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04/22/2007 Archived Entry: "Climbing a (Small) Mountain"

(Graz Day 3) Jack worked Sunday morning, then we went siteseeing in Graz's old town in the afternoon. Jack wanted to see the Landeszeughause or armory (very impressive). We ate sausages for lunch at a food stand in the main square. Then we tried to apply that ticket to other city museums (admission free for the day after you pay for one). Oops, the Joanneum's main building was closed. We retraced our steps back to the tourist info office and asked which museums were open and nearby and included on our ticket. Hey, the folk museum fit our requirements! So off we walked, me lagging behind Jack because even at my best I can't walk as fast as he does.

The folk museum had an exhibit sponsored by Haribo, makers of gummi bears, all about, guess what, gummi bears! Jack and I weren't really interested in that, so we were directed to the next floor where there were sections on folk costume, folk customs, and so on. I liked the old log cabin kitchen with big ceramic stove, with flat-screen panels next to the benches where you could view clips from Austrian movies and TV that took place in rural settings. We guessed that this was in aid of demonstrating the cultural importance of such kitchens.

I do think that both the armory and folk museum should have a few more pictures on the web, since photography is not allowed inside and you have to lock up your stuff before entering. Instead these google image searches will have to do.

When we were done with the folk museum, we decided to climb the Schlossberg! This is a small mountain in the middle of the old town which has had a fortification or castle on top for the last few thousand years. Instead of walking all the way we went through a tunnel (dating from WWII, dug as a bomb shelter) to an elevator (dating from 2000) that whisked us to near the top for only a Euro. We still had to do some walking to get all the way to the top. On the way we passed the Clock Tower, the Bell Tower and the Stable Battery (with souvenir shop next to it). We were a bit late to get into the museum up there, but the views were wonderful along with the lilacs at their peak of bloom.

After taking the lift down again, we took a tram to the Jakominiplatz near our hotel and ate dinner at the Da Vinci cafe, outside on the sidewalk. My Rick Steves German phrase book came in handy for deciding what kind of pizza to order -- we only made one mistake! What I thought would be pepperoni turned out to be peperoncini, but the pizza was still very tasty.

Posted by ralph @ 04/23/2007 12:19 PM PST