I'm a Doctor, not a Salt Miner . . .

On our way to Salzburg this weekend we stopped at the small mountain town of Hallstadt to tour the oldest salt mine in the world that is still in operation. The tour was one of my favorites thus far this semester. We walked through a mining tunnel deep into the mountain. The tunnel gradually became smaller and smaller and progressively darker. And then all of the sudden I heard the voice of a woman creepily whisper

Stein . . . stein . . . stein and Salz . . .salz . . . salz

right into my ear. I nearly jumped. There were speakers hooked up to the sides of the walls and were continually playing this creepy woman's voice. And it was very scary.



We stopped at the top of the first slide--yes, we got to slide down two slides in the mine. I already felt like I was in a cheesy Star Trek episode in a cooked up set. I almost expected to turn around and find Spock and McCoy on my left and right.
"This salt mine contains one million, three hundred twenty-three thousand four hundred and forty four point one two seven four nine . . ."
"I'm a doctor not a salt miner."

So, anyway, we were all a little apprehensive about the slide. One girl mentioned how she would probably scream. Then our tour guide turned to us and said, very calmly and pleasantly, "You can scream down here and no one will hear you." Creepy! ;) The slide and the mega-slide were a lot of fun. I even bought a hokey photo of myself going down the slide.

Hallstadt was a beautiful mountain town nestled between to foot of a mountain and the shores of a large alpine lake. And it snowed the entire time we were there. I loved every single minute of it.

Schreien ist Uncool!

Screaming is not cool.

Last week we went to Karlskirche for Art History. The cathedral was a beautiful baroque church. The frescos on the dome have recently been restored and the scaffolding hasn't been taken down. So, for our class, we were able to climb the scaffolding stairs all the way up into the dome and into the lantern at the top of the dome. It was an amazing experience, once you forgot how much the stairway was wobbling from others climbing up and down it. It was definitely an adrenaline rush. I have been up on the rims of domes in cathedrals before, but never like that. The frescos were beautiful.


Right now I am sitting in the most elegant McDonalds I could ever dream of. Besides having trendy chairs, tables, and booths, and free WIFI, the architecture of the restaurant screams Maria Hilfe Strasse, a very trendy and fashionable avenue in Vienna. Large columns, that appear to be made of stone marble (as opposed to fake marble), seperate different sections of the restaurant. Giant wrought iron chandeliers that one might expect to find in an opulent ski lodge in Vail hang from a ceiling trimmed with baroque borders and designs. There is a hot coco and coffee counter aswell as the usual counter you can order McNuggets from. It is pretty much rediculous.

This week, Melinda and I have reflected a lot of our German-speaking abilities and how we could do better. Melinda did an amazing job of asking our HostFrau to help us with our German. I didn't even know what she was up to until she was half-way through the question. I think that Frau Creneville simply assumed that we didn't know very much (if any) German. So we are both making a bigger effort to speak German with each other and also to take our German class as serious as possible (sometimes it proves difficult). I have my first German test on Monday, so hopefully everything will go well. While discussing this our German-language predicament late one night, I was trying to express the importance of studying grammer, but ended up saying, multiple times, that you have to study your grandma.

I've seen two operas this week, both of which I LOVED! I saw The Magicflute on Monday and the Merry Widow last night. The Magic Flute was amazing! The music was beautiful. Every voice (except for Monastatos') was heavenly--especially the Three Boys. In Vienna, the parts of the Three Boys are played by members of the Vienna's Boys Choir. Their voices were amazing. I could have listened to the three of them all day. And they all looked so cute in their misfitting 1800's garb. One even carried around a teddy bear, which he gave to Pamina to comfort her when she was dispairing. The sets of the production were astounding and spectacular. I had only seen a minimalist production of the Magic Flute before, so seeing the opera with such epic sets was a wonderful experience.

The Merry Widow was as close to a feel-good, everyone-loves-everyone 50's musical as opera can get. It was so cute! It think it was perhaps the best operatic chic-flick ever. The script wasn't to complicated, so with the help of subtitles, I found myself following along better. And I just want to add just how dashing and handsome Count Danilo was. ;)

Imperial Napkin Folding

While touring the unbelievably extensive dishes collection of the Habsburgs, I found these imperial napkins. There is also an imperial napkin fold design, not pictured here, that is still used today. How to fold the napkin in the imperial style is a state secret. Only two people, in the entire world, know how to do it. That is a lot of napkins to fold for two people when State Banquets role around.

The dishes collection was its own museum--there were hundreds of thousands of pieces. It was a maze of cutlery and opulence. And it went on and on. For an hour and a half. I'd never though of table settings as an indication of wealth until now.

The Wife of Napoleon

Melinda and I have wondered since being here, if Frau Greneville's lineage is of nobility. No, really, we have. One of the teachers at the American Institute said once that families with a last name made of two hyphenated names came from the Austrian or Hungarian nobility. Our host's full last name is Folliot-Greneville.

Yesterday she told us about some of her ancestors. Apparently there is a Family History archive in Vienna. Her great-great-grandmother was a close friend of Maria Louis, who was Napoleon's second wife. They kept a close correspondence throughout Maria's life, including her marriage to Napoleon and her life afterward. Frau Greneville was able to read through her Great-great-grandmother's letters (written in French) at the Family History archive. She told us about the things that Maria Louis wrote in her letters. She didn't want to marry Napoleon but knew that it was necessary. She found herself in a hard position after her marriage because she couldn't speak or meet with her father, since he was then an enemy against France. And as her son grew up away from her in the Austrian court, she often wrote about how much she wanted to see him. She would make plans to visit him in Vienna but they were always foiled.

I find it so interesting to see someone's family history so interconnected with famous events in European history. Its amazing.

Two other girls in our group are staying with nobility. Cara is staying with a Baroness. Julia is staying with a Countess, who gives parties nearly everyday or is off visiting one of her children at their various castles and mansions. She is part of the Hungarian nobility. Her first husband, who she divorce, was a direct descendant of the Emperor Franz-Josef. Thus all of her children are Princes and Princesses. The Countess' (who likes to be called Tante Hanna--Aunt Hannah) apartment is not opulent, if you overlook the crystal chandeliers in every single room. The style is elegant and refined. And everyone still has to share one bathroom--even the maid Eva. Eva is an elderly Hungarian woman. She is small and hunched over but is a sweet lady. She's very caring and takes good care of the Countess' guests ( like the students staying there).

Kein Salat . . .

Last night I went to see the operetta "Fra Diavolo" at the Volksoper. Luckily the theater wasn't crowded and we were given seats for the whole performance. So we got to sit for the Stehplatz price! The opera was hilarious! I was giggling the whole time. The music was delightful and at times the performers sang so fast my jaw went slack. The story followed Fra Diavolo, an infamous Italian bandit, who procedes to rob a rich English Lord and Lady. The Lord and Lady were a funny pair, first showing up in their underwear and fur coats holding their yorkshire Daisy, having been robbed of everything else. Fra Diavolo's two henchmen, Beppo and Giacomo were reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy.

My favorite part of the whole opera was the scene where Beppo was trying to read a secret letter from Fra Diavolo aloud but kept misreading the words. He'd say " . . . ein Salat," (a salad) and Giacomo would storm over to read it correctly to say, "kein Soldat." (no soldier). Beppo finishes the letter and says in confusion, "Its from his wife." Giacomo looks over in confusion and looks at the letter, asking how he knew this. Beppo points to the signature, saying "Frau Diavolo," and Giacomo rolls his eyes and slaps his on the head. "It says Fra Diavolo!"

Ketchup, among other things

Last week was very busy (hence, I haven't blogged for a whole week). Besides having classes, we took a tour of the Wagenburg, the carriage museum, which was very interest. My favorites were the leopard-skin sleigh and the children's carriage pulled by trained sheep. We again toured the the Schonbrunn gardens and stopped by for ice cream before going home. I saw three operas last week--two in Stehplatz and one sitting outside in the plaze of the Staatoper. I saw Madame Butterfly, Don Carlo, and Die Fledermaus. My favorites were M. Butterfly, during which I cried most of the second half, and Fledermaus,which, as always, is hilarious.

On Friday we took a trip to Eisenstadt, a town about 2 hours from Vienna, and the hometown of Haydn. We took several tours talking about Haydn. My favorite story was hearing about his death. He wanted a big ceremonial funeral, but because the Vienna was occupied by the French when he died, he got only a modest one. Years later, the head of the Estherhazy family wanted to give Haydn the burial he'd wanted and also to instill his body in a church rather than a grave yard. But when they opened his coffin, Haydn's head was missing. A Professor had taken in for research. When the authorities asked for the head back, he gave them the head of a different old man, which was then buried with Haydn's body. Only in the 1950's, when his head, after being passed from doctor to doctor, was donated to the Vienna Music Society, was his body reunited with his head. Interest, yes?

Saturday we went to the Prater Funpark and rode the famous giant ferriswheel. The view was beautiful and the sky was very clear that day.