The Governator's Hometown

So remember my friends Sonja and Thomas?



Sonja is my classmate from Kings and Thomas is her boyfriend who I call the Governator. They have become some of my closest friends in London over the past few months. Sonja and Thomas are from Graz, Austria, also the hometown of California’s great leader Arnold Schwarzenegger. So when Sonja and Thomas invited me and Cathy to come visit them in April, of course we had to go!



I’m trying to get more travel guide like with my blog so that if anyone wants to ever go to these places, this blog can be a source. I’m going all around the world soon and I figure my website can be a good travel guide to people. I sometimes get random Google search clicks, too. ALSO, if you end up at my blog because of travel, check out my Google ads. They change all the time, but if you click on them, I get like 1 cent or something. I know it’s not much, but maybe if enough people get clicking, I’ll make some money. And I need money now because I’m getting poor and I think I’m going to start wearing down Daddy’s patience.

GRAZ is the second largest city in Austria, but it’s actually really small. The population is around 250,000. It’s part of the region called Styria.

GETTING THERE: Cathy and I took Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) there from Stansted Airport. There is only one flight each day to Graz from London each day. The flight is really, really cheap! Graz is also about 3 hours away from Vienna by train. (Lonely Planet says it €26.90.) If you’re in Vienna, it’s worth a little trip down south to see a different side of Austria. Vienna is fantastic though.



WHERE TO STAY: I stayed with my friends Sonja and Thomas. They’re fantastic hosts. They even throw you a barbeque. But I don’t know if that applies to strangers.


Thomas and his cousin grilling...


...Until we gave up and used the electric grill.

If you’re a hot girl, you can always stay with Mike, but warning, he’s married and has a kid.


Says "Heartbreaker" in Deustch. Face not necessary.

GUIDEBOOKS: I got the Lonely Planet guide for Austria when I went to Vienna last time. IT SUCKS. I do not recommend Lonely Planet guides. If you want more information on Graz, I recommend my friend Thomas, who is like the Wikipedia of Graz. A lot of tour guides take groups past his house so he knows the 411 on Graz. Email me if you want his contact info.


That's why they call him "Captain."



TRANSPORTATION: There are trams that go all throughout this area. Sonja and Thomas don’t pay for trams and just wait until they get caught and pay fines. If you’re a tourist, I recommend you pay for a pass. Trams are really cheap.


Sonja and Thomas on the tram with their Korean poses.

LANGUAGE: In Austria, they speak German or Deustch. Most people speak some English, so it’s not difficult to get around. Here are some key words and phrases:

Hello: Hallo (ha-lo)
Thank you: Danke (dang-ke)
Bye: Tschau (chow), often said as “Tschau tschau” (chow-chow)

If you’re me…you might need this phrase as well:
“Bevor wir uns näher kennen lernen, muss ich etwas klarstellen. Ich bin Buchhalterin.” (be-fawr veer uns nay-er ke-nen ler-nen mus ikh et-vas klahr-shte-len ikh bin bookh-hal-te-rin.)
which means “Before this goes any further, I must be upfront. I’m an accountant.”

Or if you meet Mike, you might have to learn this as well:
“Du leidest wohl unter Größenwahn.” (doo lai-dest vawl un-ter grer-sen-wahn.)
which means “Your ego is out of control.”



If you’re a cute little Chinese girl like Cathy, you might need to learn:
“Es wäre mir lieber, du würdest mich in Frieden lassen!” (es vair-re meer lee-ber doo vur-dest mikh in free-den la-sen!”)
which mens “I’d rather you left me alone!”



Or some other helpful phrases:
“Ich krieg ihn nicht hoch-tut mir Leid!” (ikh kreek een nikht hawh toot meer lait.)
which means “I can’t get it up – sorry.”
Which warrants the reply “Gib dir keine, Mühe, ich mach es mir selbst.” (geep deer kai-ne mu-e ikh makh es meer zelpst.”
which means “Don’t worry, I’ll do it myself.”

Great phrases courtesy of the Lonely Planet phrasebook for German.

FOOD: Food in Graz is great. Especially when you have all these Austrian friends who constantly feed you. We went to Thomas’s Oma Gertie’s (grandmother) place for lunch, and she fed us until we almost exploded.


Oma Gertie's Austrian Home Cooking


Me and Cat with Oma Gertie.

Graz also has a big breakfast culture, which Sonja and Thomas made sure we got a feel for with huge breakfasts!

Coffee-wise, Sonja recommends Tribeka as THE place to get the best lattes.

SHOPPING: There’s a lot of shopping to be done since Continent is cheaper than in London. Then again, anywhere is cheaper than London. They have the usual high street shops, H&M, Zara, etc. but the best part is that there aren’t queues here like there are in big cities.

Best find in Graz, however, is this tiny little shop that’s in Thomas’s family’s building called Lena Hoscheck. She’s a fantastic local designer who worked with Vivienne Westwood and she incorporates traditional Austrian style into her designs. Cathy nabbed a great skirt. If you know Thomas, you get the “Thomas discount.” She also has stores in London.

DIVERSITY: Like most small towns, this place is almost all Austrian. Cathy and I were the only Oriental people in the whole place, which made us easy to spot. This is probably the first place I’ve visited without Japanese tourists. We did see a little Asian girl in a class of kids jogging through the park (yes, kids EXERCISE here!) but maybe she was adopted by Angelina-esque people. But really, the people here are most racist towards Germans.


Cat and me...the only 2 Oriental girls in all of Graz.

PLACES TO SEE:
Uhrturm Clock Tower: The big clock tower which overlooks the city. The town paid the French a ransom in 1809 to keep the clock tower when they were invaded by Napoleon. Get there on the Glass Lift which is the coolest! But first, get to the elevator through the tunnels.


Through the tunnels...


Up the glass elevator...


To the clock tower.

Murinsel: Also called “the Island.” It’s a metal structure in the middle of the Mur river. Take a shit in the mirrored bathroom.



JEN IN GRAZ
Here's some pictures from Graz. I took sooo many pictures and had such a great time and did so much stuff. But here's some highlights.


George W. in "Blood Street"...how appropriate?


This is the Meeting Point of Graz. Here's me, Cathy and Sonja "meeting" here. Yeah, it's cheesy, but you know you LOVE IT!


I love doors that are shorter than me. Makes me feel tall.


Us at the Clock Tower.


Thomas said if you find a horseshoe in this, you have good luck for life. I can't find it, can you?


The women cooking in the kitchen. Yeah, except me. I don't cook.


Being in Austria makes you feel like jumping and singing, "Doe...a deer..."


Drinking at TomTom's house. Mike's getting spanked...


Mike...the morning after...


Sonja and Thomas. They had their first date here.


Cathy in Oma Gertie's garden.


Sonja and her niece.


Cathy on the way to Sonja's brother's house in the countryside. Cathy's a Hong Kong city girl. She's never seen grass before.


Sonja's sister-in-law's horse exercising on a treadmill. Just thought it was funny.


Me and Cathy at the lake. We went to go wakeboarding, but the machine was broken so we couldn't. :(


Cathy, Sonja, Mike, Thomas.


Me in the country side.


Cathy got on with the horse real well.


Cathy on the horse. Sonja's brother walked the horse around the track for each of us. We couldn't really go off and ride the horse because none of us know how to ride and also because the horse is a competitive jumper so it's not the tamest one to start learning on.


Me on the horse.


Sonja.


And so Thomas decided to do it too.


But just to prove he's still cooler than us, he jumped off the horse all gangsta.


Then Cathy, being the good Chinese cleaning woman, brushed to horse clean.


Me on Sonja's brother's Vespa. He's had this for over 30 years. I look cool huh?


Me..."The hills are alive..."


Cathy learning Deustch from a 4-year-old.


Graffiti on the University walls..."Schwarzenegger for President."


But it also says "Sex in the morning, sex in the evening, sex all day long." Hmm...Ä


In the park...


Peek-a-boo!


Me and TomTom and Cathy. Ich liebe TomTom.


Cathy booked her flight for the wrong day, so I went home alone. AWWW..."So long, farewell..."

Thanks so much to Sonja and Thomas, our gracious hosts, for the FANTASTIC time in Graz. I love Austria! Also, thanks to their friends and family for their hospitality. :D Love you all. Danke!!