Happy Halloween

Halloween 2010 proved to be a weekend packed with activity.  After spanning the spectrum of class by dressing up as Marilyn Monroe one night and Jersey Shore the next, I decided to spend Halloween day in a more traditional way by venturing with a friend to one of the largest cemeteries in New York.

Calvary Cemetery (actually two cemeteries, Old Calvary and New Calvary) is located in Queens - anyone who has taken a cab to JFK or LaGuardia has likely noticed the seemingly endless sea of tombstones on the hills next to the highway.  It is impossible to adequately capture the size of the cemeteries in a picture.  We spent a few hours exploring and didn't even come close to seeing everything.

What we did see, however, was amazing.  It was a beautiful fall day, and the changing leaves and blue skies made the cemetery seem anything but scary.  In addition to fascinating statues and buildings, Old Calvary cemetery offers stunning views of the Manhattan skyline.

And with that I am closing the book on Halloween 2010, a fun but very tiring three days.  Now if only Halloween still ended with a big bag of candy...

The High Line

It may have come through in my last post that I've been in a little bit of a funk about being back home after vacation.  It was partly due to jet lag and the usual letdown of not being on vacation anymore.  But there was another part of it that stemmed from feeling disconnected to New York for the first time since I moved here - for 11 years I've had either school or a job or something else concrete tying me to the city.  While I don't miss my job, I've honestly been feeling a bit lost these last few days.

But now I'm bouncing back.  After a week of rest and a few heart-to-hearts with my most optimistic and supportive New York friends, I've realized that I have nothing to be in a funk about.  I've always been really tough on people who decide that they hate New York when they've never bothered to really give it a chance and take advantage of the good things New York has to offer.  And while I will never fall into that category because I love this city, I realized that I could point some of those same criticisms right back at myself.  For years I've wanted nothing more than to have free time to enjoy my life here.  If I don't do anything with my free time now that I finally have it, I deserve to be in a funk.

So I've decided that I'm going to try to do at least one uniquely New York thing each week.  Today's adventure was the High Line.  For those who don't know, the High Line is an elevated park on the west side of Manhattan, on the site of old freight rail tracks that began operating above the streets of New York in the 1930s.  The last trains ran on the High Line in 1980.  About 20 years later, a private group initiated plans to preserve the High Line and turn the abandoned tracks into public park space.  The park is now home to 210 plant species, and offers a stark contrast to the highway and skyscrapers that otherwise define the west side of Manhattan.

The first section of the High Line (currently the only section completed) opened last year, with plans for Section 2 to open next year.   If you're looking for something to do in New York beyond the typical tourist attractions, I recommend a visit.

So, with this one simple excursion I can feel my funk starting to lift.  Now I'm off to make a list of all the other things in New York I've been wanting to do.  And if anyone has any recommendations to add to the list, suggest away!

Back to life, back to reality

I've been safely settled in back at home in Brooklyn for the last day and a half, and jet lag has started to rear its ugly head.  Yesterday I thought I was fine, but today the adjustment back has been a bit more rough.

My flight back was, of course, not smooth sailing.  I was supposed to fly from Vienna to Warsaw, with a layover of an hour and 40 minutes before my flight to Newark.  But Vienna had one last treat in store for me.  I didn't see a single cloud for the entire 5 days I was there, but the morning I left was completely cloudy and foggy with minimal visibility.  Our flight finally took off 2 hours later than scheduled, conveniently touching down in Warsaw 5 minutes after my flight to Newark was scheduled to take off.  I was fairly certain I'd be spending an unexpected day in Warsaw.

I rushed to the slowest security line ever (there was additional security for flights to the US because security for the flight from Austria to Poland was practically nonexistent), and then to wait in an equally slow passport control line.  Once I was finally cleared, I ran to the gate to find that the flight to Newark miraculously hadn't left yet.  I walked on under the "final call" sign as they essentially closed the airplane door behind me.  I still have no idea why that flight left an hour late, but I'm thankful.

My flight on the Polish airline was an interesting experience.  I think I was one of about 6 people on the plane who spoke English, which did not stop everyone from speaking Polish to me and assuming I understood.  And like a good Polish grandmother, they fed us - a lot.  I even got a meal on the one hour flight from Vienna to Warsaw.  The opening safety video was also a little different than what I was used to.  The most entertaining part might have been when we were informed that we were not allowed to use walkie talkies or remote controlled cars on the plane...

But all in all I have to give LOT Polish Airline a positive review - the service was great and there was more than the usual amount of leg room.

And now that I'm back, I need to figure out what my normal post-work life will be.  Unfortunately, I have no clue what the answer is just yet.  In the meantime I have approximately 2000 vacation pictures to sort through...

Vacation can't last forever

It is hard for me to believe that three weeks have already passed since I first started out on this trip.  If I had access to a laundromat, I could keep going for a while.

On my last day in Vienna I decided to go way, way off the beaten path - even more than intended thanks to some complete misinformation provided by Google maps - in search of a small cemetery called Friedhof der Namenlosen (Cemetery of the Nameless).  The only reason anyone outside of Vienna (including myself) may have heard of this cemetery is likely because it was featured in the movie Before Sunrise.  Getting there is quite a trek, requiring a subway, a tram and a bus, and then a walk past a bunch of factories.  It really is in the middle of nowhere, and I can't imagine many tourists, or even locals for that matter, have made it there.  And for the record, I can guarantee that Jesse and Celine could not have made it all the way out there in their 24 hours in Vienna without the magic of cinema.

The Cemetery of the Nameless is located along the former path of the Danube in the place where all of the bodies of those who died in the river, whether by accident or suicide, would wash ashore and were buried.  Many of these people were never identified, hence the name Cemetery of the Nameless.  It is a small place containing little more than 100 graves, each numbered.  Some of the deceased were eventually identified and the graves are properly marked.  However, most the the deceased remained unidentified and a majority of the crosses simply bear the words "unknown" or "nameless."

Between the reason for the cemetery's existence and its extremely remote location, the feeling of isolation and sadness is palpable.  Much like Celine in the movie, this cemetery made more of an impression on me than anything else I saw in Vienna.  It may take a lot of effort to get there, but it is worth the visit.

To finish out my trip, tonight I attended the opera.  Tonight's show was The Barber of Seville.  I've never been to the opera before, and it was a great experience.  I had the cheapest nosebleed seat available (also the only seat available - apparently it sells out nearly every night), but I was dead center and had a great view.  The opera house has installed small LCD panels in front of every seat which provide the text of the opera in either German or English, so I could even follow along.  The opera house itself is gorgeous and ornate.  Definitely a great way to end my trip.

It really is hard for me to believe that my trip is over.  I've had a fantastic time.  Although I would have prefered to spend my last week in a city that I enjoyed a lot more, Vienna has not been a total wash.  I've gotten to see a lot of great things.  And to be honest, if I had loved my final stop I would not have any desire to go home at all.  It wasn't until my third day here that I started thinking about home and the things I miss there for the first time.  So perhaps it was for the best.

This is always my least favorite part of any trip.  My bags are packed and I know it's time to go, but it is still a long time until I will actually be home.  Since I have a brief stop over in Warsaw, I have a good 12+ hours of traveling ahead of me tomorrow.  Once I know that vacation is over, I just want to be home. 

So, all in all, it was a great trip.  Now the only question is, where should I go next?

Bratislava!

Bratislava was exactly the break I needed.  I only wish I could have spent a night there.  It is not a large town and can easily be seen in a day, but the atmosphere is laid back and lively.  There was a band playing in the main square and stands set up where people were selling hand made crafts and souvenirs.  I finally got to buy some jewelry for the first time on this trip (which we all know makes me very happy).  I would definitely pass through Bratislava again if I'm ever back in this part of Europe.

Adding to the liveliness of the town was the fact that the Irish had decended upon Bratislava in droves for today's soccer game against Slovakia.  Everywhere I turned I saw people in full Ireland regalia, some even wearing kilts.  I have to hand it to the Irish - they definitely know how to have a good time.

Even though I wanted to stay, I got back on the boat to Vienna and was treated to a lovely sunset over the Danube (no poisonous Hungarian sludge in sight).

Now I'm off to enjoy my last day of vacation - how the time flies!

Vienna...sigh

Well, it was bound to happen eventually on this trip. I finally found a place that I'm just not crazy about. And as fate would have it, it is of course the city where I decided to spend 6 nights and five days. I have been lucky enough to have perfect weather the entire time I've been here. I also was fortunate enough to have my dear friend Suman visit me from London for the weekend (although I'm sure he will never let me forget that I brought him along on one of the most boring weekends ever). These two things have made Vienna as enjoyable as possible - if I had been alone the whole time or the weather had been bad, or God forbid if I was alone AND the weather was bad, I might have lost my mind a little.

I've put off writing this post for a few days, because I wanted to give Vienna a fair chance to change my first impression and I didn't want to write a completely negative post. However, after 3 full days of doing nearly everything the guidebooks suggested and then some, I just don't enjoy Vienna.

It's not that there's nothing nice about Vienna. There are certainly plenty of pretty buildings and churches. The big problem, though, is that it's really hard to see them. The city is set out in a way that everything is fairly close together with few open spaces, so it is nearly impossible to get an unobstructed view of anything. Making matters worse is the fact that half of the city seems to be under construction, so there is scaffolding everywhere, covering up the few unobstructed views you might have.

The two notable exceptions are Vienna's two palaces with grand gardens and grounds. The Belevedere is smaller and closer to the center of the city, and was a welcome break from the clutter, being the first open space we really came across.

The larger palace, Schloss Schoenbrunn, is further outside the city center and well worth the trip. The palace grounds are truly stunning.

The other neat thing that we found in Vienna is that the State Opera House on certain nights will broadcast a live feed of the opera going on inside on a huge screen mounted on the side of the opera house so the public can sit outside and watch. The combination of the palaces and the opera would make for a nice 1 or 2 day trip to the city. There are enough things to make for a beautiful photo album.

What Vienna lacks, at least in my opinion, is personality. And fun. It's almost as if the city and its people don't understand the concept of fun. In three days (including Friday and Saturday nights), I've seen no smiling, no laughing, no dancing. People seem to just be going about their lives, and it's not that they are mean or angry, but I can't think of a single person I've seen who looked like he or she was having fun. I even ventured out to the amusement park in the city because I figured, if people are going to be having fun anywhere it would have to be at the amusement park, right? Wrong. No fun. No smiling or laughing or screaming like you might expect. Even the children were somber and subdued. And nightlife appears to be non-existent. We tried and failed on both Friday and Saturday nights to find places (not even fun places, just any places) to hang out and have a good time. The only options appear to be a couple of giant Euro-German club parties or a quiet dinner and bed. Eventually we just gave up - constantly searching for fun that doesn't exist sucks the life out of you and makes you just not want to have fun any more. It's so hard for me to believe that Salzburg and Vienna exist in the same country.

Going hand in hand with the no fun factor, Vienna takes its rules very seriously. Everywhere you turn you are faced with a "don't step on the grass" sign, and people will not cross a street if there is a don't walk sign, even if the street is all of six paces wide and there is not a car in sight for miles. And another note on crosswalks - I don't understand what Vienna has against putting them on all four streets of a given street corner. Many times there are only three crosswalks on a corner, meaning that you have to actually cross 3 streets to get to the corner right across the street if you are unlucky enough to want to go across the one street without a crosswalk (which more often than not I have been). Worse yet are the corners that only have 2 crosswalks - the only options here are to walk blocks out of the way just to cross the street or risk it and jaywalk. Maybe this is part of the reason no one here seems to be having fun.

To try to escape my Vienna blahs, I've decided to take a day trip tomorrow to Bratislava in Slovakia, just a short trip up the Danube by boat. Hopefully the change of scenery will be a good thing. And who knows, maybe they even have fun in Bratislava...

Luxury in Vienna

I finished my lovely visit to Salzburg this morning and headed on to Vienna this evening.  Salzburg really is a beautiful place. 

I could definitely see myself coming back one day to explore more of the town and the surrounding countryside.

On my way to Vienna I was most excited about the prospect of staying in the same hotel room for 6 whole nights, without having to lug my heavy bag from place to place any more.  I would have been happy with any decent hotel room.  What I got, however, has been the biggest surprise of this trip so far.

This might be the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in.  And it was entirely unintentional.  I found a great deal on Expedia, so I knew I was staying somewhere kind of nice, but I had no idea it would be like this.  I was apparently assigned one of the hotel's "theme rooms," which are dedicated to famous people who have stayed here in the past.  I got the Charles Lindbergh room (I wandered around the rest of my floor and couldn't find a single other theme room, so I have no idea why I was special enough to get this one).  The room is huge and ornate, with restored antique furniture, 100-year-old parquet floors and a large crystal chandelier.  It also happens to be a corner room, so I have not one but two balconies - one about 15 feet long and the other about 25 feet long - overlooking a 17th century church where the Habsburgs are buried.

After I was in the room for only about 5 minutes, I heard someone knocking on the door and I was sure they were going to tell me that it was all a mistake and that this wasn't really my room.  Instead it was housekeeping checking to see if I needed anything and whether the room was satisfactory.  Yes, I think this will do.

Like most European hotels, this hotel posts a base rate for the room inside the wardrobe in the room.  My room is quoted at an astonishing 404 Euros (approx. $560) per night.  Suffice it to say that I am paying far less than a third of that price, and a lot less than I paid for my tiny room with Marilyn Monroe painings in Zurich - Expedia holds a special place in my heart at the moment. 

I have no idea how I managed to score this room, but I'm wondering if perhaps this is meant to make up for at least some of the horrendous travel luck that has been following me for years.  If so, my terrible flight over here was totally worth it...

These are a few of my favorite things

Salzburg is wonderful.  After a rainy and gray first evening, we had wonderful weather today and this town has quickly claimed a spot on the list of my favorite places I've ever been.  This morning was the much anticipated Sound of Music tour, and it was everything I hoped it would be.  I'm not usually one to sign up for anything involving a tour bus, but from the very first glimpse of the bus the tour was inviting.

The tour was great, visiting sights not only in Salzburg but also out into the countryside and surrounding lakes region.  Even without the movie references, the tour was worth it just for the scenery and sights that I would not have otherwise seen.  And our tour guide had charm and a sense of humor that was the perfect balance of corny and actually funny.  If you haven't seen the movie the pictures in this post might be lost on you - but I strongly recommend that you find a copy to watch as soon as possible.

Among the highlights of the tour were the gazebo where young Liesl and Rolfe have their romantic duet, the church where the wedding was filmed, and the gardens where Maria taught the children to sing "Do Re Mi."

I realize that my obsession with the movie might be more than a little bit dorky, but it was hands down one of the best tours I've ever taken.

We spent the rest of the day exploring old town Salzburg.  There are so many beautiful churches and buildings in Salzburg that you can't even turn your head without seeing something else that you want to go in or take a picture of.  I could spend weeks exploring this town.  We even bought fantastic street art from a Croatian artist who had set up a stand outside one of the churches.  Everything about this place has been pretty much perfect, and I'm actually a little sad to be leaving already tomorrow afternoon.

I'm now two weeks into my trip with one week left to go.  Words cannot explain how happy I am to have done this.  Aside from seeing amazing sights, I have been more calm and stress-free than I can remember being in ages.  I'm still not sure what life has in store for me, but this trip so far has been a fantastic first step in bringing me back to the happier person I used to be.  Hopefully the next week will be a continuation of the same.  For now, I'm embracing the words of young Maria Von Trapp (or more accurately Rodgers and Hammerstein) :

What will this day be like? I wonder.
What will my future be? I wonder.

Either way, I'm excited to find out.

From beer tents to castles

My four days in Germany seemed to fly by, yet at the same time each individual day was so packed with activity that it feels like I was there for a week.

After multiple thwarted attempts in the past to get to Munich for Oktoberfest, I finally made it this year, just in time for the festival's 200th anniversary.  The sheer number of people at the festival is staggering.  On Sunday we spent much of the day in one of the large beer tents, enjoying the German food and beer and the live Oktoberfest band, which played everything from traditional Bavarian songs to covers of John Denver and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The tents are massive structures which hold thousands of people (the one we visited had a capacity of 5,900) and are elaborately decorated to provide a great backdrop for all the people in traditional Bavarian costumes.

The whole experience was a lot of fun, but very, very exhausting.  I think it will be a good long while until I try to experience Oktoberfest again.  But even more than anything else it was great to see some good friends who I hadn't seen in a while.

On Monday we ventured south of Munich to visit the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles of King Ludwig II.  By most accounts, Ludwig was a crazy man with lots of money (which I guess is called eccentric), and the castles, while beautiful, reflect that.  The entire castle of Neuschwanstein - or at least the part that was actually completed prior to Ludwig's death - was built as an homage to the operas of Wagner.  Perhaps the most striking example of the pure decadence that the castle embodies is the large man-made cave recreated within the castle, so that the king could listen to one particular opera in a cave setting.  Crazy or not, the castles are gorgeous and we were lucky to have perfect weather.

The Neuschwanstein Castle may look familiar, as it was the inspiration for Cinderella's castle at Disney World.  However, both castles are set high up on fairly steep hills, so my legs are back to feeling like jello.  Definitely worth a visit, though.

Today I left Germany behind and headed to Austria, the third and final country on my itinerary.  The weather in Salzburg was a little dreary today, but I can already tell that it is a beautiful place.  I also got my first glimpses of one of the sights we will see on our Sound of Music tour tomorrow, and I'm so embarrassingly excited - I feel like a kid on Christmas.

Tonight after dinner we wandered into a tiny local bar to get a quick drink.  The place was decorated in a Morroccan style and was one of the coziest places I've ever discovered.  The few local patrons and the bartender/owner were beyond excited to have "real New Yorkers" in the bar. We immediately noticed a framed picture and autograph of Tom Cruise displayed prominently above the bar, and we were told (repeatedly and at length) that his latest movie Knight & Day was partly set in Salzburg, and one scene was even filmed in this tiny little bar.  I can't speak to the movie since I haven't seen it, but if you're ever in Salzburg look up Selim's for great hospitality and drinks.

And now I'm going to try to contain my excitement about the Sound of Music tour enough to get some sleep.  So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, goodnight!

Steins, steins, everywhere steins

I haven't had much access to the internet since getting to Germany, hence the lack of posts.  I'll add some pictures when I next have a solid internet connection.  However, we experienced Oktoberfest in all its glory and we survived.  The sheer number of liters of beer they go through in a day there, let alone over the course of three weeks, baffles the mind.  Truly a once in a lifetime experience (probably for the best - I think 2 days was my limit).  Tomorrow I am onto country number 3, when I head to Salzburg, Austria.  I hope to post more from there.  Prost!