Friday, October 31, 2008

Another casual update...

So, as i've previously mentioned, Tash-unit aka T-Dog aka Tashachen aka Poppet, the girl also formerly known as Tasha, has now gone. I am happy to report that she made it safely back through customs and is now at home in Utah. Well done Tash!! These are some pics from her leaving do (in the com) and one last group photo :D




Last night, we were all Zombie'd out, due to the lack of sleep, emotional exhaustion, the fact we'd driven to Munich at 3am, whatever...

So everyone came round and we ate Tasha's food she'd left-- mmmm, Tortilla's!! Anna did most of the cooking, while I chopped the capsicums and onions (crying) and made myself look generally busy :P Freddie brought up the BEST red wine i've had since arriving, and we all enjoyed our mexican food.


And, might i mention, that even though we laughed at Freddie and accused him of being weird when he piled all the ingredients onto the plate and mixed them all up then stuffed it in the tortilla, it was actually a very wise and delicious way of eating...


Today I slept for a long time, and think i'm now back to normal sleeping patterns, just in time for the Halloween party so my body clock doesn't get too comfortable being on normal time :P

Marcin, Anna, Ky-unit, Freddie, Tiger and I went into Europark to look for costumes for tonight. Freddie's decided he's going as Rambo. I want Tiger to go in his undies and be Superman, but apparently he's not that into the idea... As always, Marcin's going all out on the costuming, we're wrapping him in toilet paper and he's going as a mummy... Kylea's going as a witch, I wanted to go as Dracula but now I dont have super cool teeth, so i dont know what to do-- Kylea suggested making some Grills out of tinfoil, so instead i'd be a Ghetto Dracula. Great!! Im excited to see about the costumes, should be so much fun... I wonder who's coming as a Devil? (usually me...)


Freddie being a doofus in McD's...

In other news, this weekend I will be going for a Jog with Kylea (i might die, and if so, love to all). I will also vacuum and mop my room, clean my bathroom and maybe even unblock my sink so I can stop cleaning my teeth in my kitchen... I will also finish my painting, do 3 sketches, practise my German, and think about Design Compilation...

Anyway, das ist alles! A very interesting life I lead...

Xoxoxox

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ciao Tasha :( :(

So, two days ago, Tasha got some bad news, and is leaving to go home.

For the past two days, she's gotten her whole Austrian life packed up, sorted out uni and flights and her clothes and room and everything, and tomorrow morning at 3am, we're driving her to Munich to say goodbye as she catches her plane...

It sucks, and all of us who are close to her are so gutted she's leaving. (Im sure everyone else is pretty bummed too...!) Especially Kylea, Anna and I, we were so looking forward to the Awesome Foursome's Super European Adventure!! Now we have an opening, if anyone is interested in traveling around France, Spain and Italy with us over Christmas??

I made her a video to remember our time together, and showed it to her tonight in the common room. Andi and I spent a while last night figuring out how to work iMovie, the new one is SO stupid :( We went into Salzburg yesterday (before the others knew, so it sucked cos i had to lie to them about what i was doing) and found a huge Austrian flag that we all signed and so she can take that home with her too...



I'm attempting to upload the video now on Facebook, and maybe OooTube too...

Anyway, so thats whats been happening, and it sucks, but its not Goodbye, right? It's See You Again! Im taking care of Miss America (Tasha's pot-tree), her food, her old handbag, her shampoo and conditioner, her towels... Lots of stuff...

So, ciao for now, Tasha!!

I'll miss you Poppet
xoxoxo

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Bad Taste

So, basically just got home from the Bad Taste Party at Fago, the cafeteria on Campus.

Seriously, that was the best party i've been to since i got here... We all got into it, went shopping for outfits today-- Marcin ended up wearing my outfit and i went as an Emo which was fun :P Marcin wore a dress, with my bra and socks stuffed inside, with make-up on, the whole 9 yards!! I wore Mein Mann's t-shirt and hoodie (very emo), very heavy make up (that i had to google to see how to do!) crazy emo hair that i couldnt see through, doodled-on Chucks and Anna drew tattoos and cuts on my arm, all in the name of--- Bad Taste :P

The music was SO great, like, Vengaboys, Macarena, Spice Girls, all the good old stuff most people are embarrassed to say they like... Me on the other hand, i listen to this stuff on a regular basis, ha ha ha...

Andi, dressed as a Bad Taste sports star (in shorts shorts, tight tee and sweat band) won the best Bad Taste, and shared his prize (vodka and redbull) with us all... I cant wait to see all the photos!!






Speaking of which, here they are! Its 5am and I guess that means its time for sleeping! Marcins sleeping on "my" sofa, I went to the common room and partied hard after Fago closed (and drew all over people, I 'HEART' ZOE etc etc) and I dont have class at any ridiculously early time tomorrow, which means-- sleep in!! Yahaaahh!!!

So, Gute Nacht und I hope I will schlaf gut hahaha...
xxx

Monday, October 27, 2008

München Weekend!

OK, so a bit late, but better late then never, right??

So Anna, Ivo and I went to Munich (München) two weekends ago, and it was absolutely fantastic!!! I want to go back there as much as I can before I leave, because we didnt get to see nearly enough of the place!!

Anna and I decided we would go on Saturday morning, planning to catch the 9.22 train into the Hauptbahnhoft (main station) and then train from there to Munich. Unfortunately, we went to bed about 4:30am, so waking up was a bit of a bitch. Then Ivo called me at 8am saying he'd decided to come with us. So at 9.15am we all met and wandered off to the train station, and actually (to my suprise) made it on the 9.22 train!

At the Hauptbahnhoft (HBF) we got our tickets to Munich- 27 Euro, yay! And got a coffee and toddled off to the train... Its two hours to Munich, and we got a booth to ourselves. Anna had a nap, and she wasnt feeling so good, Ivo sketched me a picture of a Polo-bear (personal joke, half the reason he wanted to come to Munich...) climbing out of its cage about to attack the three people. One (apparently me) says "Ivo, Anna, lets get out of here" but "I" am really round and look like an obese American tourist, which made me laugh very hard for a long time... Thanks Ivo!!

Anyway! We made it to Munich, walked out of the main station and started walking off down the road.... But then realised we had no idea where we were going, and thus had to turn around and go back to the station to get a map of Munich. After which, we stood outside and tried to sort out what direction "Marienplatz" was. Petra told us to use that as our main base, and wander round from there.



We found it, and ohhhh myyyy goshhhh it was SO beautiful!!! Its this square, with the Old and New Town Halls on one side, and a church and bell tower, and a fountain, and lots of people!! The Town Hall is this Gothic style building which was AMAZING. We found this old church called Frauenkirch, which was heavily bombed in WWII and its still being repaired. Inside, it was so weird, because the walls were very bare, and the roof had no frescoes or anything. Also, there was this crypt downstairs, with a painting of Christ, but in a very abstract, almost Pop Art style... Which I have never seen before in a church! So that was interesting.



We found this market that, as soon as we started walking through it, i thought, Martine would like it here. Its called the Viktualienmarkt, and it had EVERYTHING, fresh fruit, chocolates (chocolate covered strawberries on a stick-- yummmmm!!!), spices, home-wares, everything!

We wandered past a lot of street performers, which I really liked, because it really added to the atmosphere of Munich. My favourite was the hobo-looking guy playing the trumpet, but there was also this 4-piece band, they had drums and everything! I ran out of coinage to give them :P

We stayed at Petra's house, she is Martine's best friend and my adopted "German Aunty". She lives about 4 stops away from the city on the No. 19 Tram Line, and welcomed us into her apartment to stay Saturday night. I loved it, and it was WAY bigger than i thought it would be. She made us dinner (lamb, potatoes and beans, yuummmmm!!!) AND got us breakfast on Sunday, and Melina (one of Petra's twins) was such a sweetie and gave us all kisses on in the morning. So it was pretty much perfect... Except maybe the 3 flights of stairs we had to stumble up at 3am when we arrived home on Sunday morning...!

Even though by this stage Anna had completely lost her voice, we went out Saturday night to have a look at the Munich night life. Petra and Harras, her beautiful Retriever, walked us up the road and she showed us where to go, but we ended up finding the "Kunstpark", which looked like you needed to off-your-nut drunk to even enter. It was like a clubbing theme park, and we are too mature and classy for places like that, ha ha ha.

So we wandered back towards home, and found this cute little bar on the corner, about 3 minutes away from Petras. So we went inside, had a couple of drinks, Anna and I rated all the boys (the bartender serving us got a 20/10, the guy with the hairy back was a -2) and we had a great evening there :)

On Sunday, I got up early to watch the Chinese Grand Prix. It was great, because Hamilton won, but still pretty boring because nothing too interesting happened... We went to the Zoo after a late breakfast (Pretzels, eggs, and strawberry jam on toast) which in itself was a mission. We had to fit three big kids, two little kids, plus the big dog and Petra into her car.... It was fun :P Except i ended up with blonde hair ALL over my black jeans... The Zoo was super, and I loved the monkey enclosure, and the Antarctic animals- Penguins are too cute!!! The kiddies loved it too, and I found that making them fly like superman when they get cranky is a great way to distract them from crying!!



We were there for about 3 hours, and did intend to go to the German Museum, which is just down the road from Petra's, after we got back. But we were all pretty wacked, and still had to catch up with Hannes for dinner! So after we got back and said our goodbyes, we trammed back into the City and caught up with Hannes in Marienplatz. We were pretty hungry, and to keep in the Bavarian theme, went in search of a Bavarian dinner.

I loved mine- it was beef with bread dumplings and red cabbage, with gravey, and it tasted amaaazing!! Quite like a Kiwi roast, so i was happy :) Anna and Hannes had a pork shank with potato dumplings, which looked disgusting :P And Ivo had white sausages with sweet mustard, which is traditionally a breakfast meal, but oh well... It was lovely to see Hannes, and he hasnt changed too much, so that was good!


After dinner (I was stuffed!) we made our way to the main station via old-school train (seriously, wooden panels and everything!). We made it back onto the train and walked down the entire train before we found somewhere to sit, then chilled it (I almost fell asleep on Ivo) and off we went back to Salzburg...

It seemed like, as we got back to Urstein, that we'd been away for a lot longer than 2 days. I had a great time, and I cant wait to go back!! :D

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Einriesenwelt (Big Ice Cave)

Today we went to the worlds biggest ice cave. Its in Salzburgerland, and we needed to train to ..... (a place past Golling) and caught a bus up the mountain. It was so cool, because we left Puch in sunlight, and as we came out of this tunnel, it was like a cold winters day-- low cloud, grey and gloomy!!



The place we went to (past Golling) had a castle up on the mountain!! It was so beautiful, this is the best picture I managed to take... It was cold, and so out came the gloves, beanies, and scarves.


The bus ride wasnt the most comfortable in the world, as the climb was pretty steep, but once we emerged out of the cloud, it as amaaaazing!! The clouds actually looked like candyfloss, like you could jump in and bounce around on them. And it was SO hot about the cloud, such a contrast, that away went the gloves, beanies and scarves :P The walk from the bus to the cable car took about 20ish minutes, and was really lovely. I was hot though, because of the thermals I had on, which was not such a great look!


We made it to the cable car at about 1030am, and Oriol didnt want to take the walk up to the cave, so Anna and I went with him in the cable car. Im so so so glad i did, because from there we could see the one part of the track, a rickety old bridge held by ONE pole-- No Thank You- there was NO way I would go on that. So we made it safely to the top in 3 minutes, and enjoyed a lovely coffee in the sunlight as we waited for the others.

Upon their arrival, we continued up the path (another 10 or so minutes to the entrance of the cave. It was just like a hole in the side of the mountain, but once we got there, the temperature dropped SO fast, it was insane!! The views were also soooooo amazing, because we were up so high...




We were given these old school burners to "light our way" through the ice cave, and entered the cave. There was a huge gust of wind which was apparently the sole reason the cave stayed in its optimum temperature (I dont know it, but it was very cold...) We set off up the 700 steps, stopping along the path to listen to this tour guide sounding horribly bored about life. Either that, or it was just his accent :P We werent allowed to use the flash to take photos in there, so the photos i did get arent the best, but it was pretty amazing- there were Ice stalactites and stalagmites, one was even in the shape of an Elephant!! In total, there are total of 1400 steps in the ice cave, up and down, and some parts are very steep...





There was also some ashes from the guy who discovered the cave, back in 19?? (early 20th century). The first time he was there, he made it to the 30m ice wall, marked his final place with a black cross on the rock, and its still there today! He came back and continued exploring it in later years. He was killed in one of the World Wars, and asked for his remains to be kept there, which I thought was really nice.

My favourite part was when the guide told us of this ice wall- "This ice wall has lines like a tree has rings. It tells how old it is. Scientists dont know exactly how old this one is because of the roof of the cave, but we can estimate it is about 1000 years old. The cave itself is a little bit older, at around 400 to 600 million years old."


No shit!! Ha ha ha.

And that concludes my first, and potentially only ice caving experience. A good time, a cold time, but something I dont really need to see again :)

Walk to Hallein!!

So I dont know if I mentioned our walk to Hallein from the beginning of October!

Just got Iman's photos, so this was our great walk :D







Shit we're cool....

xoxo

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Just a casual update...

So, I just got an email from Helen and wrote her this massive reply, then thought, shit, i havent blogged in a long time (my sincere apologies for being lazy, apparently all i do is party.... err, i mean, study...?) So this is pretty much it, with a few editions... Promise to be more up to date, now that i've got my blog off Facebook!

Can i first start by congratulating my second cousin Di and her husband Shaun on their new baby girl Chloe Maree!!! I cant wait to meet her, and am eagerly awaiting pictures :D

So its just changed to end of daylight saving, so now we're exactly 12 hours behind NZ, which does make it easier for calling and skyping people (add me, zoededes, on skype!!!) Im very happy, because, at least for tomorrow, I get an extra hours sleep- yay! :D Its also getting colder here after the weirdest few weeks of weather- it was HOT!!! I was thinking, I swear someone told me it snowed in this area.... LIARS!!! But then the cold arrived, and out came the winter coat again, which had a wee rest hanging by the front door for the past 2 weeks...

Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to the worlds biggest ice cave!! Im very excited, its 40kms out of Salzburg and we need to train then bus there, and (apparently) its gonna be SO cold in there (ha ha ha, get the joke?), so im gonna have to rug up warm!! Not really looking forward to the freezingness, cos i have the snuffles, but oh well, should be an experience and half!! Gonna try take some sneaky pics, so keep an eye out on Facebook!

Oh well... I want to tell you of my plans over the Christmas/New Year break! Im so excited!! I have christened my girls the "Awesome Foursome"-- Kylea and Anna (+ Me make us the Kiwi Three) and Tasha (Miss America...). We are travelling for 3 weeks together, starting by training from Salzburg to Rome on Dec 19th, then we fly to Paris for Christmas!! Then we go to Madrid on Dec 26th for 3 days. We're flying to Barcelona on the 29th and are staying in our friend Oriol's apartment (yusss free accomodation!!) and celebrate New Years there! Then we fly to Genoa on the 1st, and have a mosey around the Italian Riviera, train to Florence on the 4th or 5th, then to Venice on the 8th, and back to Salzburg on the overnight train on the 10th and arrive the day before my birthday! :D

So i hope that makes you insanely jealous.... Im so excited, we're all looking forward to it and being Scroog McDuck's in the meantime!! :P

In other news, it seems that im making friends with lots of boys-- I think i've already mentioned Dario? He's Austrian and lovely and really opinionated and plays the guitar. He may be coming to AUT for a semester, which would be SUPER if he did :) There is also Ivo, he's from Vienna (Wien), who-- wait for it-- I taught how to cook a meal last night!!! I know, I know, everyone i've already told knows I cant cook! But no, in comparison to Ivo, im (almost) Jamie Oliver!! He didnt know how to boil pasta, chop onions or wash a dish.... Poor guy, been living under a rock, i think.... And he's not dead yet either, so I cant be THAT bad a teacher.... There's also Fredrik, the Swedish guy who hangs out with us all the time, he's awesome and dresses well, we have a good friendship going on, he's getting to be like a brother :) And Marcin (said Marchin, so close to Martin...) he's from Poland and is so funny, he seriously sounds like Borat!! He's so nice and made this Polish apple cake thing at Anna's the other day- ON her bench. Like, flour, eggs, sugar, just sort of piled it on the bench and started kneeding it!! He's so spastic.... I have the Spanish Connection too- Jordi, we watch the F1 together; Javi, mein Mann/"mein Schnucki", the onrunning joke since Prague insinuating that we're married, and thanks to having German class together, each week our life gets more interesting-- last week it was "Ich bin Hausfrau, Er ist Kellner (i am a housewife, he is a waiter... i dont really see that one working out!! ha ha ha); and Oriol, the most pessimistic bastard in the world, but he's lovely and means well and i like him for that :) Then there's Tobi and Andi, the Germans, who are both so lovely, theyve been with their girlfriends for centuries!... I use Tobi's vacuum cleaner and we sketch together down by the river, and Andi gives me onions to cook with...!

And finally! Roger! He's my newly adopted brother, such a sweetheart, from Cologne in Germany, and is 25... And he cooks really well! So, the other night, because we normally all eat alone, i invited everyone over for a BYO dinner. However, damn intercultural communication, Roger showed up and was like, wheres dinner? I told him it was Bring Your Own, but he was leaving for Colonge the next day and had nothing to eat in his house. So we ended up cooking together-- well, i made one DELICIOUS salad, he whipped up the nicest tomato sauce with onions and salami in it, oh my god i could have died, it was the nicest thing ive eaten in my room since i arrived :P So yeah, we're gonna make a little tradition of Roger coming to my place weekly to cook. And i do the dishes.... The only thing i can really master in the kitchen! :P

So, classes; probably should mention those some time too... Ive started PROPER uni, which is a bit of an exaggeration, because seriously, its like one week I have class, the next I don't-- One Monday i had class from 10am till 815pm, the following Monday was 10am till 1130 and I was done for the day!!!! And some are still yet to start. I did have my first Photography class, in which I was about to smash my head into the table, because I did two years of photography in school, and the first hour of class (which started at 9am and I was late for and had to run up to the 4th floor....) he was explaining Analogue cameras- "This is a shutter, look how it opens to take the photo" YARRRR TRICK YARRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! :P My favourite class is concept development with Till Fuhrmeister. It's fun and interesting, and my group rocks, we're called MindFunk and we came up with the best concept in the class, woohoo!

Otherwise though, thats about it to report from campus, without going into the intense drinking sessions that happen to occur on a regular basis... For that, just look at my pictures on facebook... Or dont, and you can believe that i'm being very studious and hardworking, he he he :P

OH!! And last bit of news-- My Daddy leaves tomorrow for America, and at the end of his trip he's coming to visit me!!!!!!!! Im so so super excited, because Jordi and Freddie both have their parents here and its so cute, but it really sinks in that my people are so far away.... Oh well!! Ive also come to the conclusion that, when I arrive back in NZ, im gonna be so insane-o stir-crazy, my new two year plan is to be back in Europe... Sorry team!! Maybe you should all move over with me??

Anyway! its now 2:40am and I have to wake up early (nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i can get ready for the Ice Cave Adventure!! (Im wearing my hiking boots, yaaaaay!!!! their first outing... Thanks Dad!)

I LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS AND HEAPS!!!! But im not really missing you too much, no offence! :P

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

P.S Thanks Daniel for the spelling correction! :) xxx

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Class!!

Yes, believe it or not!!

And not just ONE class-- THREE today!!!

From 10am till 8:15pm!!

Talk about a day and a half!! This must be what the real worlds like!!

So, anyway, moving on…

Today i had my first real day of uni since i arrived. It started with a knock on my door at 9:55am, when i realised i’d slept through my alarm (not an uncommon occurance...) but made it to Design Compilation on time(ish)

It was really interesting but im still a bit hazy on what this actually is going to incorporate. But, for the time being, it will be great :)

Next on the agenda was a 45minute break, so i raced home and ate etc etc (the things i didnt have time to do in the morning...) and then toddled off to Concept Development with Anna and Kylea. Till (my Media Mix teacher) is taking the class, and i like him and his style of thinking, so i was already excited. We also approached him, said we were the incomings, and asked if the class would be taught in English.... Unfortunately-- he’d made the whole lecture on Friday in enlish and no incomings showed up!!

Luckily everyone saw the funny side, and thus the class was taught in German…

THE FOUR HOUR LONG CLASS!!!!!!!!!! But, this being said, it was a very interesting 4 hours, and i really enjoy the class. We were put into groups- ours came up with the name MindFunk- and we were told to create a mixed media campaign for this German brand of cola called Africola thats been around for ages. Ours incorporates the slogan “Worth it” to the ad, then we have a competition to involve our target audience, saying “Whats it worth to you? send your images to http://www.worth.it“ and the winners were the images on our print campaign!! It was awesome and we got a good response from the class :)

Anyway! After that monster class, i had another 45 minutes to wolf down dinner, then on to Materials and Ausdruck (Expression). This is the painting class, but for the first hour, the woman went over “this is pigment… this is turpentine” i was like, woohoo, year 9 art class all over again!!! :P

But once we got onto the actual painting, it was awesome. We used bright orange oil paint, and had to draw a face. Unfortunately, neither Anna, Kylea or I had brought canvas’ with us, so we just painted over old stuff. I got one with a face on it, so i did an abstract one… Which ended up looking pretty cool… I’m going to try and steal a photo of it-- or, better still, the whole painting!!! :P

Anyway, I had Ivo (my Austrian friend) round for dinner, because he cant cook and i felt sorry for him. Im going to teach him (i know, Zoe teach someone how to cook?!??!?!?) how to make pasta and eggs and the essential basics that even I know how to make… :P

OH! We also booked our flights from Paris to Madrid this evening-- 35 Euro!!!!! We’re leaving Paris on Boxing day, and will probably spend New Years in Spain… Somewhere...!

XXX

Sunday, October 12, 2008

What a day...

So, for the first time pretty much since I got here, I was awake before 9am....

We went to Mauthausen Concentration Camp today, and oh my god, what a place.

Even though I’ve studied all of Nazi Germany and knew what to expect, it was just something else completely. It was eerie, especially because the weather played its part and there was a fog/cloud that hung around all day… It was so quiet, as soon as we arrived we were all in a somber mood. Even when I cracked a joke, it was-- weird. Like, wrong place for being funny… (Obviously.... but still!)

So we entered in through the first set of gates which was very impressive, and apparently there used to be a massive Third Reich eagle and swastika there, but after liberation they pulled it down…

It was really well maintained, and the SS barracks were really nice, made of stone and had nice wooden doors. Instead of going straight in, there were lots of sculptures, and so we looked at those, and oh my gosh, it took my breath away. And made me cry. Twice…

The sculptures were all in memory of those who’d perished, and each one was from a different country. The French, Ukrainian, Czech, and Hungarian memorials were my favourite as they represented the strength in the face of adversity. They werent too in your face about the fact that their people were murdered; they were more representative of peace and hope, and I liked that.






I was shocked to see that 3,700 Greeks had been killed there, it was so sad and it kind of caught me by suprise. That was one of the things that made me cry…

After we’d finished looking around (and looking down into the quarry, but not actually walking down the “Staircase of Death“) we went inside the camp section… It was so sad, and a contrast to the nice buildings of stone outside. The gate we walked through was the gate every prisoner walked through twice a day to and from the Quarry, and where new inmates were examined and sorted.


We saw the barracks for the prisoners- wooden bunks, and there were pictures on the walls that were so sad- of the most starved people in the world… They had converted the old Laundry building into a memorial hall, with flags and plaques, with 4 large flags against the main wall for France, Russia, Britain and America, who liberated the camp on May 5th, 1945. However, 122,766 people had already been killed in Mauthausen :(



What stunned and really hit me the most was the gas chambers. They really, really did just look like showers. They were tiled, and NORMAL looking!! It was sick. I got shivers all over the camp, but at the gravesite where some bodies had been exumed about 15 years after the war, and in here, was where it was the worst.

There was a room to the right of the actual gas chambers (which were down some stairs, under a building...) where they laid the dead, while they broke out their gold teeth and other things of any value. Then, in the main walkway bit, there was a huge furnace, which actually just looked like an oven (which made me almost gag) where they burnt the bodies. It was disgusting and saddened me, because no matter how much i studied this stuff, it was all on paper. To be here in real life was just so.... I dont even know how to describe it!!!!


Anyway, Sarah, Anna and I went to the exhibition afterwards, which was in English so we could read about the small but significant resistance that came from within Germany, Austria and Poland. It was so nice to see (even though i had read of some before) how some people, even in the face of propaganda, war and death, could see the wrong that was being done, and helped those being persecuted. Many died for helping, but there were two really significant quotes which were amazing-- “We only had two choices: either we accept that we’re also to blame, or we fight against this regime.” The other read, “If I have to die now, I’ll die in peace and tranquility, because I know there is a cause to die for.”

So, all in all, an eye-opening, shocking, emotive and intense day. But I'm glad I went, and it only makes me want to learn more :)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Night at the Museums

What a great night!!

Yesterday, there was a special deal on with the museums in Salzburg, and we could get one ticket that let us into all of them for 11 Euro! It began at 6pm and so we had an evening out as artsy cultural nerds :)

It was really great to see some art because here I haven't really had the chance to go to take in many cultural aspects here yet, apart from the bars :P

We began in museum called the Rupertinum in the Museum der Moderne. There was a photography exhibition by Nobuyoshi Araki called Silent Wishes, which was really beautiful, but them some photos seemed a bit much. It was a whole collection of photographs of his wife and their life, and then her sickness and after she died...

We went to the Salzburg Cathedral and looked at all their collection of amazing stuff- they had some amazing... I want to call it jewellery, but it was clothing and swords and a bible and this big mirror type thing that was just completely bedazzled in jewels... It was also the first place I have ever seen inside a church which has a black man in a Fresco!! I was so amazed, I tried to take a photo of it, but it didnt really come out...


We also went to the Castle, which was awesome to see by night. You can see all of Salzburg city, which was so beautiful. It wasnt too cold either, and so we took our time wandering around the exhibitions :) There was a puppet exhibition! That was fun, and there was also a weaponry exhibition and it explained how the castle has been used as a fortress over the centuries. There was this one little room with a low roof and wooden floors. On the walls were these canvases, with thick paint and really abstract things. But they were really beautiful and that was probably my favourite exhibition there.... Unfortunately, by this stage, my camera had died :(


Then we went to.... The Salzburg Museum! This was my ULTIMATE favourite!! Downstairs there was an art exhibition, with these AMAZING woodcuts- like nothing i had ever seen before!! They were FANTASTIC!!!! I forget who made them, but seriously, I was about to take them off the wall and run away... There was also this great little sketch with pencil and chalk done on a piece of newspaper. The best bit about being there, aside from the amazing artwork, was the fact that there was a string quartet playing! and they were so entertaining, at one stage they put down their bows and began strumming their violins like guitars!! The guy with the crazy hair was most entertaining :P


Also inside was this fantastic exhibition where some man decided he would correlate a note in music to a colour, and made this entire exhibition from these shapes and colours and -- i didnt understand all of it, but WOW it was cool!



We stopped and had dinner at Spaghetti & Co, which was delicious and not too expensive (my favourite kind of dining!) I had a Gypsy pizza and it had these long green "bell" peppers on them which i've never seen before, but WHOA were they tasty!


After the Salzburg museum, it was about 1130pm and so we stopped at the Mozart Cafe (in the museum complex) and had delicious coffees- The heiße schokolade looked so yummy. Another highlight was the really bad transvestite sitting at the table next to us, which provided a good laugh-- it was really just the complete misjudge of lip-liner to lip area, so amusing...

Anyway! A very interesting evening, I want to go and see more!!!
xx