Last week Hannah and I went to see a ballet in the Staatsoper, the famous Vienna opera house. The outside of the building does not give an hint about what it like on the inside. The pictures I took don't even do it justice... Check out my album on facebook. The ballet was fantastic, and probably much more entertaining than the Nutcracker. This is also where the Opera Ball is hosted. A huge debutante event with the social elite of Vienna. There is a man who became a rich rich business mogul somehow, who pays a female celebrity to accompany him to this ball. Past dates have been Paris Hilton, Carmen Electra, Pamela Anderson and this year Nicolette Sheridan will be gracing Vienna with her presence. Due to the obnoxious nature of this man, all women apparently leave within the first half hour, or lock themselves in a bathroom. I think the Opera Ball is next week.
On Saturday we went skiing in Semmering, at a mountain named Stuhleck. It is in the 'entrance' to the alps, so it was not incredibly high, but pretty cool. We took the train and the ride was about an hour and a half. We were there with the rest of the world, and from a country that produced Hermann Maier, you would expect everyone to be equipped with the latest and highest tech stuff. I'll just say... I saw someone going down the mountain on CROSS COUNTRY SKIS. Not those telemarket skis, cross country skis. This was the first time I am glad Jodi wasn't here, she would have died. She also would have found it interesting that you can take the chair lift up with a toboggan because there is a 5km long toboggan hill. On the ski hill. Check facebook.
It was pouring rain on Sunday, but I did not want to waste another Sunday, so with the support of Hannah I decided to go discover more of the Ringstrasse. The picture to the left shows the discontent of my journey. My umbrella broke, like really bad, my jeans died my white shoes blue and I was freezing cold - but I persevered. Since that picture worked, I will try to add more... On my journey I saw the Town Hall, the Votivkirche, Sigmund Freud's house and practice, which has been converted into a museum, the police station, which used to be a barrack so it is HUGE and the Börse, which is the home to the stock exchange. After my adventure we met at Charlie P's Irish Pub to watch a rugby match between Wales and Scotland. Hannah is from Wales, so I clearly cheered for Scotland.
I started German last night. Oh. Boy. It is a tough tough language. We learned how to count and say the alphabet, very elementary but useful. We learned that when there is a word that starts with St it is pronounced Sch-t, hence the name of this entry... My course is 6 hours a week for 5 weeks... There are 5 other people in my class. One of them is named Simon who I met through SWAP, so that is pretty cool. There is one from Turkey (who doesn't even speak English), Finland, Romania and India.... And 2 Quebecers. Pretty diverse group, we'll see how it goes. I actually have homework - not fun.
On Thursday there are 4 of us getting together from SWAP. The office has a list of all of the SWAPPERS and it turns out there at least 5 in Vienna so it may make for some good travel buddies.
I am heading to Berlin on Friday morning for the weekend. I am staying with my friend Tara, who I met through SWAP as well. I have also made plans to go to Salzburg at the end of February for the weekend. I am staying at Yoho Hostel, which is apparently world renowned.
