Wiesenmarkt and Wien

After arriving home from language camp on the 30th, I've been able to explore more of Kärnten, my home province. The Monday I got back, Martina, Eva, and I went into Klagenfurt and drove to Worthersee. It's an enormous and beautiful lake, and we rented a paddle boat with a slide for an afternoon of swimming.

Tuesday, Martina and I hiked near Nötsch im Gailtal, and were able to see the highest altitude church in Europe. We were also greeted by a large amount of crows while we ate our lunch and it was terrifying. The view was beautiful though. From the peak of whatever mountain we were on you could see Italy and Slovenia.

On Wednesday, Eva and I went to see Paper Towns - "Margos Spuren" in Deutsch - with Anna, Chrissi, and her older sister. It was fun, but I understood absolutely nothing aside from the part when Radar is wearing the "Heritage not hate" Confederate flag T-shirt. Here's to being an American.

Thursday, Eva and Martina and I went into Klagenfurt again to go shopping at the City Arkaden.

Friday, Peter took Eva and I to Bleiburg for Wiesenmarkt. It's essentially a county fair that goes on annually the first weekend of every September. We ate some good food and rode rides and met Martina for pizza and listened to a live band play Johnny Cash and Elvis while people line danced. The whole night I was questioning which side of the Atlantic I was actually on.

On Saturday, Peter's sister and her family came to visit. I got to meet them and their daughters Mia and Nina who are adorable. Peter, Eva, and I drove to Hochosterwitz, a 16th century castle, but decided against touring due to the rain.(I really love the rainy weather here - the clouds hang very low, and the fog and mist against all of the green is so beautiful.) We went to some Roman ruins instead, and then visited a gorgeous church called Maria Saal. Then we spent the remaining time that night with extended family and watched an Austrian soccer match.

Sunday morning we stopped by Wiesenmarkt again for breakfast. I had bacon(!) and eggs. I also got to wear traditional dress called a dirndl. Chrissi loaned it to me, and it was a "traditional Carinthian pattern".

  Then we went to Hochosterwitz and got to explore, thanks to the good weather. It was really pretty, and I enjoyed it a lot.

That night, Eva and I were then shipped off on the train to meet Martina in Vienna! (Wien, in Deutsch.) It was Eva's first time on the train without her parents, and it was my first time as well. It went alright, aside from being told the seats were sitting in were reserved - twice. We spent some time wandering the aisles like lost orphans looking for seats together or that weren't near scary looking strangers, because the train was PACKED. We found a place to sit eventually, and our ride went smoothly after that. We got into Wien at about 9:00 so we went to the flat and laid out plans for the next few days.
Monday we took a tour around the Ringstraße and then to the Opera House and encountered a huge flock of low-flying pigeons. Then we headed to Hotel Sacher for an original Sacher Torte and coffee, and followed with a climb to the top of the Stephansdom, We hung out for a little in Karlsplatz, and toured a high-end grocery store on our own.

Karlskirche

the cathedral

view from Stephansdom

I actually don't even know what building this is

the Opera House

inside St. Stephan's Cathedral

that cake is seriously delicious

On Tuesday, we went to Schönbrunn to visit the Tiergarten (zoo). We were greeted by even MORE birds, these ones being very large, exotic, and free-range. But we saw a high quantity of baby guinea pigs so that made up for it. They were very small and I was extremely tempted to pick one up and put in my bag to take with me.

LOOK AT THEM! the fence wasn't even very high it would have been very easy for anyone to just grab and go

At 12:30 I was sent off from the zoo to navigate the public transportation system on my own. I managed quite well (UNLIKE GABE) and met up with Adrian to hunt down Gabe and threaten to throw him down onto the train tracks. We then found Hannah and Connor, and toured Mariahilfer Straße. We ate kebaps, shopped, and went to the blessed underground Spar to seek out as many discounted snack products as possible. At 6:00 I met up with Martina and Eva again to shop some more, and then we headed to Stephansplatz for some more shopping.

we played card games with discount HSM cards and talked a little too loudly in a bookstore coffee shop

it took an unbelievably long time to find decent lighting  

Wednesday we went to Naturhistorisches Museum Wien to see the Venus of Willendorf and a ton of fossils and rocks and taxidermy. We hung out at the Museums Quartier (MQ) for a while to eat and spend time in the gift shops. At 4:30 we headed to Donauzentrum, a huge shopping mall, and at 6:00 we headed home.

THIS came from Winifred

the Venus of Willendorf

I was stumbling around because I was so busy looking up

And that's all from the beginning of September. Saturday the 12th marks one month of living in Austria, and I still sometimes can't believe it. It doesn't feel like that much time has gone by yet. School starts on Monday, and I think I'll enjoy it a lot! Wednesday I'm giving a presentation to the Rotary club which I'm nervous for, but it should work out alright. My German is coming along - I can understand a lot more than I can speak which is frustrating, but I have plenty of time to figure it out. School should help some, and I've been reading kids' books and doing Duolingo. Next weekend I get to see Squad again at our hiking weekend in Tauplitz which I'm very excited for.

Bis bald!