postcrossing (8)

This week I received three great cards.

One from Indonesia (beautiful sceneries at Mount Bromo, East Java), one from Singapore (cool Formula 1 promo), and one from Finland (awesome picture of an eclipse made by the NASA).

Thank you all very much!



Websites: Postcrossing, MC @ postcrossing

exhibition about Vikings in Leoben

Yesterday we went to Leoben to visit the exhibition about the Vikings.

Great exhibition with a lot of fascinating and breathtaking artefacts. Weapons, armor, jewelry, dishes, etc.

They even had a lifesize repluca of wreck of a small ship.

The guided tour was very good. We heard a lot about the Vikings' life and beliefs. They hadn't been as bad as often pictured. The robberies of christian churches didn't have religious reasons; in fact it was just easier to rob an unprotected church then a castle with thick walls and a lot of soldiers. The just took the way of lowest resistance.

Women were very importent and powerful in the Viking society. They kept the keys to the houses and do to that their owned the houses. If a pair got divorced she kept the house and he had to leave.

In the last section there were some parts where you could see some writings in runes.

Another misbelief that was eliminated during the exhibition is, that their helmets never had horns atteched. In fact horns would have made the helmet nearly obsolet. Swords would have been caught by the horns and so a hit on the head wouldn't have slipped off but caused serious injuries.

The reason why they were and still are pictured like that is to make them look more dangerous and because the picture is branded into people's minds so marketing without horns just wouldn't work.

The exhibition is really worth a visit!

Next years exhibition will be 'The Steppe's Gold' with sensational findings from tombs of Scythian and Sarmatian counts. I'm really looking forward to seeing it in 2009.

Website: Leoben

Schallaburg Castle & exhibition about Indians

Yesterday we visited the Schallaburg Castle for the second time.

Last year there was an exhibition about the crusaders and this year it's about the Indians.
(I write Indians because it's about several indigenous peoples not only native Americans and so on.)

For info about the castle itself just take a look at my report from our last year's visit or visit the websites at the end of this post.

This year we were very lucky with the weather. Sun was shining and just a few light clouds were moving across the blue sky. So we were able to visit the castle's tournament garden this time.
(Last year it kept raining all day so we just visited the exhibition.)

The patio looked even better with sun shining then it already does on rainy days. It's rally a beautiful castle!



As usual photographing and filming were not allowed inside the exhibition.
It was really fascinating how the ancient peoples lived and what happend when the white people discovered the 'new world'.
I can tell you, when you heard all that you eventually don't want to be white anymore. After all the trading they just couldn't get enough and so the trading got poisoned with cheating and stealing and even worse things.
Of course there were mistakes made on both sides but I would say that most of the happenings caused by the Indians were partly just some kind of 'aggressive defense'.
For example the fight between general Custer and chief Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn maybe would have ended in a less horrible way if Custer hadn't underestimated the Indians' power.
The massacre at Wounded Knee was just a slaughter, not just a fight. Innocent people were killed without having harmed anybody in the first place.
It's clear that court yards still have to deal with things like that and the big problems with the relocation of several tribes and broken contracts.
On the other side I can understand that for example the U.S. government can't just say 'Okay, we're sorry!'. If they would do that they would confess the mistakes and cruelties and would have to pay immediately. And that amount of money would simply kill the whole nation - so court yards will be dealing with this issues for a very long time.

The exhibition, wasn't only about the problems between red and white. It also showed that the picture many people have of Indians is not completely right. It always depends on the tribe you think about. Of course Karl May provided a very detailed picture but he never said that it is complete or completely right. He was an author and not an historian.

It was also about the peoples in Greenland and parts of Russia of course.

In the last room they showed a bit about Indians nowadays. Fascinating!
During the early 20th century people were placing bets on the 'extinction' of the Indian popilation, but today you can see that more and more people with Indian roots accept that and are proud of it. So the population keeps rising very fast because of all the people remembering and accepting where they come from.
I was very glad to hear that! It would be a huge tragedy if all that was forgotten!

After the tour and another round to take a closer look at everything we went to the restaurant which had again special meals according to the exhibition.
Julia had an Indian appetizers (jalapenos and quesadillas with dip sauce), I had the chilli con carne in a small loaf of bread and we both had Zuni (pita bread made of corn). It was very delicious!



After that we had a little look at the small arcade court and the old fortress but the fortress was closed for restauration. An overwhelming building anyway!



Finally we visited the tournament garden.
It is beautiful!
Next to the castle they planted a lot of apple trees and in the other half there are colorful flowers. The garden is framed with a great wall and a lot of different trees and bushes.



Again it was a wonderful and very intersting day at this great castle!

When you get the chance you really should visit it!

Next year's exhibition will be about Napoleon. - We will be there!

Websites: www.schallaburg.at & www.schallaburg.com

The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor

Seen on Tuesday.

I hadn't heard anything good about the movie but was still very curious about it. I liked the first two parts and I like Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.

I don't get it why so many people slag this movie.
Of course it's not the best part and partly it seems a bit ridiculous but over all I would say you can really enjoy it!

The only thing I didn't like was the part with the Yetis. Okay, it's no problem that there are Yetis in the Himalayas and not too absurd that they could be friendly and helpful. But to me it was just too much! Although they were made great!

The story itself about the dragon emperor and his power over the elements and his pursue for eternal life is not bad but it could have been made up a little bit more in the movie instead of the O'Connell's family affairs.

It's funny and the effects are great.
Not bad at all, but not a must see!

Website: The Mummy 3

The Dark Knight

Seen today.

Fantastic!
If you like Batman you should really go and see this movie!

Great action and great jokes!

It's a pleasure to watch the Joker (Heath Ledger) doing his job with so much passion. The way he uses other people for his purposes is unbelievable.

Only thing I don't get in the new Batman-movies is the timeline.
I don't know to much about the original comics and witch movies are more fitting to them but in the first movie you see that the Joker (Jack Nicholson) was 'created' by Batman himself by accident.
Now the Joker shows up completely unknown with another storyline and dies again.

But except the new time and storyline the movie is fantastic!

Website: The Dark Knight

postcrossing (7)

Last week I received three great cards.

One from Finland (funny 'Kiroileva siili' - 'The swearing hedgehog', 'I am different - and PROUD of it!'), one from Indonesia (colorful procession with elaborate offerings brought to the temple on festival days), and one from Australia (beautiful spirit of the kangaroo by the famous Aboriginal artist Jamie Eastwood).

Thank you all very much!



Websites: Postcrossing, MC @ postcrossing

Mamma Mia - The Movie

Seen on Thursday.

Well, when I heard about the movie for the first time I was really sceptical how it would be. The trailers seemed a bit ridiculous to me. I really liked the musical and so I wasn't sure if the movie would be viewable or just be sort of painful.

Now I am glad that we gave it a try.
I think they all did a very good job!
Of course the singing wasn't perfect but I never would have guessed what great singing voices some actors have.
The scenery in the movie is of course a lot better than on stage and you are closer to everything.
I am not totally sure but maybe I like the movie even more than the musical.

Everyone was great in his/her role.

Plot:
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) live with her mother Donna (Meryl Streep) on a small greek island and is about to marry her boyfriend Sky (Dominic Cooper). But Sophie doesn't feel to be ready for this major step without knowing who her father is. So she reads her mother's diary and invites her three possible fathers - Bil (Stellen Skarsgard), Sam (Pierce Brosnan) and Harry (Colin Firth).
When Donna finds out that those three are on the island everything starts to go upside down.

A great movie with a lot of fun and heart!

Website: Mamma Mia

a day at the zoo in Vienna

On Tuesday we visited the wonderful zoo at Schoenbrunn in Vienna.

It was a warm and sunny day - perfect to be outside and see something special.

First I am going to write something general about the zoo - taken from the zoo's folder - and then I will tell you about our visit.

About the zoo:

The palace, the grounds and the zoo at Schoenbrunn are all part of one of the most popular cultural attractions in Austria.
The zoo was founded in 1752 and is the oldest zoo in the world!

Laid out over 17 hectares, the zoo has animals from every continent. Within the beautiful baroque setting of the Schoenbrunn zoo, it is possible to see Giant Pandas, Koalas, a giant rainforrest, an incredible coral reef, African elephants, monkey islands, a pelican colony - in fact more than 400 different animal species - many of which are rarely seen in zoos.

The zoo comes with several tropical oasises which offer a unique and enjoyable experience especially in the winter months including: the Aquarium and the terrarium house with a coral reef unrivaled in Europe, a tropical bird house and the Southeast Asian inspired jungle and rainforrest house.

In the historical center of the zoo you can expect to fin the Kaiser-Pavillion, a broque jewel that dates back to the 18th century and is now a cafe-restaurant. From the terrace you can observe the Giant Pandas and the animals in the Africa enclosure.

The 'Tirolergarten', directly next to the Tyrolean farmhouse dating back to the year 1722, gives you a feeling of being in the Alps and offers delicious, traditional Austrian dishes.

Our tour:

As you can see on the map the zoo isn't small so you should plan a whole day for your visit to have enough time to see everything without a hurry.



We parked on the parking space on the top of the hill where the 'Tirolergarten' is located (upper end of the pink trail in the woods). For arking I guess it's the best place. It would maybe be more comfortable to par at the Hietzinger-Entrance but I didn't see a parking place there, just a public garage where would have to pay and the only other parking place is in front of Schoenbrunn Castle but then you have a rather far way from there across the wonderful park to the Neptun-Entrance. So you can choose either the long way or up the hill.
At the box ofice we took a combined ticket for the zoo, the palm tree house and the desert house. We will visit the two houses on another day, the ticket is to be used within one year and so there is no need to hurry.

We started our tour along the right curve of the pink trail and walked through the woods and the enclosures of cows, sheep, goats, owls and wolves.


At the bottom of the hill we reached the penguins and the sea lions - to which we came back later again to watch the feeding - always a great show!
Following the yellow trail counter clockwise we moved from the monkeys to the cheetahs, black jaguar and tigers.
The Schoenbrunn zoo achieved to have a lot of baby animals like the new born baby tigers and a lot others. We were lucky and got to see them when their mother finally moved a few steps to the side. They are soo cute!


The lion was sleeping inside his house and so we couldn't see a lot of him and the hippos were the whole time underwater. Several times you could see their heads for a second when the came up to get air but nothing more.
The giant pandas where sleeping. The one year old Fu Long was sleeping on top of a higher located platform so all we could see was his fluffy fur and a bit of his nose.
The Koalas were as active as usual - nearly not (haha). I love them they always look so relaxed and nothing can disturb them. One was sleeping and the other one was sitting behind a branch of eucalyptus and eating. Those fuzzy ears are soo cool!
Next to the Hietzinger-Entrance the is a little information center an inside there you can see a big monitor lizzard and a model of the zoo.


Then we made a little break and had a snack on a bench next to the beautiful Kaiser-Pavillon.


From the giraffes we went on to the aquarium and the terrarium house to see the crocodiles, giant turtles, snakes, several reptiles and amphibians, fish and other underwater lifeforms.
In the garden of the aquarium you will find the beautiful pink flamingos.


Next to some birds cages there is this beautiful historic fountain with lots of wonderful plants.


We skipped some of the birds because their were lots of animals left to see in which we are honestly more interested.
The ring-tailed lemurs are funny fellows. Everytime I see them I am remembered of the king of the lemurs in DreamWorks' 'Madagascar' when he sings 'I like to move it'. A bit childish maybe, but it's funny. Next to the lemurs there are the lar gibbons.


Now we came to the zoo's biggest residents - the elephants. Too bad their were already soo many people inside because it was close to feeding time we couldn't see anything. But we already saw them on our way down from the Tirolergarten so we went on to the zebras.
When I was a kid they were my favorite animals. I love their jailbird design and the mohawk hairstyle.


It was time for the sea lions' feeding. It's always a great show. They follow their keeper wherever he moves and jump into the water when he throws the fish. They say that their funny behavior is natural and only a bit enhanced through the training.
The keeper also checks their skin and yaps for signs of diseases.


After the feeding of the sea lions we took a short break in the penguin house and watched them dive. As funny and clumsy they may appear on land they are really fast and elegant when swimming and diving in the water.
Then we moved on the last round left - the blue trail.
We started ad the polar bears. Here are also two young ones. One played with an old tire and the other with an empty plastic canister.


Next was the rainforrest house. The humidity inside is high and so it's rather sure to get sweaty in there. Wonderful flora and fauna await you inside. You cann see otters, fish, bats, several birds and flying foxes. Really cool!


Moving on to the Neptun-Entrance we reached the beavers, but they were hiding and didn't show up. So we followed the route to the rhinos.


Then came the reindeer, the insect house, the collared peccaries with their young one, the buffalos,the pelican colony, the banded mongooses with a tiny baby and the stork and the heron.


On the way back to the pink trail to get back up the hill to the car we visited the donkeys, the capybaras, the ostriches and then made a short side trip to the coati and the red panda.


We were already rather tired when we started our way back up. The hill is not too steep but when you've walked around in the zoo all day the last thing you need is to walk up a hill.
There is usually an alternative to walking - the zoo has its own little train that could take you from the Kaiser-Pavillon to the Tirolergarten, but it was out of order that day. Funny thing is, when we reached the Tirolergarten the train suddenly showed up and some people got off. Seems they fixed the problem right on time but we didn't look for it again. Bad luck! But so we were able to take another look at the wolves and owls. :-)

On top of the hill either before you enter or after you leave the zoo you have a great view at the 'Gloriette' - a beautiful building located on top of the hill inside Schoenbrunn castle's garden - along the avenue and see the emu whose enclosure is on the way to the parking lot.


It was a great the and I can only recommend you to go to the zoo when you visit Vienna.
You won't regret it!

Website: Zoo Vienna