After my Intensive course finished, I had a week-long vacation.  I stuck around town until Wednesday because I had advising, but decided to take a hike to Schoeckl, which is the tallest mountain in the area at 1445 meters (not very tall),  It is about 20 kilometers from my dorm, so I took the bus about five kilometers out and hiked the rest.  I kept missing all of the paths, so I was doing most of it by the road until I saw a path marked by a "Wetterturm" (weather tower).  I thought, for sure, I could not miss that one.  I was right.  There was a road called "Wetterturmstrasse," although I never did see that tower.  Unless this is it.

Or the million and one other towers I saw (and probably should have taken pictures of, just to show the ridiculousness of it).  The street should have been called "Tuermestrasse" instead.  Well, I finally made it to the top and had lunch and the best slice of cake I have ever eaten called "Schoeckltorte" (not very innovative).  Or at least I think it was good.  One can never be sure after hiking for several hours.  The weather started to cloud up a bit, so I left to find the actual high point, which I never did.  I think the weather station was on top of it.  How ironic now that I think of it.  But I found this instead.

Here is a nice view right behind that.

I took a different way down, hoping to see this church along the way.  But I got turned around several times because there are so many paths, which were surprisingly horribly marked.  So, I doubled back several times and did not make it back to civilization until practically dark.  I got on the first bus I saw, which happened to pass right by my dorm, luckily.  I went right to sleep when I got back, considering I walked about 30 to 35 kilometers that day.  The next day, I was pretty sore.  Actually make that the rest of the week.  The blisters were not fun to walk with in Vienna and Budapest, but I survived.

That same weekend was the fall festival called Aufsteiern, which in all honesty does not really translate.  The province, in which Graz is, is called Steiermark.  I think you can see the relation now.  Anyway, I went early so I could look around and again later with my mentor to experience the Austrian side.
As you can see there is practically no one around.  It had been really cloudy and gloomy up until the moment I took this picture of Hauptplatz (main square).  All the side streets were lined with stalls selling traditional clothing, food, trinkets, and Sturm (a fall-time drink similar to wine, but it is not completely fermented and spices are added and so on, but it is great).

This picture was taken the second time I went.  We actually found a spot that did not resemble city under mass panic.  As we walked around it only got worse.

See....  There was not much opportunity or space for pictures.

 

After walking around, we found a cafe in one of the small squares to rest, drink Sturm and listen to traditional music.  This guy played the anvil right behind me and made me jump in my seat.  Then proceeded to play every weird percussion instrument known to man with a manical grin on his face.  I could not get a good picture of his face, though.

I know I said Vienna next, but I forgot about this and my hike to Schoeckl, which will be the next post.  So maybe I will get to Vienna this week.  Or not.

Have I ever told any of you how much I hate writing?  Oh, well.  School did not actually start until October, but I participated in a German Intensive Course in September.  My teacher, Frau Wachter, took us on a short hike on one of the Western hills, Plabutsch, that pretty much define the city limits.  This is a view of the city, including Schloss Eggenberg and Schlossberg (previously discussed).

This is a picture, more or less, of my class.  There are a few people missing.  One added.

This is a picture of (left to right) my teacher, a fellow Amerikan from Arkansas (David), a Brit (Beth), and my roommate from China (Sha). 

This is a view of Schoeckl, which I climbed about a week later.

After the picture opportunities, we sat at the cafe and had drink before heading down.  On the way down, I took a picture of Schloss Eggenberg, to which I still have not been, with Schlossberg yet again in the background.

The next weekend Today, I was going to go to the Schloss Eggenburg, but they were closed in the morning.  My bus ticket was only good until 1, but the tours started at 2, so I decided to go on yet another hike to the Burgruine Goesting instead.  It is a medieval castle that fell into ruin after a fire in the 17th century.  The pictures are quite terrible, but my free Photoshop wannabe wants to save the changes as a file I have never heard of.  So, we will have to put up with it for now.  Here they are.  I made them larger than the last post, but I do not know if they look better.  They seem blurry to me.  Let me know.

I really should have taken my sunglasses off this day.

I think that window is so random, but I think it was my favorite part.  Afterwards, I sat at the Tavern and had a piece of cake and a Coca Cola under the grape pergola.  It was rather nice, even if the cake was a bit dry.

 Next time will be the new pictures from Schoeckl, Vienna and Budapest.

Blog started!

So when I first began telling people I was studying abroad, the first words I heard were, "Send me pictures."  I already tried doing just that with emails, but I decided to start a blog because emailing pictures is really just a pain and Facebook limits those older folks who may not have one.  If you are interested, this is how I will be communicating pictures from now on (I hope).  We'll see.
I will post the pictures that I have already sent by email for all interested.  Here we go:

Upon my arrival in Vienna (after a really nasty confrontation with Passport Control in Germany), I hopped on the train to Baden bei Wien to do research for my honors thesis.  I dragged my suitcase 15 minutes to the town center only to find out the cheapest lodgings were halfway back to the train station.  Then I went to get my operetta ticket for Gräfin Maritza.  I got distracted along the way back to the pension by way of hiking trails and snapped this picture.  Afterwards, I took a nap and went to the operetta, but was too jetlagged to really comprehend much of anything.
The next morning I finally head out to Graz.  My mentor, Steffi, picked me up in a cold downpour, showed me to the hostel I would be staying at, and showed me where to buy my first purchase in Austria: an umbrella.  She went off to work, while I proceeded to McDonalds for free Wifi and, only because I felt obligated to, a Coca Cola.  Turns out to be the nicest McDonalds that I have ever been in.  After another nap, we went out for traditional Austrian food (is Cordon Bleu really Austrian?).
I got to move into my dorm the next morning.  It was still raining, but the next day was gorgeous.  So, I went on another hike, up 260 steps (left) to Schlossberg (castle hill, right). 

Here are some pictures of the town as well.  The first is Murinsel, which I cannot decide if I like or not, and the next is the inner city, with the city hall most prominent. 
Until tomorrow, probably, when I continue with what I have already sent to some people.