My throat feels more and more like death every day. I think I am getting slightly sick and I don’t like it. Alex and I plan to get some honey and cough drops. I am also staying on top of my asthma, so my parents shouldn’t worry! I know that isn’t asthma.
My day started with class. We went to the Romermuseum. It is a smaller museum and very kid-friendly. Everything was “touchable”. The most interesting part of the museum was hidden beneath the surface. One floor down we saw runs of Vindabona, the old Vienna. It was crazy to actually be able to see the walls of their homes. Under the floors of these homes were the original columns which were part of their heated floor system. It was incredible.
We were then rushed to the oldest church in Vienna. Ruprechtskirche ironically stood in the middle of a street full of bars and clubs. It did not fit into the surroundings. The little church was quite plain in comparison to the other very extravagant churches that we have seen. The original Romaneque style of the building fought for attention against the very Gothic addition to the church. The Gothic style of the church is seen by looking at the windows and the ribbing on the ceilings. Ruprechtskirche didn’t have very much decoration and the walls were bare, but very front of the church is home to a very unique window. This window is the oldest stained glass in all of Vienna. It was made in 1295 and still remains there today. The other windows in the church were added much later and have become very controversial for Austrians. These windows are very modern and seem to clash with the church as a whole. I liked them individually, but i agree with the people who said that they clashed with the age of the church.
The skeleton at the back of the church shocked me. After an explanation, however, I appreciated it more. Apparently it was brought there to remind the church that death is all around us. A quote that I liked said, “What I once was, you are. What I am, you will be.” Just a reminder, especially for Christians that we could die at any point and to live as God has called us to live.
Another thing that I found interesting was a sign on the balcony. It said a date and underneath said, “AEIOU.” This symbolized that Rudolf IV had built it. It stood for Austriae est imperare orbi universo. Basically, Austria over all. Rudolf IV was constantly competing with his father-in-law to build new things. This explains why he built so much and how he got his nickname of Rudolf the Founder.
Our next stop was a drastic difference from Rupertskirche. We stopped at Maria am Gestade. It is a very unique church in that it is higher than the streets surrounding it and that it is crooked. The inside of the church is lined with statues of saints. Number symbolism is seen throughout the church.
After these tours, Alex, Trevor and I went to his house to cool off, to eat a sandwich lunch and then do our homework. Unfortunately, the kids were too distracting to get any of it done, so we had to wait until they went to bed. Lara, the youngest girl, was especially lively. She has a cute little crush on Trevor and loves to jump on and wrestle him. We left right before dinner and stopped at a big mall to see if they had some cute, practical, cheap walking shoes. Alex found some, but I wasn’t so lucky (not that I really need any shoes).
Next was the most difficult thing of the night. We had to find a place to eat. At first we got off at a random stop and just started to walk, only to find that we picked the worst possible stop because there was nothing there. We opted to just go to the first district (center of the city). Even there, we were struggling to find somewhere to eat. So. Finally. After we basically walked off our meal, we found a place, sat, cleared our plates and leaned back, bellies full.
The rest of the night was pretty tame. We walked around a bit and then called it a night, meaning we had to finish the homework that we were too distracted to do earlier.
Ciao!
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