The Danube River in the Fall

The Danube River ("Donau" in German) runs through Vienna, and I pass over it every single day on the train on my way to school.  It's a personal highlight that I look forward to each morning, as the sun's rising.

A major regret I have is of NOT going on a walk or bike ride or anything along it when I first arrived in Austria, back when the sun was shining and there were tons of sailboats on the sparkling water.

I'm glad I took advantage of the weather yesterday to visit the river after my little jaunt to Mexikoplatz, b/c the weather today has been miserable and formidable.  Seriously.  It's 8:00 at night and the wind is howling, and I can feel a draft through my living room window.  (But I'm NOT complaining!)

Even though the sun wasn't out, the photos didn't turn out too dark.

General view from the train platform

Left and right:  Fall trees and closed docks and restaurants

Background:  the Alps!

I don't know what the yellow things are, but they probably have something to do with ferries.

I was just one train stop away from the cathedral, which you can see in the background.

I just haven't gotten enough of the Fall yet!  I'm cherishing all of the colors every day!

Before the weather became too cold, this little restaurant/bar was HOPPIN at night.  You could always hear music and see Christmas lights there at night.  (No, I've never been there.)

Graffiti truth  :-P

Creepy trash bin!

Vienna St. Francis of Assisi Church

Yesterday was Austria's Independence Day.

To summarize what that means, you can read this:  "After World War II (1939-45), the four allied powers 

(the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) divided Austria and Vienna into four occupation zones, with an Allied Council for Austria assuming authority over matters affecting the whole country. In 1955, these four powers and the Republic of Austria signed the Austrian State Treaty, which ended the occupation and declared Austria to be a free, independent, and neutral state."  (Taken from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3165.htm, where you can read more details.  If you do, then here's a random side note for you:  The Habsburgs that are mentioned there, as the former imperial family, has two descendants that go to our school, and I teach one of them!)

Anyways, I celebrated by sleeping in long and hard (LONG WEEK), grading, and exploring a bit around the city.

I set off in search of a cathedral in an area known as Mexikoplatz to find a huge cathedral I'd seen from the highway a few months ago.

I got the following information from http://www.wienvienna.com/vienna-st-francis-of-assisi-church-picture/:

Vienna St. Francis of Assisi Church is located in the south-eastern part of Mexikoplatz (Mexico Square – the church also used to be called Mexikokirche in the past).  Like many other cities, Vienna also has a church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, who is calledHeiliger Franz von Assisi in the German language. The church is one of the most beautiful churches in Vienna and from a distance it looks more like a fairytale castle. Alternative name for the church is Kaiser-Jubiläums-Kirche (Emperor’s Anniversary Church), as it was built on the occasion of Emperor Franz Josef I.’s 50th anniversary on the Austro-Hungarian throne (the anniversary was in 1898, the church was built between the years 1898 and 1910).

"Mexikoplatz" means "Mexico place", but I have no idea how it got its name, and I can't find anything online about it, so...sorry!

ISN'T IT HUGE??!?

It says, "Mexico was, in March 1938, the only nation that, prior to the violent anschluss with the Nationalist-Socialist German Empire, registered an official protest. In commemoration of this act, the city of Vienna has given this square the name Mexico Square."

Fall Festival 2012 :)

It's FALL BREAK!!!

Well, not really.  Our kids have a little over a week off of school, beginning yesterday, which was a holiday - Austria's Independence Day.  We teachers and staff also had that day off, but next Monday and Tuesday are Professional Development days for us, and THEN we have the rest of the week off...kinda...but I'll talk about that in a later blog post.

To kick off a much - needed holiday break, our school hosted a night of family fun called the Fall Festival.

It really was a TON of fun, and it was so great to see kids and parents interacting with each other.  :)

These were the bilingual advertisements.

(I love living in a bilingual world!)

I signed up to man the chocolate game because I was under the assumption it was an eating contest and that I would win.  Then I watched Amanda (El. Ed. principal) demonstrate.

I was wrong.

Here's how it works:

You and a partner shut your eyes, try to dip a marshmallow in chocolate and then try to feed it to your partner.  Hence, the name Chocolate Mess.

Even though I'm not a fan of marshmallows, I had fun showing the kids how to do it...

...AND I had fun getting Sarah all gooey!

Here are more pics from the night.

I really wanted a photo w/ Jessica b/c of her awesome sweater.  (Hint: sarcasm!)

:)

Meet Sarah.

I mentioned her briefly in an August post but not since then, mainly b/c she and I haven't gotten to hang out much yet.  She's soooo funny and random, so we get along very well!

Can you tell she's an elementary teacher?  She made her costume all by herself and in 30 minutes.  She was showing it off all nightlong.

The candy fishing game

The candy fish is...Mallory!

She may or may not have eaten a half a bag of candy while performing her duties...*ahem*

There were a few of these trees throughout the school that the teachers made at the end of the school day on Thursday.  This particular tree didn't last long, as some little boys tried to climb it and ended up falling down the steps.  Luckily, the little boys were ok, but the tree was completely histoire.

Coming up is the the senior pancake breakfast!  

(Isn't this adorable?  I especially love the top right corner!  :-P  )

I hope to make it and then go to the Christmas markets which - I think - open that weekend.

Money, money, money...

Today, I went to the ATM and realized I haven't yet shown you what Euros look like.  Oops!

The bills are very colorful and depict architecture here.

Currently, the exchange rate is 1 Euro = $1.30.

Also, it is surprisingly easy to break a 100 Euro bill here.  I used one to buy 2 cans of Sprite from the store this morning, because I had a sick day, and the cashiers never act like it's a problem to give you 97 Euros back.  That's super handy.

(There's also a 5 Euro bill, but I don't have one in my wallet right now.)

This may look like a small pile of change, but it's a HEAVY pile of change!

It's also equal to about 20ish Euros = $26ish!

My camera's not super great, but, left to right, we have:

a 20 cent coin

a 5 cent coin

a 2 cent coin

and a 1 cent coin.

The right 2 coins are so light that they feel like play money or something!

These are the big guys!  (a.k.a.  The heavy coins)

On the left is a 2 Euro coin and on the right is a 1 Euro coin.

City life randomness

I have good news and bad news:

Good - I've been taking lots of photos of city life here.

Bad - I've been forgetting to share them with you on a consistent basis.

Therefore, this mezcla of photos is a bit random.

Enjoy!

*******

I found this cute old man playing the accordion outside a train station.  He let me take his photo after I gave him money.  (His playing was nice, too - not obnoxious!)

Back in September, I had to take a day off of school because I was burned out.  I was struggling with balancing too many things and having a rough time with culture shock, so I took a Thursday off to rest.

Ironically, I got a message from one of my aunts named Rowena, who said she and my uncle Jim would be passing through Vienna on that day.  To make a long story short, we were able to meet up for a few hours.

It was seriously ironic; I PROMISE it wasn't planned in advance!

On my way to find them, I had an adventuresome trek getting to their arrival point.

It involved me trekking along the Danube River...

...ducking under bridges...

...enjoying the beautiful, Fall trees...

(Is this a castle or a church at the top?)

...and walking under yet another bridge.  (I was beginning to feel like a troll.)

We found each other!  Yay!  :)

I hopped on their tour bus and got my first official (and free!) city tour.  It was interesting, but it passed through many places where I've already been, so I didn't see too many new sights, but, oh well.

This is a close-up view of a balcony on the Neue Burg, where Hitler announced an "Anschluss" between Austria and Germany.  He stood behind the railing, right above the red banner.

In front of the Imperial Palace again

This statue is to honor the victims of the Black Plague in 1713.

Typical city street

(This one is around the corner from where I live.)

Flower shops are everywhere.  Austrians sure love their flowers!

Two bread stores next to each other

Why, I have no idea, but Austrians definitely love their bread, too!

I've never eaten here, but I get a kick out of its name.  :)

I randomly found this basket market one night with my friend, Sarah.

So cute!