenetrate. The Baroque layout of the gardens, together with the additions made during the last decade of Maria Theresa's life, have survived more or less intact and today still determine the characteristic appearance of the gardens at Schönbrunn.

Historical Props:

From the 18th century to 1918, Schönbrunn was the residence of the Habsburg emperors. It was designed by the architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Nicolaus Pacassi and is full of outstanding examples of decorative art. Together with its gardens, the site of the world’s first zoo in 1752, it is a remarkable Baroque ensemble and a perfect example ofGesamtkunstwerk. (© UNESCO World Heritage Centre) (trip advisor)

Technical History Museum

On an area of 22.000 square meters, the Technisches Museum Wien offers a wide range of fascinating insights into the world of technology. Unique exhibits from the past to the present make the house a venue for exploring exciting technological developments. (http://www.tmw.at/)

Thats the sales pitch for the Museum from the Austrian website. The real break down is that it was like discovery zone adults because you could play with almost everything and take part in some simple experiments. I even had to kick a couple of kids off of the green screen because I wanted to view my self on the Austrian Weather Channel.

*The main reason I made this a must on my trip was that I could actually touch and play vs. Historical Museum in Vienna where you would be electrocuted on the spot for staring too long at a painting because it might make the paint run. Kidding, kidding. But playing was a bonus.

This place was filled with a timeline like exhibit of industrialization throughout Vienna. There were three floors of industrial relics (i had to rush through the top two floors because I spend a good 1.5hrs at the bottom level with all the hands on experiments).

I only found out there were other levels because I saw a kid running towards this hamster looking contraption (showing the different ways energy can be converted for useful jobs like raising a basket of apples...)