hello.

Fall quarter's sped by really quickly, and after a grueling week of finals (haha not that I've anything to complain about given my relatively low courseload) it's finally winter break!
Packing and settling last minute odds and ends before setting off was a frantic affair -- yux was appalled at my having to pack, write essay and book tickets all within 2h of departure whilst chatting on skype -- and now I realise in the process I forgot to turn off the room heater. Hopefully they don't check and notice and fine me =S at least it's set to just 2mm past 0 or something like that. First leg of flight was peaceful -- we got to the airport really early, and had lots of time to just slowly wait for the flight and reflect on the quarter past. The transition, though, was the beginning of exciting times. We had a buffer of almost 2 hours for transit, and thus had a leisurely lunch. 20 minutes before the flight was due to depart, we proceeded to board, and discovered to our horror that we were in the wrong terminal. Thus ensued a sprint - -the most intense exercise I've had all quarter I believe -- to the sky train, which annoyingly only goes uni-directionally from 7 to 1 in descending number, though 7-8-1 would've been much shorter. To add to the already-strained nerves we were suddenly struck by the fact that we might've to check our luggage again since it was technically "different" airlines since it was different terminal, and that we hadn't checked if we needed any visas to visit any of the countries on our itinerary. Twas rather hilarious, really :P
When we got to the customs queue our hearts sank -- the line was snaking -- and when we asked the officer at the front of the line, she told us we needed to change our passes. Without much hope we sprinted to the airline counter to ask them if we could change our time, and miraculously, the lady called and got the go-ahead to let us reboard the flight from which we were just cancelled >.< and so we got through a fast-track customs check in a self-created lane; pushing immediately to the front of the queue, and boarded the plane 5min before the scheduled departure time. Thus -- How to get through a customs queue in 5 minutes: Tip 1 -- . Note to self: ALWAYS always check that one is in the correct airport terminal for the departing flight.
I love Austrian Airlines =) was totally prepared to miss the flight already :P Also there was in-flight entertainment =) watched julie and julia which was pretty inspiring, and delicious. Perhaps I should start some project like that after I start working/becoming jaded with work. heh. Also caught Up, which was cute, though the first half hour was certainly the best part of it. I didn't really like the little boy too much =P
The rest of the day was pretty smooth-running after the initial adrenaline rush -- besides the minor issue of not having much european currency =P we walked into a shop for lunch, were told they didn't take card, re-emerged and counted our last bits of change, and figured sharing lunch would leave perhaps 3 euros over in case of emergency :P hahaha. it was lucky we asked first :P else it'd have been bad-- most of the banks/money changers were closed as it was a Sunday. Earlier on, we'd wanted to visit the bakery in Schloss Schonbrunn, where they apparently show you the baking of an Apfelstrudel on the spot (Wien is the birthplace of apple strudels(?)) but din have enough =P so just walked around the gardens and building exteriors -- had a sense of deja vu; Versailles -- it was really pretty though :) Also walked through a christmas market there. Post-lunch, we visited the Zentralfriedhof, which was slightly far-out from the city, but rather awe-inspiring i must say. To stand before the graves of Beethoven ,Schubert, Brahms, Strauss ... to hear the fifth-symphony backwards with Beethoven's de-composing... being struck by the immortality of their art, and the mortality of humanity. Missed Boltzmann's grave cos didn't know it was there beforehand, which is a pity, and we were just talking about it and wondering whose gravestone had the k log w on it earlier on :P
In the evening we visited the Christkindlmarkt in front of the Rathaus, such a lot of good food and pretty things! =D
Day 2 was a lot of walking around the historic town area, looking at the architecture; we walked past the house where Mozart once lived. The richness of culture in Vienna is Amazing. So many incredible composers once stepped through this place. We ventured into Haus der Musik, which was pretty infomormative and had some rather interesting exhibits pertaining to the famous composers and sound effects etc. Learnt about the Shepard scale and the paradoxical effect it produces of an infinitely rising sequence of notes. It was interesting hearing how history portrays the different musicians- their various personalities; lifestyles... schubert ( if i remember correctly) was rather inspirational -- he was really poor and didn't have his own square piano; so he mainly composed out of his head, and if he really needed to -- went to friends' houses to borrow the pianos to test out notes; but his manuscripts were quite clean and didn't need much alternations.
Graben and Kastnerstr. were all really beautiful with the night lights. We tried watching Wagner's Tristan and Isolde with Stehplaetze at the Staatsoper , but gave up after a few minutes cos we were all nodding off.. just really tired :P Walked around a little more and through the Christkindlmarkt at the Museumsquartier, then proceeded to 52 Neubaugasse for Supper -- XXL Wiener Schnitzel -- Einfach Super! :) The portion was Huge. and quite well made =)
Returned to Wombats 10plus. For some reason I've been getting sleepy really really easily/early over here =P it was only 7pm just now and was feeling like it was 1am and time for bed :P
Lost wallet was excitement day 2 =S ahwells. it happens. ><
On the train from Wien Miedling to Praha we were trying to learn jap, and learnt very well the phrase that said " but I'm not very good at it yet" in pre-emption of a praiseworthy remark about our excellent ability to understand japanese, demonstrating one's humility. Doubt I'll ever have the chance to use it though. hahaha. Sigh.. I wish I could take jap lessons next quarter >.< annoying major requirements left =S though if i hadn't failed this quarter.. =/
So anyways we're now in Prague, and it's sehr schoen!! I think it has fairy-tale-like qualities =) magical-looking castles and nice cobblestone streets.

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