Graz!

On Christmas Eve, my dad and I drove from Vienna to Graz in our rental van while the rest of the family took the train. I am absolutely in love with the train ride between those two cities, with the snowy hills rising up around you as you travel through little countryside villages. I think it's beyond wonderful, so I convinced them all they had to do it, too. After Dad and I picked the crew up from the train station (conveniently right around the corner from my flat), we enjoyed a pretty low-key evening at my place. I think the jet-lag was starting to hit everyone. My parents went to their hotel on the other side of town and Randy and Jonathan stayed at my place to rest while the girls went to midnight mass at the Catholic cathedral in town. Way cool. Christmas Day was also very low-key and relaxed (the way it should be, I think), and we all just lounged around and then cooked when the time came. Before my family got here, I bought a cute little Christmas tree at the closest place to my flat I could find. Unfortunately, it was still about a 40-minute walk and I had to carry the thing the whole way. It was worth it, though. We decorated it "Austrian style" with real candles instead of electric lights and chocolates as ornaments. Pretty much everything was closed the next day in Graz, but we walked around the city anyways and were able to visit the armoury (explained below), which was extremely interesting. We were all a little disappointed in the lack of things we were able to do during our time in Graz, so we actually came back and stayed for a couple more days after we left Venice. The second time around we got to do a little shopping (ok, maybe a lot...), ate some delicious food, and went to the Kunsthaus, the modern art museum which is ridiculously interesting. Definitely need to go back there. I honestly think Graz is my favorite city in Europe so far. Granted, I've spent four months here and I've only spent a few days in all the other cities. I really think it's the perfect size, though...there aren't many tourists (if any), the huge student population gives it a lot of "life", it has as many or more cultural amenities than other more famous cities of its size (like Salzburg), it's safe, and it's totally walkable and/or bikeable. Yeah, I like it a lot.

Pretty sky on the way from Vienna to Graz.

Sarah, Meredith, and I decided to experience a traditional Christmas Eve service at the big Catholic cathedral in Graz (the Dom). It's a beautiful building normally and it was decked out even more for Christmas. They had a huge choir and a bishop was there to conduct the service. It was so fascinating to sing hymns in German...we really wanted to stay for Stille Nacht (Silent Night), but it was the last hymn and that would have meant staying for the sermon and communion for about 23987 people. It was pretty unforgettable, though. Being here has made me fall in love with just the traditions of Catholicism.

Christmas dinner! Not quite the same as it is in Brentwood in our dining room, but we made it work. Our main dish was Gebackenes Karpfen, which is an Austrian tradition according to the Internet, but is really a German tradition according to my Austrian professor. Hmm. Anyways, it is basically just carp fillets rolled in a mixture of flour, eggs, and bread crumbs and then pan-seared. It tasted a lot yummier when we ordered it at a restaurant than when we made it ourselves. Oh well, the rest of the food was excellent! I think it was the first year my parents didn't really do anything in terms of preparation--it was the least we could do to thank them for our European excursion. I enjoyed getting to feel like a "grown-up" (after years at the kids' table), and hopefully they enjoyed a break from the usual madness. Below is a photo of our cute little Christmas tree. I know, he looks wimpy...I had to buy that one, though, 'cause I was afraid no one else would want him.

In Austria, they sell wipes in addition to toilet paper. Just like baby wipes, but for adults. So naturally, I had to get some for Sarah and Randy as a housewarming gift...

My parents got me a NYT crossword puzzle desk calendar! Word. (No pun intended.)

The yummiest apfelstruedel I've ever had, made by Yours Truly. I know, it looks like vomit...but it was good, I promise.

Post-Christmas dinner was really just an extravaganza of Wallus family antics. Case in point: Randy and Meredith doing some sort of ridiculous dance.

We spent the day after Christmas strolling around Graz, even though it was really cold and nothing was open. We climbed up all 250 of those steps (built by Russian prisoners) to the Uhrturm and enjoyed some nice views of Graz from the top.

The Uhrturm (clocktower) in Winter. It's not as pretty as it looks when the flowers are in bloom, but I still think it looks cool. I love Graz. Have I mentioned that yet?

I really like this tree.

Posing in front of the mini-Uhrturm, since we couldn't all fit in front of the big one. My hair looks like a housewife's from the 1950's.

Pretty much the only museum open the day after Christmas was the armoury, which actually has the largest collection in all of Europe. It's huge--four floors, and the armour and weaponry gets more advanced with each floor. Our tour guide was hilarious and kept using bad German-to-English translations and saying things like, "In former days...", "Or so...". Guess you had to be there, but he was a gem. I think the armoury is one of my new favorite places in Graz.

Randy trying on a helmet

Very advanced armor. Note the special protection between the legs. Apparently, Maria Theresa toured the Graz armoury at some point during her reign and decided that these were much too vulgar to be on display, so they were all removed. Luckily, someone had hidden this specific piece, which is the only one they have in the armoury today.

Horse armor. One of only four known sets left in the world.

Sue Wallus: Ambassador to the Future

My parents outside of the Dom (cathedral). Aren't they cute?

Sarah and Randy (looking very small) in an alleyway lit with Christmas lights.

Second half of the family vacation...

My family left yesterday after our two-week whirwind tour of Europe and I miss them terribly. I'm in the process of posting pictures/blogs about what we did, but I've only made it halfway through (starting from the end and working my way backwards). It's taking forever, so I had to take a break, but keep checking back! More will be here soon. (I also still have to post pictures from my trips to Prague and Vienna with my friends/classmates).

Salzburg!

Our third and last city to visit in Austria was Salzburg. We only stayed for a couple of days, but it's a small town and that seemed to be a good length of time to experience the city. The drive from Graz to Salzburg was breathtaking as we drove through the Alps, but once we got into Salzburg it became somewhat hellish. It took us forever to find our hotel...we knew exactly where it was, so we kept driving around in the same place. Finally, Sarah asked some lady on the street for directions, and it turns out the hotel had changed its ownership in November and had a new name. Unfortunately, no one told us. After we got settled in, we walked around the city and enjoyed the Christmas decorations, quaint cobblestone alleyways, and stores filled with handcarved wooden chests, jewelry boxes, christmas tree ornaments, etc. After yet another typical Austrian meal, we went to bed early so we could get up and go ski the next day! My parents stayed and did a tour of Salzburg and nearby Mondsee while the rest of us went to a ski resort called Kitzbühel (probably spelled completely wrong), about an hour and a half away. It was kind of a disaster. First of all, Sarah and I were both battling some sort of virus/cold. Secondly, I've only been skiing a few times before and it's been six years since the last time. I'm certainly no expert, but I'm not that bad, either. Or so I thought. The blue slopes (easy slopes) at this place are like the double black diamonds at the places I've been to before (granted, that was in Indiana and this was in the Alps). Even the lift ride took about 10 or 15 minutes just to get to the top of the first slope! After a few nervous breakdowns, my sisters and I had to take a lift back down the mountain so we could ski on the little kid slopes. It was definitely a humbling experience to see 5-year-old children ski way better than us. These kids must be born with skis on their feet. Anyways, it was a fun (but exhausting, both physically and mentally) experience...definitely glad we went, though. I'll have to practice a little bit more somewhere else before I go back to a resort like that. After our day of skiing, we joined my parents back at the hotel for some drinks at the bar and a warm meal. We spent the next day walking around some more in the older part of Salzburg, visited Mozart's birth house and the bizarre museum that was inside, shopped at an outdoor market, got some coffee at a cafe, and then headed off for Munich.

Leaving snowy Graz

First sign for Salzburg

Getting into the Alps

again

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They just kept getting bigger. We couldn't stop taking pictures.

I love that you can drive down a typical highway and see a medieval castle out the window at any given moment.

Christmas Lights

Astronaut Lumberjacks

Freeeeeezing! Look at Meredith's hair--it's covered with tiny icicles.

In contrast to my earlier belief, this actually has nothing to do with Catholicism or even Christianity. A few months ago I posted another picture of a cross atop a mountain with a caption saying something about it being Catholic, but some of my Austrian friends told me that people here just have these at the tops of a lot of mountains.

Meredith and Sarah putting their skis back on after warming up in the Gasthaus.

Exhausted after our very long day at the slopes

Lots of snow. In some places it looked to be at least about three or four feet deep.

Man down! That's Sarah in the bottom left-hand corner.

Sacher Tortes are a pretty common dessert in Austria, so we decided to get the real deal from Hotel Sacher. It's basically just very dense chocolate with a layer of apricot compote and a fudgy outer layer. It was really expensive (about 30 Euros for the size we got--about as big as my hand) and not even that yummy. At least we get to keep the pretty box, though.

sarah

Sarah and I unintentionally matching. Note the castle above her head to the left. Also note that we both look like boys in our hats.

The Salzach River. In pretty much every city I've been to in Europe, there is a river that cuts through the downtown, separating the "Old Town" from the newer part.

The house Mozart was born in. He turns 250 this year! It's kind of a big deal here, or at least it was in Salzburg and Munich.

This gets the "Weirdest Window Display Ever Used to Sell Coffee" award.

colorful produce

My mom and her Trinket Dilemma: "To buy, or not to buy?" Luckily, she restrained herself.

special baked goods for New Year's

München!

After a couple of days in Salzburg, we drove to Munich, Germany. My Dad stayed there when he worked for Volkswagen about 25 years ago, but he and my mom hadn't seen it since then. Apparently it's changed a lot. There's a ton of urban sprawl now and it's just sort of industrialized and dirty-looking to me. It doesn't have a lot of the "charm" that I've experienced in Austria (although I might be a little biased). The public transportation is also not at all user-friendly. We did do a lot of really cool things while we were there, though. I think we all ate a little too much traditional German food...everyone but me got their fill of wurst, and I got my fill of the equally unhealthy vegetarian options--fried cheese, potatoes, etc. The beerhalls are so much fun, though. Gaining five pounds is worth it. I feel like I finally made up for my not-so-enjoyable Oktoberfest experience. Besides all the beer-drinking and sausage-eating, we did a lot of walking around in different parts of the city, met people from all over the world, had the best hot chocolate of our lives at a quaint little gourmet chocolate shop, visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial site, experience the crazy European nightlife, strolled through the English Gardens (largest gardens in Europe), and rang in the New Year with an excellent dinner and ensuing festivities in a massive beer hall. Here are the pictures:

We were all ready to leave Salzburg for Munich...but then, oops! Someone left the light on in the van and then it wouldn't start.

Luckily, the hot front desk attendant came to save the day.

First thing we saw in Munich after climbed out of the subway. It's the Rathaus (main government building) in the main plaza...also where the Glockenspiel is. I have another picture of it on my blog from when I was at Oktoberfest.

At the Hofbraeuhaus, the most famous and massive beer hall in Munich. It's like Oktoberfest all-year-round there.

Jonathan and Meredith enjoying a couple of liters...

This one's for Clair. Apparently they have Paper Hat Parties in Munich, too! I got so excited when I saw them.

My 15-year-old sister getting hit on by a 20-year-old German guy named Fabian. Awesome.