Vienna III: Van Geest Edition

   I have been avoiding blogging all of this because every time I sit down at my computer I feel guilty for not working on my history paper... but that is in the final stages, so here is the week's news from Graz in summary.
   Monday afternoon I jumped on a train to go meet two very special girls who were passing through Austria on their way from Prague to Venice. Erika was my roommate for a year and a half, but studied abroad my last semester at Calvin. She and her sister Marijke are currently in the middle of a month backpacking around Europe. Wien Meidlung train station was the first time we had seen each other in two and a half years. There was much screaming and hugging :) (click Read More)

   We popped on the U-bahn and started our walking tour of downtown at the Dom, enjoyed some famous Austrian white wine at a café, and then jumped on a subway to Hostel Hütteldorf. We had been upgraded to a private room with en-suite bath. Sweet! Breakfast was included in our stay so we fueled up at the hostel the next morning, then trekked back to the U-bahn for a day packed full of sightseeing.

Neumarkt - Karlskirche - Schwarzenbergplatz - Belvedere - Kärntner Ring *Vienna coffee stop!* - Albertina (we highly recommend the Monet to Picasso exhibition) - Heldenplatz - Volksgarten *stop to smell the roses* - lunch at a park café - Parliament - Innenstadt - Prater...
I had to catch at train back to Graz to be back for a class Wednesday morning. Erika and Marijke decided to stay an extra night in Vienna and visited Schönbrunn and the Tiergarten, and then arrived in Graz in the evening. We had a gluten-free Steirisch/Deutsch dinner with Südsteirisch Welchriesling and did three loads of laundry before crashing falling asleep talking about friends and good times ... just like old times in our bunk beds :)

   A complete fluke, but Thursday was Ascension Day and Graz was even quieter than a Sunday. We hiked all around town and hit the most important spots: stadtpark, Schloßburg, Murinsel, Hauptplatz... we finally ended up having lunch at Glöcklbräu, where the Glockenspiel did it's 3:00 display while we were in the middle of a rather good lunch. Marijke discovered the joys of Käsespätzle, Krautsalat, Kürbiskernöl, and Radler. I realized that, with the potato pancakes for breakfast, Erika and Marijke had probably just had more german food in 24 hours than they normally eat in a year.
I still can't believe that they were actually here. The three days went by so fast that they feel like a huge blur. That is about the pace of life right now. I realized a little while ago that there were only 8 weeks left until I flew home. Last night Ruth, Petra and I went to see the King's Speech. Hanging out in Petra's flat with our Turkish friends (Mediha had cooked- lessons to come!), we realized there was only one month left in Graz. And when I leave, so will they. Coming back to Graz will never be the same.