A 24 hour whirlwind. Graz in a Day!

These are images from the beginning of my travels. And the last image is near the end of my journey. I stayed almost exactly 24 hours in Graz and some how saw all (except one though I did pass it) 34 tourist sights listed in the tourist travel brochure. Best part of Graz good food and Austrian Schnaps (pear flavored and only drank at the end of a large meal).

Graz in a Day!

Graz, a mix of old style culture and modern art. Had coffee in an open sea shell on the river Mur, ate schnitzel prepared with pumpkin crust and nuts, and drank beer, schnaps, peppermint tea, and a few Colas. Because it was a whirlwind I'll let the photos say everything. Though I do need to thank Sonja for being such a great travel partner and tourist guide (even if it was the first time you had been to the city too).

Bavaria and it's Marvels

The statue of dragons being killed is a common motif in the Bavaria region. This is below the famous Glockenspiel (a clock with twirling figures at the Rathaus--city hall.

Sometimes you see statues and wonder why would anyone make that. With this one, I thought how could anyone make that. It's huge and towers over Theresienwiese (a park where Oktoberfest is held).

Oh how long the run must have been for poor Cinderella when she left her shoe at the castle! I told myself I wanted to see this castle and I am so happy that I did. It is exactly what you envision a castle to be like when you're a kid.

The Bavarian Alps are the majestic view given from Neuschwanstein.

A Princess?...Me? oh lets face it, I have always thought myself to be a princess. I try not to act like the stereotypical ones of today, but I still believe I deserve to be treated like a princess. And I am waiting to meet a boy that abliges. This wonderful castle is filled with rooms that attempt to make Wagner's music compositions come to life.

It's been a while since I have written on my blog. And I have to say it has been a while since I have been in Bavaria, but I am still enjoying the memory of the fairy tale land I traveled. Munich was a big city and seemed mixed with the land of Hansel and Gretel and that of modern commercialism. But my journeys there led me to a nice little VISA that makes me legal to study in Austria. Go figure.
Neuschwanstein castle was the highlight of my trip to Bavaria, along with the train ride there: seeing the Austrian Alps up close and personal, and also randomly coming across a beautiful deer in the gardens of Nymphenburg Palace.
Decided on this trip that the only reason nude beaches continue is due to men attempting to keep the tradition going. Walking in the English Garden was a bit of a shock. And I think those living in California and anywhere where surfing is a common practice may find it strange to see a bunch of tourists staring at a group of surfers riding one wave on a river. Watched another clock go round, and little figures turn for 10 minutes, and decided that it is so strange to think that clocks are a tourist attraction. You wait to see time pass you by. I thought that was why you traveled, because you are sick of seeing time pass you by. But I was one of the on lookers and some how managed to take about twenty photos of a clock.
The beer (favorite the Augustiener Dunkel) was amazing along with WeiB Wurst with mustard and a heavy pretzel.
Felt I traveled Bavaria right. Though I came back to Austria a bit tired of traveling.

Future Endeavors

This is an old photo, but I feel it represents the mood I am in today. I call it HorrorD. But really I like how my head seems to be floating in the air. This is how it has been today, trying to figure out my future plans and such.


So here I am, on a different continent, and I have to register for classes. This trip has been wonderful, but it is definitely making me think of what I want to do when I get back to Salt Lake City. I know I will be finishing my studies (and that will take me a year), but then what? Do I go back to my job when I get back to Salt Lake? Of course I do, but do I try to take on a second job within my field of study? Or should I just sell all my belongings and keep traveling around the world? It makes a person think what they want their life to be, when they are living a dream. So here are some of my goals, desires, or lets just call them dreams.

When I get back home I want to.......
Focus on the studies of Children's literature, children's folklore, and anything to do in between.
Work with children, teaching them about literature and the enjoyment of reading.
Finish the book Dawnette and I have been working on.
Finish the book I have for five years been working on.
Look into how to work for the Humanities Council.
Do so many things!

How is it that a person is supposed to choose one. I mean, our society has always used the system that one goes to school and then gets a job in a field they are supposed to stay in for the rest of their life. But what if you want to do many things? I want to do many things! I want to travel, write, teach, volunteer, relax, read, and do so much more. So if anyone knows the winning numbers to the lottery, please let me know. O.k so that is my rant and rave for the day. Hope everyone is doing well back home. I will be back before I know it which is good and bad all at the same time.

Pictures Vienna, Wien, ViVi!

Here is most of the Innsbruck to Vienna group. A few are missing, but then again it was hard to keep all of us together in one location.

So I know this looks a bit strange. But after very late nights of Texas Hold'm Poker sometimes random men just end up in a girls bed. I at least knew this guy, and he was a gentlemen. So George, thanks! I haven't had a good cuddle fest for awhile.

Hayley, Me, and Jo (Helen behind the camera)

All these photos were taken by Helen, and I took them off her facebook page. Well, have fun all. Hope you like the photos.

Vienna, Wien, or ViVi: Whatever you call it, it's still the capital of Austria

Riesenrad in Prater

Me on a Ferris Wheel. Can you tell I'm a bit scared of heights?

The crip of Maria Theresa and her husband Franz Stephan: This is one of my favorite photos so far taken on this trip.

How many pictures of a clock can a person take. But with this one I would like you to notice the implication of time by the little cherub on one side of the clock and then a skeleton holding an hour glass on the opposite side. My folklore classes are coming in handy on this voyage across the seas.

Now this is my favorite photo. I got it by chance. But I love the faces of horses. Beautiful creatures.

So everywhere I have gone in Austria, I have loved. I would recommend this country to anyone traveling around. This trip was an experience for me. Traveling around with 11 people is never an easy experience, and having traveled so much by myself recently it was an endeavor in itself to attempt to go with the flow. And for those of you who know me back home, this is not one of my top qualities.
Though I wish I could have seen more, we actually went to many of the biggest tourist attractions. Nina's apartment was right behind Stephansdom and smack dab in the center of the city. The first night was a visit to the fun park Prater, where I won an American teddy bear and named him Prater in memory of the trip. The next day was 11 people attempting to be compatible traveling companions and failing miserably. The next day brought a division in the group where we all met together at the wonderful Schloss Schonnbrunn (mind you the o is supposed to have an umlat). I wish I would have had longer in this beautiful location, but as it was I only had time to get lost in a maze then finally find the center, and then go through a labyrinth.
The train ride home was long, and I have to say this trip seemed to take the most out of me. I have been tired ever since. But today I had a bit more pep in my step when I wandered into a small bookstore in Innsbruck. I loved it. Books broke-up by their author's nationality not type. I wandered the books, seeing which author's where Austrian, American, English, or Russian. And then of course I was taken away from this wondering by the children's book section. And I found the best purchase I have made since I have been in Innsbruck. It is a beautiful book, hard back, and awarded the 2005 most beautiful book in Austria (apparently the only children's book award they give--this is according to the bookseller at the shop), and it is a book of local Tirol fairy tales.
It is funny that my face and whole being becomes so excited about these stories. I felt as if I had found a treasure. Mind you the text is in German, but I am determined to learn this language. Even if that means I need to continue classes back home (which I think I will be doing at Westminster when I get back). SO, I walked the streets of Innsbruck today, enjoying listening to Harry Potter by audio and getting a nice meal, with a cute waiter who was nice enough to hit on me the whole way through the meal. I would recommend to anyone traveling to Austria to try the TopfenKnodel, it's like a compact cheese cake, but better because you're in Austria when you're eating it. Well, this has become a novel, and one of my listed "Things to do" today was to work on my own novel. So this is bye for now. It seems that Sunday takes me to Liechtenstein.