Music and Misery

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Arriving in Ljubljana after a long bus and train journey from Dubrovnik, we arrived in the capital of Slovenia and made our way to the hostel where we would spend our one night in this tiny country. As it was still early morning, we dropped off our bags and headed out to explore the town. According to a travel magazine, Slovenia is the new "undiscovered" jewel of Europe, but unfortunately I didn't see it. The old part of town was nice to wander around, but there were no major sights to see; the highlight for us was sharing a horse burger - apparently a delicacy in Slovenia (tasted kind of like a Whopper). The best part of Slovenia is supposed to be the town of Bled, if you're planning to visit.

Anyway, after our short stay we crossed the border and arrived in the town of Graz (home town of Arnold Schwarzenegger) in southern Austria. The Old Town of Graz has one of the best preserved city centers in Central Europe and in 1999 was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. Wandering around Graz we stopped in at the Murinsel, a futuristic, artificial island in the middle of the Mur River, filled with over-priced, snooty bars. The next day we climbed the hill to the Schlossberg, an ancient fortification that is reputed to have been the strongest fortress ever built and the only castle in the area that never fell to the Ottoman Turks. Unfortunately, most of the fortification was destroyed by explosives in 1809 as stipulated by a peace treaty with the French. Luckily, the residents of Graz were able to save the belltower and clock tower from this fate by paying a ransom - these structures are now considered to be the emblems of the city.

Graz is also home to the world's largest historical collection of Baroque weaponry - preserved since 1551, the armory displays over 30,000 items and wandering through corridors stacked with suits of armor, pikes, antique muskets, swords, sabres, battle axes and shields, many displaying clear signs of battle, was very cool.

Although a picturesque city, Graz's has had a turbulent history - during the middle ages it was frequently a battleground between the forces of Western Europe and the Ottoman Turks and during the 1930s and 40s the Nazi's inflicted terror upon the the Jewish population (which was only allowed to return in the mid 19th century after being expelled in the 1600s). An interesting reminder of the Nazi period is a stained glass window in the Stadtpfarrkirche zum Heiligen Blut dating from the 1950's that shows Hitler and Stalin looking on during the humiliation of Christ. The last "highlight" of Graz, was watching the pathetic display at the Glockenspiel (town clock) before boarding the train for our next stop, Vienna, former capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Spending a few days in Vienna, we visited the old town and climbed the tower of tiled St Stephen's Cathedral which afforded great views over the whole city. Unfortunately, the famous Opera theater of Vienna was sold out and the palace grounds were closed as events for the Euro football were taking place across the city and apparently football hooligans can damage public monuments.....who knew?? We then headed out to the final resting place of some of Vienna's most famous residents - Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Strauss.

The following day, Janice went exploring on her own to visit the museums and sights of the composers while Andrew and I made our way out to a village on the outskirts of the city to do some wine tasting after spending a couple of hours at the office of Dr Sigmund Freud. While Vienna is a nice city, after being in Eastern Europe, Greece and Italy it seemed a bit like any other big city (with the addition of a lot of Baroque architecture).

Leaving Vienna, we boarded the train to head back into Eastern Europe and the quaint town of Cesky Krumlov.

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Photos

Dragon Guards
Dragons guard the bridge at the famous triple bridge of Slovenia

View from Castle
The castle in Ljubljana, Slovenia was one of the most boring we've seen in Europe...

Graz Castle
The Schlossenberg in Graz is one of the 'highlights' of the city, ok, but not great.

Us and Cathedral
Tiled roof of Gothic Cathedral shows Austria's coat of arms

Jewish Memorial, Vienna
Memorial to the 65,000 murdered Austrian Jews in the Holocaust at Judenplatz in Vienna. The stone books in the bookshelf the wrong way, symbolizes that the book is not closed on the holocaust.

Alien Building or Large Heart
Many people believe that this building looks like a UFO; I don't see it. Looks more like a model heart to me.

Clock Tower
The unique thing about this clock is that the hands are the wrong way around - The large hand is the hour hand and the short one for minutes!

Fascists in Stained Glass
One of Graz's attractions is this stained glass window that shows Hitler and Mussolini looking on while Christ is tortured. Check out the right pane, second row down.

Glockenspiel....Pathetic
The glockenspiel in Graz is pretty pathetic - save your time and have a pint instead.

Funky Statue
This statue in Vienna's main square has a funky dress sense

Mozart
What's better than an alive composer...a dead one (comment from Andrew)

Beethoven's Grave
The composer...not the dog as my brother mistakenly thought...

Dr Freud I Presume..
Office of the famous Sigmund Freud