Star Wars and Salzburg

As promised, the first part of this post is about the free Philharmonic Summer Night's Concert (Sommernachtskonzert) at the Schonbrunn palace that was on June 8th.
"But wait Hannah," you might say "there was a promise of Star Wars and no mention of concerts. Where is the Star Wars?"
Well, the majority of the concert that evening was in fact associated with those famous films and thusly featured music such as The Imperial March, Princess Leia's Theme, Emperor's Theme, and Star Wars (the main theme) all originally composed by the glorious John Williams.
To celebrate this theme, some awesome individuals decided to go the extra mile (or kilometer since I'm in Europe) and make my day a little better.

Behold the glory

Oh, but it got better since it was apparently a group of people all dressing up together.

Darth Vader is coming for yoooooooooooooooooooou

Boba Fett giving orders

Since this sucker was free, a whole horde of people showed up. Novi and I got there only an hour early and already there were TONS of people who had claimed places.

All those little dots on the hill, those are people.

During the concert the orchestra also played Mars from the Planets (one of my favorites), Träumerei by Robert Schumann (since it was his 200th birthday on June 8th (well not really since he's dead, but you know what I mean)), as well as Wiener Blut, the unofficial anthem of Vienna, and finally Josef Strauss' polka Auf Ferienreisen.

Intense light show going on during the Imperial March

Also, during the grand finale there were fireworks!

Boom!

Despite having to stand for the whole time (and being a bit of a sicky then) it was totally rad to be able to go to something like this. Afterwards there were even extra buses to take the massive crowd of people home, which I greatly appreciated as I was tired and the soothing music increased my tiredness immensely.
The following Saturday (12th) Novi and I met for a quick day trip to Salzburg (though we missed the first train because I missed my tram to the station). We got in around 10:00 and quickly realized that Salzburg was just as hot as Vienna, if not more so. We also realized that finding our way into the city from the train station was much easier that we made it (i.e. there were signs, which we didn't follow at first). Our first destination was the Mirabell Gardens and Palace, where some scenes from the Sound of Music take place (since the whole thing was pretty much shot in Salzburg). Because of the sweltering heat (did I mention it was hot :-P) we chilled around in the gardens a while, smelling all the pretty flowers and watching a wedding party take photos (I would have hated to be them, because of the heat thing).

Probably the most beautiful picture ever

Make sure to remember that castle thing up on the top of the hill, that's where we eventually wandered to but that's the only photo I have of the castle itself.
The gardens were very organized and had many statues which were both awesome and funny. For example

The lion on the right got its feelings hurt, or is distracted by a butterfly

As we were wandering through the gardens there....may have been some singing. But really, who would blame us? It was the Sound of Music gardens (so yes, all the music was from that movie).

Dance Novi, dance!

More of the gardens

Only 30 minutes into our walk and we already had to cool off

Those two people are strangers, but I thought they were framed nice. Also, SO MANY STATUES

Leaving the gardens we walked along the river before cutting over to a market of sorts (never figured out what it was for).

Salzburg has the most picturesque skyline (and oops, guess I did snap more than one photo of the castle)

In case I've never mentioned it before, I really like markets and they will probably be one of the biggest things I miss (other than friends). Besides the everyday food markets (mmmm grape leaves) I've also gotten to enjoy the handcraft markets. Unfortunately, these seem to only come around on holidays (Christmas and Easter) or for some random reason (there was one when Mom and Dad were here, apparently for some kind of Church week). Needless to say (but I'm gonna write it anyways) we spend a slow, leisurely time wandering through this market.

Worm or dragon or snake? You choose

Leaving the river we cut into town and one thing struck me immediately (cue jokes about something actually hittine me here). Salzburg is way more touristy than Vienna. I don't mean negative things by that, it just makes me giggle that Vienna is the captial of the coutnry, but it's other towns that are crammed full of souvenir shops (although I guess more people go to NYC than Washington D.C). The Old Town was pretty nice, cobblestone streets, old looking buildings (with a McDonald's in the bottom of course :-P), and a random street band (they were wearing lederhosen and those spiffy hats). Since we were kinda on a budget we opted to not go into many things, but we did still take photos of said things.

Mozart's birth house, so very yellow

Clearly he is red from blushing

Awesome fountain with a refreshing mist

I have no idea what this is, other than it's in a main square in town

Eventually, we decided to splurge and pay to go up to the castle since, hey, it's a friggin' castle. To get up there were either the stairs, or a trolley thing. We chose....

trolley thing whheeeeeeeeeee!!!

Up at the top there was a quick audio tour that didn't leave much time for photos, but I managed to get a few when we were on the roof of one of the towers.

Ooooooo

Aaaahhhhhh

Back in the castle there were several museums, such as a history of the castle, a war museum, a puppet museum, and museum for artifacts from the oldie times.

I found this both beautiful and terrifying. Ghost army!!!

They won all their fights because the enemies were too busy laughing at them.

In the courtyard of the castle there were the obvious cafes and souvenir shops, but also a play area for the little ones. Novi and I decided little ones included us so we proceeded to build a glorious, bad-ass castle out of building bricks.

Then, Novizilla came. Oh no!!

That poor, poor castle.
The puppet museum was pretty cool, except for these strange holes in the floor with a clear glass cover. When looking into the hole we could see this doll figure lying on a pile of money, dressed like a robber (in one), trying to escape (in another), and being teased by a devil (in the final). I don't know what the message of this was, but if it was "creep Hannah out" then they succeeded.

All the evil scary dolls used in shows

Leaving the castle we arrived back in town just in time for it to start raining hardcore. On the one hand this was most welcome since it had been both super hot and humid. On the other hand we were stuck under an archway since I didn't have an umbrella. Luckily, it was the kind of super intense rain that only lasts a little while and afterwards it was much cooler.
Since we came on Saturday things were starting to close by 19:00 so we figured now was the best time to get some dinner.

We didn't get dinner here, this is just fantastic

One of the streets in Old Town

After our dinner we just kinda walked around until it was time to go back to the train station so we could get the last express train. Wandering back we got yelled at by some (I'm assuming) drunk Austrians which may have been because we were singing Beatle's tunes. But, since the Austrians were stationary and we were walking, it was no big thang.
Oh, but we did wander by this American family buying ice cream and for some reason the mother asked the kid to order for her and this little 9-year-old girl ordered in German. I can't decide if the kid was in one of those advanced schools where they learn languages early, or if a parent spoke German but wanted her to practice or what. Either way it was mighty adorable since she ordered in an ultra polite manner.

At the station, Novi working on her puzzle that she still hasn't figured out

Just wouldn't be Salzburg without a load of guys in lederhosen and carrying beer.

Hokay so, I've got about 8 days left here (yikes!) and the odds of me posting another post are slim since my track record for making on-time posts is bad enough to begin with. I'll most likely eventually make a post when I return home, though I'm assuming most of you will have seen me by then (and by most of you I mean the ones who arn't lame and living in Florida :-P).

Gypsy Punks!!!

Last week (Thursday 27th), a glorious thing occurred. I went to a concert of awe and wonder, a concert that made me dance the whole time and go nearly horse from singing along. I went to

A Gogol Bordello concert (excitement!! Exlimation points everywhere!!)Unfortunately (though not surprisingly) not many of the pictures turned out all that great. Mostly due to me not being able to use flash (due to the intense stage lighting). Other factors include, that the band was super lively and most members were jumping around all the time. Also, when taking a photo sans flash I have to hold the camera steady which means that I cannot be dancing, which was hard to do. So, in all their blurry glory, I present some photos from the concert.

The first song. Hello band!

The second song, already, a shirt has been lost

Yup, already Gogol decided to become a shirtless-ultra rocking guitar player. Not that I can blame him, just being on the floor among all the people was enough to make me feel slightly unpleasent (heat-wise) so I'd imagine for him with all those lights it was even worse.

Strings representin'

I really hope, at some point in his life someone said "but son, how will you be a famous rock star if you don't learn the accordian?"
Yes, the music he was making fully justified this stance/facial expression

What I also really liked about the concert (other than the awesome array of instruments (thought I already knew that from the music)) was the vast array in age and dance style. Sure, it was kinda strange seeing people my parents age at the concert, but no odder to see people swing dancing to some of the music. Dance styles varied from a mosh pit (which I avoided as I value my feet and other body parts) to almost bollywood style, to ska style dancing, to couples dancing (that slow swaying thing). It was really fun to see and do for then I didn't have to feel like a nut when I danced (i.e flailed madly).

For the enoure they dragged the opening band on stage (a mariachi band). At the end they were throwing pick and drumstickt to the audience (in the case of drumsticks more gently handing them, very considerate) but I wasn't close enough to get anything. The single item that did go near me was a towl one of them had used. Now, it may just be me, but I've heard several stories of maining and fighting over just trying to get a water bottle from a band member, or other such small things. However, when this towel came flinging by, everyone just stared at it as it lay on the floor till one guy just grabbed. I don't know if this makes Austrians less fan-crazy, or more smart in not really going crazy over a sweaty towel.

So the whole thing lasted about 2 hours (9:30-11:30) and by the time my friend and I left I was ultra sweaty, covered in beer from when someone flung their cup (seriously, so many people were doing that, why?), kinda horse, and sore from jumping and dancing so much. Despite having an excursion the next day which meant I had to awaken at 7.00, it was very much worth it.

Also, I saw this the next day. Roomba meets mower!! Moomba?

The tale of when my parents came to visit

My parents have left the building and only missed one flight to get back!! Hurray!!
I don't have too many photos from their first few days here or from when we went to Budapest. The lack of Budapest photos result from the fact that is was raining and windy pretty much alllllllllllllllllllllllll the time which wasn't the best motivation for me to want to look up at buildings or take any sort of photos. Also, my dad may or may not have documented every single place we went or every single thing we did with taking a picture (hint, he totally did) so if need be I'll just snag those from my parents.
After our return from soggy, chilly Budapest we arrived to a slightly less chilly and almost not at all rainy Vienna. So yay for that!! The first day back (Monday 17th) I couldn't really take them to see things since I had an exam so I just took them to my uni so they could see the campus. However, my prof didn't show up so me and my classmates just sat in the room for an hour before leaving a note on the board. Later we all got an e-mail from him saying that he was there, but we weren't, so the common theory is he just forgot or fell asleep or something (as he is oldish). For the rest of the week activities included showing them around the city to marvel at all the buildings with statues (there are quite a bunch), see Bepa's house, wandering through the two main markets, going to Mariahilferstrasse, Museums Quartier, a comic book store (of course, a requirement for my padre), and eating a tasty Austrian meal courtasy of Rebecca.
Oh yeah, we also went to the Museum of Natural History which turns out to be AMAZING!!! It's increadibly big and I'm definitaly going to return to view all the exhibits, maybe even this week (since my friends want to come along). An amusing anecdote, was that my mom was more impressed by how old the display cases looked than by all the lovely shiny things within (we were in the mineral display). I chuckled greatly at this.

Most importantly, there were...

Dinosaurs!!!

How some dinosaurs may have actually looked. Feathered fury

On Thursday we departed for a 5 hour train ride to Prague, but we didn't get in till like 10.00 so we just went straight to the hotel. The next day we met up with some friends of my parents (odd I know) who happened to be in Prague the same time as we were. First thing first, we journied to the castle district which has, (brace yourself this may come as a shock) a castle!! Though the thing which makes the whole area so photogenic is the church.

The drop-off led to Deer Moat, because a ruler was too lazy to leave the castle to go hunting.

After the castle we strolled over the Charles Bridge which is constantly under construction but also is where several (see many) artists sit to hawk their wares (which are all pretty awesome looking). Most of it was jewerly, but there was also things like magnets or photographs or painted pictures or just random metalwork. Oddly, the people selling the items weren't necessarily the people who made them. I could tell because each stand had a permit with a photo, and said photo did not always match up with the seller. But I guess if the stand owner is good enough, why not hire extra help?

Mom rubbing a plaque on the bridge that is supposed to bring luck. There's another plaque that's also all shiny but only because some locals buffed it up to make a joke.

After the castle area we went to this big square in the center to grab a drink and get some sitting down time (for the oldies :-P). At the square there was this fancy astronomical clock and since it was near the hour we paused to admire its intricate movements. These consisted of statues appearing in the window and then turning away. Also, a trumpeter (a real person) trumpeted at the top of the tower. Then we chilled at the Hilton (where my parent's friends were staying) before it was off to dinner. This restauraunt was ULTRA fancy. I could tell because the food was presented all pretty-like. Also, it was super tasty.

This just seems totally awesome to me

The next day we took part in a free walking tour, at which point we were supposed to meet up with my parent's friends, but we weren't able to locate them.

Our lovely guide James

The tour was actually really really good and we got to learn a lot of history about the area. Which led to my decision that my most favorite thing about Prague is, the word "defenstrate" is in great usage throughout their history. We went all throughout the main part of the city, including the Jewish Quarter which was pretty neat to see, considering there was an ultra old synogague.

Powder tower

Oldest functional synogogue in Europe.
Also, the Golem of Prague is located in the ceiling.

After the free walking tour my parents and I decided to go on the castle tour, also led by James, so we could learn a bit more about the district. We didn't actually go inside any of the buildings (but we had done that yesterday) but we got to learn more about the actual history and just how bad-ass the Czech people are (apparently it is very).

Famous pissing statue

A guard, keeping it real

Overlooking the city

The next day we were walking back along the Charle's Bridge so we could actually get something from one of the artists when we stumbled upon an extremely odd looking individual.

Aaron clone!!

On the Charle's Bridge. I totally got seperated from my folks and had a brief moment of "uh-oh"

Apparently marrionets are pretty common around here. I dub this one very pretty.

Concert in the Spanish Synagogue

View of the church and castle district

Back in Vienna we only had a day so I just took them to Naschmarkt again (they loved that place) and then to the Manner store so mom could get her pink umbrella. After going to a restaurant that is named after some kind of big black bird (but I don't think it's a crow or raven so I have no clue) I left their hotel since they were leaving at 6 in the morning and didn't want to take the last tram at 12.00 to the airport (since the trams stop running from 12.00 till 5.00) so they ordered a kind of cab. I however, am planning on kicking it student style and will probably be spending the night at the airport (since my plane leaves at 8). So, whoever wants to keep me company that night is welcome. :-D