These past weeks have been filled with just two things: school (aka stress, maybe I’ll do a blog post on that later) and traveling.
After the weekend in München, we did a phenomenal four-day trip to Vienna for Easter, came back to Tübingen for three days, then I met Christy in Berlin for three days, and came back to Tübingen swearing I wouldn’t leave again for a while. That completely didn’t work out, as the following Saturday and Sunday were spent in Stuttgart! Which is only an hour away by train, though, and therefore much less tiring than the previous two weekends. Here’s the breakdown:
Vienna: Vienna is quite seriously my favorite city in the world. One, it is simply beautiful. The architecture is astounding, you feel the remains of an old, powerful empire everywhere, and they still speak German. I’d been to Vienna when I was in Europe vorletzten Sommer (summer before last), but in some ways I saw a completely different side of the city this time. Before, I had hit a lot of museum/tourist attractions, which were wonderful and I loved. This time we still did some touristy stuff, but also just spend a ton of time walking around, eating, taking the trams and the U-bahn to random places…and the more I saw of Vienna, the more beautiful it became.
Highlights of the trip included (among others) seeing the Lipizzaners at the Spanish Riding School (I could have watched those horses literally all day), going to the Prater amusement park (aka, cotton candy, an awesome Ferris Wheel and a phenomenal return to our childhoods), and trekking outside of the main city are to a totally adorable and wonderful Heuriger (wine-garten-thing).
I also went to Easter mass in St. Stephans with another one of the girls I was with. St. Stephans is the huge cathedral in the main square in Vienna, and I have to say that it was less a religious experience and more a phenomenally strange touristy one. First, there was a concert of sorts during the Mass (Wagner, maybe…? Something composed with the intent of being church/mass music!) which meant that mass was over 2 hours long, and secondly, people kept just popping into the back of the church, taking pictures, and leaving! It was kind of maddening. But overall, a really cool experience.
Basically, every time I think about Vienna recently I’m just sad that I’m not still there. Because it is truly amazing.
Berlin: Berlin was the Museum and Culture weekend: Christy (if you’ve forgotten, the WashU PhD student who is living in Tübingen) and I visited the Topography of Terror, which chronicles the years 1933-45, the German Historical Museum (think: last two thousand years of german/European history), which is overwhelmingly huge but great, basically somewhere I felt you could happily go three days in a row, the Pergamom Museum, and then I went to the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which chronicles the history of Jews in German over the last two centuries and was super-interesting and informative.
Friday night we went to the ballet, Schneewitchen (Snow White). It was modern, phenomenal, beautiful, and absolutely one of my favorite things I’ve done here. Saturday night, we went to the Symphony to see if they had Restkarten (left over tickets still needing to be sold) and not only did they have them, but we also got the phenomenal student price of 10 euro. They played Beethoven’s 9th, which was absolutely incredible to hear live.
When I was in Berlin last time, although I totally enjoyed the trip, I didn’t feel any particular love for the city. I knew I wanted to go back though, because there is obviously just sooo much to see in Berlin, but chose a short weekend to do it – by the end of the trip, I sort of wished I’d planned to be there longer! Berlin is simply too huge and has too much to offer. As a city though, it’s not my favorite; I just don’t feel like I can figure out it’s “vibe” – or maybe it’s just not one that I love.
After a verspätete (late) train (that happens to me wayyy too much here), a missed train in Stuttgart, an hour waiting in a café in the Bahnhof in Stuttgart there, and a taxi home from the Bahnhof in Tübingen, I arrived home at around 2:30am and swore to myself I wasn’t leaving Tübingen again for a while. That turned out to be a total fail, as last weekend became Stuttgart-weekend.
Saturday in Stuttgart last weekend: Frühlingsfest (“spring festival”). Basically the second largest Bierfest after Oktoberfest in München, a combination Carnival and Bier-tent-extravaganza. Completely awesome, way too much fun, lots of bier, delicious/unhealthy carnival food, bumper cars, and basically so fun we went back again yesterday! For more bumper cars, water rides, delicious nutella-elephant-ear-like-treats, bier tents, and dancing on tables (it wasn’t trashy, everyone was doing it), and trying to sing along to German songs.
Sunday in Stuttgart last weekend: More ballet! Less modern and more traditional, but still totally beautiful. I think ballet is my new thing, especially since Germany loves its student prices.
In Tübingen for the next six days in a row – very excited to just be here. Future travel plans, though, include Prag (!!!), Straßburg, and Salzburg.
