Wien Semester, Tag 16: Taramisu and Curry

Donnerstag, 28 Februar

Note the lemon garnish on the bottom left ;) Lemon zest made the dish.

 Whipped up my first curry today with red curry from Nashmarkt, lentils, potatoes, and carrots. Shared it with downstairs friend Charles, who contributed salad and homemade rum Taramisu. First time I've had, and it was sehr gut!

Taramisu!

On another note, I ate a lovely Rattatouille sandwich for lunch and einen Apfelt Topferl. It's been a good food day:

Wien Semester, Tag 15: Kunsthistoriches Round 2

Mittwoch, 27 Februar

Toured the Kunsthistoriches Museum again, this time with our Austrian Art & Architecture class. We focused on the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections to study how the human figure was portrayed throughout the centuries. Didn't realize the early Greeks had modeled after the Egyptians (and Klimt found inspiration in them too!):

Early Greek, but modeled after Egyptian

Greek, 300 years later. Incredible progress.

Romans weren't afraid to depict age and individuality.

Early Christian grave marker. Eyes are windows to the soul.

So, the whole museum itself is one big piece of art as well.

Wien Semester, Tag 15: Shakespeare Booksellers

Dienstag, 26 Februar

Today I discovered a neat all-English bookshop called Shakespeare & co. Booksellers, tucked away in old alleyways behind Stephansdom. It was filled with all sorts of fascinating books, from beautiful full-color Gaudi photograph books, The Bible in 3 Minutes, and classics by Darwin or Descartes. The quaint store even had not one but TWO sliding bookshelf ladders, which next time I will definitely use. Time stopped, and I spent almost an hour poking through the selections:

Wien Semester, Tag 14: Stark Kaffee

Montag, 25 Februar

Basically went about my business today, with nothing out of the ordinary other than an unusually stark (strong) cup of coffee. It claimed to be lightly roasted, sweet, and woody, from South America, but to me it just tasted very strong, with a full, long lasting aftertaste. A cube of sugar fixed that :)

Sure looked good!

On another note, I had fresh curly parsley with my pasta tonight--kudos to my roomies. Wohoo!

Wien Semester, Tag 13: Augustinerkirche

Sonntag, 24 Februar

Went to mass today at Augustinerkirche, a Gothic church built in the 14th century which has witnessed some important happenings, including the marriage of Marie Louise to Napoleon Bonaparte (1810). Each Sunday, the church choir performs an ENTIRE mass in tandem with the liturgy. Heard Schubert's Deutche Messe, fitting while in a German speaking country. Accompanied by insense, the place transported me back to another century:

When I first walk in.

Look at that organ! The organist improvised ("shredded") quite impressively before and after mass.

Stopped for some tomato soup at Cortez. Complementary roll and whipped cream!:

Discovered the local practice rooms, located at the fourth floor or so at the top of these lit-up spiral staircase. How I do love spiral staircases:

Wien Semester, Tag 12: Winter wonderland

Samtag, 23 Februar

A most cozy morning...

With a lovely blanket of snow reminiscent of home. Today the world is so beautiful:

A courtyard I discovered behind our apartment...

...perhaps a garden when warm?

 

Wien Semester, Tag 12: Madame Butterfly

Freitag, 22 Februar

I saw Puccini's Madame Butterfly live tonight, and decided I still don't like it--because of the sad storyline, of course. However, seeing it again (I once saw the Met livestreaming) allowed me to better listen to the music, which is absolutely enchanting. Puccini combines Western classical elements (the overture starts with a fugato figure) and Eastern (lots of Pentatonic, oriental sounds), and he nicely portrays the inner psychology of the characters:

Where all the action happened.

Madame Butterfly sings to her child...

Wien Semester, Tag 11: Leopold Museum

Donnerstag, 21 Februar

Started the day of right, with a delicious pesto-cheese filled omlette. Yummily:

 Finally met my language buddy, Viola Rossi, today at a restaurant am dem Nashmarkt! Chatted for almost two hours over curried fish and veggies, and even received complimentary soothing rose-hip soup. Lovely:

Later, I visited the MUMOK (Modern Art Museum) with a friend, but it was closed for a private party. Instead, we visited the Leopold Museum's infamous Nackte Maanner exhibit. Since women are more often portrayed nude in classical art and in museum exhibitions, this exhibit aimed to close that gap with an exhibit dedicated completely to naked men. Thought provoking:

I especially liked these expressive statues...

Interesting implications here.

Vienna Semester, Day 10: Wien Museum

Mittwoch, 20 Februar

Today our Austrian Art & Architecture class visited the Wien Museum, which showcases art and artifacts from Vienna's past. Some items of interest:

Original stained class windows from St. Stephan's Cathedral

Late Gothic Statues, with the Virgin Mary on the left.

Processional Helmets and Coats of Armor

Vienna city miniature, c. 1852-54.

Vienna Semester, Day 9: TU-Orchester Audition

Dienstag, 19 Februar 

I discovered this morning the wonder of soaking muesli in milk overnight. 100% more delicious. Started the day off right:

Noticed these beautiful reliefs on a door on Johannesgasse:

Today I experienced the strangest, shortest, and possibly most pleasant audition in my short little life. I performed about half of the exposition of Mozart String Quartet No. 20 K 499, mvt. I, with three other people I had just met. One girl was from Deutschland, another boy from Hungary. The audition-instructors were friendly, and we had a blast jamming Mozart.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the bright-orange lecture hall, but I DID find this crazy florescent blue bathroom:

Time for laser tag, anyone?