Vienna... Vienna... Vienna...

It's so hard to believe we have one week left in this city. I feel like I say that every week, but it's true! Lillian is leaving on Thursday to go to her summer program in Tübingen, and I won't see her again till the breakfast on the day before she goes into the MTC. Things in our classes are winding down with some big projects... Monday we had a paper to finish up for Patrick, so Tasha and I went to buy a ton of chocolate for our study party, which we spent analyzing the post modern family. The chocolate was excellent, and I think my paper was alright. We were kind of tired the next morning though; Lil and I bought a loaf of amazing bread for lunch that day - beautifully dark and moist with plenty of carrots and seeds in it. We enjoyed it in the shade of the Musikverein, and after lunch we ambled across the street to join our group at the Museum Wien. It was air conditioned, which was a big deal. It helped me to focus on the art. This time my favorite painting wasn't on the list of ones we were studying for class. It was a Waldmüller painting of a family, entitled "Congradulating Grandfather on his Birthday." The expressions on each of the children's faces were precious. Each was off in his or her own little experience of childhood bliss. The twinkle in the Grandfather's eye beamed out at one of the little shy children, approaching his grandfather timidly to wish him happy birthday. I wish my picture did it justice...

The other cool part of the museum was their collection of old clothing/dresses, some of which belonged to the Empress Sisi herself. In one part they showed how unhealthy corsets were.... they actually prevented the full development of the rib cage, scarred liver tissue and were just really unhealthy in general. I used to wish I could fit into all of those incredibly tiny dresses, but no more!

Later that evening Lil, Tasha and I went with Phil and Oliver to see the new Harry Potter in German. It was a really nice theater, and the movie wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I admit I'm excited to see it in English, since the dubbing always seems to lose some of the excitement/experience...

Wednesday our art class went to the Leopold museum, which had mainly more modern paintings by Schiele and Klimt on display. I liked the feel of the museum, and it wasn't just because it was air conditioned (although that did augment my good opinion quite a bit) - the colors of the walls, and the spacial set up just helped us all flow effortlessly from one room to another. The only thing it was missing were big, velvet-covered exercise balls to roll around on to enjoy the art with (yes, they had those in the Belvedere). After that excursion, Tasha, Lil and I went on an adventure to find the perfect apfel Strudel... Chelsea and Megan had claimed they had found it. It was a long, hot trek, but thoroughly rewarding. This strudel was truly amazing, with it's mouth-watering vanilla sauce and beautiful presentation:

We had two tests this week as well... one on Zwillingsformel, which are special kinds of idioms in the German language, and the other one was an art quiz. I think I did well on both of them, but don't have my results back yet. The weather while we were taking those tests was at a record high, 100 degrees with lots of humidity. Luckily it cooled down a bit this weekend.

This weekend I spent working on my last couple of projects (art, lyrical, and research) and visiting the museum of natural history in Vienna, right across from the art history museum. Chelsea, Tasha and I especially enjoyed the live fish, and the butterfly collection (the butterflies were all dead sadly). There are still a couple of other museums I have to see before we leave... so much to do and so little time!

I hope this week is wonderful for all of you!!

Love,

Margaret