To Float on the Wayward Wind

In a sort of absurd turn of fate, it wasn't until Catherine was in Vienna that I got to Schönbrunn, one of the principle attractions of the city. Schönbrunn, the summer residence of the Habsburg family, pales in size, though not in beauty, only to the Hofburg, their winter residence. On the one hand, because of the gardens, grounds, ease of getting there, and pleasantness, it might have been better to visit earlier around late summer or early fall. On the other hand, the beauty of Schönbrunn prepared for Christmas with an immense Christmas tree and a Christmas market that, while not as large as others, had a wonderful quaintness to it. Don't think for a moment the inside didn't compare... That's not to say that the inside of the palace wasn't also gorgeous and informative. We learned a lot about Sisi, since it was her favorite residence. The palace, with over one thousand rooms, certainly wasn't somewhere we could tour in its entirety. The parts w...

Here is a smorgasbord of different places that I wanted to get to that are all largely administered under the auspices of either the National Library or the Imperial palace. Some of them, like the Library, Globe Museum, and Crypts I had the fun of visiting with Catherine. Others I checked off the list right at the end of my time in Vienna, like the Scroll Museum and Silver Collection. National Library: WHOA! The library is as good a place to start as any, however. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visit a library in the style of the one I dream of owning. Let me be clear - I don't think any private citizen could really own a library like the National Library. The grand, immensely vaulted ceiling, two stories of shelving, gilt, and large frescoes are beyond anything imaginable in a private home. Still, the dark wood, the windows, the books with fine leather covers, and the tall shelves were beautiful, and in the style that I love to think of as what a classic libra...

  While I had been to many, many museums by the time November and December rolled around, there were some I hadn't gotten to yet that I really wanted to see, and a few that I had been to already that I was interested in revisiting. Part of the drive for this was also to show Catherine some of the best, most interesting museums in the city. One such museum I went to due not because I had originally intended to, but because the professor for my class Europe Beyond the Nation   State  wanted us to go there. This was the War History Museum, which was a bit further out in a more modern part of Vienna that took a few connections to get to. I don't have pictures of the interior or the exhibits, but this is a picture of the exterior of the old barracks in which the museum is housed. The Turkish influence (one of Austria's great enemies) is fascinating. The museum itself was interesting too, possessing weaponry and defensive pieces from every period of Austrian history throug...

Even before we got to Kaprün I was busy taking pictures! And with good results! Catherine on the way to Kaprün Downtown Kaprün The IES Vienna program offers a ski trip around the time of U.S. Thanksgiving to the small town of Kaprün, which has a corresponding ski area based on the glacier Kitzsteinhorn. After taking the bus out to this area, we ended up in a lodge with good food and nice, warm, sizable beds. It was quite exciting to have the opportunity to go skiing in the Alps in Europe, even if it was too early for there to be good snow or terrain open off the glacier. We were quite excited when renting equipment, though I had brought some things like my helmet and gloves that I was certain would be hard to find as rentals. The skis were nothing special, of course, but they did a fine job. The rest was just days of skiing! It was fun to finally see Catherine ski, to coach her a little bit, and (!) to show off a little bit. We tried to pick hills that were good f...