I am finally in Europe!
I left Bangkok a month ago and flew to Salzburg, Austria with a one day stop in Dusseldorf, Germany. I arrived in Salzburg to see this beautiful smiling face shown in the picture to the left. This is Ingrid, my host mother from when I did a study-abroad in Austria during high school. I lived with Ingrid, Paul, and their daughter Barbara for a half year in 2006, and I hadn't seen them since. Now, after 5 years, I finally came back to their home, and it felt like I'd never even left. I wish you could understand how relieved I felt to have a loving family who was happy to see me after being so alone in chaotic, foreign countries for 6 months.
After a few days at home in Seekirchen (which is a short train ride north from Salzburg), we took a family trip down to Karnten in the southern part of Austria. On the way, we stopped at a small town called Gmund. This picture is at an art museum that we went to in Gmund. The thing in the picture is a big metal bowl of water. When you rub the handles, you create a resonance effect that makes the bowl sing a pretty tone and makes the water form cool shapes.
This is another exhibit at the museum. This room was full of strange instruments seemingly just made from random things that were lying around. This instrument had many strings threaded over a wooden cylinder. You play it by cranking the cylinder to make it spin and then use a violin bow to rub the strings and make music.
This me hanging out in the other music room. Again, they just had a lot of instruments, and we all made music together.
This is me inside a big bubble. I think we all like to stand in bubbles sometimes.
This is Dr. Ingrid listening to the bees at the museum. Why not?
This is Paul playing another instrument at the museum. Basically, many laser beams shine from above into sensors on the lower block. When you block the laser light with your hand, it makes a sound. It's sort of like a really simple piano.
This is a bunch of glasses that were each held up by a thin metal stick. You could move a glass, and it would wave around on the end of its stick. The tour guide wanted to demonstrate how you could move one glass, and then it would wave around on the end of its stick, hitting other glasses and making them also move around. That would create a nice sea of clinking glasses. Unfortunately, when the tour guide pulled back the glass, the glass and a few of the ones around it broke and fell off the sticks. Well, at least it was a nice idea.
This is a drum with coffee powder poured on top of it. When you sing a tone into the hollow red tube, your voice resonates through the drum and makes a pattern on the coffee. Paul and I couldn't sing loud enough to make it work, but this is the pattern made by Ingrid's voice.
This is Paul observing a bird in a glass cage. The bird is made of metal, and it is free to spin around a metal perch. There is water dripping onto the bird from above, and the potential energy of the water makes the bird spin around in a very random way.
This is another random musical instrument that they had at the museum. It's sort of like an organ that can only be operated by a cooperative team. You have to step on the foot pumps, and each pump blows air through the pipes and makes a different tone.
After the museum, we went to a nice garden full of silly metal art pieces. This is Ingrid coming out of a house made from a bunch of keys and locks welded together.
This is Ingrid sitting in a chair made from box-springs.
This is a metal dog. Diana - If you need another dog, get one like this. I think they're a little easier to take care of.
This is me sitting in a chair made of box springs. It's really the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in.
This picture is from the next day in Karnten. We went on a bike ride and found a big maze! This is Ingrid, still lost.
Also during our bike ride, we stumbled upon some gnomes. I think I fit in quite well.
The next day, we went to the Taj Mahal.
This is me a the mini Taj Mahal in Klagenfurt. This was at a big park called Minimundas where they had miniature versions of the world's biggest attractions.
I found Minimundas so cute, because you could go (for example) from the Taj Mahal to the Great Wall of China in about two steps. It's a great way to show your children a bit of culture, and also a great way to get some good ideas for your next big trip!
This is Ingrid and I on the Gaudi-style bench at Minimundas. Now, we can (almost) say that we've been to Barcelona together!
This was the most impressive miniature building out of all of them - The Vatican.
This is me, Barbara, Paul, and the couple whose house we were living in down in Karnten. Paul and Ingrid like to do house exchanges, where you swap houses with people and enjoy a holiday in their neighborhood.
This is me and Paul sitting by the lake in Karnten, about to enjoy some coffee and hot chocolate.
The next day, we went on a hike on the border between Austria and Slovenia. They have some beautiful mountains down there.
This is the three of us on top of the mountain. There are crosses (called "Gipfelkreutz") on top of most of Austria's mountains. I find them super cute.
In Asia, I was amazed by all of the Buddhist and Hindu temples, shines, and general symbolism that you see on every corner. Before, I never noticed that other countries (like Austria) do the same thing with their own religions. It's a great feeling to understand something new about your own culture because of what you have learned about another culture.
This is Paul and I climbing back down the mountain.
Of course, no hike in the Austrian Alps is complete without a stop at a pretty mountain cabin where you can hang out with the other mountain-goers and have something good to eat and drink. One thing you might find amusing - In Austria, they eat sandwiches as snacks, and they call them jausa (pronounced yow-zah). We stopped at this cabin to have some yow-zah.
After a few days, Barbara came down to Karnten to hang out with us. I was so happy to see her again - it was like having my long lost sister back. This is us, sitting at my computer and going through photos of my travels.
The next day, we all went on another hike to another pretty mountain. This is me and Barbara, hiking along in a happy buddy team.
This is the family reaching the peak.
This is the view from the peak. Karnten is a really pretty place. I'd love to live somewhere like this, where everything is green and filled with mountains.
This is me at the peak, doing my best to represent MIT.
And here is the group photo at the summit.
These are the cutest kids I've ever seen in my life. I think they were the children of the people who owned the mountain cabin where we stopped for jausa, and they always seemed like they had important things to do.
After the hike, Barbara had some pretty nasty blisters. We stopped at a very cold mountain river to cool off and check out the damage.
After our trip in Karnten, I came with Barbara to see her new life in Graz. Barbara is now living in Graz with her boyfriend and studying Biology at the university. I stayed with them for a few days.
This is Barbara's boyfriend, Patrick. He's a really nice guy, and it's great to see how well he and Barbara get along. It gives me hope that happy long-term relationships really do exist! This picture of him is during our walk up to Graz's clock tower.
This is me during the walk up to the clock tower with a view of Graz in the background. I found the view of Graz very pretty, because all of the buildings have red roofs.
I'm not sure who this man is anymore. I think I was just really happy to see him, because it meant that we were finally on top of the hill.
This is Barbara in the flowers under the clock tower. One thing I really like about Europe is the pretty gardens everywhere.
This is a view of the Graz city center.
This is the clock tower!
This is me and Barbara in front of the clock tower. It's much bigger than I expected it to be.
This is me with my new best friend who I met at the clock tower.
From Graz, I took a train north to Munich to visit Frieder. Frieder and I met through the MIT Outing Club while he was doing a year at MIT for his masters program at TU-Munich. It was really nice to see him again, but the weather in Munich was absolute crap the whole time I was there. However, we still went on a hike in the pouring rain. This is a picture of us during the 5 minute gap in the rain.
This is Frieder doing the MITOC penguin dance on top of the mountain.
Like I said, no hike is complete without a stop at a nice mountain cabin for some snacks. What a nice place for a cabin, right?
This is me on top of the mountain. Another Gipfelkreutz, yay!
After Munich, I went to Konstanz for a camping trip with my brother, Linas, and his friends. This is Linas hanging out on the Bodensee.
Germany is not Germany without Rammstein, right? This is me getting psyched for Rammstein's next big concert.
After our camping trip in Konstanz, I went up to Darmstadt to see where Linas has been living for the last semester. Linas is doing a study abroad at TU-Darmstadt. While I was visiting, we went on a tour of the GSI, which stands for Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung and has a big accelerator for heavy ions. These are their computers.
This is Linas making his way through the GSI.
After going to the GSI, we decided to hop on a train and go to Frankfurt for the afternoon. In Frankfurt, we found a nutcracker.
This is the main square in Frankfurt.
We went on a walk along the river, and we were careful to watch out for cute little trains.
There is one bridge in Frankfurt that has a good view of all of Frankfurt's tall buildings. Apparently, Frankfurt is the only German city that has a skyline.
I took a train north from Darmstadt back to Dusseldorf to see David again. A few days after I got there, we went to Paris to see Cecilia (my freshman roommate and one of my best friends from MIT). This is me and David in sunny Paris at the Louvre.
The first time I was in Paris, I really didn't like it. During my first trip, I think I just went to all the wrong places. This time, I found Paris to be very beautiful and I really loved the city. This is me after a lovely walk through the city, sitting in front of the Sacre Coeur church.
Sacre Coeur is up on a hill with great views of the huge city below. Lots of people like to sit in the grass in front of the church to picnic and relax.
After our walk, we met up with Cecilia and went to a cafe to watch some very talented men play guitar. This is me and David at the cafe, drinking the most expensive beer I've ever had. Each of our beers cost 21 euros.
This is Cecilia enjoying the music. The two men in the background looked like they were father and son, and they were some of the best guitarists I've ever seen.
After the show, we went on a walk to see Paris at night. Going to a show at the Mounin Rouge is extremely expensive, and the line of people waiting to get in went all the way down the block.
This is David at the airport on our way back to Dusseldorf from Paris. I find this picture funny because it says so much about his character. He's always drinking coffee and reading newspapers, and if you ask him what's on his mind, he'll start talking about the effect of the financial crisis on some random country or the psychological effect of fat people on society. It's great to have friends who are interested in the most random things and always strive to understand the world.
Now, I've left Dusseldorf, and I've been back in Munich at Frieder's place for a couple days. Tomorrow, I'll fly to Lithuania to see my family members who I haven't seen for a few years. In a week, my parents are also coming to Lithuania, and I'll finally see them again after 7 months! As much as I love traveling, I also love my family, and I can't wait to finally be with them again.
