Haydn House - September 9th

Hey Y'all!

I went to the Haydn House about a month ago (I know.  I haven't updated my blog for a while... we've been really busy).  For all those who haven't heard of Josef Haydn, he was a famous composer of the Wiener Klassic.  At a young age, Haydn was a singer at St. Stephen's Cathedral, however, when his voice broke, he decided to start writing music (when he was about 17 years old!).  He then searched for a job and took an opening for the Esterházy family in Hungary.  Now, at this time, when one was a composer, they literally sold their soul to the family that desired a composer.  When Haydn decided to do this, he basically was indebted  to the Esterházy family for life.  Luckily for Haydn, the Esterházy family truly appreciated music, and this appreciation led Haydn to compose some of the most beautiful symphonies, string trios, piano sonatas, and operas heard in history.  One of his most famous works is "The Creation" ( a symphony that interprets the creation of Earth [as in the bible]).  


Now, you may be wondering how I visited the Haydn House if he lived with the Esterházy family in Hungary.  Well, the Esterházy family was a very generous family and allowed Haydn to travel freely just as long as he kept composing for them.  Haydn went to London, which he did not enjoy because the noise of the city affected his composing.  He then decided to return to Vienna, where he moved into a house in Gumpendorf (close to the center of present-day Vienna).  He spent the remainder of his life there and died several days after an attack by Napoleon in May 1809 (it wasn't the attack that killed him, but rather an illness that he became worse over the years).  Here are some pictures of the house, which is now a museum:

The outside facade of the Haydn House.  At one point, the house was not surrounded by buildings at all, but over time, Vienna expanded and the house itself seems lost in the city.

Here is one of Haydn's compositions composed in 1796/1797.  It is called "Gast erhalte Franz den Kaiser" (or "Franz the Emperor receiving Guests").  I would say that this was played for Franz Josef, one of the Habsburgs, during a ball.

Haydn enjoyed having many visitors - many composers visited him (for example, Mozart).

This is the guest book of Haydn.  It is filled with many names. 

A bust of Haydn.  I'm not sure if it was sculpted during or after Haydn died. 

This is the piano Haydn used to compose many of his symphonies and other music. 

When Haydn died, this was believed to be the last pencil he used to write music.

O!  And I decided to give Haydn's piano a try!  (but not really)  

Hope y'all learned something about Haydn!

Moenichkirchen - September 10-12

Hey all!

A little over a week ago, I had the chance to go to the Alps and go to a cow festival.  I know this sounds out of the blue, but this festival is a very special part of the culture here in Austria (and Switzerland, too).  In order to get to the cow festival, we took about a 10 mile hike up the mountain to a small ranch.  Here, cows were dressed with bows and cowbells.  Others had wreaths around their necks.  The largest cow wore a crown bad of evergreen branches and flowers (I wish I had some pictures to share of the cow festival, but my camera ran out of battery on our way up the mountain.  I did get some good shots, nevertheless).  Now, you may be wondering what is the significance of dressing up cows in ridiculous things.  Well, the point of this festival is the celebration of a good harvest, and upon the celebration, they move the cows from their summer pastures to their winter pastures.  I thought the festival was fun, and I also had the opportunity to practice some German with the locals!  Many were from rural areas, so they did not know English that well, which was a good thing in my opinion simply because we are forced to speak German if we wanted to communicate with the locals (I actually spoke with the ocals for over 2 hours, almost all in German).  I really enjoyed this.  Here are some pictures of Moenichkirchen and the hike:

The typical architecture of alpine retreats in Austria.

Me, on the hike up the mountain - there was a part of the hike that was about 400 meters long at a sixty degree slope.  

The top of the mountain where we found the summer pastures for cows.

A memorial, or sorts, for the church.  This was at the top of the mountain, too.

A buddy of mine walking on the rocks at the top of the mountain.  There were many rocks at the top of the mountain - possibly piled up to maximize the space for the cows.

And our hiking group at the top of the mountain - at this point, we ate lunch at the top of the mountain at a place that we were ecstatic to see after hiking about 10 miles!

Budapest: September 3-4

Hello!

Sorry about the late post/ update.  A couple weeks ago, I went to Budapest for a cultural excursion with a few friends I made at the Flow House.  We took a bus to Budapest (surprisingly, the buses here are a very frugal way of traveling, especially if one is traveling to nearby cities).  Here, we spent the two days exploring the city and seeing the sights Budapest has to offer.  If anyone plans on coming to Europe, Budapest should be on your top ten list because it is an absolutely gorgeous city. Here are some pictures below:

 (Here is the group of us who went to Budapest.  I am the the one in the black T-shirt on the left - sorry I haven't uploaded an image of me yet!)

Here s a reflection of some of the architecture in Budapest.  This was on the corner by the youth hostel we stayed in.

This was a statue that was near the train station.

This was the courtyard at the youth hostel we stayed in.

This is an old hotel on the outskirts of the city.

This is Heroes Square, a block in Budapest that commemorates leaders of Hungary.

Heroes Square is a place where you can find many children playing and tourist groups enjoying the sights.

Here is one of the street performers at Heroes Square.

And another!  (One of the street performers handed me their viola at the top of the hill in Budapest, and I pulled out some Irish Jigs!)

Hope you enjoyed this post, and I cannot wait to share my next experience!

Some pictures of Vienna!

Here are some pictures I took of Vienna and the surroundings:

The U-Bahn (subway) station at Krottenbachstrasse

The Art History Museum near Heldenplatz

One of the many street performers (this one is dressed like Mozart and hummed tunes).

A biker near the Danube Canal; biking is a popular form of transportation in Vienna

A statue outside of the palace in Heldenplatz

Vienna, Austria 27.08.2010

Hallo!

Greetings from Vienna!  I am new to blogging, in general, but I would like to say thank you to all of the donors that made it possible for me to come to Europe.  I never imagined that I would be here, and the experience has definitely made an impact on my life thus far;  I have been able to see how others see and experience the world.

So far, we took many tours of the city (I plan on uploading the pictures soon!).  I have seen the main sights of Vienna, including the Stephansplatz (a large church), the Prater (a carnival on the outskirts of the city), and the Heldenplatz (which is a section of the city that has a palace, opera, and other buildings that are all joined together).

I very lucky to be here, and I plan on updating this blog as much as possible throughout the semester.  Thanks to all, once again, for making this trip possible!