M's Adventures in Austria: Sept 30: Bike Lights, Baroque Palaces, and Tortellini!

Today, I was feeling pretty ambitious, so I resolved to get my rear bike light fixed AND visit Schloss Eggenberg, the Baroque palace that’s located on the outskirts of Graz. I found a bike shop about 10 minutes from my apartment, and 10 minutes and 0.75 Euros later, the new light was in and the plastic shell was fastened securely overtop.

Or so I thought. I met up with a few friends and we rode off towards the castle. Along the way, we got off to wheel our bikes across the intersection. I pulled mine off the curb and thunk! I looked behind, and the plastic shell over my rear light was lying in the middle of the tram tracks. Run, run, run, pick up the piece, scurry back across the road, THE TRAM IS COMING!!! Unfortunately, when I got back to the sidewalk and examined the bike, I found that the brand new light had fallen out in the process! So I was back to square one. But on the plus, I now knew where I could find these marvelous 0.75 Euro bike lights…J

I had the plastic shell, so I put it back on and we continued on to the palace. But the visit soon made up for any bike mishaps. It's so beautiful! Though part of the palace had been built as early as the 1400s, the main construction took place between 1625 and 1635. The palace belonged to Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, who as the advisor of Ferdinand II, the Holy Roman Emperor, was one of the most influential princes in the Europe. In keeping with the mindset of the time, Eggenberg wanted his palace to reflect the rational order of the world. The palace has four towers which reflect the four seasons as well as the four elements. The importance of the calendar is shown too, through the inclusion of 365 windows (for each day of the year) and 24 state rooms (number of hours in a day). As you walk through the state rooms, you see that the first are painted in white to symbolize the day, but change to blue to symbolize dusk, and finally brown to symbolize the night. It was amazing to see all the metaphorical elements in the decoration and architecture of the palace.

In addition to having a guided tour of the state rooms and ballroom, we looked at the art gallery (with a significant collection of medieval art), the coin collection (including medieval and Roman coins), and the outdoor gardens. The grounds are beautiful! Still very green, and with huge trees. There was even a goldfish pond.

Afterwards, we went to get some supper at a restaurant that allows you to build your own pizza/pasta/salad/baked potato/stuffed pepper. Basically, you can customize your dish by checking off all the ingredients you would like to have on it. I had a tortellini dish with tomato sauce, meat, feta cheese, broccoli, and mushrooms. Very tasty.

And to end the day, I went back to the bike shop before it closed and bought TWO rear light bulbs PLUS a blinking red light to attach to my belt/backpack. I will be prepared next time! J