A Relaxing Sonntag

Today was a very nice day in Vienna. As I was getting ready for the day I heard a strange sound. It was the bells ringing at St. Stephen's Cathedral. Back in Sacramento, the Med Center has a recording of bell chimes. You can really tell the difference of a recording and the actual thing. It was nice to hear those bells ringing, making the city more authentic. The sun was out and there was a nice breeze going through the city. A few friends and I went to Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (The Museum of Military History). Getting to the museum was a bit of a challenge, but we made it there. The admission was free there, as it always is on the first Sunday of the month. However, we had to pay 1,50 to take pictures. It was worth it. Inside the entrance was vaulted ceilings with life-size marble statues of different military leaders. The second floor had beautiful frescoed ceilings of different military scenes. along with this huge sculpture. All of my friends were awing at it. It's so funny that people will "gawk" at things like that, even though they don't know who the artist is, when it was made (could have been made recently-who knows??) and what it depicts. When I see the David or the Pieta, I will be gawking then. The museum had covered many different wars, from the Thirty Years' War and to the Hungarian Uprising and the Austro-Prussian War, along with the Napoleonic and Turkish Wars to the Great War and WWII. The best part of it was the display of the car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife was shot in, as well as his blood-stained coat and the couch on which he bled to death on. It is so interesting how WWI was escalated by the event of the assassination of the Archduke by the Black Hand organization. There were many interesting weapons on displays, such as a huge canon that was almost as big as the room. There were about 20 different kinds of tanks, an airplane, part of a submarine and even a hot air balloon. There were many propaganda posters and Nazi paraphernalia, even a uniform of a Jewish prisoner. They even had a little play going on about medieval sword fighting. It was fun to watch. Afterwards we went to a place called Zu den Zwei Liesln. It as a little restaurant where they had served politicians and celeberties. We had a schnitzel that was Turkey Cordon on Bleu. It was delicious. The people that worked there were very nice and friendly. On the way back to the subway I saw a man chasing a dog. The man said something in German and the dog turned his head and the dog looked back but kept on running. I also saw a pretty red golden retriever that had a muzzle over its nose. Poor thing. We came back to our dorms and I took a nice long nap, even though that wasn't the plan. My suite-mate is okay. We get along good enough for now. I did all the dishes last night(yeah I know I never do it at home because I don't like doing the dishes)and she has done nothing yet, while her stuff lays all over the place and she has the TV blasting. Things will get better, it's always good to hope for the best. Tomorrow we start school, which I can't wait to go back to the classroom. We are suppose to visit St. Stephen's Cathedral, in which there are catacombs that contain the skeletons of several thousands victims of the last Viennese plague in the 18th century....ooohhh that sounds exciting!! I haven't seen St. Stephen's Cathedral yet, except part of the roof tile, which is in that Chevron pattern. I can't wait to see it and explore it. It's going to be an exciting month. Becoming acquainted with Austria has been interesting. Everything is so different here, even the little things such as the light switches, the windows and the cross walk lights. Back in home, the "hand" will flash for ten seconds. Here the "person" will flash in green once, and then turn to a solid red. Well it is time to do some actually studying. Until next time...