Aug 30 - Day 30 in Vienna (Last Day)

I have never wanted to blog less than today. I don’t want to have to write the words I am writing now – that today is my last day in Vienna. It’s over – the physical reality of it, of being in this wonderful place, in this moment in time – and I’m not ready for it to be done! This has been the most wonderful summer, full of tons of laughs, history, cities, radler, sturm, and delicious meals. It’s been an incredible learning experience, both about myself and about this amazing city. I can’t say thanks enough to the professor and all my classmates for how special this summer turned out. It’s been more laughs and more surprising than I ever expected thanks to this awesome group!

The last day was pleasant and quite normal. No museums, no running around to the last minute things I had wanted to do before I left Vienna (Wien Museum and the Cemetery of the Nameless – I guess I just have to come back someday!) – just enjoying the last day in the city with some good friends and good times!

We ate a delicious lunch at Una, the place where we were thwarted last night. It was an amazing lunch! After that came the search for Adolf Loos’s public toilets, which I’d wanted to find for awhile. Yes, I realize they are simply a bathroom, but it’s Loos, who also did my favorite café, Café Museum! However, when we finally did find them on the Graben, I was slightly disappointed. They were below the street and didn’t look particularly cool, even with the Jugendstil designs leading down to them. However, inside, it was really awesome! As usual in Europe, you have to pay to use them (I still cannot get used to it), but I definitely found it worthwhile this time! Each toilet is a prime example of Jugendstil – the design and functionality of it are clear markers of the style. It turned out to be an only in Vienna experience!

I shopped for the rest of the day, buying last minute souvenirs and gifts. We met for our final evening as a class for a ride on the famous Ferris Wheel in the Prater, followed by a dinner of four swords at Centimeter. The ferris wheel (Riesenrad) is a major symbol of Vienna – famous from the excellent film, The Third Man (and also featured in my favorite Vienna movie, Before Sunrise!). It was built from 1896-1897 to celebrate Franz Josef I’s Golden Jubilee. It sadly burned down in 1944, but was soon rebuilt. On it, you get an amazing view of the city! It’s truly a classic symbol of Vienna, and I believe you can’t say you’ve been in Vienna unless you’ve been on it.

Following the Prater, we headed out for our last Vienna dinner. It was hilarious, fun, and delicious food that was presented to us on swords! I had my final radler and enjoyed hanging out with the group. After the dinner, a large group of us went to go hang out at the Communist Café, but we were thwarted once again – it was full! We then went to a local microbrewery and enjoyed the night out.

After returning to the dorm, I got to packing and said some goodbyes. I had my final U-Bahn ride at 5:19 a.m.

I cannot begin to describe how I feel this experience will influence me. My world has expanded to become so vast due to my time in Austria and Eastern Europe. My desire to travel and to continue learning about other cultures and their history has grown enormously. The language barrier here in Vienna – although not so bad since most people speak perfect English – has inspired me to try to obtain more of a fluency in another language, as I’m sadly limited to English and a bit of reading knowledge of French. More than anything, I want to return to Vienna someday. This is a city I can envision living in, if only I knew German! Overall, this trip has given me massive knowledge of the Habsburgs, of Austrian history, of traveling in Europe, and of my own ability to handle a foreign place and new experiences. I've also returned with a most prized possession - an Almdudler clock I purchased at the incredible Naschmarkt!

I’m going to miss being in a place with amazing museums, delicious food, and the fact that for a month I’ve been surrounded by history. Additionally, it’s not just been Habsburgs and Babenbergs and Jugendstil that has been such a major part of my Vienna experience – just the other day I took the U-Bahn to a place that deposited me to the location of the just recently renewed Kosovo independence talks. Everyday I’ve felt a part of the city, eating its food, talking to residents, and visiting sites. I’m happy to know what radler, kasekrainer, Schiele, sturm, and Almdudler mean.

Vienna is not a place that is stuck in time – it’s a living city, one that I have been lucky enough to get to know and love. Thanks for a wonderful summer.

Aug 29 - Day 29 in Vienna

Today featured a return to my favorite museum in Vienna, the Leopold. We held our final class meeting today as well, discussing modern day Austria. I have never studied it in any classes, nor have I read much about it in newspapers, so it was fascinating to me to learn so much about the current situation of the place I’ve been staying for the past month. We discussed the two major parties, ÖVP and SPÖ, as well as the formation of the state following WWII. Overall, it was a very interesting lecture to end the class. The professor also shared some stories of her mother and grandmother following WWII in Berlin, which were absolutely amazing and brought a real life component to the study of history.

After our final class, I returned to the Leopold with a few others who wanted to see the museum again. We first got a delicious English breakfast at the museum café and then proceeded to enjoy the wonderful offerings of the museum, including Kolo Moser, Gustav Klimt, and Egon Schiele. I had plenty of time to investigate the Moser exhibit this time, and it was extraordinary. The man was so talented, making furniture, drawings, posters, decorating buildings and churches, creating stamps and money, and of course, painting. He definitely is the face of the Secession and much of the Jugendstil style, since he decorated the Secession building, dominated the inside design of it for exhibitions, and created their symbol. After he left the Secession with Klimt (1905) and was co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop, which he left in 1907), he still created stunning and impressive art until his death in 1918 (the same year that took Klimt and Schiele as well). I really enjoyed viewing his furniture and the jewelry he designed, as well as his paintings – particularly “The Light”, and his vision of people (who he made with blue brush strokes). Unfortunately, I won’t be able to visit the church that he and Otto Wagner created – it is only open on Saturdays for one hour. Well, I guess I just have to come back to Vienna sometime.

The fin-de-siècle artists interest me so much more now because I know the historical context of their work, from the Ringstraβe era to the end of the Habsburg dynasty. Their work is an exploration outside the strict confines of the time, going into the new and exciting – whether it is the colors and gold of Klimt or the obsession with decay and death of Schiele. They wanted to throw out the falsity they felt the Ringstraβe embodied (all the ‘neo’ buildings, with no new styles). Prior to this trip, I had never even heard of Kolo or Egon, thanks to Vienna I am now aware (and obsessed) with their amazing bodies of work.

Egon, in particular, fascinates me with his short life, chilling paintings, and sad biography. Dr. O did a fantastic job introducing us to his art when we first visited the museum, so it was great to go back and experience it again! I particularly enjoyed the work called “Transfiguration” this time around. I still cannot get over the way he paints hands. He is definitely an artist I cannot wait to learn more about, so I bought a book on him before I left the amazing museum. I am so jealous of Rudolf Leopold!

I then concluded my Vienna museum going with a visit to the Jüdisches Museum. The top floor features its viewable storage section. It is not in any particular order and is truly just a storage and cataloguing section, as opposed to a museum exhibit. It was the most stunning part of the museum to me, which otherwise did not leave a particular impact. But that room alone did enough. The storage area did the best at conjuring the vision of a once flourishing community that now seems to be simply behind glass. Seeing the items that were burned in the pogroms, as well as the items taken when the Nazis closed down the original museum and used some of the items to create an anti-Semitic display in the Naturhistorisches museum, saddened me. To know how deeply people wanted to destroy a culture and its people – and seeing the physical residue of that hatred – is a horrible and terrifying feeling.

I did not get such a deep feeling in the rest of the museum. The use of holograms – the purpose of them being so that you cannot touch it and truly be a part of it, but it looks lifelike – felt cloying and unimpressive. I realize that is their idea of memorializing the history – to make it so that the view changes with the location and to impart the feeling that one can never really be in the past – but it did not interest me.

After the museum visit, I did some shopping and headed out for dinner. We tried to go to a place the guidebook recommended, called Una, which has an amazing ceiling and is in the very awesome MuseumsQuartier, but it was completely packed. Instead, we headed out to the always reliable (even in the pouring rain!) Rathaus for delicious Indian food, some sturm (oh, how I will miss that drink), and “Kiss Me Kate.” Then we headed for a night out at my favorite club ever – Flex in Vienna. It was the awesome “London Calling” night and it completed my Vienna nightlife experience. I got to dance on the stage, see the “Legend of Flex” (a forty-five year old man who goes weekly and dances crazily), and just have an amazing, only in Vienna experience. I cannot begin to say how great today was – I’m not ready to leave Vienna!

Aug 28 - Day 28 in Vienna

German Word of the Day: Wein - Wine

With only one day of class left and only two days in Vienna, the reality that the program is ending is becoming quite clear. I definitely enjoyed the day and the variety within it that can only be had in Vienna.

I started the day by eating my breakfast in my favorite park, the Burggarten, which is right by Oper. It’s a lovely garden, and in fact, was designed as the private garden of the Habsburgs. It has many benches and nice lawns to sit on. It was a great way to start the morning.

We settled in for a rather intense class discussing our visit to Mauthausen. I’m still not done or even ready to begin processing the visit, or even the Kluger memoir. It was interesting to hear that my classmates were struggling with the experience as well. I wish I could say the discussion helped to resolve my feelings, but it did provide new questions for me, if not any answers.

After class, we headed to Café Sperl, a classic Viennese café and according the guidebook, a favorite of Adolf Hitler during his years in Vienna. I enjoyed the café, with its comfortable couch-like chairs, the abundance of newspapers, and the delicious coffee, but being in a place favored by Hitler after such a conversation in class was a bit strange. But, it is so classically Viennese that my initial misgivings were immediately put to rest.

We left the café and headed to one of my absolute favorite places in Vienna – the Naschmarkt. We grabbed some lunch and some radler before heading out for Karlsplatz and Karlskirche. The amazing baroque church, built after the plague by the commission of Charles VI in honor of the saint, Charles Borromeo, who is supposed to help plague victims. It is a great example of the baroque style, and especially, the Counter-Reformation, with its emphasis on the saints, the Virgin Mary, and the abundance of religious iconography.

Currently, the church is being restored, which provided me with the opportunity of a lifetime – to be in the dome of the church, face to face with the dome fresco. I took an elevator into the dome, which was amazing. To be surrounded by art that usually you can only stare up at felt incredible. I could not believe how the frescos were painted – to be up that high and see the vision that the artist needs to have to accomplish something so massive and stunning. For once, I’m so glad to have been in a place during the process of restoration because it allowed me the opportunity to be within the dome and to walk even further up into the very top of the Church. The stairs to the very top were absolutely terrifying, but the reward was a great view of Vienna and a surprise fresco featuring a dove at the very top – something so few ever get to witness.

Sometimes in Europe you can go on church overload, but then every once in a while a church can actually have an impact in the midst of hundreds of them. For me, Karlskirche was that church thanks to the remarkable experience of being within the dome.

That night, we went in search of the Communist Café, but we sadly could not find it. However, thanks to a local hotel owner, we were pointed to a very hip bar in Neubaugasse called Stylez (http://www.stylez.at). It had the most comfortable couches to sit on and just had a fun atmosphere. It was great to just hang out and enjoy Vienna’s nightlife!

Aug 27 - Day 27 in Vienna

Today featured intense relaxation and an insane amount of fun thanks to the Danube. With the last week beginning, I knew I wanted to enjoy all of what Vienna has to offer to me – including the popular Viennese pastime of swimming in the Danube.

I returned to the Bundesbad Alte Donau, the place I went earlier in the month to swim. I sadly did not swim before, but this time I knew I had to go in and ‘commune’ with Vienna. The water was absolutely freezing and the few of us who went in were definitely the only ones in the whole swim area freaking out about the temperature – the Viennese all simply dove into the water. We were certainly the only non-locals at the place, but after entering the water and adjusting to what actually turned out to be a refreshing temperature, we no longer stood out amongst the many people enjoying the hot afternoon weather.

We splashed around for awhile and relaxed, enjoying the Danube and the view of Vienna from the water. The place was filled with families and babies and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Additionally, I confirmed just how dedicated the Viennese are to their coffee – they have it at their beaches. I’ll miss the little things like that about this wonderful place when I leave. After swimming for several hours, we went to the Donauinsuel, which Dr. O described to us as a great hangout place on the first day. It is very much in the style of a Caribbean beach, and is quite fun and ridiculous.

After that dinner, we headed to Schwedendplatz to check out a site before heading back to the dorm. I wanted to walk on the Otto Wagner bridge that is featured in the movie Before Sunrise. It was a beautiful bridge in the Jugendstil style and it was so pleasant to walk on it during sunset and see a new view of Vienna. Then we chose to do something that I can definitely describe as absurd – swimming in the Badeschiff Wien. Since we were in our suits, it just made sense to go, but of course, we had no idea that it was an athletic pool and further more, not heated! Luckily, it turned out to be absolutely hilarious and certainly the day was one of the funniest of my life.

After going back to the dorm and getting ready, we headed out to Café Kleines – the smallest café in Vienna, which is located around Stephansdom area (but quite hidden). I had a delicious mélange and enjoyed the night at the great little café, which was also part of Before Sunrise.
Overall, today was extremely fun, silly, and perfectly Viennese. I don’t want to leave this city, with its cafés, churches, museums and the beautiful Danube, but I’m just going to treasure my last few days!

Aug 26 - Day 1 in Bratislava

My final return to Eastern Europe! Today featured a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. It’s pretty much a must-go if you’re in Vienna, as Bratislava is only 60 kilometers from Vienna! It was once under Habsburg rule (of course!) and served as the place where the kings of Hungary were crowned. Bratislava is the country’s largest city, and while it is not impressive in size, it has a great atmosphere and beautiful location on the Danube! Its Old Town square is delightful and everything is inexpensive. Slovakia, which has been cut up and placed with various empires and states over time, finally became independent in 1993 with the “Velvet Divorce”, when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Slovakia is a member of the EU (since 2004), but its currency has not yet switched to the Euro. The country definitely looks like it is prospering!

We took a train, which takes only about forty minutes and offers nice views of the countryside. Upon arrival, it was great to just be in a place that was so small that you knew you could wander anywhere and not get truly lost.

However, before long, we found ourselves on the way to Bratislava Castle. Sadly, the castle is not an original, but was rebuilt in the 1950s after lying in ruins since it was destroyed in the 1800s. It’s not a stunning castle, but it has a great view of the communist housing block in Bratislava. The guidebook claims that since they are all so similar looking, many residents experience a great deal of hilarious situations in finding their apartments - especially late at night! We went through the castle Historical Museum – our initial goal was to find the Hockey Hall of Fame, but it turned out it was not in there (after miming hockey to several museum workers who did not speak English and getting a confused look).

Nevertheless, we did get a chance to see some really extraordinary Albrecht Dürer engravings and woodcuts. I particularly enjoyed seeing his Hercules woodcut print, since he did so few pagan works, mostly specializing in religious, self-portraits, or animals. The museum also holds the crown of the Hungarian kings – so, really, the crown of the Habsburgs. It certainly reminds one of the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, as it emphasizes the Christian aspect, with imagery of Jesus and religious iconography.

After viewing the artifacts, which also included a large collection of Biedermeier furniture, we walked a bit more around the city and grabbed a delicious and inexpensive meal! I found Bratislava to be a great walking city, and there were some fantastic surprises to be had just from drifting about. We came across a great square which featured a massive chessboard (pretty much the closest you can get to that live action Harry Potter chess match) and it was very fun watching some friends play! The walkway also had a Plague Column, but it is far less opulent than the one found in Vienna.

The final stop in Bratislava satisfied my craving for some communism, as we spent some time in the KGB Bar. It’s pretty much a local bar, but with some quite excellent Soviet mementos (pictures of important party members, a statue of Lenin – with a cigarette in mouth) juxtaposed with a large American flag. Communism is most definitely a joke there, as it was in Prague. I don’t think many people are wishing for the old days of being a part of the Eastern Bloc. The pub definitely was a good time to be had!

I had only planned on staying till early evening, but I enjoyed the city so much that we did not leave until around 10 at night. We had to run to catch our train, but I still caught a glimpse of the beautiful city at night with the President’s Palace, the massive bridge, and the castle all gorgeously lit up. We managed to just catch the right train and it was back to Vienna and no return to Eastern Europe for me in the near future (unfortunately). I finished the night off with a relaxing time at the Strandbar Herrman (http://www.strandbarherrmann.at/), a fun bar right on the Danube Canal that has lounge chairs! I definitely recommend it, especially on warm nights.

I had a wonderful time in Bratislava today, but it saddened me to realize this was my final day trip from Vienna. However, I’m so glad to have some uninterrupted time in Vienna before I must leave!

Aug 25 - Day 25 in Vienna

Another Saturday, but sadly, my last visit to the Naschmarkt flea market! I also visited the MAK museum, the museum of applied and contemporary arts and had one of the best meals of my life – dinner at Heuriger Sirbu!

The Naschmarkt provided me with a delicious English breakfast complete with dinkel porridge, but then it was off to the MAK. This museum is by far my least favorite of the trip as of yet. I was not impressed with the display – it was far too minimalist (and pretentious) for my tastes. I do not think string strung up in a room constitutes art, but apparently I am totally wrong. The first exhibit (featuring that crazy art) was called “Held Together by Water.” It had some things of interest to me, such as Cindy Sherman photographs, which I studied at UCSB. She is the subject of all her photographs, but it is never truly ‘her’ – she always dresses up as others and makes a series out of it, such as “Murder Mystery” series or a “Housewives” series. The other exhibit I enjoyed was the video of Croatian children singing “Magical World.” While slightly cloying, the video did make an impact because these children don’t know English and their song is put next to the unfinished cultural center in Croatia.

I dislike Biedermeier. It is boring. But I don’t mind looking at it, envisioning how it once swept Vienna and how it represented the city. It’s utilitarian, but elegant. It helped the growing middle class show off their wealth, and it created a homey environment crucial to the time period (about 1815-1848). I’d much rather get to the Jugendstil part of Viennese art, but it’s an interesting transition. I must say, the comfort level of Biedermeier furniture looks insanely high though – it seems a crime to have all those chairs in the museum and not allow us to sit on them! (Sadly, the museum does not allow photographs)

After leaving the museum, I had a quick lunch in beautiful Stadtpark, and then took the tram around the Ring. I finally got to see Parliament, which I haven’t seen since my first day here! It’s a gorgeous, neo-classical building – of course built in that style to try and symbolize the Greek democratic ideals.

Then it was off to one of the highlights of the trip so far – dinner and sturm at Heuriger Sirbu! Getting there is pretty intense, as it is up on Kahlenberg (a hill on the outskirts of the city). It’s gorgeous, though, and it takes you entirely out of the city environment, which is so nice. I could not get over how strange it felt to hear birds chirping! Getting to Sirbu required an epic, but incredibly stunning walking journey. We walked through Vienna’s wine country, snapping tons of photographs and having a blast. The walk was completely worth it – this place has gorgeous views, amazing food, and, most importantly, great wine and sturm! It’s definitely not a touristy heuriger, but it is certainly popular with locals. We enjoyed the sturm, cheeses, breads and meats of a simple but scrumptious heurigen meal.

We walked up the hill in the dark when we left, in the midst of drizzling rain and no light but the almost full moon to help us! I had so much fun and it was the perfect end to a great Vienna experience.

Aug 24 - Day 1 in Mauthausen

I am writing this blog long after I went on the visit. This is actually my very last blog, the one I could not bring myself to write – mostly because, even now, I do not know what to write. I have all these thoughts – just stray thoughts, no conclusions, no sentences, no structure – running through my head. Nothing to explain any of today.

I didn’t take notes while at Mauthausen. It didn’t feel right. I didn’t take pictures either – it was enough for me just to be there, to feel there. Ruth Kluger’s words ran through my head – “We don’t honor the dead with these unattractive remnants of past crimes; we collect and keep them for the satisfaction of our own necrophilic desires” and her thought that “A visitor who feels moved, even if it is only the kind of feeling that a haunted house conveys, will be proud of these stirrings of humanity.”

Yet how can you not be moved? I did not feel proud there. But I did not sob, like I did while reading Holocaust memoirs, watching films and documentaries. Being there made me overcome with anger. I was devastated. I was not satisfied. Nothing was answered, just more questions, more whys.

The memorial plaques. So many people, so many types and individuals, all died and suffered here. In a gas chamber there was a swastika on a memorial plaque. Our tour guide said someone in the guidebook wrote they wished the camp was still active. How do you deal with that hatred?

I do not know how I feel about parts of the camp being rebuilt after the storm. I do not know how I felt walking there. But I felt wrong, sad, lost… as I said earlier, my words are not enough, not right – I do not know the words.

This experience will haunt me. Maybe in time I will be able to articulate it.

I can do what I can with it – historically. Mauthausen was a concentration camp, mostly for intellectuals and political prisoners, until more prisoners were brought in from the East. Many were worked to death in the quarry, with its Stairs of Death (I walked a smoothed over version). The Stairs of Death I saw were smooth, easy to traverse, led to a grassy meadow. It did not look like the pictures I found online. A gas chamber was also built in Mauthausen, completed in 1941. Many died there.

I just have to keep reading, keep learning, and pay attention.