Jan 3: University, Stadtpark, & Spiral Staircase

Still catching up, but I thought I’d give a quick report on today (Jan 17). Had two musicology courses, and am making headway on my reading and studying. Bought an interesting type of mustard today, and have been listening to Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” way too many times. J Went to pub quiz tonight as well. The weather is a little chilly, but nothing compared to what I’m hearing Calgary is like!! (Minus 29 degrees…am I correct?!)

Tuesday January 3rd

On our walk out (in a square near the old town).

Part of the old city wall.

The old and the new...

C and the Paulustor, "one of the most important Renaissance gates" (according to my guidebook :-). Completed in 1614.

Today, we explored the university. We took a route through the old town again, but this time, we wandered around the Stadtpark a bit more. It’s like a small oasis in the middle of the city – very quiet and peaceful. The birds and greenery makes it feel like March! There are also some really old trees there with huge trunks and long, gnarled branches.

One of the Stadtpark trees.
Kind of reminds me of a centipede...
a GIANT one. ;-)

C and one of the lovely gnarly trees. :-)

Another view of the Stadtpark.

Taking a break on the bench.

 Coming out, we walked along Zinzendorfgasse, the street by the university where one of my favourite pen stores is located, along with the oldest church in Graz. (Of course, we visited both. ;-) From my helpful English guidebook, I learned that the church, Maria am Leech, or the Leechkirche, is built on an artificial hill. Recent excavations showed that this hill contained a grave from the Hallstatt era (600-500 B.C.E.)! This church has original stained glass windows from the 1300s, which I wrote about in my poem post in December. I really enjoyed revisiting it.

Next stop: the bakery, for Topfentascherl!!! (Basically like a cream cheese pastry, but better. Contains subtle hints of lemon. J) We then walked through the campus, checking out some of the university buildings. It was very quiet, since almost everyone was still on holiday.

This is my classroom...;-)

M with Topfentascherl. Mmmm...

C in the main building.

On our way back, we stopped by the double-spiral staircase near the old town. It’s just like it sounds: a tower, with two spiral staircases that converge and diverge on the way to the top! It was fun to walk up, and the view from the top was pretty nice, too. Afterwards, we had tea at the oldest bakery in Graz (from the 1500s). We found a kind of apple pastry with meringue – C was very taken with it. ;-)

Another park in the area.

C on the walking path.

The mausoleum behind the main church (Dom).

The view from the spiral staircase
(the Dom is the large building with the green copper tower).

 Dessert before supper is always our style. On the recommendation of E & P, we then tried an Austrian restaurant. C ordered Wiener Schnitzel with spätzle, and I tried their Backhendelsalat (green salad with breaded meat). C even got a taste of conventional Austrian “water.”(Well, conventional in the sense of restaurant dining.) VERY bubbly!  It can be refreshing, but the carbonation is a little intense…

Finally, we went to pub quiz to meet up with our regular group! There was a challenging final round, but we had a very successful evening. J