Control of the Wall!

At last, we had control of the wall and its powerful artillery systems, such as the plugged and unloaded cannon along the wall near the gate.

The (unloaded) cannon actually pointed in the general direction of the Buquebus ferry, so the ferry’s destruction would have prevented us from getting home in time for dinner, which would have been most inconvenient.

Nevertheless, we had an excellent view of the historic city center and planned our next objectives.


From the view which we had from the top of the city wall, we observed that most the buildings were built in a very picturesque and rustic colonial style. Trees were plentiful and the cobblestone streets were calm. But, the lighthouse was immediately distinctive and became our next objective.

After wandering the lovely streets of our new city and paying the heavy price of a dozen or pesos to conquer the lighthouse, we ascended our cold, windy, and now rainy, tower of power.

After descending the lighthouse, we wandered over the rocky beaches of the city. It was there that the wind was most powerful and the light rain was augmented by the flying mist from the crashing waves. It was there that we most enjoyed ourselves, playing around on the rocks, or just sitting in tranquility and reflecting peacefully. It was here that the monochromatic beauty of the city and weather was most visible. The city behind us was slightly faded and the fog dampened its relative abundance of colors. It was here on the rocks that we spent a significant portion of our time in the morning and later in the evening, playing among the rocks and waves as the grey sky and ocean melded into infinity behind us.


Brian stepping between the rocks in the many tidal pools like a god crossing continents.













Thomas relaxing on the rocks with a primal scream.
The island in the background remained unconquered.

Martin, Thomas, and Brian bravely scale the ruined and gently inclined walls of Colonia

We were not able to scale the walls, but it was still morning and we were still envigored with our noble goal of conquering a peaceful historic town center in the most inefficient manner possible.

Still outside of the city, we noticed that the wall of the city was not entirely flat into the moat, but had a ledge that surrounded the wall along the moat. Stealthily journeying across the perilously dry and moss-covered moat, we walked along the edge of the city wall to a portion of the ledge that faced the ocean. Conveniently, this portion of the wall had been destroyed and was replaced two park benches (clearly meant for city guards but instead occupied by resting tourists) that faced the grey ocean. With the wall damaged, the city was open for us to enter as conquering tourists. Nevertheless, we decided to climb the wall anyways to gain critical information about our surroundings that multiple brochures, maps, and large information boards were unable to provide.

McDermotts conquer Colonia

After experiencing and channeling the frenzied fervor of the match, and returning home to a particularly welcome midnight meal of spaghetti with vodka cream sauce (I had four bowls), the rest of the weekend was a peaceful sojourn across the Rio de la Plata to Argentina’s neighbor Uruguay.
On Saturday morning, we awoke to fog, cloud, and mist and made our way to the Buquebus ferry terminal, armed with tickets bought from the previous day, and a desire to have a relaxing weekend after a week of class and the aforementioned football match. The ferry terminal was a beautiful modern building of a blue and yellow interior with modern fixtures that, in conjunction with the sleek enclosed gangway, augmented the terminal’s resemblance to a futuristic spaceport that put most airports to shame. Indeed, once onboard, our collective desire to sleep was repeatedly denied by the incessant Buquebus jingle that vaguely resembled the theme song of Futurama.
After a smooth and fast hour-long journey across the Rio de La Plata, we arrived in Uruguay at the creatively named colonial town of Colonia. Its complete name is Colonia del Sacramento, but we all found the directness of the name amusing. Our main goal was to visit the historic town center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its picturesque cobblestone streets and historic buildings surrounded by the remains of the old fort that defended the city.
Walking towards the town center, we couldn’t help but notice the tranquility of the surrounding atmosphere. It was windy and cloudy, but gentle and not oppressive. There was a calm beauty within the tone of grey that seemed to cover all that we could see. True, the ferry had just unloaded a horde of tourists looking to escape the bustle of Buenos Aires, but they all slowly spread throughout the historic center and the surrounding city, so we were not alone in our relaxing exploration, but neither were we overwhelmed by the typical crowds.
With the help of the many convenient information boards scattered throughout the city, we learned that Colonia was originally founded by the Portuguese. But Colonia was then conquered by the Spanish and then wrestled back and forth repeatedly between the hands of the Portuguese, the Spanish, and even the Brazilians for a few years, before finally ending up in the ownership of an independent Uruguay.
Eyeing the well preserved gate and wall that once defended the city, we naturally saw ourselves, the Eugene McDermott Scholars, as worthy successors in the long lineage of those who conquered the fort of Colonia.
The gate was already lowered – clearly, this city didn’t take its defense very seriously – for less valiant tourists, but we decided that the best route to enter the city was to scale the walls…of the lowered gate.

A Flag Among Many (after Goal)

The loyal followers of this blog may be aware that a sizeable group of the eternally intrepid 2008 Scholars spent this past June in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Aside from the daily language and culture classes, weekends were reserved for personal travel and exploration, for exploring the constant vibrancy of Buenos Aires, or for adventurous excursions beyond the Paris of the South.
The weekend of June 19th through the 21st was of particular contrast. After classes ended for the week on Thursday, we attended a football match in the nearby city of La Plata between Los Estudiantes de La Plata and Uruguay’s Defensor Sporting club, and experienced (and at times participated in) an ardent passion that’s better depicted with sight and sound than with words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdQHirOycqs Somewhere in that video was a bunch of crazy American college students assimilated into the fiercely joyous mob.

Views from Vienna

10:47, Sun 23 August 2009, Vienna

Well I successfully navigated to the Sudbahnof station in Vienna without any problems this morning and thought I had come way too early but it turned out to be a good thing because this train requires reservations and I had to go figure that out. Unfortunately I’m not digging this reservation thing as I don’t get to choose my seat and have the misfortune to be seated in directly in front of a screaming, squealing, kicking 4-year-old for the next five hours… Perhaps I’ll be able to change seats at some point because I don’t know if I can make it.

Vienna was different from what I was expecting. Well actually I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but it was such a change from Munich that I was really surprised. First off, when I arrived at the train station (one of several around the city instead of one main one) I found myself in a very crowded urban environment. That was kind of shocking as I battled so many people for access to the street and public transportation. I found the tram I was supposed to take to get across town to the other train station near my hotel but I was perplexed as to how I was supposed to buy a ticket. Seriously, there were no ticket machines anywhere to be found. I thought maybe I was supposed to buy it on the tram and boarded, watching the other passengers for some kind of a clue. Nobody seemed to be doing anything so I just assumed it was free and took my seat. An Australian couple came up to me and asked if I knew where to buy the tickets and I laughed and said I had no idea and had just been getting on. They weren’t convinced though and continued waiting around confused. All the times I took the tram, I never actually saw a ticket machine, although I found out later that you’re supposed to pay. Whoops!

One thing was evident, though. Vienna was very different from Munich, but equally or perhaps more beautiful. Even taking the tram I enjoyed just looking at the buildings as we passed. I took the U-bahn from near the hotel (buying a 48-hour all transit pass this time!) up to the northernmost part of the old city center and attempted to make my way down to St. Steven’s Cathedral in the center. I failed miserably. My sense of direction took a day off I think as I had no problems the next day, but even wandering through wasn’t bad because even on random side streets, the architecture was very pleasing.

Finally I gave up and got back on the U-bahn to go back a stop to Stevensplatz. When I turned the corner from the station, my heart literally stopped. Out of nowhere, here was this gigantic, imposing Gothic cathedral. I literally had to turn back around to catch my breath.

I suppose now is a good time to mention something I’ve been thinking about for the past few days. One of the most tourist-attracting aspects of European cities is the lavish and often ridiculous palaces and cathedrals. The idea that all of these magnificent buildings were constructed for so much money and at the expense of the everyday people is somewhat morally conflicting. On one hand, they are beautiful and offered an opportunity to progress art and architecture, but at the same time, there were probably much better things that could have been done with the money than building a palace with 300 rooms adorned in gold.

I got some supper from a little grocery store near the plaza and took it with me trying to find somewhere to sit and eat. I still have yet to actually eat in a café or a restaurant. The idea of doing so by myself isn’t very appealing and I enjoy sitting and eating in a park just as much anyway. Luckily it didn’t take me too long to come upon a park and find a nice bench by a pond in the shade. After I ate, I came across a statue of Johann Strauss on violin. It’s really cool how much good music came from Vienna and I did get a special feeling just walking around where Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden, and so many others had.

I found my way to the tourist information center and found that there was a bus tour leaving pretty soon, so I decided to take that. It wasn’t particularly enlightening, but it was a welcome break from walking and gave me a chance to cross the Danube and get a better feel for the significance of different places around the city. Plus, it was at dusk and quite pretty.

When the tour ended, it was getting dark so I started to make my way back to the U-bahn station. I found myself walking down the main shopping stretch through the center of the city and it was totally invigorating. The street was pretty packed with people in a jovial mood. Normally I don’t really like crowds, but the feeling I got was incredible. I was in a beautiful city and couldn’t go anywhere without hearing some kind of excellent live music. I walked slowly, soaking it all in and grinning from ear to ear. There was a crowd gathered around some street dancers in front of St. Steven’s Cathedral, so I decided to join that and continued to thoroughly enjoy myself. It was a great end to the day.

Yesterday was rainy, which I have to say I was thankful for. It has been far too hot and sunny for all the time I’ve been spending outside traveling over the past week! I took this as an opportunity to hit museums and started out with a tour of the Opera house, which was pretty special. Even though it was mostly destroyed from bombing in World War II, it was still really cool to be there. I really wish that the opera had been in season so I could’ve gone to a show, although I’m not sure how well I would’ve been able to stand through an entire opera at this point! They never repeat the same opera two nights in a row, which seems to be a logistical nightmare, but very impressive nonetheless.

Afterwards, I walked to the Holburg grounds, which are huge. I went to the history museum where they had quite a bit of cool ancient Roman and Egyptian artifacts, as well as 15th century art. I walked around for an hour or two but I was feeling pretty tired, so I decided to head back to the hotel for a nap. I got some Chinese food take away and brought it back to the hotel. It was interesting; they actually gave me the food in reusable plastic containers rather than disposable boxes. I thought that was pretty cool, but I didn’t have space in my bags to live up to my pack-rat ways.

I was feeling musically inspired from my morning at the Opera house and decided to find somewhere like that to go to that evening since there was no opera. I found a museum called “Die Haus der Musik,” which happened to be open until 10 so I headed over there around 4 or 5 and spent a good three or four hours in an interactive museum dedicated to sound and music. Some of what they had was a bit bizarre (a room that mimics the sounds and vibrations of being a child in the womb), some of it was interesting in a scientific way (an interactive program that informs you about ghost notes and how your brain adds extra inaudible tones when you’re listening to someone on the phone), but my favorite part was probably the historical areas. They had one wing dedicated to the Vienna orchestra where I learned about the history of their sound and instrumentation (they have their own versions of oboe and horn, for example) and got to listen to their recordings of Viennese composers (which I probably could’ve done all evening). Later on there was a floor with histories and artifacts of the famous composers, from Hayden to Schubert to Mahler. It was overall a very nice way to spend a rainy evening.

There were still some people out last night but not nearly as many as the night before, probably due to the weather. I saw my first female street performer, a woman playing a violin beautifully.

I went back to the hotel to make my plans for today, for Prague. I was feeling a bit hesitant as I started because the Czech is even less intelligible to me than German. Also, I don’t yet have a map of Prague so hopefully I won’t get lost! Then I started clicking on photographs of attractions and felt a new wave of invigoration. I’m having an amazing time and feel so lucky to get to visit all of these incredible places!