A Stroll Around Graz

This morning my mentor, Elisabeth, called and asked if I wanted to do some shopping around Graz today. I said “of course!” and she told me to meet her at Jakominiplatz at 11:30. I really didn’t have much shopping to do, but I wanted to get out of the apartment. I was hoping I could convince her to climb the Schlossberg with me. I have been looking at it, longingly, out my window all week.

I haven’t mentioned Elisabeth yet, and will talk about her briefly. The exchange program in which I am participating assigned me to her, so that she could meet me at the train station, take me to my dormitory, show me the campus of the university, help me find a grocery store, and all those other random things that are difficult when you are in a new country. She has been extremely helpful, and is going on an exchange herself later this year to Canada.

Jakominiplatz is an area in Graz where many buses and trams stop. It is the closest one to my apartment, and a great place to hop on some public transport to go anywhere in town. Walking over there, I saw a pair of cars I had to photograph:

These are called smart cars. No capitalization in the brand name, just smart cars. I love them. For perspective, the parking spot they are in would normally be filled by one American SUV.

When I met Elisabeth and asked her about climbing the Schlossberg, she was immediately enthusiastic, and we started walking over to it. I had no idea how close we were, until we came to a gap between two buildings: There were the steps leading up to the mighty Schlossberg. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be today. The Schlossberg was closed for the winter. I will have to wait a couple of months.

Instead, we walked to some other sights in Graz. The first place was the Murinsel, or Island In The Mur: This is basically a man-made island in the middle of the river Mur. Very funky looking and it contains a café, an amphitheater, and playground. Elisabeth and I talked about coming back later in the day to have a coffee there, but never did.

The next thing we saw, but did not enter was the Grazer Kunsthaus: This photo is too far away to do it justice. All you can see are the odd protrusions coming out of the roof in the background. Click on the link above my photo for some professional photography of the building. This futuristic looking building has been nicknamed the “friendly alien”, and houses the art collection for the city of Graz.

We strolled on a bit further past a cathedral. Elisabeth said something about it, but I told her I didn’t want to see any cathedrals today, because I felt burned out on them after my time in Belgium. We ended up going inside anyway. First we were just checking the hours on the door, next thing I knew we were inside looking at gold covered statues of saints. I wish I had some photos, because it was beautiful. However, Elisabeth told me that taking pictures in cathedrals are frowned on in Austria. I wasn’t about to cross her. We spent about half an hour inside looking around, and almost the entire time we were the only ones there. This is unusual for cathedrals in Europe. It was incredibly quiet, but in some far off room I could hear some chanting or recitation. The winter sun came in low through the windows, and I felt like I was in another world. Or, at least in some movie. Then we went through the doors back to the outside world, back into real life. Definitely my most surreal cathedral experience yet. I really need to take a break from them.

This is where the shopping began. The one thing I did want to buy was a heater/fan combo for my room. I didn’t need the heat, but I needed a fan for some white noise. I forgot what it is like to share living spaces. Also, I forgot how easily sound travels through an apartment. We went to Leiner, my new favorite store. They sell mostly furnishings and home decorations, things that I definitely have no reason to buy here. I just like to walk around it. The store building is this multi-level affair, with a skywalk leading over to the other building across the street. And all their products are unboxed and on display, without the massive shelves of the big box retailers in the U.S. Something about the store was comforting. It reminded me of how stores used to be in the U.S., before retailers abandoned the downtowns of cities to sell in the suburbs.

My irrational love affair with Leiner grew stronger: they had their own restaurant on the top floor! I had a turkey salad while Elisabeth had a cup of coffee. We chatted for a long time about life, and then headed back. It was a good day.