This past weekend was spent in Österreich's capital city, Vienna, or "Wien," as it's called in German. The city is (almost) as pretty as Salzburg. It's definitely much bigger. It has almost an imperial feel and is very slow-paced compared to other cities of its size. Of course, the Habsburgs ruled Austria from Vienna for centuries, and it shows. The monarchy's been gone for almost 100 years, but the city is still very clean and classy. Vienna is known for being not only extremely expensive, but also very intellectual. Spending an entire day at a coffeehouse talking about literature is really part of the culture.
Speaking of the monarchy, we took an excursion on Sunday morning to Schönbrunn, the former palace of the Habsburgs. It is truly breathtaking. Unlike many other castles in Europe, which are separated from the city, often far removed into the countryside, Schönbrunn is practically right in the center of town. It's an amazing piece of land, complete with beautiful gardens and fountains, not to mention the castle itself. The exhibition inside the castle was dedicated mainly to the life of Maria Theresia (the famous 18th century Habsburg empress, and Marie Antoinette's mother) and to Kaiser Franz Josef and his much beloved, yet tragically murdered wife, Sissi. I enjoyed the tour. Wish Gaga could have been there to see it with me.
On Thursday, (backtracking a little), we visited the concentration camp Mauthausen, en route to Vienna. It was really hard to see. I don't have much to say about it that isn't obvious, except that it is unbelievable and terrible to see how many thousands of people were packed into such a compact living space. Awful and so inhumane. I didn't want to go at all; but I do think that it's important that these former concentration camps are open to the public. One comes out with a very different perspective about human rights and about prejudice and about the dangers of a corrupt political system. We've all learned so much about the Holocaust and are of course very shocked by what we've heard, but we stood in the gas chambers, where so many people were executed, and it makes you feel all the sadness even more.
On a lighter note, we saw a lot of interesting sights around the city. Stephan's Dom was probably my favorite. Definitely the most beautiful church I've ever been inside--we wanted to stay for mass but our schedule was too tight. As we were walking around and seeing the sights, a choir was practicing their Gregorian chants. If/when I live over here someday, I would think it would be a great honor to sing in the choir at one of these churches, something I would very much like to do. We saw Parliament and several monuments to various Kaisers and wars. I really enjoyed Karlsplatz, which is a pretty, scenic park in the middle of town. One thing I noticed was the amount of greenery scattered among the buildings. There are a lot of parks in Vienna, and they add to the ambiance. Thursday night, Bärbel took us to 12 Apostles, a very old wine cellar, and we enjoyed drinking strawberry wine while being serenaded by accordion and violin players. It truly was a Wien experience.
On Friday a few of us headed to Hotel Sacher, the famous inn/restaurant where Sachertorte originated. Sachertorte is a very rich, chocolatey cake, with a little bit of a berry kick to it as well. The place was packed with diners, but we managed to spend a little money on Sachertorte und Melange.
Saturday night, Shireen, Henning and I headed to a typical European disko that overlooked the river. It was definitely unlike anything they have in the States. Strobe lights, booming techno music, and a dark room packed to capacity with people jumping and dancing. It was truly amazing and I'm so glad we got the chance to try it out.
Sunday we visited Stifts Melk, a monastery located not too far from Vienna on the way back. It's still in operation; monks live there and it's a school too. Most astonishing was the library that contains hundreds of thousands of volumes, including many that are over 1200 years old. I wish I could have had more time to explore it!
The only thing negative about the weekend was the weather. It poured all weekend and was very cold for May. Austrian weather is so unpredictable and it was a shame that we had to be so uncomfortable while we walked around the city. The weather still isn't great here in Salzburg, but I hope it warms up so I can visit Hellbrunn this weekend.
Well, I have to get ready to head to Bernhard's class for the afternoon. We're taking a tour today that will teach us about Nazi occupation in Salzburg. Tonight, Stefan and Lukas are cooking a typical Austrian dinner for Laura and I, which we are very much looking forward to. I'll try not to wait another week before I blog again!
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