Our first Acadmic Tour to Vienna, Austria was a wonderful success. Students and faculty enjoyed a class-related (Christian Worldview) visit of the Freud house and museum on Sunday. As this class focused on contrasting C.S. Lewis' worldview with that of Freud's, viewing his home & office allowed students to tangibly relate Freud's views with his lifestyle.
Monday AMBEX embarked on a guided tour of Schoenbrunn - the Emperial family's summer palace in Vienna. What a treat! Since many of the student's have been watching a 3-part film about Sisi, the Empress of Austria, we were all excited to see her home & many of the family's belongings. It was a great history lesson on the Hapsburg Dynasty and the Hungarian-Austrian Empire as well. A group of students used the late afternoon to treat themselves to delicious Viennese applestruddel & vanilla sauce. I think it is safe to say that there is no better place to sit down for coffee & applestruddel in Europe.
Monday evening a few of us headed out to a formal concert which included a live ensemble playing music by Mozart, Haydn and Strauss, as well as Opera and Ballet. It was lovely to see the Viennese continue to cherish the music of their great composers & we greatly enjoyed it. Tuesday morning we split off in smaller groups - heading to the Papyrus Museum, the Spanish Riding School & Starbucks. :) Those who visited the Riding School watched as the famous Lipizan stallions trained & worked on their routines in the beautiful Royal riding hall. It is located within the winter palace, and the performance was absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed, but Google provides a nice selection for further interest. After lunch we were back on the road and on our way to Regensburg. Vienna was truly magnificent but I believe we all were excited to return to our home base.
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