On Thursday we have a history lesson, conducted by Lee Tate.
He goes over the history of Austria, from when the Hapsburgs took over in the 13th century to when Franz Josef died in 1916 and the end of World War I in 1918. Learning the history of Austria is important to having a complete grasp on the place. It is quite fascinating.
In the afternoon, we go to the Belvedere Palace and Gardens. When we get there, Tate instructs us to be silent as we go in, and pay attention to how noisy it is outside on the streets and what it's like inside the palace gates. We walk in, and the transition is magical. A lawnmower motor runs in the distance, but other than that, impeccable tranquility.
A long, wide, straight path leads up to the entrance to the Palace. "Don't turn around until you get to the end of the path," says Tate. We walk. I take photographs. When we get to the Palace, we turn around and have a breathtaking vista of the city. It is very nice.
Inside the Palace, there is an exhibition on modern Austria from the end of the War to present day. It occurs to me that today is a very well-coordinated history lesson. The exhibition is very comprehensive. It has artifacts and documents and propaganda posters from the 20th century. The thing that makes it fantastic is that it exhibits works of art as well, by Klimt and other Viennese greats. What I love most about art history is that it puts history into context. It shows how people reacted to current events, and in this exhibition, one can see propaganda posters on one wall and see art by an artist influenced by World War II. Brilliant.
My favorite part of the exhibition is a microscope. You look in and see the world from outer space. You turn the dial as if to focus, but instead the view of the Earth gets bigger as the camera zooms in, further and further until Europe is in view, then Austria, then Vienna and the rooftops, the Belvedere Gardens and Palace, through the roof of the Palace and finally you looking into the microscope. I think of Eames and Powers of Ten.
We disperse. We meet up later for an evening of English theater. The play is called Breaking Legs, a comedy about an English professor who unknowingly gets himself tangled up in the mob trying to get his play financed. Hilarities and Italian stereotypes ensue.
After the play, we head out on the town for the first time as a group. We go to an area of bars called the "Bermuda Triangle," I guess named for a bar called Bermuda Bräu. Jonathan, Nathan, Naomi and I split off for a while and find Gregor's bar. It is small, but it makes excellent use of space. Tables and stools are situated on stairs so that everyone is at eye level, reminding me of a patio I saw on a sloping street in Siena. Gregor's bar is a bit pricey, so we meet up with everyone else again. We duck into a little no-name bar and meet a guy our age named Francis, who's stationed in Stüttgart.
It was an excellent night until we had to get home. We got on a bus which proceeded to head out of town. 5, 10, 15 miles ... who knows how far out it went. Somewhere along the journey, the bus swapped drivers. We finally got back to the Ring, the main street that runs around the inner city, and got off a mile or so from our homestay. Lesson learned: don't take the night bus.
He goes over the history of Austria, from when the Hapsburgs took over in the 13th century to when Franz Josef died in 1916 and the end of World War I in 1918. Learning the history of Austria is important to having a complete grasp on the place. It is quite fascinating.
In the afternoon, we go to the Belvedere Palace and Gardens. When we get there, Tate instructs us to be silent as we go in, and pay attention to how noisy it is outside on the streets and what it's like inside the palace gates. We walk in, and the transition is magical. A lawnmower motor runs in the distance, but other than that, impeccable tranquility.
A long, wide, straight path leads up to the entrance to the Palace. "Don't turn around until you get to the end of the path," says Tate. We walk. I take photographs. When we get to the Palace, we turn around and have a breathtaking vista of the city. It is very nice.
Inside the Palace, there is an exhibition on modern Austria from the end of the War to present day. It occurs to me that today is a very well-coordinated history lesson. The exhibition is very comprehensive. It has artifacts and documents and propaganda posters from the 20th century. The thing that makes it fantastic is that it exhibits works of art as well, by Klimt and other Viennese greats. What I love most about art history is that it puts history into context. It shows how people reacted to current events, and in this exhibition, one can see propaganda posters on one wall and see art by an artist influenced by World War II. Brilliant.
My favorite part of the exhibition is a microscope. You look in and see the world from outer space. You turn the dial as if to focus, but instead the view of the Earth gets bigger as the camera zooms in, further and further until Europe is in view, then Austria, then Vienna and the rooftops, the Belvedere Gardens and Palace, through the roof of the Palace and finally you looking into the microscope. I think of Eames and Powers of Ten.
We disperse. We meet up later for an evening of English theater. The play is called Breaking Legs, a comedy about an English professor who unknowingly gets himself tangled up in the mob trying to get his play financed. Hilarities and Italian stereotypes ensue.
After the play, we head out on the town for the first time as a group. We go to an area of bars called the "Bermuda Triangle," I guess named for a bar called Bermuda Bräu. Jonathan, Nathan, Naomi and I split off for a while and find Gregor's bar. It is small, but it makes excellent use of space. Tables and stools are situated on stairs so that everyone is at eye level, reminding me of a patio I saw on a sloping street in Siena. Gregor's bar is a bit pricey, so we meet up with everyone else again. We duck into a little no-name bar and meet a guy our age named Francis, who's stationed in Stüttgart.
It was an excellent night until we had to get home. We got on a bus which proceeded to head out of town. 5, 10, 15 miles ... who knows how far out it went. Somewhere along the journey, the bus swapped drivers. We finally got back to the Ring, the main street that runs around the inner city, and got off a mile or so from our homestay. Lesson learned: don't take the night bus.
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