Wien

Karen, Renee and I recently returned from our first excursion outside of Czechia (which is the Geographic term for the Czech Republic, mind you) to Austria and its capital Vienna (Wien, 'veen', in German). We left right after class on Friday and after a very comfortable 4.5 hour train ride arrived safe and sound at Sudbanoff (spelled something like that) Station. Our hostel was a good ways out from the city centre (Karen, in spite of all her efforts, couldn't find anything closer because of the busy weekend) but it was right at the end of a subway line (or more appropriately 'U-Bahn' which is a subway/train mix) so it was easily accessible. The hostel was very nice, and we had two very polite Finnish roommates to make it even better. After setting up in the hostel we went straight back to the city centre and instantly were lost. The fountain above was the first landmark we came to. Even though we didn't know it at the time, we'd stumbled upon the Hofburg Palace which served as the main palace of the Habsburg (sometimes Hapsburg) family who were the rulers of Austria for a good deal of its history. It seems like everything we visited was in one way or another built by/for the Habsburgs.

The next big pretty thing we came to was this building. We never found out what the Habsburgs used it for but today it serves Austria as the national library.

Again, we didn't know it at the time, but this is the Parliament building. Better late than never.

Haha- we thought this was St. Stephen's church. It's actually the town hall- rather drab, huh? All of the preceding buildings sit facing each other across a huge, beautiful park with lots of lilacs and big trees. Vienna (or at least so we're told) is really unequaled when it comes to green space, and from the little we saw I'd agree. We spent the rest of the night trying to find some nightlife or affordable bars (apparently an oxymoron in countries on the Euro) but once we finally stumbled upon a hub we were too tired and ended up going back to the hostel.
After a not-so-hearty but FREE breakfast of bread, yoghurt and water at the hostel we set off to find this palace- Schonbrunn. It served as the Habsburg's summer home. One of our guidebooks said that its possibly the only palace in Europe to come close rivaling Versailles. It has huge grounds and overly-manicured gardens.

See what I mean? We all liked it but agreed that it will be a lot better in about a month when all the trees leaf out.

Climbing up the hill at the back of the gardens, which is the roost of a structure called the Gloriette, you get a great view of the rest of Vienna. I think the church on the right is the actual St. Stephen's ... but don't take my word for it.

Renee, Karen and I each chose one thing we absolutely had to do in Vienna. Renee chose the Opera. Karen chose the Art History museum. I chose the Leopold Museum, which houses the largest collection of Egon Schiele in the world. Since Schiele was taken by the flu epidemic of 1919 (at the age of 28) he didn't get around to making all that much art; so by 'largest collection in the world' they meant 2 and a half galleries. Still, I was in heaven. My favorite gallery here was one that was very dimly lit, and although it only displayed reproductions of his originals, there was still something enchanting about them. I know NOTHING about art. Absolutely nothing; but I feel like I know all about it when looking at a Schiele. Someone said that Schiele had a very unique way of 'spatialzing' his subjects; he was a master of color; and, as one art historian put it, he was probably the most talented artist at capturing the human form since Michelangelo. Above is one of his more modest self-portraits.

I learned that Schiele was obsessed with the Czech town of Cesky Krumlov- there were several paintings from the time he spent there in one of the galleries. He said that at Cesky Krumlov you can 'learn to look down upon the world, as if seeing it from above'. Cesky Krumlov today is one of the top tourist destinations in Czechia (second only the Prague) and we are going there soon on a field excursion to study its geography. Unfortunately, Schiele's habits were a little too much for the locals- between his illicit relationship with his favorite model (a woman nicknamed 'Wally') and his rather peculiar habit of sketching nude young girls in his garden, Schiele only spent three months there before being driven out. What a guy. Beyond Schiele they had some great Klimt and a special exhibition of Herman Hesse's artwork.

After that art we were starving; we stumbled over to the Nachtmarkt for a quick, cheap lunch. The market was great- loads and loads of sauerkraut, olives, dried fruit, produce, sushi, and weiner schnitzel. We decided to splurge a whole 3 Euros on some enourmous kebab sandwhiches. Then we were off to spend some more times with the Habsburgs.

Back at the Hofburg, we payed the heftiest entry fee yet for a look at what Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elizabeth called home. The first part of the museum (which sadly did not allow photos) was the gold/silverware colleciton of the Habsburgs. They had the gaudiest candlesticks you can imagine. There was one gold-gilted centerpiece that stretched 30 feet, but it could be extended to 90 feet for big shindigs. The audio-guide also emphasized, as frequently as possible, that the Habsburgs only ate soup and desert on porcelain; silver was used for everything else. VERY important ...

After that the currators felt the need to dedicate a lot of space and money to the historically insignificant but very narcissistic Empress Elizabeth. Well, she did champion the cause of Hungarian nationalism. But that's about all she did. Aside from that one foray into politics, she liked to keep to herself and her bizzare beauty and fitness regimen. She invented a leather face mask which she strapped raw veal into and wrapped around her face for sleep. She also drank the pressed juices of meats and washed her ankle-length hair in a mixture of egg yolks and cognac. Sadly, her only son, crown-prince Rudolf, committed suicide which really sent her over the deep end. She took to traveling a lot, and on one excursion to Geneva was assassinated by an Italian anarchist. Her husband, Emperor Franz Josef, was a little more practical. His rooms in the palace were more 'utilitarian' than the others- if silk damask paneling and ivory doorknobs could ever be construed as 'utilitarian'. Nevertheless he was an efficient Emperor, dedicated family man, and loved Elizabeth in spite of ... everything.

After that, we decided that we hadn't seen enough gaudy things. So we set off for the treasury which housed the REAL deal.

That's right. From there, it turned into a photo frenzy. They were all related to the Habsburgs in one way or another; whether the vestments of the Holy Roman Empire of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was all there.

I don't even know what most of these were ... everything was in German.

Mmmmmm ... gold.
The crowns looked like they weighed a ton ... but still, I bet it was totally worth it. Ok, I'm done. Then we set off to find a traditional Vienesse meal- we stopped by a recommended restaurant and dined on Wiener Scnitzel (breaded pork cutler in this case, although traditionally its veal) which was quite tasty. Karen has a bacon/potato dish which also looked good.

After dinner, we stopped by the memorial against war and fascism- which seems like something that most people can agree on. We tryed to get into the standing room of the opera, but it was all sold out. We tromped back to the nightlife 'hub' of the night before and enjoyed enormous gelatto cones for only 2 euros each. Karen and Renee were very patient as I struggled to find a particular bar recommended by Renee's guidebook- but after our third unsuccessful attempt we gave up and returned early to the hostel. We were able to have a very spirited 'whining' session with our Finnish roommates about how expensive the Euro was and how much we missed the cheaper Eastern European countries.

And that's just a tip of the iceburg- of the first day. I'll have to write more about Sunday, tomorrow. Sblohem.