Dublin Part II

On the second day in Dublin, I visited the two sites that I really wanted to see. First up was the Kilmainham Gaol. This site is most famous for its role as a political prison up to the early 20th century. (If you're British, I wouldn't recommend going here.) This is one of the most important historical sites in Ireland because prominent leaders in Ireland's many revolutions were held and often executed here. We had a great tour and it was fascinating to walk through the jail and go in the cells. Very similar to Alcatraz, but with much, much more cultural significance.

I'm going to go off on a tangent, but I've developed this huge pet peeve since I've been over here. It's the habit of people taking Facebook pictures in historical places. (I define a Facebook picture as: a picture of only yourself where you're smiling and giving a thumb's up sign or some other gesture. Preferably the picture is taken somewhere that will make you look cool. Bonus points if you can see your arm holding up your camera to take the picture.) Some places are appropriate for this, but there are other places that just aren't. I consider the jail to be one of the latter. More than once on this tour, the guide would give a detailed description about how a tragic event took place in a particular spot, and then 2 seconds later some idiot was giving a thumb's up posing for a picture. But enough of that...

After the jail, the next stop was the Guinness factory. I have to admit that this was probably the main reason why I wanted to go to Dublin. Guinness is basically my favorite brand of anything, so I was excited to see what the the brewery and the museums were like. Once you're inside, you keep going up stairs in the storehouse--you see the detailed history of the company and the process that's used to make the beer. You also see all of the ingredients that are used. The process was a bit more complicated than the bucket I use to make beer at home.

I think most people do the tour in about an hour and a half, but I was here for 5 hours. There was a huge exhibit on Guinness advertising, and I'm a bit of a marketing nerd. Naturally I took pictures of every single ad and other historical items that they had here. It was at least a few hundred pictures. Donald Draper would be proud.

Once you get to the top of the building, there's a Gravity Bar. Of course, the only thing on tap in the bar is Guinness. In the bar, there's an amazing panoramic view of the entire city--probably the best view in town...when the sky is clear. (Note: the sky is never clear in Ireland, so I'll let you figure that out.)

Dublin - Part I

I had no intention of going to Ireland, but the flight was just too inexpensive to pass up (60 euros roundtrip). Unfortunately for that price, I had to take a bus to Bratislava to catch my plane. I don't know a whole lot about Bratislava, but I'm a firm believer that you can tell a lot about a city by their airport. For example, San Diego's airport smells like the beach when you get there...on the other hand, Baltimore's airport smells like garbage. At the airport in Bratislava, there's a big sign when you check in at the service desk. It shows pictures of all the items you're not allowed to bring with you when you leave Bratislava. The banned list includes staples like: grenades, gasoline, and poison. I made a quick note to return here for Christmas shopping.

There are some fun things to do in Dublin, but there are also some negatives too. For one thing, Dublin is very expensive. I subsisted on a healthy diet of cookies (35 cents for a box) and apple juice, but expect to pay 4 or 5 euros for a Guinness here...even though they can basically walk the kegs from the brewery to the bars. The nightlife scene is very cosmopolitan, and it didn't feel like true Irish culture. Lots of tourists and expatriates around.

Aside from that, there are still a few places that you have to see. The first one that I visited was the National Museum. This museum had artifacts that were thousands of years old, including swords and other items from the Vikings. It was a massive collection, including a number of items from other countries--Egyptian mummies and Roman artifacts among them. The most impressive item was a 2,500 year-old longboat that was carved out of a single oak tree. As always--no pictures allowed, but I tried to grab one:

I went on a 2-day whirlwind tour of Dublin to see all of the major sites--Temple Bar, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, O'Connell Street, St. Stephen's Green. It's actually fairly easy to walk around to anything in the center of Dublin in 10-15 minutes.

The first day ended with an eventful night at the hostel. I've stayed in lots of different places over the years--some sketchier than others--but this was the first time that I ever demanded to be moved to a new room at 2AM. That's a story for another time.

Long Night of the Museums

I'm back from a week in Ireland and promise to have new pics and posts up by this weekend but first, before I left, we went to the Long Night of the Museums in Vienna. Basically this is an event where you can visit all of the museums in the city for one night. It's a cheap and entertaining way to see a number of different museums in the city, but then you realize that there are over 90 museums in Vienna. There are some amazing ones here--including the Albertina, the Belvedere, and the Hapsburg Treasury, but I'll bet you didn't know that we also have the world-renowned museums for snowglobes, shoes, contraception, and chimney sweepers as well. (Not all in one museum because that would just be strange.) Unfortunately I'll have to visit those last few another time because 7 hours just isn't enough time to see all the museums in the city.

There is a great Van Gogh exhibit in the Albertina and we also saw an unusual exhibit on the history of blood and violence around the world. Lots of people were everywhere around town, so it was very difficult to see the more popular exhibits--I'll have to go back another time to look at the Van Gogh collection. The treasury is probably the most unique museum in Vienna because you can see all of the crown jewels and other items from the Hapsburg Dynasty. So many scepters and capes--I find it hard to believe that people actually wore those things in real life!

Oktoberfest

For the final activity at orientation, the Buddy Program at the university took a group of 200 students to Oktoberfest in Munich. It was only one day, but the trip basically consisted of three very distinct parts--the train ride to Munich, the Oktoberfest celebration, and the train ride back to Vienna. It was an exhausting trip, but all in all, Oktoberfest is something that everyone should go to at least once.

The train ride to Munich was basically a pre-Oktoberfest party (meaning no chance to sleep). We took the overnight train from Vienna and reached Munich at about 6AM. There were definitely some problems with the organization of the trip, but that's a story for another time. It can be a bit difficult to find things to do in Munich on a Sunday at 6AM, but after a short rest in the train station, we headed for the English Garden. The English Garden is one of the largest parks in the world, and I was surprised by the number of people that were out in the park at that time of day. Not all of the places were open on a Sunday morning, but there was still plenty to see in the park:

(I don't think anyone expected a lovely picture of a swan in an Oktoberfest post.) After the park, we toured around Munich for a few hours. We mainly walked around the Marienplatz square and saw all of the famous buildings around town. I won't even attempt to explain the history of these buildings--although I know that a large number of buildings were destroyed during World War II, and the government decided to rebuild Munich with its classic look as opposed to a few other German cities that opted to modernize. (My thanks to Wikipedia.)

After the tour around Munich, we finally ventured into the Oktoberfest area. I guess the closest comparison for the U.S. would be a giant state fair...if the men at the state fair wore leather capri pants...and they served beer by the liter. There were rides, carnival games, and plenty of food inside the grounds.

Each of the major Munich breweries has a tent inside the festival grounds. Our group had reserved a number of tables at the Hofbrauhaus tent. The atmosphere outside the tent is similar to what you'd find at a family barbecue or picnic. There are a lot of people at picnic tables eating the popular foods--the only difference is that there are barmaids that carry 10 glasses of beer to the table at a time.

The atmosphere inside the tents is completely different. There are traditional German bands and thousands of people singing and toasting inside. You see the occasional fight, but for the most part everyone is extremely happy to be there. This part is something you actually have to see to understand how enormous it is.

Naturally with the crowd that's inside, outside of the tents there's a hill where the attendees can take their friends who've passed out. I think the picture is pretty self-explanatory:

So after you've been to all of the different tents and avoided upsetting the leather capri-wearing Bavarians, it's time to try the food. Basically the food here is cooked whole and on a spit. I opted to try the hendl, which is a small whole chicken...and an oxen sandwich on the side. I guess anything might taste good after a full day at Oktoberfest, but the food was some of the best that I've had since I've been in Europe.

So that leads me to the trip home...At 11 PM, we headed back to the train station to leave for Vienna. I'd been up for almost 2 days, so all I really wanted to do was to sleep for a few hours on the train. Unfortunately the Austrian rail system had completely lost our group's reservations. Now keep in mind this was a reservation for 200 people on the fully booked Sunday night train. After an hour of indecisiveness, they decided that they would just put everyone on the train and figure out the details later. Seats weren't an option, so they sent us to the luggage car. I managed to find a small place to squeeze halfway into the aisle, which was at least palatable until a few students decided they wanted to turn the train into a party train. A couple more hours of that, and then we were ushered off the train so that they could add 2 more cars. We waited for another hour, and then I managed to grab a very small seat for the final few hours. Definitely one of the worst rides I've ever taken. I finally got back home in Vienna at around 7AM and happily slept for the rest of the day.

Orientation Week 2

The second week of orientation included another week of German class, as well as other activities around Vienna. Over the weekend we visited Schonbrunn Palace, the massive home of the Hapsburg dynasty:

There were a few rooms that really stood out inside the building. The Porcelain Room was decorated with over 200 pen and ink drawings in blue and white. The Lacquer Room was decorated with Chinese pictures and these amazing wooden panels. There were large dining rooms and huge ceiling paintings...but after you've seen enough palaces, they begin to run together. We also toured the gardens surrounding the palace. It amazes me that Vienna still has these enormous palaces and gardens inside the city when the rest of the city is so crowded.

On Monday we participated in a scavenger hunt covering the entire city. It was a good time, but the language barrier created some problems with a few of the activities. On Tuesday we visited the Opera to see Giuseppe Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. Vienna is most famous for its musical history, so this was a great experience. For 3 euros you can purchase a standing-room ticket--although it was a great performance, I was too tired to stand for 3 hours, so I left for home during the intermission. No photos allowed during the performance (for good reason), but here's one pic from the Staatsoper:

Wednesday was another party for the orientation program at an Irish bar in downtown Vienna. I was most impressed with the selection of food that was provided--buffalo wings, fries, and other American appetizers. I think the Europeans were a little offended by the amount of food that some of us Americans ate...but this was the first American food I'd eaten in a month, so I wasn't too concerned. Now if I could only find some barbecue and sweet tea here...

Thursday and Friday were the final two days of German class. Thursday included a trip to Kunst Haus in Vienna. The building, designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, is one of the most unique homes I've ever seen. They had a great collection of Hundertwasser paintings as well, which I enjoyed. At the end of the week, I also began meeting with my group for my first class in Vienna. The final two days of orientation included a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest, which I'll try and get up here tomorrow. Here's a shot from outside Kunst Haus:

Graz & Zotter Chocolate Factory

OK...back from Oktoberfest, so time to start updating this blog. Starting with our trip to Graz during orientation:

Graz is the second-largest city in Austria, and is located a few hours to the south of Vienna. Just like Vienna (and seemingly every city in Europe), Graz has a long history and a few major sights to see. The city has some beautiful architecture, including a few old churches and the ubiquitous Hapsburg castle. Inside the castle is this bizarre staircase from the 15th century. A little was lost in translation, but for some reason there is a place on the staircase where you can place your camera, take a picture, and then get this gun barrel-esque picture:

In addition to the classic architecture, Graz has a mixture of modern buildings and structures in the city as well. Here is the city's famous bridge that leads to an island cafe (the bridge apparently lights up blue at night, but I didn't have a chance to take a picture at night):

I then toured the Armory, which is a museum of weapons from Austria. The museum included swords, suits of armor, guns, helmets and other pieces of warfare from the middle ages. The entire collection was massive--thousands of weapons spread over four different floors.

Next I toured the Kunsthaus, which is the city's museum for modern art. When I heard that it was a modern art museum, I figured there would be artists like Picasso, Matisse, or Pollock in there (like the modern museum in New York). No such luck. There was one exhibit with different flashing neon lights and one exhibit that looked like a house of mirrors. One final "exhibit" was simply three rotating displays of post cards. When I looked at the postcards, a security guard came up and told me to "make a wish and pick two cards" in broken English. Needless to say, I didn't spend a lot of time in here. The museum itself is probably the better attraction. I'm not sure what the design in based on, but I decided that it looked like a stomach. At any rate, here is Graz's Kunsthaus:

After the museum, I went up to visit the Clock Tower at the top of the city. The clock dates back to 1712, while the tower was built in 1561. This is the place that most people associate with the city of Graz. There was also a great garden right underneath the tower where you can view the entire city. Here are some images from the long path to get up to the tower, and then the tower at the top:

After a visit to the park in Graz, it was time to leave for the Zotter chocolate factory. Zotter is a relatively new chocolate manufacturer located in Bergl. (At least I think it's in Bergl. It was at least an hour away from Graz in a very rural part of Austria.) The manufacturing process was exactly like one that I read about for my supply chain class last semester. We could watch through windows, but couldn't actually go down to see how the chocolate was made though. However, we did get to taste chocolate at each stage of the process, beginning with the imported beans:

We went through a long assembly line to taste the different types of chocolate that the company makes. Of course, I tried every single one--I didn't keep track of the number, but there were about 75 different kinds. It was a bit exotic for my taste, plus the tastes start to run together once you've tried that many flavors.

The final part of the tour was Zotter's hot chocolate cafe (Zotter also makes a wide range of hot chocolate products). We were served a glass of hot milk as soon as we entered the room, and then bars of chocolate came in on a wire that circled around the room. The whole process was similar to a ski lift. We picked the flavor that we wanted off of the "ski lift" and then mashed it into the milk to make hot chocolate. I have to admit I thought the hot chocolate was much better than the traditional chocolate bars.

So after a long day of travel, we left Zotter and returned back to Vienna. (More pics from both places in the gallery.) I'll get caught up with the rest of orientation and Oktoberfest/Munich in the next couple days...

Orientation

First, here are a couple pictures from Schonbrunn Palace:

A few thoughts...

With the wide variety of cultures around here, you start to notice the subtle differences. So here are a few gross generalizations.

Americans tend to:

-Wear board shorts and flip flops

-Wear sneakers and white socks

-Hold the door open for other people

-Offer to give a subway seat up to a woman/child

-Block people from moving up the escalator

-Talk loudly on the subway

-Carry around numerous copies of Rick Steves' books

While Europeans:

-Wear tight jeans (guys or girls)

-Wear capri pants (guys or girls)

-Carry purses (guys or girls)

-Chain smoke cigarettes everywhere

-Bring their dogs everywhere (grocery stores, trains, banks, etc.)

-Love techno and American rock/pop music

I'm still a bit confused about holding the door open--maybe that's just from growing up in the south. If I hold the door open for someone here, I tend to get very strange looks. Oh, and white socks are a dead giveaway for identifying Americans too.

I'm in the second week of orientation and our intensive German class. We toured Vienna, took a day trip to Graz, and visited Schonbrunn Palace last week. It's been very cold and rainy for the last week, but everyone's enjoyed the trips so far. (I'll add pictures as soon as I get a chance.) Lots of students from all over the world here. Our scavenger hunt group today had five students--2 from the US, 1 from Russia, 1 from Denmark, and 1 from Holland. I'm in the introductory German class, and our group includes students from Italy, Russia, Portugal, Canada, Sri Lanka, and the U.S. We can only learn so much German in two weeks, so I'll be happy just to learn how to pronounce menu items and learn how to count!