Austria: Adventures in Graz Part One

Down in the southeast corner of Austria lies the quaint city of Graz (pronounced Grah-tz).  It is situated on the Mur River pictured above.  The clocktower sticking out in the top left of the picture is one of the city's main icons and is at the top of the fortification that is over 10 centuries old.  Graz itself has a very rich history which dates back to the Copper Age!  Just so you can be informed readers, the Copper Age began at about 5,000 BC between the Neolithic Period (or Stone Age) and the Bronze Age.  So yeah, it's old.  Over the years, Graz has experienced some destruction from wars as did much of Europe, but its old town is still in pretty good shape and only about 16 percent of the buildings were damaged during WWII.  

I came here to visit my dear friends, Irma and Brian, along with their 3 exceptional boys: Theodore, Henry and Felix. 

Irma and Brian live on this quiet street in a 500-year-old house that used to belong to Irma's grandparents.  Irma's sister, Centa (the one who had the birthday), also lives in the house.  She has been in Graz for a few years, working on her doctorate in English literature at one of the city's universities. 

This is their backyard where I played a few solid rounds of hide-and-seek with Theo, Henry and Felix.  

On my first full day in Graz, we all took a stroll down the block to their wonderful farmers' market.  Thanks to this beautiful market, Irma and her family are able to eat fresh, local, seasonal foods every day without hardly ever having to go to a supermarket.  

Pussy willows are in season and were being sold in sweet little bunches. 

We kind of slept in after staying up waaaaaay too late the night before for Centa's party, so most of the farmers were already packed up by the time we got there.  We still managed to get some good veggies for supper though. 

Irma and I spent a lot of time just walking around the city.  It's absolutely beautiful and highly walkable.  This mural was a few blocks away from their house. 

We walked over to the Schloßberg (pronounced Shloss-burg), Graz's iconic hill dominating the old town with the old fortress and clock tower on top.  

Irma and I were gazing up at the path to the top of the hill when all of a sudden, I heard someone calling my name.  There weren't many people around so the chances of another Amanda hanging out in the quiet square were pretty slim.  I turned around to see my old friend, Victoria, running in my direction!  I know her from living in Ithaca, New York!  Imagine that! What are the chances I'd run into literally ANYone I know while strolling around Graz, Austria!?!?!?  Amazing!  That's the two of us in the picture above.  

After Victoria and her boyfriend left, Irma and I started our climb up the hill to the clock tower.  The views of the city were stunning and the red tiled rooves were neat to look out on.  

And in case we were feeling down from climbing so many stairs, someone left a merry message to lift our spirits.  Thanks. 

The first signs of spring were already popping out in Graz! 

At last, we made it to the clock tower! This is actually the city's symbol.

The hill itself has been hollowed out and contains an extensive system of tunnels that were built during the Second World War to protect the people of Graz from aerial bombing.  A few of the tunnels are still open for people to walk through.  One of them even leads to a very hip nightclub that holds up to 600 people in its venue space!

World War II was obviously a very tragic time for the Jewish population of Graz.  Many of the homes have little bronze tiles set into the pavement near the front door, which indicate who used to live there and where they went. 

Theodore thinks this is the most beautiful building in all of Graz.  What he doesn't realize is, it's the side of a building that houses a business dedicated to fulfilling your erotic fantasies.  Apparently Graz has quite a few of these destinations, which are well advertised with graphic posters in the windows.

Moving on... we saw these four people attempting to transport a heavy couch using this rather unstable bicycle.  Needless to say, it didn't work. 

Irma knew all about Graz's many secret green spots hidden in the center of buildings.  

We walked through a church to get to this little courtyard. 

Like many great cities that have rivers running through them, Graz has a bridge where people thoughtfully attach their "locks of love."  I liked the one with the Buddha on it. 

Fritz has titled this photo: Reflecting on World Peace

Don't worry.  If you left your sunglasses at home, you can get yourself a new pair at this sunglass vending machine.  I must admit, this is the first time I've ever seen one of these, and I kinda love it.  So random!

Some of the buildings in the center of town have such incredible detail artfully worked into them.  Why don't people make buildings like this anymore?  

Irma and I climbed the Graz Twin Spiral Staircase which was erected in 1499 and is one of the most significant staircases of its kind.  There are a few other twin spiral staircases, but none as detailed and as well crafted as this one. 

It was such a full and lovely day with my dear friends.  In fact, Irma and I got so caught up in wandering around the city together that we completely forgot about our 5:30 yoga class!  One of our main intentions of this visit was to go to Irma's cool yoga class on Tuesday night.  Oops!  As Irma said, we crammed soooo many things into our short visit, staying up until 2am chatting both nights, and yet we somehow managed not to do most of the things we had planned to do.  I'm not sure how this happened, but I do know it was a wonderful visit regardless!  I love spending time with this crew!  My life is better when Irma is in it!

3 Days in Berlin

There was no time to waste.  3 days in Berlin was going to fly by so we were determined to make the most of it.  Of course our primary mission was to secure a flat for our return in January.  Now seasoned apartment hunters after our run-around in Frankfurt, Fritz had a meeting already lined up with a lovely couple in their rather swanky flat in West Berlin.  I'll save the details on our future apartment for our return since most of our 3-day adventure consisted of seeing the Berlin sights.

Berlin was loaded with Christmas markets.  

One of the more famous markets was right in front of this famous church.  The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was built in the 1890s.  It was badly damaged in a bombing raid during World War II and if you walk around the side of it, you can see gaping holes that were torn through the side of the structure as well as its damaged spire.  Although newer buildings have been built on either side of the church which are used for worship, the original building was not repaired as a reminder of the horrible events of WWII and the futility of war. 

Another lovely Christams Market was right in front of the Charlottenburg Palace. 

We were too busy eating sausages to try the smoked fish, but these fish fires were another neat part of almost every Christmas Market.  

We had lovely weather to hit all the major tourist spots.  Behind me is the Reichstag building, which is the meeting place for the German parliament. 

The Brandenburg Gate was built in 1791 by the Kind of Prussia as a sign of peace.  During the Cold War, the Berlin Wall stood right next to it, and this spot was featured in media coverage from when the Wall was torn down in 1989.  

There are parts of the city that still contain sections of the Berlin Wall. 

Other spots feature a strip embedded in the pavement marking the place where the former wall stood.  

The Holocaust Memorial, also called The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, stretches out over 4 acres with concrete slabs ranging in heights from 8 inches to 15 feet. The ground on which the slabs are placed slopes so when you are standing on the outside of the memorial looking in, they all appear to be of a similar height, but as you walk deeper into the slabs, you find the concrete masses towering over you. 

Peter Eisenman, the designer and architect, intended for the structure to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere.  The whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.  The memorial also bears a resemblance to a cemetery.  The slabs are covered with a graffiti-resistant coating to prevent neo-Nazis from painting swastikas on the sculpture, which happened 5 times in the first year before the special coating was added.  

These two cuties were hanging out by the Brandenburg Gate.

We had to visit Checkpoint Charlie, one of the most iconic spots in Berlin.  This was the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin, the capital of communist East Germany, and West Berlin, part of West Germany, during the Cold War.  The checkpoint was manned by US troops.  It's called Checkpoint "Charlie" because the checkpoints were labeled alphabetically.  There was also a Checkpoint A and B or "Alfa" and "Bravo".  Using the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, C is called "Charlie."  

Today Checkpoint Charlie is pretty much a big old tourist trap.  People take turns standing next to this German guy dressed as an American soldier.  My biggest question is, how long did it take for them to install a McDonalds right behind Checkpoint Charlie after the Berlin Wall fell?