the weeks are flying by in Wien (Vienna). Yesterday we took a trip to Eisenstadt, the village where Haydn lived and worked for the Esterhazy's. We then took a trip to the village of Rust, a historic village in Burgenland by the Neusiedler See. This is a quaint town where many people take boats out on the water and have reed-roofed mini-houses where they stay and fish- sort of like ice-fishing houses we use in the states. A beautiful place! Bridget, Jenna, Katie and I ate dinner and experienced traditional Austrian cooking firsthand. I had boiled rump roast with horseradish bread sauce and Katie had delicious snchitzel. Jenna had wonderful roast fish and Bridget had these amazing cream cheese dumplings wrapped in bacon and deep fried served over a salad of baby greens. Guten Appetit!
The Esterhazy palace was a beautiful Baroque castle with Hungarian influences due to the close proximity to Hungary (about 20 kilometers) and the historic relationship between the Austrians and the Hungarians. This palace had a more rustic, "country" feel compared to Schonbrunn. The theatre inside was absolutely stunning- pictures to follow I promise!
On Thursday, Katie, Hilary and I went to another concert at the Musikverein. Klavier (piano) player Maurizio Pollini performed a wonderful concert including the works of Chopin and Schumann. I got to hear the Raindrops prelude, one of my favorite piano pieces and it was wonderful.
Today we visited the MUMOK- a fantastic modern art museum. I was so excited to discover that one of the current main exhibits was called "Changing Channels" and was devoted to the pioneers of video art. In this exhibit were hundreds of televisions set up displaying original films and video art of artists including John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and most excitedly for me, Nam June Paik. This was a media artist's dream: being able to experience Nam June Paik's television installations first hand- even the original video synthesizer Paik used to create some of the world's first video art was on display. This was absolutely fantastic.
We also visited the Kirche am Steinhof- a Jugendstil (art nouveau), church at the top of the hill in a historic psychiatric hospital known as Steihoff. It was designed by revolutionary architecht Otto Wagner and was one of the first churches designed to be functional for the disabled and mentally ill as well as beautiful.
German class this week was intense but we are learning how to say many things. Ich studiere Deutsch jezt in Wien. (I study German now in Vienna!) This coming Tuesday is a big night again as the Flute Choir performs in the Palace Corbelli and then MELEe performs at the Velak Gala- more on that in a few days :)
Katie and I had delicious pizza tonight at a little pizzeria near Karlsplatz somewhere. We ordered a pizza apiece and almost ate all of it we were so hungry!
Well its getting late and I'm getting sleepy- tomorrow is free time to explore the city!
Guten Abend,
CMR
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