In class we talked about what happened in Austria during the early 20th century, especially before WWII. Some of the topics we discussed were how the assassination of crown prince Franz Ferdinand started WWI, how the end of WWI ended the Austrian monarchy, and the various rulers of the Austrian Republic before WWII. For example, the first chancellor was a moderate socialist, Dr. Karl Renner. We also talked about how there was little popular loyalty to the Austrian Republic before WWII, so many Austrians were actually supporters of the Nazis and Hitler. We also talked about the German invasion of Austria by Hitler in 1938, and how Hitler’s arrival in Austria generated more support by the Austrians for a union with Germany.
After class, I went with some of my classmates to Schonbrunn Palace. This palace was much bigger and better than the Belvedere. I bought the Golden Pass ticket that allowed me access to every part of the palace grounds, so I was a little overwhelmed because I thought that there was no way that I could fit it all into one day. I found out that the ticket was good for one year though, so I took my time going through each station. The first thing we did was tour the inside of the palace. The inside looked very much like the inside of the Hofburg Palace, but there definitely more elaborately decorated rooms here. My favorite room in the palace was the ball room. I was disappointed that we couldn’t take pictures of it, so I bought a postcard of it in the gift shop after the tour. While I was buying the postcard though, I ran into an interesting Dutch woman who kept talking to me in Dutch, German, and English. She kept switching from language to language without even noticing. It was very amusing, but she was a very nice woman. After the tour of the palace we walked around the enormous garden areas for awhile. I had never been to a palace before so I thought that the enormity of the grounds was amazing and beautiful. I guess the palace grounds were meant to be breathtaking though, because Schonbrunn Palace was built to be the Habsburg equivalent of the Palace of Versailles in France. We eventually made our way up to the Schonbrunn Palace Gloriette, which we climbed to the roof of. This allowed us to see amazing views of the palace and its surrounding grounds. The place is huge. After the Gloriette, we went over to the palace maze in the gardens. I was a little disappointed because I thought that the maze would be bigger, but it was still fun to get lost in. After visiting the maze, we made our way to the zoo to see the baby panda and polar bears that were shown in advertisements all over the city. I was surprised at how big the zoo was. I thought it would be smaller than most zoos because it is not even the main attraction at Schonbrunn, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a rather large zoo. We looked at most of the animals, but after that we had to call it a day because we were all so tired from walking around the palace grounds all day.
The German word of the day is vielleicht, which means “maybe”.
After class, I went with some of my classmates to Schonbrunn Palace. This palace was much bigger and better than the Belvedere. I bought the Golden Pass ticket that allowed me access to every part of the palace grounds, so I was a little overwhelmed because I thought that there was no way that I could fit it all into one day. I found out that the ticket was good for one year though, so I took my time going through each station. The first thing we did was tour the inside of the palace. The inside looked very much like the inside of the Hofburg Palace, but there definitely more elaborately decorated rooms here. My favorite room in the palace was the ball room. I was disappointed that we couldn’t take pictures of it, so I bought a postcard of it in the gift shop after the tour. While I was buying the postcard though, I ran into an interesting Dutch woman who kept talking to me in Dutch, German, and English. She kept switching from language to language without even noticing. It was very amusing, but she was a very nice woman. After the tour of the palace we walked around the enormous garden areas for awhile. I had never been to a palace before so I thought that the enormity of the grounds was amazing and beautiful. I guess the palace grounds were meant to be breathtaking though, because Schonbrunn Palace was built to be the Habsburg equivalent of the Palace of Versailles in France. We eventually made our way up to the Schonbrunn Palace Gloriette, which we climbed to the roof of. This allowed us to see amazing views of the palace and its surrounding grounds. The place is huge. After the Gloriette, we went over to the palace maze in the gardens. I was a little disappointed because I thought that the maze would be bigger, but it was still fun to get lost in. After visiting the maze, we made our way to the zoo to see the baby panda and polar bears that were shown in advertisements all over the city. I was surprised at how big the zoo was. I thought it would be smaller than most zoos because it is not even the main attraction at Schonbrunn, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a rather large zoo. We looked at most of the animals, but after that we had to call it a day because we were all so tired from walking around the palace grounds all day.
The German word of the day is vielleicht, which means “maybe”.
No comments:
Post a Comment