A Short Trip to Graz

This past weekend I took a short train to Graz, Austria with my Austrian girl friend Monika. She wanted to take me somewhere in Austria, so we decided to go to the second biggest city. Graz is a very historical city, in 1128 the Slovene castle was founded. It was the first time in historical records the city was called "Graz". Through the ages it was ruled by the Habsburg family (who ruled the Austrian Empire). The city was the residence of their Austrian lineage. They lived in the Schossesberg castle on top of the highest point in Graz. This prompted in the 16th century Renaissance inspired architecture from Italy (due to the fact it is very close to the Italian border). Some of the Renaissance architecture remains, much of the Old Town remain in tact, but much of Graz was bombed by the allies in World War 2.

Monika and I began our trip Friday afternoon arriving at about 5pm in Graz. The train ride there was beautiful. Our train traveled through a very hilly section of Austria. It reminded me of Northern Vermont mountains and that region in general. There were still fall colors remaining on trees which made it a spectacular view. During the ride I thought about my year of school in Vermont since the environment gave me flashbacks of the time I had there.

Once we arrived in Graz Monika and I found our hotel and went to Old Town Graz for dinner. For dinner we went to a traditional Austrian Restaurant. I had a version of Schnzeil (fried meat) that had a variety of different meats inside of it along with potato mixed salad. It was very good, it had its own distinct taste from Vienese schnzeil which made it memorable. After dinner Monika and I walked around Old Town and lost our way to the hotel. After about 30 minutes of wandering we found our way and headed back to the hotel. What made being lost annoying was that temperature outside was under 30 degrees. Her and I were freezing! Luckily we found our way back!

Graz is known for being picturesque. The Mur river is flowing through the center of the city. With fall colors and the old buildings along with the artsy post modern buildings it made it a treat to walk through. When Monika and I ventured through the town on Saturday we enjoyed the scenery. She first took me up to Schlossberg castle on the large hill in the center of the city. It is known for having a clock on the center of the building dating back to around the 11th century. Along the way up the hill her and I saw a 50,000 person bunker built into the hill during World War 2. It was quite a massive structure! I've never seen such a large underground bunker. Once we were on top of the large hill where the castle is we had a great view of the city of Graz. It was a beautiful day with barely any clouds in the sky. We ventured around the top of the hill and descended down the hill on a huge stair case. It felt like I went down around 500 or so stairs before I got to the bottom. At the bottom we were outside of a very famous historical site. It was the site where Hitler came into Graz in 1938 after Germany annexed Austria. He promised the people of Graz with 1000 years of prosperity. When it in reality, 8 years later much of the city was destroyed by allied air raids.

After we finished Schlossberg castle we went to the modern contemporary art museum called Kunsthaus. Graz in 2003 was formally awarded with the title European Capital of the Culture due to the large art movement in the city. This was exemplified in the Kunsthaus. The building itself reminded of a very futuristic glass enveloped space ship. Inside it contained a very modern art exhibit. Most of the art had to do with moving pictures as well as changing pictures. It was quite a different experience than any other art museum I've ever been to. We spent about 2 hours in the museum and before we knew it was time to head back to the station to head back to Vienna!

The trip to Graz was a very fun trip. I'm glad I got to go with Monika. She served as great tour guide and spoke German. Due to this we didn't have any awkward moments. Usually when I travel there is always a few instances where the language barrier results in an awkward moment. However, in this case it didn't happen! I definitely am going to miss her when I travel to Germany the first week of December. Overall it was a great short getaway from Vienna. Both of us had a good time!

This Thursday I am off to Istanbul Turkey for 4 days. It should definitely be interesting! It is somewhere I've always wanted to go. I will definitely will highlight my trip there, so look for the blog next Monday or so!