FU-Best Excursion

Hello Everyone--

This past week has been a whirlwind of exploring new cities. Budapest turned out to be more than I expected. The weather was beautiful and the city views were breathtaking. However, I have to say that I LOVE VIENNA. Vienna is a fantastic city, the weather was beyond comfortable, there were beautiful people everywhere, the café culture was fantastic, and the museums were amazing. I was overwhelmed with Austrian expressionism and being there felt like a fulfillment of all my art history studying. I feel so thankful for having been able to experience both cities… I’m already making plans in my head to return.

The next two weeks will be busy. First Jeff and Jessica come for the next week and we’ll be in Prague over Easter weekend. Then Josh and Addysen (my friend studying in Paris) will be here for my 21st birthday! So much to look forward to! I’ll keep you updated….

Love, Jillian Mary

Vienna Day 7: Friday 26th

-Spanish Riding Show: Maddie, Deborah, Tessa and I started the morning by watching the morning exercises of the famous L. horses. This has been a tradition for 430 years in one of the most beautiful and oldest riding halls in the world. The easiest way to describe it is as a horse ballet.
-St. Stephen’s Cathedral: After enjoying gelato and soaking up the sun, Deborah and I strolled inside St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It was decorated for Lent and was beautiful.
-Belvedere Museum: Deborah, Sadie, Maddie and I visited this incredible museum in southern Vienna. It is in a old palace whose garden overlook downtown Vienna. The highlight was Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. This painting has been a favorite of mine, it made me realize how much I love art. It was overwhelming how beautiful it was…
-Yelling Room: One room in this museum was empty besides a sign that read “Scream as loud as you can, NOW” in four languages. Sadie, Deborah and I mustered up the courage and screamed at the top of our lungs. In response, a loud breathing noise came over the speakers and the lights on the chandeliers came on and off.

Vienna Day 6: Thursday 25th

-Visit to the Hofburg (the Hapsburg palace): Our program toured the royal families’ china sets which were quite extensive. Then we toured the royal palace which the apartments.
-Albertina Museum: Deborah and I (my museum going buddy) visited this great museum whose collection was basically a review of what we had just learned in our art history class.
-Café Sperl: After spending time wandering the museum, Deb and I went to Café Sperl. This is one of the oldest and most famous cafes in Vienna. Café culture is important in Vienna and this one is top notch. I enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate and apple strudel!
-“Die Fledermaus” operetta: This night my program got all dressed up and went to see this Viennese classic. It was extremely entertaining—a story of trickery, lying and jokes. I had a great view of both the stage and the orchestra.
-We ended the night with class—ice cream at McDonalds.

Vienna Day 5: Wednesday 24th

-Guided visit of Vienna: great guided tour with historical information about different buildings including Mozart’s house
-Wiener Schnitzel with Deborah, Carolyn, Tessa and Aric at a local cafe
-Leopold Museum: amazing collection of Egon Schiele, my favorite artist! I was in heaven… such a highlight of my trip
-Secession Building: Deborah, Sadie and I checked out Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze in this building which was an important building during the Austrian Expressionist movement.
-Dinner at Ra’mien with friends: great dinner outside in the most beautiful weather
-Praterstem amusement park: We went to ride a Ferris wheel but that ended up being too expensive so we hopped on a couple roller coasters. It was pure, childish fun…

Leaving Budapest/ Arriving Vienna Day 4: Tuesday 23rd

-Quick visit to the Parliament museum and saying goodbye to Budapest
-1:10pm train to Vienna: this 3 hour train felt extremely short compared to our 12 hour train ride to Budapest
-Dinner at Rosenberger: a buffet style restaurant in downtown Vienna
-Gelato at Zanoni and Zanoni: little did we know that getting gelato would be a staple to our diets in Vienna. My favorite combination was hazelnut, Nutella and vanilla!

Budapest Day 3: Monday 22nd

-Visit to Memento Park: park just outside Budapest where the city placed all the Soviet era statues
-Lunch at large in door market: Had amazing goulash and potatoes
-Deborah and I did some shopping and walking around in the shopping district of Budapest
-Relaxing night playing cards and eating in the hotel lobby with friends

Budapest Day 2: Sunday 21st

-Walking tour of Budapest: great, spunky tour guide who called our group her “chickies,” “my dear guests” and “her family”
-Lunch at a great open air local market: indulged in some delicious Hungarian food, very hearty meal!
-Budapest’s Fine Arts Museum: had a great exhibit including Degas, Matisse, Van Gough
-Dinner at traditional Hungarian restaurant: I had beef with potato dumplings
-Hanging out in the park: we ended the night by hanging out in this little town square where all the local youth hang out

Budapest Day 1: Saturday 20th

-Climb up to the Citadel: amazing view of the Danube River and Budapest skyline with a statue of peace at the top
-Lunch with Deborah near St. Stephen’s Basilica with delicious waffle/ ice cream dessert afterwards: this cathedral has the mummified right hand of St. Stephen, the first Catholic martyr
-House of Terror Museum with FU-Best program: museum is in the same building the Nazi party inhabited
-Danube Folk Ensemble dance performance: a lot of stomping, clapping, yelling, twirling… highly entertaining
-Cruise on the Danube: beautiful late night cruise along the river, great views of the bridges and city lit up at night

Easter in Berlin

Easter is approaching and Berlin is celebrating. The mall at Potsdamer Platz has these large Easter Eggs painted and designed by different artists.

Schneewitchen "Snow White" Ballet

On Sunday night, I got to go to the "Snow White" ballet as my last cultural event provided by the program. It was fantastic. It was a modern interpretation but so enjoyable. The costumes, the music, the set design- incredible. The main ballerina, playing Snow White, was really beautiful and so great to watch.

A great night :)

Visit with Tasha, Ilan and Boris

This Saturday I had a pleasant visit with my Uncle Dan's friends Ilan and Tasha and their son Boris. I met them at their apartment in Mitte and we strolled to Kollwitzplatz where there is a Saturday open-air market. They treated me to snacks along the different stands before we headed back to their apartment for tea and sweets. I also got to play with their adorable little dog Talula.
It was great being around people who know the Z-clan- felt like a piece of home!

Going to the see the Queen

Yesterday was Tuesday-museum-date with Deborah  This week we went to the Neues Museum. This museum recently reopened just about a year ago after major renovations as the original structure was partially destroyed during World War II. It is quite popular so we had to reserve tickets ahead of time.
The museum has four floors that are packed with artifacts from Egypt and the Middle East. It was easy to get lost in the multiple rooms of sarcophaguses and statues. The museum is most famous for housing the bust of Nefertiti, an almost perfect bust of the queen missing only the left eye glass inlay. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the room she was in. (yes, she has an entire corner room to herself)
I was mostly excited to see her because I’ve been reading the book “Loot” by Sharon Waxman which has a chapter about the controversy regarding the Nefertiti bust. In short, the bust was donated to Berlin in 1920 by a merchant, James Simon. Ever since, the Egyptian government has demanded its return to Egypt but Germany refuses because it legally given away by Egypt.

Back in my Natural Habitat: Movies!

This past weekend I indulged in some good ole’ American movies. I found a theater company called “Yorck Theaters” that play American films in their original version. (Mostly with German subtitles). I took myself on a date and caught “Up in the Air” at the Babylon in Kreuzberg. Then on Thursday, Deborah and I ditched stammtisch (our program’s weekly meeting at a bar) to see the Cohen brothers’ “A Serious Man” at the Rollberg Kino. Then on Friday, Deborah, James, Carolyn and I saw “Crazy Heart” at the Babylon. Luckily, all three films were incredible and I was happy to see Jeff Bridges win for Crazy Heart.
I forgot how much I LOVE going to the movies. I felt right back at home once the lights dimmed and the trailers started. Perfect weekend…

German Opera- a night with “Tosca”

Saturday night I got the opportunity to go to an opera. It was my second choice for a cultural event my program provides tickets for. I saw “Tosca” which was in Italian but had German subtitles on a screen over the stage. It was 2 ½ hours… However, I paid enough attention to figure out the general story line. The opera singers were amazing and at times I had to make myself realize that they were REALLY singing. It’s almost unreal how long they can keep a note. The live orchestra was also really enjoyable to watch as well, especially when I found myself lost!

Berlin's MOMA

Deborah (my amazing, reliable, museum date friend) and I spent Saturday afternoon at the Berlinische Galerie for an assignment for our art history class (see we’re doing work!). I really enjoyed this museum. The bottom floor had modern art made within the past decade ranging from paintings, photographs, metal work and an Arc de Triumph structure made out of pizza boxes. My favorite though wasn’t a “piece” of art you could see. Connecting the first and second floor of the museum galleries, there is a long staircase. All the way down the staircase there are small speakers and every five-ten minutes the sound of a ping pong ball falling down the stairs fills the gallery. I giggled every time it happened… especially watching people figure out where the noise was coming from.
Upstairs there were “early modern” art including several works Deborah and I had been tested on in our art history midterm just a couple weeks before.

Pictures: Me with a work called “Eyecatcher” (pretty enjoyable, nice visual pun), Me on the ping-pong staircase, Me with a work titled “Head of a Woman” by Naum Gabo (this was the only slide identification I missed on my midterm… grrr)

Potsdam for a Day

My program took a trip to Potsdam on Friday, a city just an hour southwest of Berlin. Potsdam holds a lot of historical significance for the history of Germany as well as the world.
First, we did a tour of the Cecilienhof where the Potsdam Conferences took place after World War II. Our tour guide took us through the rooms of the complex used during the conferences and explained how the conference took place. Each leader (Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt and later Truman) entered the complex in a respective direction. Stalin from the East, Churchhill from the North and Roosevelt and Truman through the West. We saw Stalin’s personal study which looked over the river and, because Stalin was paranoid someone was going to assassinate him, his study had a personal escape door he could use to exit.
Then we went on a tour of the Sanssouci Palace. It’s a relatively modest palace used by the Prussian royal in the summer and then later the German imperial family. It was modeled on Versailles although its only a small percentage of Versailles’ size.