Day 2: June 2, 2010
Vienna, Austria
Vienna, Austria
I got a new pen from my dad. It was given to him by one of the captains of our flight for filling out a survey about our flight. It's quite nice, actually. I think I will hold on to it and use it to write future entries!
Anywho. I've been traveling for 14 hours, and am completely exhausted. I only managed to sleep for a couple of hours on the flight because my seat on the plane would not recline. It was horrible. I sat in this strange sideways position with my legs across my dad's lap and into the plane's aisle. It hurt after awhile, but I somehow managed to sleep for a bit.
It's 10 AM back at home, but 4 PM here... ugh. I haven't eaten much at all and what I've eaten has just been plane food and snacks. The layover between our flight into London and our flight out to Austria, was much too short. We were worried that we were going to miss the flight! It was stressful. I don't want to see an airport for awhile...
I'm in my hotel room in Vienna now, and this bed feels SO GOOD compared to that damn plane seat. I met my roommate Rebecca, and she seems nice, so that's good. We're going to visit Hundertwasserhaus and then eat some REAL food.
Anywho. I've been traveling for 14 hours, and am completely exhausted. I only managed to sleep for a couple of hours on the flight because my seat on the plane would not recline. It was horrible. I sat in this strange sideways position with my legs across my dad's lap and into the plane's aisle. It hurt after awhile, but I somehow managed to sleep for a bit.
It's 10 AM back at home, but 4 PM here... ugh. I haven't eaten much at all and what I've eaten has just been plane food and snacks. The layover between our flight into London and our flight out to Austria, was much too short. We were worried that we were going to miss the flight! It was stressful. I don't want to see an airport for awhile...
I'm in my hotel room in Vienna now, and this bed feels SO GOOD compared to that damn plane seat. I met my roommate Rebecca, and she seems nice, so that's good. We're going to visit Hundertwasserhaus and then eat some REAL food.
***
I met up with the rest of the students down in the hotel lobby and we proceeded to Hundertwasserhaus. It was really neat. Hundertwasserhaus is much cooler in person. Pictures of it don't really do it complete justice. It's such an interesting building. I love all the asymmetrical lines and colors. The sidewalk was also uneven so the trees in the building and around it had adequate room to grow. All of this was done to make the building mimic the surrounding environment. For example, if you look in nature, there are no straight lines, just like the shape and lines on Hundertwasserhaus. Even though the weather was crappy (It was cold and misting rain), I'm so glad I was able to see it! There was also a little tourist place next to Hundertwasserhaus with all sorts of touristy stuff. Lots of products with pictures of Klimt's "The Kiss." I hope I'm able to see the painting in person while I'm here!
Here are a few pictures of Hundertwasserhaus that I took:
There was also a neat fountain outside the building:
After Hundertwasserhaus we went to an Austrian coffee house and had REAL FOOD! I HAD to order wienerschnitzel, since it's a traditional Austrian dish. It was soooo tasty! I was given two HUGE pieces and I ate both of them! I was starving! We were also given a cold salad which had a lot of pickled stuff in it. I didn't think I would like it, but I did! It tasted crisp and fresh. There was this strange vegetable in it that neither dad or I could identify. It was like a potato in texture and appearance, but it didn't taste like one. What was that mysterious vegetable?!
Related Links
http://www.hundertwasserhaus.com/
http://www.escapeartist.com/OREQ16/Vienna.html
http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/europe/hundertwasserhaus.shtml
http://www.hundertwasserhaus.com/
http://www.escapeartist.com/OREQ16/Vienna.html
http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/europe/hundertwasserhaus.shtml
Day 8: June 8, 2010
Vienna, Austria
Vienna, Austria
Today we visited a waste water treatment plant. It was kinda gross, but it was still cool. The first few stages of the waste...water was pretty nasty and I had to breathe through my mouth because the stench was so overwhelming. It was neat to see how the nasty brown water got cleaner and cleaner as it passed through every cleaning stage. At the final reservoir before the water was released into the Delta, the water was crystal-clear! I think I've drank water more disgusting than that at my first dorm! It was really quite amazing. Austria is really proud of its environment and is going to such great lengths to keep the Danube clean though the water treatment process!
Here are some pictures from the waste water treatment plant:
Here are some of the different tanks the waste water went through
the final reservoir for the cleaned water
The final product
Here are some of the different tanks the waste water went through
the final reservoir for the cleaned water
The final productAfter the waste water treatment plant, we took the train to a place in the city that had a few restaurants around for lunch. I had my 4th gelato/Eis: Chocolate and another flavor that tasted like cookies and cream. It was really tasty, as usual!
My dad's back was bothering him, so I stayed with him instead of going to the Bioethenal plant. We each wanted to find a small bag to carry things in because the bag I had been carrying around was large and got too heavy, hurting my shoulders and putting pressure on my injured knee. Dad and I headed to Stephensplatz, where I was able to see Stephenskirche, which was very beautiful. We also investigated the store I have been seeing all over Austria: BIPA. Turns out BIPA is a small supermarket that sells mostly woman's products such as perfume and make-up. There was some red hair dye there that I was tempted to buy, but I figured dyeing my hair red in the hotel would be a bad idea. We ended up buying some bandages for the back of our feet since we were getting blisters from our shoes.
I found a nice, smaller bag at H&M along with a couple of shirts, and my dad found a bag in a store in the subway station. Mission accomplished!
My dad's back was bothering him, so I stayed with him instead of going to the Bioethenal plant. We each wanted to find a small bag to carry things in because the bag I had been carrying around was large and got too heavy, hurting my shoulders and putting pressure on my injured knee. Dad and I headed to Stephensplatz, where I was able to see Stephenskirche, which was very beautiful. We also investigated the store I have been seeing all over Austria: BIPA. Turns out BIPA is a small supermarket that sells mostly woman's products such as perfume and make-up. There was some red hair dye there that I was tempted to buy, but I figured dyeing my hair red in the hotel would be a bad idea. We ended up buying some bandages for the back of our feet since we were getting blisters from our shoes.
I found a nice, smaller bag at H&M along with a couple of shirts, and my dad found a bag in a store in the subway station. Mission accomplished!
Related Links
http://www.ebs.co.at/index.php?id=189&L=2
http://www.aquamedia.at/templates/index.cfm/id/1763
http://www.bipa.at/
http://www.ebs.co.at/index.php?id=189&L=2
http://www.aquamedia.at/templates/index.cfm/id/1763
http://www.bipa.at/
Day 10: June 10, 2010
Vienna, Austria
Vienna, Austria
I was pretty sick the entire day today. I got progressively worse as the day went on, from sneezes and a runny nose, to complete loss of taste and sinus pain. Something's up with this the air in this hotel. Dad thinks their might be mold in the air ducts which is causing people to get really bad allergies. I was still able to enjoy the day, however!
Anyway, today we went to a Bio Diesel plant, and once again, it really wasn't that exciting. Just some big storage containers with grape seed oil and other natural oils. The tour really didn't last that long, though, so we boarded the bus with an Agricultural Professor and he talked about some of the surrounded landscape as the bus drove on; sort of like a tour guide.
The bus stopped for lunch at this little house on the outskirts of one of Austria's protected forest areas. I ordered pork wurst, and what I got looked like a few pieces of pork tenderloin rather than a sausage (which was what I was expecting). The tenderloins were really fatty, and I had to pick out the pieces of meat from in between the fatty parts. It was alright; I'm not a huge fan of fat in meat, though!
My dad and the professor ordered sweets and my jaw dropped when I realized my dad had KAISERSCHMARRN. I've had Kaiserschmarrn before in my middle school German class, and I LOVE IT. It's like a sweet pancake with powdered sugar on top. So I went over to my dad's table and ate like half of my dad's kaiserschmarrn. It was so good. The professor was eating some sort of dumpling which he let me try, and that was delicious as well.
Kaiserschmarrn. Picture from http://commons.wikimedia.org/
Anyway, today we went to a Bio Diesel plant, and once again, it really wasn't that exciting. Just some big storage containers with grape seed oil and other natural oils. The tour really didn't last that long, though, so we boarded the bus with an Agricultural Professor and he talked about some of the surrounded landscape as the bus drove on; sort of like a tour guide.
The bus stopped for lunch at this little house on the outskirts of one of Austria's protected forest areas. I ordered pork wurst, and what I got looked like a few pieces of pork tenderloin rather than a sausage (which was what I was expecting). The tenderloins were really fatty, and I had to pick out the pieces of meat from in between the fatty parts. It was alright; I'm not a huge fan of fat in meat, though!
My dad and the professor ordered sweets and my jaw dropped when I realized my dad had KAISERSCHMARRN. I've had Kaiserschmarrn before in my middle school German class, and I LOVE IT. It's like a sweet pancake with powdered sugar on top. So I went over to my dad's table and ate like half of my dad's kaiserschmarrn. It was so good. The professor was eating some sort of dumpling which he let me try, and that was delicious as well.
Kaiserschmarrn. Picture from http://commons.wikimedia.org/After lunch, we walked to the outskirts of the forest, and the professor talked about Vienna's ecology. We walked down a slope and saw part of the Danube (The new one, I believe) which was cool. After that, we drove the bus to a barley field and the professor talked some more about sustainability and the like.
We had a group dinner at a restaurant on a mountaintop that overlooked all of Vienna. At this time, however, I was feeling pretty bad, so I couldn't appreciate it as much as I wanted to. I only ordered a frankfurter for dinner since I wasn't very hungry, and I guess that was a good thing since I couldn't taste it anyway (Also, the general consensus was that the food at the restaurant wasn't very good, so I'm glad I only ordered something simple!).
picture of Vienna from the mountaintop
After we ate, we took a crazy bus ride down the mountain and returned to the hotel. Dad gave me some medicine for my allergies and I started packing all my stuff up for the plane to Moldova the next day!
We had a group dinner at a restaurant on a mountaintop that overlooked all of Vienna. At this time, however, I was feeling pretty bad, so I couldn't appreciate it as much as I wanted to. I only ordered a frankfurter for dinner since I wasn't very hungry, and I guess that was a good thing since I couldn't taste it anyway (Also, the general consensus was that the food at the restaurant wasn't very good, so I'm glad I only ordered something simple!).
picture of Vienna from the mountaintopAfter we ate, we took a crazy bus ride down the mountain and returned to the hotel. Dad gave me some medicine for my allergies and I started packing all my stuff up for the plane to Moldova the next day!
Related Links
http://www.wienerwald.info/e/default.asp
http://www.aboutvienna.org/parks/vienna_woods.php
http://bakingdesserts.suite101.com/article.cfm/traditional_austrian_desserts
http://www.wienerwald.info/e/default.asp
http://www.aboutvienna.org/parks/vienna_woods.php
http://bakingdesserts.suite101.com/article.cfm/traditional_austrian_desserts
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