school begins again

It's good to get back to a routine. School started today, though I had only one class. After this week I should have three on Monday, so the day won't be as empty. But tomorrow I have no real class, so I'm going to have to find some other way to entertain myself. The class I did have today was European history, which I am looking forward to attending.

I will begin a fencing class on Wednesday, and I am sure I will write about it in my next column. I spent a long time today reading about fencing in English and in German so that I can hopefully understand everything better, because it will be taught in German, and I assume with most of the commands in the native French.

This past weekend I went on one last adventure for my holiday break, with a trip to Linz and two nearby towns. I visited a couple of museums in Linz, toured the Mauthausen concentration camp, hung out with some friends and their families, and then went snowboarding on a real mountain. My friend Kathi and her mom took me to Hochficht, which is near both the Czech and German borders of Austria. They are close enough that you can breathe their air, but you can't touch either because of some forestry regulations that won't let the ski place expand into either country. The experience was fantastic, but I really want to go snowboarding again so that I can say that I've been snowboarding in the Alps. My visit to the KZ (the German abbreviation for concentration camp) was much more chilling than my visit to Sachsenhausen, north of Berlin. The camp is much more complete because the Nazis didn't bomb it upon leaving like they did in Sachsenhausen, so you can see complete crematoriums and the gas chamber. I also toured the camp with someone whose family has always lived in the town of Mauthausen, so he had personal stories to share about the camp.

Here's my latest column:

Column 21: My break is winding down, yours?

february break

February break is getting a little long here. I traveled the globe for two weeks and then returned to Salzburg, where winter is fully active. It won't stop snowing, which is getting quite bothersome, especially since I don't have a bus pass.

So I've stayed inside a lot, sleeping, watching movies and browsing the Internet. Life's pretty boring after my adventure.

But as for my adventure...

I was in London for the great snow storm, which caused the city to shut down, more or less. This was quite bothersome for me. But alas, I was able to do a couple of things I wouldn't have done otherwise, like go to Paddington Station and see Paddington Bear and have innumerable hours available to work on my essay that was due the next day.

When I finally made it to Dublin, I was worn out and not at all impressed. I don't have much to say about the city, other than Guiness tastes better there. And the hamburger I had for lunch was quite fantastic. The hostel wasn't too shabby either, so I was able to get some good sleep.

But the tides turned against me and the one to two inches of snow canceled my flight back to Salzburg. So I spent the night in the Dublin airport, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone. But with my expensive Lufthansa flight to Athens the next morning at 6:45, I was able to finally make it to Athens. We didn't leave Dublin until 8:30, after being de-iced and tugged from our berth. We were one of the last three planes to leave the airport for the day.

Athens was much better. The weather was glorious. It was sunny. It was t-shirt weather. There weren't very many tourists. The food was outstanding. I got to sleep in a nice bed. The Acropolis was unbelievable.

And then we got to Santorini, where most places were closed, because it was February. We managed to entertain ourselves well enough, go to sleep before 10 and be followed by stray dogs at least once a day. The bakery there was probably our favorite place, but the beach at Kamari was also quite fantastic. We were all set to get off the island, when we found out our ferry had been canceled. Fortunately for us, there was already a ferry at Santorini, waiting to go back to Athens. YAY! So we bought new tickets for this ferry and departed around 7 p.m. The ride was supposed to be 10.5 hours. It lasted 12. Sleeping on the ferry isn't as bad as sleeping in the airport.

We went shopping on our last day in Athens, and then headed to the airport. The bus ride was excruciatingly long, but we finally arrived, only to find out that our departure time had been changed, and we weren't notified. And then it was postponed, so we left Athens about an hour after our original time. But we left.

So here are the links for a couple of columns, along with some photos from the trip.

Column 16: Taking a bit of Bowling Green to East Europe

Column 17: Almost done with finals and London's calling

Column 18: Snow and being an American create problems in Dublin, London

Column 19: When traveling, Murphy's Law is the only thing that will hold true

Column 20: Two weeks into her month long break, Alison discovers it is possible to become bored in another country

The British Museum

The Natural History Museum

At the Prime Meridian in Greenwich

At the Tower of London after the snow

The gardens at the Museum of Modern Art in Dublin

The Temple of Hephaistos

The Parthenon

The Temple of Olympian Zeus

Hadrian's Library

Roman Agora

Kamari Beach

Sunset in Fira

The Red Beach

Giants rocks of lava at the Red Beach

Keramiekos Cemetery

the final stretch

I have one more week of classes here, and then I'm off to travel the globe. I'm starting in London, then going to Dublin. Journey number two starts in Athens with some days spent in Santorini. After that, I'm not sure what's happening, but I know I'll be going to Linz and Mauthausen with some Austrian friends of mine, and we should also go on a snowboarding trip.

Today my art class had an excursion to Schloss Leopoldskron, the palace that is the back of The Sound of Music house. It was really nice to see inside because the palace is private property, and there are no tours given.

Here are some photos:

From the fence at Schloss Leopoldskron

We had a special guest last week from the U.S. Flat Stanley came to visit and we went snowshoeing



Another Sound of Music moment, the Felsenreitschule in the Festspiel Haus

Overlooking Graz

An ice sculpture in Graz



The Bicaz dam in Romania


Stefan the Greatest's tower in Piatra-Neamt, Romania


Last, but not least, is the link to column 15: A Romanian Christmas and an Austrian New Year

a bit more on christmas

This past weekend I day tripped to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It was quite charming in the evening, especially because of the Christmas markets. I also saw the market at the Rathaus (the local government building) in Vienna. This market is huge and incredibly decorated.

The Rathaus decorated for Advent with the market in the foreground.

Cedric in front of the president's house in Bratislava.

Cedric with some Slovakian money. This currency will be exchanged with the Euro on the first of January.

The little bit of snow we had last week in Salzburg.

Snow on the Festung.

And the latest column: Noisy (former) Yugoslavians and odd expressions

Advent-time in Austria

So I thought I'd make an update since I can't sleep thanks to the super-loud Serbian dance party happening two floors below me. Since Venice, I've been to Berlin, had Thanksgiving, bought the Cardiac Move single and went to a soccer game. Fortunately, Cedric survived a near-death experience at Thanksgiving.

Here are some photos:


Salzburg Red Bulls soccer game


At Media Markt buying the Cardiac Move single


Kathi was still hungry after our gigantic Thanksgiving dinner, so she contemplated eating Cedric.


With some pumpkin pie


At Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin


At the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe


On top of the Reichstag


And here are some links to my latest columns:

Column 11: Venice: Glass, museums and not as costly as you'd think
Column 12: Burgers, fries and World War II history in Berlin
Column 13: Remembering the past, living in the present

more oktober columns and pictures and some from november, too!

Since my last update, Cedric and I made a second trip to Vienna for a Cardiac move concert, visited his gnome relatives in Mirabell Gardens and went to Venice, Italy, where Cedric had a small stay in prison. Check out the photos and read the columns to hear about all of those adventures and more!


In Piazzo San Marco

At one of Venice's many canals

The second night's sunset


In prison in the doge's palace in Venice


The sunset from Murano our first night in Venice


The Cardiac Move kitchen


Gnome buddies!





Column six: Oktoberfest: the first of many adventures

Column seven: Cupcakes, Oktoberfest and other Austrian fun

Column eight: Slow down you crazy child, Vienna is waiting

Column nine: Getting the sniffles in Austria

Column 10: Train rides, rock shows and elections abroad

photos!

So here are some pictures of my recent adventures with Cedric. I'm not sure why they are in reverse order, but nevertheless, here they are.


At Schloss Schoenbrunn in Wien, our final destination on our trip.


At Schloss Belvedere, where the Klimt paintings are.


At the restaurant Centimeter, where we ordered a sword full of meat. Fantastic.


At Neuschwanstein on a beautiful, fall day.

At the Alpensee near the grounds of Neuschwanstein.


On the highest point of the Untersberg.

After getting off the gondola, way above the clouds.
On the Monchsberg, in front of the Dom.