Birthday Weekend

The weekend after my birthday I had the opportunity to spend the whole weekend with my best friend here in Austria, Ana. Friday night we just had a typical girly sleepover party that included lots of pizza, ice cream, laughing etc.. The next day we went into the city to meet the sister Missionaries for lunch. Sister Chun and Sister Achiu have been like substitute grandmas for Ana and me during our time here away from our families. :) After our delicious chinese meal, Ana surprised me with a birthday cake so we took it back to the empty institute center where we had a mini birthday party complete with cake, pictures, and card games. :) After a couple of fun-filled hours of getting our butts kicked in every game by Sister Achiu, Ana and I went on to do something we've wanted to do since we got here... ride the famous Prater Ferris Wheel! Prater is a huge tourist attraction and from the top you can look out and see a breathtaking view of the entire city of Vienna. Then a little later we headed to another part of the city to visit the Schoenbrunn gardens. Shoenbrunn was the first major thing that I saw when I came to Vienna, but I didn't remember it very well because I was super tired the first time. So it was good to finally go back and really enjoy the beauty of it... just before my 1-year anniversary with the city. :) Then for a good ending to the weekend, we went back to Ana's for more junk-food and laughs that kept us up for most of the night.

Gloriette: 12th century French for "little glory"

Built in 1775, it stands up on a hill behind the Schoenbrunn palace as a focal point and lookout point for the gardens. Franz Joseph I used it as a dining hall, festival hall, and breakfast room. Today the dining area is a cafe. In the 2nd world war, the Gloriette was destroyed but was completely restored by 1947.

Schönbrunn palace and a very small portion of the gardens...all of the gardens together are like a big beautiful forest thats probably bigger than the whole town of Hamilton.

Schönbrunn: "beautiful spring"

The palace is a former imperial summer residence and is one of Vienna's most important cultural monuments. In its early history, the area was used as a hunting lodge but after being destroyed by the turks, Leopold I asked Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach to design a grand Baroque residence in 1965 but was only completed after Maria Theresa hired Nikolaus Pacassi to finish the project. Within the gardens there are fountains, an orangery, a public swimming pool, and even a zoo... among many other things.

Prater

View from Prater

Ana and Me

Sister Chun

The second time blowing out the candles... because they forgot to take a picture the first time.

Sister Achiu

Zwanzigsten Geburtstag

Recently I was able to celebrate a day that I have been looking forward to since the day I turned thirTEEN and that seemed like it would never come after I turned nineTEEN... As of the twentieth of May 2010, I -Nicole Lynn Gwynn- am OFFICIALLY no longer a lousy, no-good, lazy, boring TEENAGER!!!! (I know that technically you become an adult at age eighteen... but who are we kidding... if you're age still has the word 'teen' in it, then you're still a teen!)

I knew that my 20th birthday would be a good one not only because I would no longer be a teenager, but also because I'm a 'numbers' girl. Meaning, that I pay very close attention to numbers and I like it when they are nice and even and round.... To demonstrate... I had my 20th birthday on the 20th day of the month in the year 2010... nice, round, even numbers. :) And as an added bonus, May is the 5th month, and as it happens 5 divides evenly into those numbers. Nerdy? Dorky? Slightly pathetic? Yes, I know... but I am what I am. ;)

My day actually started with a smidgeon of dread due to the fact that I just wasn't completely sure what the day was going to be like with THIS family, and without MY family. But it quickly wore off when I remembered how excited the kids had been for months! It seems like for the last 6 months the kids have asked me the same two questions at least once a week. Question #1: Wen is yous birfdy? and Question #2: Will you bee stil miff us? After answering they would get so excited that they were going to be able to celebrate my birthday with me. They spent the entire week before my birthday preparing and making all sorts of presents for me. Every time I walked into a room, I would hear Fanny shout, "NO NEECOL YOU DON'T CAN LOOK!! CLOSE YOU EYES FAST!" So when the day finally came they could hardly stand it. When Isabelle picked the kids up from kindergarten, they barely made it home before Fanny started shouting my name and sprinting towards my room to inform me that it was my birthday. (she was a very proud messenger, who by the way, fully expected me to be surprised to hear that it was my birthday) Originally we were going to wait until after lunch for them to give their presents to me, but the second Flora and Timon stepped through the door after school, they ambushed me. They all huddled around me, each with their own presents, fighting over who got to give theirs first and squirming and wiggling with excitement (which tends to make me nervous because in a house with little kids, 9 out of 10 times, squirming and wiggling means its time to sprint to the toilet). Fanny and Christoph presented theirs together in a very large bag. Inside I found tons of paper crafts including, drawings (or in Christoph's case, scribblings), heart cut-outs, 30 or so perler-bead crafts, and about a 100 other things that I honestly don't know how to describe. After sifting through it all for what seemed like 30 minutes, Fanny informed me that it was 'mostly' from her... she's not one for sibling rivalry or anything... Shortly after, Flora presented her gift which was basically the same thing, just slightly less over kill and much better crafted. Having gotten to know these kids very well, I had expected all the crafts, but what I wasn't expecting, was that the rest of the family had gotten me two puzzles and a 150 euros extra for the week!! I know most people are focusing on the extra cash, but since we've already established that I'm a nerdy dork I'll just say it, I LOVE the puzzles!! One of them is a 1000 pc. puzzle with pictures of major sites in Vienna. Which was perfect because I've started to collect puzzles... one of every city or place I go to. The other was also perfect because it is a 2000 pc. puzzle of a world map, and we all know how much I love geography. :)

The rest of the day went on like any other day except for two things I guess. One being that Fanny had made me a crown, and Flora had decorated a hair clip with paper flowers, both of with I HAD to wear the WHOLE day. :) The other being the cake... Isabelle made me a delicious yellow cake from scratch with amazing chocolate mousse frosting. She put one of those candles on it that just shoots like a small firework until it burns out (which never fails to freak poor little Christoph out) while most of them sang 'Happy Birthday to you', and Christoph sang his own version of 'Happeeee toooo yooouuu!'

the puzzles :)

the perler bead crafts... most of which I actually helped Christoph make...

a very odd, but sweet, flower thing that Flora made me

all the paper crafts piled on my floor :)

by the way... I am aware of all the typos... I spell it the way the kids say it

Prague

The city of Prague is so beautiful and is filled with history. The history of the city really begins with the castle which was founded by Prince Borivoj way back in the 9th century. Under Charles IV, in the middle ages, Prague was considered the crossroads of Europe which helped it to grow into a magnificent city, bigger than Paris or London at the time. Many of the Baroque palaces and gardens throughout the city were built after the Austrian Habsburgs took over in the 16th century.

Prague is situated right on the Vltava River in central Bohemia (a historical region in Central Europe). For over 1100 years, Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic capital of the Czech state. During the gothic and renaissance eras, it was the permanent seat of two holy roman emperors and was therefore the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.

Presently there are about 1.3 million people living within the city. Since 1992, when Prague became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it has been one of the most popular cities to visit in Europe. About 4.1 million international visitors come to Prague every year.

Prague Castle:

At about 570 meters long, and an average 130 meters wide, it is one of the biggest castles in the world. Despite periodic fires and invasions, the castle has retained many churches, chapels, halls and towers from every period of its history. It's history first began in the 9th century around 870 when it was founded by Prince Borivoj. Two of the major sites within the castle, Basilica of Saint George, and basilica of St. Vitus were founded in the first part of the 10th century. The Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia have all had their offices here at Prague Castle. Today the President of the Czech Republic still has his office here.

St. Vitus Cathedral:

Located within Prague Castle, this cathedral is Roman Catholic and is the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. The church was founded by Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia in 925 who named it St. Vitus because he had acquired a holy relic, the arm of St. Vitus, from Emperor Henry I. The church has undergone a few reconstructions over the centuries but the gothic cathedral that you see today was founded on the 21st of November in 1344 when the Prague bishopric was raised to an archbishopric

Charles Bridge:

Charles Bridge (Karluv Most) is one of the most popular sites in Prague and stretches across the Vltava River to connect the Old Town the the Little Quarter. The bridge was commissioned by Charles IV in 1357 after the Judith Bridge was ruined by floods. At one time the bridge took 4 carriages side by side but now it is completely pedestrianized. Originally the bridge was only decorated by a simple wooden cross. But the first of many statues, the statue of St. John Nepomuk was added in 1683. And now each side of the bridge is lined with many Baroque statues. Having displeased the king, a vicar general by the name of Jan Nepomucky was arrested in 1393 by Wenceslas IV, killed under torture and then thrown into the water from this very bridge. At the Little Quarter end of the bridge there are two Bridge towers. The shorter of the two is what remains of the original Judith Bridge.

Prague Castle in the background

sideways picture of me on one end of Charles Bridge

St. Vitus Cathedral (within the castle grounds)

Guards at the castle :)

Charles Bridge

Czechin out Prague

So far, of all the quick trips I've taken, this was the most relaxing of them all. We didn't have to be on a train all night like we did in Venice, we didn't almost get kicked off the train like we did in Budapest, and we found our hostel much easier than I did in Munich! So basically it's a pretty boring story to tell. ;) But I'll tell it anyway...

I have wanted to go to Prague for SOOO long and it has been on the top of my to-do list since I got here. And this weekend... I was finally able to czech it out! Our adventure started on Friday night when we got on the 18:33 train to Prague. We were super excited that the train wasn't full so we could have our own compartment. But sure enough, as always, after the first stop our space was invaded. Two young guys, speaking a language I didn't understand, came in making our compartment much smaller. Between running into two people from Powell in Venice and seeing my cousin Chris in Germany, I've been hogging all the 'small-world' experiences and apparently it was my friend Ana's turn to have one. The two guys were speaking her mother language and came from her home country... Mexico. They were super nice and really fun to talk to. They even helped us out when we got to Prague a little after 23:00, by buying our public transportation tickets for us because we didn't have change and nothing was open. After that we said good-bye so that we could search for our hostel and they could search for the place they were staying. They are a part of some thing Troy told me about once called "couch surfing." Which basically is this program where they go online to this website and say "hey I'm coming to Prague! anybody have a couch I can sleep on?" and then wait for someone to respond and offer you a bed for a couple nights. Sounds pretty risky to me but apparently it's been working for them for almost a month! Anyways, our hostel was really easy to find and when we got there I discovered that it was probably the nicest hostel I've ever stayed at. I dare say it was even a bit nicer than some hotels I've stayed in! I loved it!! After a wonderful nights sleep in our clean and comfortable hostel we woke up the next morning ready to begin our trek through the beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic. Our hostel was kind of on the outskirts of the city so it took us a while to walk to the main part of the city where all the major sites are. (Just so we're clear and everyone knows... I am a map-reading fool! and on top of that I definitely have part of dad's sense of direction... I have yet to get lost and have been able to find my way splendidly around every city! ... knock on wood) The first big thing that we saw was Prague Castle. It sits up on a hill so it can be seen from anywhere in the city. It was absolutely marvelous! Another awesome site that I've always wanted to see and actually have a picture of on my wall at home, was Charles Bridge. It was so cool! But as always I'll give details about each site in the other post.

Other than the fact that we were in PRAGUE... nothing too exciting happened. We just spent the day wandering the city and enjoying a little Czech atmosphere and culture. Although I must say I did not enjoy the language. We always complain about german being such an ugly language but I actually miss german anytime I go somewhere else (besides Italy). But maybe that's just because I understand it. :) Oh yeah and we did bump into our mexican friends from the train once too so that was pretty fun. After walking about 15,000 steps (according to a step counter thingy) it was time to go back to Vienna. After every trip, no matter how amazing the place was, I'm always so excited to get back to Vienna. Vienna has really become my (temporary) home this last year and I just love it!

Hundertwasser

The Hundertwasser Haus is a pretty big tourist attraction here in Vienna. So naturally I figured I should go see it at some point. I tried to go see it months ago, but it is located in a really random spot and my patience usually ran out before I found it. Then a couple months ago, my friend Kar and I finally found it, but unfortunately it was dark by the time we got there so we weren't able to get a decent picture. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I stopped being lazy and decided to go find my way back in the daylight. And here it is... the very famous Hundertwasser Haus...

Sorry it's sideways... I couldn't get it to change

The house was built by a famous Austrian artist by the name of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. It was built between the years of 1983 and 1986. Hundertwasser's wish was to protest against what he thought to be soulless modern architecture. The house was built with almost no straight lines making it an architectural wonder. The floors are uneven, the roof is toped with dirt and grass, and there are large trees growing from inside the rooms with limbs extending out the windows. There are a total of 250 trees and bushes inside. Within the whole house, there are 52 apartments, 4 offices, 16 private terraces and 3 communal terraces. Friedensreich Hundertwasser refused to take payment for the design, stating that it was worth it to prevent something ugly from going up in its place. (I'd really hate to see what his definition of 'ugly' is!!)

Oh yeah... and people actually live there...