This morning my group left early at 7 am to head towards Salzburg. Since we don’t observe daylight savings time until tomorrow, it was already getting light outside. We loaded up in the bus and took off towards the north. The ride was probably my favorite yet, having many similarities to the train to Andermatt. We passed through the thick of the alps, snowy and rocky juts of rock piercing the sky with their sharp edges. Everything was covered or dusted with snow and I just couldn’t get enough. These are the images you picture when you think of Switzerland! I tried to take some pictures to capture their beauty, but they simply do not do it justice.
Next we made a stop in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. This small city is the Capitol of the world’s sixth smallest country, and Europe’s third smallest country. It was around 10 am when we arrived, and the town was just starting to wake up. We looked at the old and new Parliament buildings for a while, a quaint building of yellow terracotta brick. It was a pleasing design with its simple A-frame shape and adjacent curved wall. I enjoyed it! A local told me that the building was “for the people,” and said many locals loved it’s recent construction. We walked down the main street for a little while, which was set up like a farmers market in a way with tents and stands. Everyone was so nice and let us have samples, and many of them knew English. We were only there for about forty minutes, but it was such a cute little town and I enjoyed it!
Later down the road we stopped in Bergenz, Austria to see Peter Zumthor’s Kuntshaus. We have learned about this building in a couple classes, it is famous for its exoskeleton structure. This building sits like a glass block in the center of town, and translates to “art house.” It has four floors, a lobby floor and three more that are mostly identical. The exhibition was of music instead of art, that sounded from many speakers hanging from the ceiling. It was so nice to be able to see the architecture unobstructed by art, plus the music was lovely. The interiors were wonderful, light filtering in from the ceilings around the perimeter and everything following a strict grid. The clean lines were perfect and the space was great, very cohesive. Even the stairs celebrated a beautiful glass ceiling, stepping along the exterior of the building. I didn’t expect to be able to come here while in Europe and I’m so happy it was on the way for us!
Our last stop of the day was in a small town in Austria, mostly in the middle of no where. There were two theaters next to one another, one made towards the beginning of the modern movement, the other very new. They were very different, but both nice. We got to go inside the old one a little to see it’s wood construction interiors. It was a quick stop and we were back on the road after about half an hour.
We finally arrived at our hotel in Salzburg around 7. We dropped our bags in the room and ate group dinner at the hotel. Shortly afterwards, a few of us headed towards Franziskanerkirche for a candlelight Easter vigil/mass. It was a medium-small Cathedral packed with people. We actually ended up having to stand for all of it, which was almost two hours in the end. But, it was a nice cultural experience, and a beautiful service!
Riva Spring 2016 