Thursday, 28 July 2011
moving backwards through Austria!!
Pictures from Vienna
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| Schloss Schonbrunn, the Habsburgs' summer palace |
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| Stephansdom (St. Stephens's Cathedral) |
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| View from the north tower of the cathedral |
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| Carriage ride in the old town |
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| The carriage |
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| St Stephens with its unique tiled roof |
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| Spanish Riding School at the Hofburg (Imperial Palace) |
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| mother Lippizaners and their foals (who will turn white as they mature) |
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| Cafe Central |
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| and yummy Viennese desserts! |
Visiting Vienna!
Hi, it's Holls!
Sorry for the delay. We were actually in Vienna from the 10th to the 13th of July. Okay, so it was a little while ago but now it doesn't matter 'cause you'll hear about it anyways, delay or not!
For starters, Vienna has two FABULOUS palaces, one of which we visited on our first day. That palace was called Schonbrunn and was the summer palace. It was beautiful and fully furnished! Our audio guides (greatest thing for a museum go-er since........... well, museums) explained about all of the people and furniture that were ever there. After that, we made our way into the city. Unfortunately, as soon as we got there, it started to rain. So we popped into a cafeteria and had a quick but good lunch before heading out again (the rain had stopped) went to the Stephansdom. It's an amazing Romanesque style church with a brightly colored shingle roof, as we soon found out when we took an elevator up to a high tower where we got a great view of the city! Ever heard of the legendary Sacher (pronounced Sa-Ka) torte???? OF COURSE YOU HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, guess what??!! We went to the Sacher hotel (very fancy) and ate ORIGINAL SACHER TORTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we walked to the Hofburg (winter palace). After the busy day, everyone was a bit pooped so we got a horse and carriage ride.
On the second day, we went to see the Lipizzaners! Sorry, that was only half true. We saw the summer show, because the trained horses were on their well earned vacation. You might wonder exactly what the show was then... the show consisted of :
Well, that just about sums up our trip to Vienna! If you search around a bit on the blog, you'll find some pictures from Vienna. Hope everything is going well where you lot are. XOXO.......
-Holly
Sorry for the delay. We were actually in Vienna from the 10th to the 13th of July. Okay, so it was a little while ago but now it doesn't matter 'cause you'll hear about it anyways, delay or not!
For starters, Vienna has two FABULOUS palaces, one of which we visited on our first day. That palace was called Schonbrunn and was the summer palace. It was beautiful and fully furnished! Our audio guides (greatest thing for a museum go-er since........... well, museums) explained about all of the people and furniture that were ever there. After that, we made our way into the city. Unfortunately, as soon as we got there, it started to rain. So we popped into a cafeteria and had a quick but good lunch before heading out again (the rain had stopped) went to the Stephansdom. It's an amazing Romanesque style church with a brightly colored shingle roof, as we soon found out when we took an elevator up to a high tower where we got a great view of the city! Ever heard of the legendary Sacher (pronounced Sa-Ka) torte???? OF COURSE YOU HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, guess what??!! We went to the Sacher hotel (very fancy) and ate ORIGINAL SACHER TORTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we walked to the Hofburg (winter palace). After the busy day, everyone was a bit pooped so we got a horse and carriage ride.
On the second day, we went to see the Lipizzaners! Sorry, that was only half true. We saw the summer show, because the trained horses were on their well earned vacation. You might wonder exactly what the show was then... the show consisted of :
- The young Lipizzaners playing around. Even then they were very obedient and certainly looked well bred.
- Lipizzaner drawn carriages in different dances. We learned a bit about the history of the carriages too.
- The newborn Lipizzaners with their mothers. How sweet!
Well, that just about sums up our trip to Vienna! If you search around a bit on the blog, you'll find some pictures from Vienna. Hope everything is going well where you lot are. XOXO.......
-Holly
Pics from Salzburg
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| Roaming the streets of Salzburg |
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| View from the Salzach River |
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| The Catacombs |
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| The Old Town Center (Residenzplatz) |
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| Road Trip!! |
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| Salzburg Youth Hostel |
Salzburg
The city of Salzburg is, if anything, a city of music! Best known as the birthplace of W. A. Mozart, this city is full of beautiful sounds! This being the case, it seemed fitting to attend a concert held in the "Residence" the home of the Prince Archbishops' (the rulers of the city in earlier days). The concert consisted of a demonstration of traditional Renaissance instruments, an excellent pianist and a very gifted 18-year-old opera singer. It was altogether very enjoyable!
We also made sure to see the Residence itself, as it was a rather elegant and richly furnished building. The Prince Archbishops' reigned over Salzburg from the early 14th century, right up until the Napoleonic wars in 1805. Unfortunately, they were not the kindest of rulers...
We also learned a little bit about the history of Salzburg when we visited the Salzburg Museum that same day (we only had one day, so...). Turns out, Mozart technically wasn't Austrian: Salzburg did not become a part of Austria until the early 19th century!!
Later on, we paid a visit to the city's catacombs. We amused ourselves in picturing the Von Trapp family hiding in a similar location...
We also explored several ancient churches, the oldest of which- St. Peterskirche- dates back to AD 847!
We unfortunately did not make it to Stiftnonnberg, the abbey where we are first introduced to Maria in "The Sound of Music".
We stayed in a youth hostel fairly close to the city center for two nights. From there, we were directed to a reportedly lovely restaurant in town, but got lost and ended up at a friendly Austrian pub instead. The next night, we dined at a quintessentially Austrian biergarten. Lots of fun was had by all! The hostel itself was very comfortable and we enjoyed our stay.
Although our time there was short, we very much enjoyed Salzburg and all it's many charms!
Elizabeth :)
We also made sure to see the Residence itself, as it was a rather elegant and richly furnished building. The Prince Archbishops' reigned over Salzburg from the early 14th century, right up until the Napoleonic wars in 1805. Unfortunately, they were not the kindest of rulers...
We also learned a little bit about the history of Salzburg when we visited the Salzburg Museum that same day (we only had one day, so...). Turns out, Mozart technically wasn't Austrian: Salzburg did not become a part of Austria until the early 19th century!!
Later on, we paid a visit to the city's catacombs. We amused ourselves in picturing the Von Trapp family hiding in a similar location...
We also explored several ancient churches, the oldest of which- St. Peterskirche- dates back to AD 847!
We unfortunately did not make it to Stiftnonnberg, the abbey where we are first introduced to Maria in "The Sound of Music".
We stayed in a youth hostel fairly close to the city center for two nights. From there, we were directed to a reportedly lovely restaurant in town, but got lost and ended up at a friendly Austrian pub instead. The next night, we dined at a quintessentially Austrian biergarten. Lots of fun was had by all! The hostel itself was very comfortable and we enjoyed our stay.
Although our time there was short, we very much enjoyed Salzburg and all it's many charms!
Elizabeth :)
Pictures from Stockholm
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| Drottningholm palace |
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| Garden ornaments |
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| Skansen |
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| Gamla Stan |
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| Dinner at Herman's |
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| Linnea & Heather |
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| Vasa |
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| Junibacken |
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| Transom of the Vasa |
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| Tim! |
Stockholm and Uppsala
One of my work opportunities in Europe was to participate in the 4th European Conference on African Studies in Uppsala, Sweden from 15-18 June. I had heard great things about the conference but had never had the chance to attend. We had also had some loose talk before we left Halifax about the possibility of connecting with our friends Mikael Brodin and Christina MacKay, whose son Tim had been one of Rory's best friends during his first two years at St. Catherine's School. Micke is Swedish, and so after two years in Canada the family (which also includes three-year old twins Genevieve and Linnea) had returned to their house on the island of Stora Essingen which is quite close to the centre of Stockholm. Putting two and two together, we decided to book a cheap Easy Jet flight for four days as a family in Stockholm, from 8-12 June, with me staying on for my conference in Uppsala. Christina and Micke were good enough to put up with our whole tribe bunking in with them, and were wonderful hosts despite being in the final week of their own high school teaching jobs. To top it off, the weather in Stockholm was spectacular and, combined with the 'midnight sun' of mid-June in Sweden, left us with an extraordinarily positive impression of this beautiful city (Christina and Micke reminded us that it was not quite so appealing in mid-January...).
There were many great things about this visit. First of all, it gave Tim and Rory a chance to re-connect which was really nice for both of them since they had both been uprooted from their english-language schooling in Canada and had had some adjustment challenges. Second, it was great to get to know the lively little girls, and to have some visiting and conversation time with Micke and Chrstina. Finally, we did manage to see a few of the many highlights of Stockholm. On day one, we took an old ferry boat through some of the channels and islands that make up greater Stockholm, to visit Drottningholm Palace (the traditional summer palace of the Swedish royal family), the 'Chinese Pavilion', and an amazing 17th century opera house, all adjacent to each other on Drottningholm island. The opera house was a highlight, not because of its grandeur but because it is almost perfectly preserved and is also a monument to Swedish frugality, having been built 'on the cheap' by a royal family that was bent on maintaining appearances among its European peers, but without the wealth of some of its more profligate cousins. Drottningholm itself was beautiful and full of historical interest; we know because we got a personal tour from Micke who, in a previous life, was a guide there.
On day two we took Tim with us to the island of Djurgarden, which is Stockholm's 'museum island' with several of the city's outstanding collection of museums. We went to Skansen, which is a remarkable place something like Upper Canada Village except that it has collected and preserved examples of Swedish dwellings, shops, churches, schools, wildlife, etc from the past several centuries accumulated from all over the country. Rory was particularly taken with the glassblowing! After a long visit we had a wonderful late lunch at 'the blue Door', which was a kind of luxury cafeteria. We then met Micke and the girls for a walk around the Old Town of Gamla Stan, dating back to the 13th century, which is full of attractive alleys, homes, dwellings, restaurants, palaces and, yes, museums. We finished the day with an amazing dinner at Herman's Vegetarian Restaurant -- a fabulous place which you should put on your list if you are ever in Stockholm!
On our last full day in Stockholm as a family we first went with the Brodin-MacKay's to Junibacken, which is a beautifully executed kind of theme park dedicated to the giants of Swedish children's literature - particularly but not only Astrid Lindgren. We all enjoyed it and wanted to read beyond her best known heroine, Pippi Longstocking -- though the amazingly faithful reproduction Pippi's Villa Villekulla was also a highlight. Finally, we took Tim with us again to visit the incredible Vasa Museum, built around the Swedish flagship salvaged in 1961 after going down just off of Stockholm 20 minutes into its maiden voyage in 1628! Because of the brackish waters of the Baltic, it was almost perfectly preserved and now stands as a monument to the ambitions and folly of the Swedish monarchy at the height of the country's power, as well as a source of insight into 17th Swedish military and social history. We were all enthralled, though Tim found that after perhaps a half-a-dozen previous visits he was probably ready for a break from it! We finished the day with a fantastic salmon dinner chez Christina and Micke, before Heather, Elizabeth, Holly and Rory's departure for their return to work and school the next day.
I won't bore you with the details of the ECAS conference in Uppsala, but I will say that it was one of the better academic conferences i've been to in a while. Uppsala is a beautiful university city about 40 minutes by train minutes from Stockholm, so I was fortunate to be able to continue to stay with the Brodin-MacKay's and save on Sweden's legendary hotel prices. I was able to connect with many old friends and colleagues and to meet some new ones, while learning lots of great stuff! My own panel was lots of fun. All in all about as good as it gets in the academic world! Many, many thanks to Christina, Micke, Tim, Genevieve, and Linnea for being such delightful hosts in Sweden.
Dave
There were many great things about this visit. First of all, it gave Tim and Rory a chance to re-connect which was really nice for both of them since they had both been uprooted from their english-language schooling in Canada and had had some adjustment challenges. Second, it was great to get to know the lively little girls, and to have some visiting and conversation time with Micke and Chrstina. Finally, we did manage to see a few of the many highlights of Stockholm. On day one, we took an old ferry boat through some of the channels and islands that make up greater Stockholm, to visit Drottningholm Palace (the traditional summer palace of the Swedish royal family), the 'Chinese Pavilion', and an amazing 17th century opera house, all adjacent to each other on Drottningholm island. The opera house was a highlight, not because of its grandeur but because it is almost perfectly preserved and is also a monument to Swedish frugality, having been built 'on the cheap' by a royal family that was bent on maintaining appearances among its European peers, but without the wealth of some of its more profligate cousins. Drottningholm itself was beautiful and full of historical interest; we know because we got a personal tour from Micke who, in a previous life, was a guide there.
On day two we took Tim with us to the island of Djurgarden, which is Stockholm's 'museum island' with several of the city's outstanding collection of museums. We went to Skansen, which is a remarkable place something like Upper Canada Village except that it has collected and preserved examples of Swedish dwellings, shops, churches, schools, wildlife, etc from the past several centuries accumulated from all over the country. Rory was particularly taken with the glassblowing! After a long visit we had a wonderful late lunch at 'the blue Door', which was a kind of luxury cafeteria. We then met Micke and the girls for a walk around the Old Town of Gamla Stan, dating back to the 13th century, which is full of attractive alleys, homes, dwellings, restaurants, palaces and, yes, museums. We finished the day with an amazing dinner at Herman's Vegetarian Restaurant -- a fabulous place which you should put on your list if you are ever in Stockholm!
On our last full day in Stockholm as a family we first went with the Brodin-MacKay's to Junibacken, which is a beautifully executed kind of theme park dedicated to the giants of Swedish children's literature - particularly but not only Astrid Lindgren. We all enjoyed it and wanted to read beyond her best known heroine, Pippi Longstocking -- though the amazingly faithful reproduction Pippi's Villa Villekulla was also a highlight. Finally, we took Tim with us again to visit the incredible Vasa Museum, built around the Swedish flagship salvaged in 1961 after going down just off of Stockholm 20 minutes into its maiden voyage in 1628! Because of the brackish waters of the Baltic, it was almost perfectly preserved and now stands as a monument to the ambitions and folly of the Swedish monarchy at the height of the country's power, as well as a source of insight into 17th Swedish military and social history. We were all enthralled, though Tim found that after perhaps a half-a-dozen previous visits he was probably ready for a break from it! We finished the day with a fantastic salmon dinner chez Christina and Micke, before Heather, Elizabeth, Holly and Rory's departure for their return to work and school the next day.
I won't bore you with the details of the ECAS conference in Uppsala, but I will say that it was one of the better academic conferences i've been to in a while. Uppsala is a beautiful university city about 40 minutes by train minutes from Stockholm, so I was fortunate to be able to continue to stay with the Brodin-MacKay's and save on Sweden's legendary hotel prices. I was able to connect with many old friends and colleagues and to meet some new ones, while learning lots of great stuff! My own panel was lots of fun. All in all about as good as it gets in the academic world! Many, many thanks to Christina, Micke, Tim, Genevieve, and Linnea for being such delightful hosts in Sweden.
Dave
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Getting caught up!
Where has the time gone!! It is more than a month and a half since we have posted an update and a lot has happened. Perhaps I will do a summary here and then see whether other members of the team can help me fill in the gaps!! I know pictures are always nice so will try and add those as we go along. On June 8 we flew to Stockholm for an extended weekend. Dave had a meeting in Uppsala and we have some good friends in Stockholm who were keen on a visit so we zipped over on Easy Jet! We had a wonderful time. The sun never stopped shining (literally) and we had time to catch up with friends and see some wonderful sights in the archipelago that makes up Stockholm. I then flew home with the kids after a four day visit and Dave stayed on an additional week for his meeting. Dave has promised to give more Stockholm details! Suffice it to say that the museum featuring Pippi Longstocking was just one of many!
On June 25 (a Saturday) Dave and I dropped the kids off with friends in Nyon (on the shores of Lake Geneva) and headed off to the Valais region of Switzerland for a little weekend getaway to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. The actual date was July 5, but the opportunity arose for that weekend and we seized it. We had a wonderful time at a little hotel in the mountains just outside of Saas Fe. We hiked, ate wonderful food and drank the very excellent local wine. Only about 2% of the wine produced here is exported, so many people have no idea how good the wine actually is. Although it was a short visit, we felt happy and refreshed and congratulated ourselves on the excellent choice we made 25 years ago. Meanwhile, the three kids were off tree top trekking, swimming and generally having a whale of a time without us. All good!
Other weekend activities included a trip to Lausanne to go the Olympic museum. We had heard great things about it and were not disappointed. For those of us in the family interested in the politics of sport, it was even more fascinating. The museum is interactive and geared towards all ages. It is in the most spectacular setting of any museum we have yet encountered, on the shores of Lake Geneva against a backdrop of mountains. Sort of makes you want to rush out and be an athlete!
The kids got Wednesday afternoons off from school (something they found very civilized... in fact Rory and Holly had all day off while Elizabeth had the afternoon) and so one Wednesday we headed into Geneva to go the Red Cross Museum. It is a landmark in the city and provides a very comprehensive overview of the activities of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent worldwide since their inception. Rory was really bothered by the idea of land mines as a whole section of the museum focused on the challenges of dealing with them.
Another weekend expedition was a trip to Yvoire, France. It is a lovely medieval city that can be reached by car, but can also be reached by boat from Nyon. Since we had not been out on the water we choose the boat route and had a wonderful view of Lake Geneva as we crossed it. The crossing takes less than half an hour and so we had the afternoon to wander through cobble stone streets and peek into shops. There was a festival taking place while we were there, with people dressed in the most elaborate 18th century outfits. They wore masks as if heading to a masquerade ball. Fun to watch.
The end of June brought a flurry of school related activities. The kids really managed to settle into life here in France and made some good friends. Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch with a few. We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and friendship extended to us all, from our neighbors, work mates and fellow parents we have met at school.
Since school has now ended and holidays have begun, Dave and I are now working "off site". My work at the WHO is far from complete and I am looking forward to it continuing even after our return to Canada. We are now taking the opportunity to see some of Europe. Despite living just outside of Geneva for four months, we had not traveled as much as we would have wanted in Switzerland, and so in early July we headed off to the Bernese Oberland to do some hiking for several days. We stayed at a wonderful hostel called the Alpenhof, nestled at the foot of a mountain in a village called Stechelberg. The hikes were challenging but rewarding and we combined them with some cable car rides to get us even higher up. We took one of these cable cars to the top of the Schilthorn. It was made famous by James Bond, who apparently saw some action there "In her majesty's service", a movie we feel we really must see now!
From Stechelberg we made our way into Austria going to both Salzburg and Vienna. These deserve a bit more detail, so I will try and get back to them. From Vienna we routed ourselves through Bavaria (southern Germany) and spent a day at Dachau. Again, I think I need more time (and sleep) to offer some coherent thoughts about Dachau. Suffice it to say that actually standing in the middle of the place where so many atrocities were committed and lives lost, was heartbreaking and sickening. Tears were shed. How could it have ever happened? Please God may it never happen again. It was a sombre trip to Lucerne that night.
Now we are on the Italian leg of our journey. We have been joined by Christine (my sister) and Dana (my neice, daughter of another sister) and are currently in Florence. Oh what a glorious city!! Before arriving here we spent a couple of days in Cinque Terre which is a national park on the west coast of Italy, not far from Genoa. I will get one of the kids to tell more about that time. The village we stayed in seems to have been lost in time. Apart from the tourists, it has remained unchanged for centuries, perched on the coast, buffeted by wind and surf. Yet again, we were blessed by wonderful weather.
So now we are slightly caught up although we will try to give more detail, and of course, pictures! Stay tuned.
Heather
On June 25 (a Saturday) Dave and I dropped the kids off with friends in Nyon (on the shores of Lake Geneva) and headed off to the Valais region of Switzerland for a little weekend getaway to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. The actual date was July 5, but the opportunity arose for that weekend and we seized it. We had a wonderful time at a little hotel in the mountains just outside of Saas Fe. We hiked, ate wonderful food and drank the very excellent local wine. Only about 2% of the wine produced here is exported, so many people have no idea how good the wine actually is. Although it was a short visit, we felt happy and refreshed and congratulated ourselves on the excellent choice we made 25 years ago. Meanwhile, the three kids were off tree top trekking, swimming and generally having a whale of a time without us. All good!
Other weekend activities included a trip to Lausanne to go the Olympic museum. We had heard great things about it and were not disappointed. For those of us in the family interested in the politics of sport, it was even more fascinating. The museum is interactive and geared towards all ages. It is in the most spectacular setting of any museum we have yet encountered, on the shores of Lake Geneva against a backdrop of mountains. Sort of makes you want to rush out and be an athlete!
The kids got Wednesday afternoons off from school (something they found very civilized... in fact Rory and Holly had all day off while Elizabeth had the afternoon) and so one Wednesday we headed into Geneva to go the Red Cross Museum. It is a landmark in the city and provides a very comprehensive overview of the activities of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent worldwide since their inception. Rory was really bothered by the idea of land mines as a whole section of the museum focused on the challenges of dealing with them.
Another weekend expedition was a trip to Yvoire, France. It is a lovely medieval city that can be reached by car, but can also be reached by boat from Nyon. Since we had not been out on the water we choose the boat route and had a wonderful view of Lake Geneva as we crossed it. The crossing takes less than half an hour and so we had the afternoon to wander through cobble stone streets and peek into shops. There was a festival taking place while we were there, with people dressed in the most elaborate 18th century outfits. They wore masks as if heading to a masquerade ball. Fun to watch.
The end of June brought a flurry of school related activities. The kids really managed to settle into life here in France and made some good friends. Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch with a few. We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and friendship extended to us all, from our neighbors, work mates and fellow parents we have met at school.
Since school has now ended and holidays have begun, Dave and I are now working "off site". My work at the WHO is far from complete and I am looking forward to it continuing even after our return to Canada. We are now taking the opportunity to see some of Europe. Despite living just outside of Geneva for four months, we had not traveled as much as we would have wanted in Switzerland, and so in early July we headed off to the Bernese Oberland to do some hiking for several days. We stayed at a wonderful hostel called the Alpenhof, nestled at the foot of a mountain in a village called Stechelberg. The hikes were challenging but rewarding and we combined them with some cable car rides to get us even higher up. We took one of these cable cars to the top of the Schilthorn. It was made famous by James Bond, who apparently saw some action there "In her majesty's service", a movie we feel we really must see now!
From Stechelberg we made our way into Austria going to both Salzburg and Vienna. These deserve a bit more detail, so I will try and get back to them. From Vienna we routed ourselves through Bavaria (southern Germany) and spent a day at Dachau. Again, I think I need more time (and sleep) to offer some coherent thoughts about Dachau. Suffice it to say that actually standing in the middle of the place where so many atrocities were committed and lives lost, was heartbreaking and sickening. Tears were shed. How could it have ever happened? Please God may it never happen again. It was a sombre trip to Lucerne that night.
Now we are on the Italian leg of our journey. We have been joined by Christine (my sister) and Dana (my neice, daughter of another sister) and are currently in Florence. Oh what a glorious city!! Before arriving here we spent a couple of days in Cinque Terre which is a national park on the west coast of Italy, not far from Genoa. I will get one of the kids to tell more about that time. The village we stayed in seems to have been lost in time. Apart from the tourists, it has remained unchanged for centuries, perched on the coast, buffeted by wind and surf. Yet again, we were blessed by wonderful weather.
So now we are slightly caught up although we will try to give more detail, and of course, pictures! Stay tuned.
Heather
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