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Published: October 18th 2005
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Saturday we took a day trip to Vienna, which was a blast! The day began with mass at the “Minorite Church” which was modeled after St. Stephen’s Cathedral and is one of the oldest and most artistic churches in Vienna. Once again I was in awe of the magnificent artwork. They had a mosaic of The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci made out of little tiles which was gorgeous!
After mass we went to the Augustinerstr for lunch. They had amazing food and it was my first experience with venier sniztzel. We were really excited about it at first because we thought it was chicken but then we found out it wasn’t…I’m still not sure what venier snitzel (I have no idea how to spell that) is exactly but it was good so that’s all that really matters.
After lunch Professor Colosi, our philosophy professor, gave us a walking tour of Vienna. We saw all the big sights like the Hofburg Palace, which is one incredibly large palace. Outside of the Hofburg there is a statue of Joseph II who, we learned, is the reason we are currently able to stay at the Kartause. The Kartause used to
be a monastery and while Joseph II reigned he had all monasteries shut down because he didn’t see the point in the contemplative life. He closed all the monasteries because he thought they were of no immediate use to society. So after it was shut down the Kartause became a ruin and it wasn’t until the past 50-some years that it was restored by the architect Hildebrand. Hildebrand bought the Kartause for a cent or some small amount and had to make the promise that if he purchased it he would restore it and he did. He said the Kartause was the most expensive gift he was ever given. After it was restored he asked several orders of priests to move in but to his surprise none would. Finally, he talked to someone at Franciscan and Fr. Scanlan was interested in it and that’s how the Austrian program got started. (Don’t quote me on any of those facts because I’m going from memory so I could very well be way off).
Anyways, after he told us all about that we went and saw all these other sights and then went to St. Stephen’s Cathedral also called Stephansdom. St. Stephen’s
was pretty much on the main drag of Vienna. So I’m walking along looking at all these different stores (one of which was called JENNY!!) and watching all the different entertainers on the sidewalk and I end up in front of St. Stephen’s without realizing it. When my eyes break from the dancers in front of me I look up to see the biggest cathedral I have ever seen in my entire life. It was HUGE…I kid you not. Absolutely amazing! We then got to go inside and there were many gorgeous things in there, a lot of which you had to pay to get to so I didn’t really get to see them. Apparently there’s a crucifix with Jesus in the cathedral that is supposed to have real hair growing on Jesus’ beard. I could see the crucifix from a far but there was a gate blocking it so there was no way I could tell if there was real hair or not, but it was pretty amazing anyway.
After that Kim, Kristin, and I meandered through the city and stumbled upon a gourmet ice cream shop, called Oberlaa. It was definitely a little taste of heaven right
in the middle of Vienna. I had this frappe of some sorts which was like a chocolate milkshake but not quite as thick and it was served in one of those tall sundae glasses that you always see used in the older movies (I don’t know if that is a very good description of it but it was really cute!) Kristin’s ice cream, I thought, was by far the best. She got grape fruit ice cream covered with strawberries, kiwi and bananas…yummy!!
After our ice cream extravaganza we did a bit of shopping and then found a little outdoor pizzeria for dinner. I was so excited about getting a Diet Coke with ice that I could hardly contain myself!! Yes, I’m weird, but it made me really happy and the waiter got a good laugh out of it. As we were eating our pizza the craziest thing happened. This lady came running down the road holding a piece of paper in the air and was screaming at the top of her lungs. It was so strange and even after she was long gone we could still hear her shrieking. So after she had the whole patio turned around staring
at her we asked the waiter what she was saying. The waiter pointed to his head and said “crazy!” Then he was like, “Not beautiful, not beautiful.” And so he wouldn’t tell us what she was saying, which was probably for the better.
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Drew
non-member comment
Bravo
Hey there Jenny--just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your page. I spent my spring semester in 2000 in Gaming with FUS, and traveled to many of the same places you did. It was wonderful, and I was getting all kinds of nostalgic today from looking at your photos. Well done! Take care :) Drew