Advertisement
Published: October 18th 2008
Edit Blog Post
What?
We didn't understand the 2nd picture of this sign. Since we last spoke, many things have happened.
Yesterday, I had the first class of my Geschichte der lateinische Schrift, History of the Latin Alphabet. It was pretty interesting, I could understand a fair amount of what he said , but I was pretty proud of myself. The girl sitting next to me kept trying to look at my notebook when she'd miss a date or something, and I wanted to say to her, "Sweetie, give it up. You ain't gonna find it here!" Anyways, the professor also encouraged all of us to consider a semester or a year abroad in Germany, as it would be a great opportunity to broaden our persepctives on the world. He didn't ask if there were any foreigners, and I decided not to tell.
After that, I had my Italian Humanism class, which was pretty good. It's pretty cool to see how the Austrian kids in function in Italian. Having a language that's a partial decendent of Latin , I can usually figure out the words I don't know by throwing it back
Vigil
Candles outside one of Klagenfurt's governmental buildings for Joerg Haider. to an English or a Latin word. Since the Austrian kids don't speak natively a Romance language, though, it's surprising the types of words they need defined for them. I think it's definitely a relief to my professor that I'm there to be the one to say the meaning.
Last night, I went out to dinner with Libor, Elizabeth, and Meghan. Elizabeth had found a place in Schlossbergplatz online, and so we decided to check it out. It was called die Alte Münze, the Old Coin, and it was so good! It was a really small, traditional Austrian restaurant with typical Austrian and Styrian meals, so it was really good, and not too expensive which was also a plus.
Today, I woke up at 5:50 in the morning. I had to be at the train station for 6:45, since I was going to Klagenfurt today! Klagenfurt is the capital of the region right next to Styria , named Carinthia . There were eight of us going on the trip today: me, Libor, Meghan, Elizabeth, Thomas, Martyna, Táňa , and Janica . We were catching the 7:10 bus, which'd cost only 11Euro, and though we
Kaernten Trauert
Carinthia Mourns. had to scramble to get them at the last minute, we all climbed aboard, though we couldn't sit together. A word to the wise: if your ears are killing you because you've been sick, don't go for a ride into the Alps. After the two hour busride, my ears were pounding, it hurt so bad. I had fallen asleep on the ride, but was woken up because the pain was so strong. I think the old guy I was sitting next to thought I was crazy.
We got to Klagenfurt, and as we were standing in the train station, people in all kinds of crazy traditional clothes were flooding by us. We couldn't figure out what it was for...maybe a medieval fair? Maybe something like Aufsteiern for Carinthia? What could it be?? As we went out onto the streets and started to wander towards the Hauptplatz, we encountered more and more people. Finally, we came upon one of the official buildings of the government of Carinthia, and we understood. Last Friday night, Austria's ultra-conservative politician Jörg Haider was killed. I don't know too much about him, but from what I've been told, he was very very extreme. He was
Austria!
Love this place. running for president of Austria, and luckily did not win. His slogan was Österreich den Österreichern, Austria for the Austrians. His policies, as I understand them, were to get the foreigners out of Austria. I've been told he was also an admirer of Hitler, and a crazy devout Catholic. He was, however, beloved by the people of Klagenfurt, and today just happened to be his funeral.
We stumbled upon the Hauptplatz, where there were people everywhere. As soon as we got there, a choir started to sing, which sounded suspiciously like the Vienna Boys' Choir. We kept moving, because we didn't want to take up room in a place that wasn't for us, and kept seeing the city. We decided it'd be best to come back after the funeral, rather than be in everybody's way. We kept going and came upon more people taking part in the funeral, such as in the funerary parade. It was pretty cool.
We then headed down along the river to the Wörthersee, which took a good chunk of time to walk. We finally came upon the Wörthersee, which was absolutely gorgeous. It's set in a valley surrounded by the Alps. Not too
Hauptplatz
Starting to fill with mourners. bad, huh? The water was crystal clear, too, which was unbelievable, and the bluest blue you've ever seen!
After staying there for a little while, we headed back up towards the city, stopping at a little Carinthian place for lunch. I impressed the three Czechs with what I'd learnt in my class, and then was playing with Libor's dictionary, saying various phrases. Apparently, they told me, I have a pretty good accent for a foreigner. Who knew? Maybe Czech is my calling.
We took a detour on the way up to the Hauptplatz, to try to see the soccer stadium. We were walking down a one lane country road to get there, with the Alps on all sides of us, and it was so cool! It was gorgeous out, too, as compared to the heavy fog of the morning. Overall, it was pretty great. We found the stadium, but unfortunately couldn't go in. It was a bit of a disappointment, but still cool to see. From there, we headed back up to town. The funeral was over by then, so we could see the full Hauptplatz and just relax on some benches for a little while. We visited
Maria Theresia
This woman got around Austria. three churches in the city, including the cathedral, and then headed back to the train station. After waiting for a little while, the bus finally came, and we got on. We were in the 2nd class, which was the second level of the double decker bus, and it was awesome. We'd been in it also on the way there, but this time, Libor and I had the best seats on the bus. We were in the front row, right in front of the window. So we could see EVERYTHING. Even though we had two drunk, obnoxious Austrians sitting right next to us, it was really cool. It was also getting dark quickly, but that was fine. We got on the highway to head back to Graz, and as we pulled out of Klagenfurt, we saw a huge castle complex up on one of the mountains. It was AMAZING! It was all lit up and looked so cool. I was going to try to take a picture but knew it'd do it no justice, so decided just to leave it to memory. And then we all fell asleep .
It was a pretty
Fountain
The odd fountain in the center of the Hauptplatz. long day overall, very exhausting, but very cool. We got to see a milestone event in the history of Austria, and we got to visit yet another awesome city in this country! Libor and I were discussing it on the way home, and it definitely made us appreciate Graz. Klagenfurt was definitely a smaller, more residential city, as opposed to the constant hubbub of Graz. Granted, Graz is also the 2nd biggest city in Austria, but hey.
Ok, time for me to go to bed! Gute Nacht!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.142s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0866s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
kristy
non-member comment
Hey! You should get one of those double decker buses for your favorite youngest boy cousin! Have you had weener schnitzel yet? It's mien favorite! Nanny and Grampi and I went to the Oyster Roast at the kids' school tonight - I ATE OYSTERS!!!!! Miss you! xok