Wanders in Wien

Slow down, you crazy child you're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart, tell me
Why are you still so afraid? Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out You've got so much to do and
Only so many hours in a day
But you know that when the truth is told..
That you can get what you want or you get old You're gonna kick off before you even
Get halfway through
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?
--"Vienna," by Billy Joel

My two friends Rebecca and Sarah (whom I visited in London in April) finished off their semester at a university outside of London and began the last part of their Grand Tour, landing in Geneva, going through Switzerland and Salzburg, and then to Vienna, where I met them. I took an 8:20 train out of Munich (I got the Europa special, one way for 29 euro!) and arrived in Vienna just at noon last Friday. R&S picked out the hotel, a little pension AT the U-Bahn stop Neubaugasse, only two stops away from the Westbahnhof where I had come in. I scaled up the escalator at Neubaugasse and there they were, the duo, waiting pour moi! I gave them both a big hug and got settled into the very nice hotel room which we all shared. My mother had given me a Top 10 Vienna Book, which came in VERY helpful throughout the trip and helped me get the lay of the land--I feel like I understand now how Vienna is laid out, how to get from one place to the other generally. We had lunch at a little cafe and then set out on foot. We walked through the LOVELY Hofburg Palace, which was just astounding, saw the Lippianizer (sp?) stallions themselves in their stables, the winter riding school, walked all the way up to the Donaukanal where I flipped OUT when I saw the OPEC building across the river. Oh, I love a good cartel. We wandered through the north side of the city, south of the river. Vienna's lovely, and it struck me (having never really been to France) more as a French-feeling city, with its 19th century buildings, than as a *German* town. Indeed, its German language seemed more to be an accident of nature than anything else. It did not seem to be the culture.

We walked all along the river, and I had a desire to see the famous Hundertwasserhaus which was a way off, but we walked it anyway, and it was well worth seeing. The Hundertwasserhaus is simply an apartment building, but with trees, funky windows, fountains, mosaics--the works. I first remember seeing it in Neue Horizonte, my first semester German textbook, and thought--"Wow, that's cool. I've got to see that if I'm ever in Vienna." So, I got to see it. After this (and walking back), we had traversed the entire southern half of the city and we were EXHAUSTED. We had dinner at a little pizza place right across the street on Mariahilfstrasse. It was a great location because there were so many restaurants and shops right on our street.

Vienna struck me as very cultural, and a more international city than Munich. Immediately, I saw ads for Indian satellite, ads for international cuisine-restaurants, things in German, English, and occasionally French. It was touristy--not too bad--but touristy. It was not nearly as clean as Munich, which surprised me. I saw thousands of cigarette butts on the ground and parts of it felt a little grimier than Munich does, and there were certainly more street beggars there than Munich has. Men dressed in Mozart-era clothing peddled concerts at Schloss Schoenbrunn in every part of the city, and I'm not sure how that raises the "quality" of the concerts at all, but we had to work like heck to evade them. This one guy was like, "Do you speak German? Do you speak German? Are you visiting Vienna?" calling after us as we shoved past him. I feel sorry for them. Like that song "Goin' to Acapulco" says, "Don't everyone got to eat? And I'm no different when it comes to scratching for my meat." Still, I think the economy could help them find more constructive jobs.


We also visited St. Stephensdom, which was a great old Gothic-style church, where Mozart and his wife Constance were married, interestingly enough, and their sixth child was baptized there. We paid the 3,50 eintritt for the South Tower climb and went up and up and up--I think 350 steps. It was much more fun to do the tower climb with two other people. Often, I'm alone and just like, ladeedah, but we had some fun and games. The top of the tower had some views out windows, and I saw an actual skyscraper-Houston-like skyline out one of the windows, which struck me as so odd. One of my favorite things to do upon landing in Houston is to look out and spot the skyline, because often the road seems to lead straight to the Emerald City. Many times, as a child, I looked forward to escaping my small-town tedium with occasional jaunts off to Houston. Thrills would rush in me as our car neared the skyline and we entered this concrete jungle. We would drive down Westheimer and my heart sang for shops! restaurants! huge bookstores! coffeehouses! bakeries! museums! things to do! So I have always had a positive association with skylines, and seeing that tiny tiny bit of Houston here in Vienna, the other side of the Atlantic. . . . strange things indeed.

As we walked--erm, trudged--back to dinner, we saw a very interesting thing right outside the Staatsoper: a gigantic screen on the left side of the building broadcast the concert that was going on live inside, and a huge crowd was outside, and applauded when it was over, after the fat lady sang. (I'm sorry, I had to say that.) They were invested in it. It struck me as FASCINATING. Sarah was a little unsure about this being a tax-supported endeavour, but as I told her, it was a truly an opportunity to look inside the minds of the Europeans. Many times I am very frustrated with how they operate and I know that's because I'm unable to access their perspective. But this was a case when I was able to understand, because I knew their rationale (from previous reading and study): to their minds, the people have a right to experience their own culture. Viennese have a right to access their opera, art, literature. Of course, again, the downfall of this is homogeneity: this wouldn't slide in the U.S. Imagine subsidised tickets to Civil War exhbits, African-American exhibits, colonial exhibits, but not an Indian cultural dancing show or a museum of Greek culture. Who's to say the Indians or the Greeks have any less claim on the history of the United States than the African-Americans and the colonists do? In America (like I explained to fellow German intern), we're all mutts. Every culture brings its own from the motherland and we just mix it in.

On Saturday we went out to the gorgeous Schloss Schoenbrunn, the summer palace of the Habsburg Empire. Franz Joseph did a lot of work here, along with the very tedious hair-brushing and refusal-of-food by his wife, the famous Elisabeth or "Sisi," much beloved in Bavaria and Austria (she was actually born in Munich, in a building on Leopoldstrasse). She sounded like a not very nice female, who didn't even like Franz Joseph that much (who was totally enamoured of her for some strange reason), would refuse to eat with him because she had a figure to watch, hello? And spending hours a day caring for her locks. Not a Princess Diana, huh? Or as my friend Kniquii would say, she did not use her powers For Awesome.


Schoenbrunn was BEAUTIFUL, though. We took the U-Bahn there (the U-Bahn system in Vienna impressed me. There were--GASP--multiple ELECTRONIC Kiosks. I am shouting because in Munich, there is an Old Machine--O.M.--for which one can pay only with CASH, but this is only for short-term cards, up to 3 days and for different types of levels. Then there is a NEW electronic machine--E.M.---for longer cards, which does not take cash and only takes a special kind of card that you have to buy from MVG. So I buy my cards at the little bakery in StuSta U-Bahn, which is an authorized dealer just because they happen to be on site. But I can't buy my monthly card at Marienplatz, though would you not think this a hub? But if I go up to the lady at the window--the official lady at the desk that says Muenchnerverkehrsgesellschaft, the people who are supposed to be running this whole operation--and ask her for a monthly card because, hi, my little bakery kiosk is closed today--she cannot sell me one and refers me to the E.M. But I only have $$$, I say. Ah, then you have to go to Hauptbanhof. I don't curse, but WTF??? Compare this to lovely Vienna, and I have provided photographic evidence for you. You are in U-Bahn. Ah, you think. I need Ticket. You go to Machine. There are Two for Multiple Users But they are Same Type of Machine. You can buy ANY TICKET YOU WANT for the U-Bahn system. You select option. You pay with cash or 5 different types of credit cards. IT PRINTS! You stamp. You Move On With Life).

So anyway, Schloss Schoenbrunn was wonderful. We paid, I think 13 euros with the concession for the Classic Light Tour, which allowed us to see the whole castle and then the grounds. It was gorgeous. The audio guide came free, and it was sad that it was kinda cursory, but it is a big castle and time's always a-wastin'. We were in the room where Mozart gave his first concert and there was this little Indian English-speaking boy, about 8 or so, who was with his brother and listening to the audio guide as it told us this story. The kid got all wide-eyed and looked at his brother and said, "MOZART!" It was adorable. We fell behind a tour group of Asian people. I have to applaud them--they have absolutely no intention of ever blending in to society (as was my intention when I came here), but they are for some reason, since I don't know the Asians well at all, very very curious to explore and travel and learn about Western culture (I was behind a similar group at Mrs. Macaquire's Chair in Australia) and don't let long plane flights and almost insurmountable cultural differences stop them. They just sign up for the tour group and are off their merry way.



After seeing the impressive palace we wandered out to the even more stunning (and large) grounds. We couldn't have possibily done it all, it was just so much. We walked up the hill behind the palace to the Gallerie, a building from which one can look down to the palace but also out over Vienna. It was gorgeous--probably hotter than I had expected, but still gorgeous nonetheless. I saw the rolling hills encircling the city, down to the palace. We had our tickets to the Gallerie, so we climbed up the very very top and enjoyed the crazy gusts of wind while lazing on the benches up there. After spending a little time there, we got off and walked the long walk back down the palace, out of the grounds, to the station, collapsing on the U-Bahn. We took the U-Bahn over to Karlsplatz, near the Belevedere Palace. We had to walk a bit to the grounds (for future reference: don't go down Prinzeugenstrasse, that's the long-way 'round), but we passed a fascinating monument: the Liberation Monument. Believe me, it's a bit weird to be wandering out in Vienna and run into a gigantic monument with Russian all over it. Reminds one how close one is to that Eastern Empire. Budapest is closer to Vienna than is Munich, remember (and the train to Budapest departed opposite the one to Munich, a strange thought to me). My Russian's really bad and I can just make sense of the alphabet, but I did make out the word "Slava," so I was very proud of myself.



The Belvedere Palaces are quite amazing. Built with the reward from the Habsburgs for the defense of Vienna against the Turkish Siege of 1683, Prince Eugene of Savoy did quite a good deal of work over a long period of time on this place. We walked around the gardens behind the Upper Belvedere (yes, there are two buildings!) and then walked out and then rounded down through the impressive grounds through the Lower Belvedere. I wish I could have seen it (Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is here), but again, there's just not enough time, and I was glad enough to have seen impressive Schoenbrunn. I'll have to come back to Vienna again someday and complete the tour.


We finally found dinner near our hotel, completely famished again. I had to peel my boots off my feet. We crashed and woke up the next morning to take the train to Munich. We took the Oesterreich-Bundes-Bahn (the nicest train I've been on yet--they had a little entertainment center for children, screens with maps/trip information showing, electronic seat reservation above the seats--and we were in second class!) through Salzburg (that's kinda weird, believe me--oh, we're just passing through Salzburg) where we picked up a group of noisy young Americans. One girl seemed insist on calling out the speed we were going: "We're going 120 kilometers per hour! We're going 55 kilometers per hour!" and others seemed compelled to voice, loudly (it's a big country, you have to scream to be heard), every thought going through their head: "I wish I was taking more pictures. I'm tired. When do we get to Munich? Did you go into Chris' room last night? I got pictures!"


We arrived in Munich unscathed and no worse for the wear, and I took S&R back to my little cubicle. I explored Munich with them on foot and tried to give them a lay of the land, and they spent the next couple of days (plus one more than expected, due to the missing of their flight) exploring Munich, and liked it very much.


I just had a good experience! I went to the bakery in the U-Bahn to get an iced tea (eistee). I don't go that often--maybe once a week or so, and probably less--but I always get the same thing: a Nestea with lemon. I went up and the lady said, "Eistee?" I couldn't believe it! Do a jig! I'm a familiar face! I'm a familiar face!


This will be the topic of my last post (ahem, foreshadowing), but it seemed appropriate:

Kathy, I said as we boarded the Greyhound bus
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone off to look for America
-"America," Simon & Garfunkel

Photos: (1) Sarah and Rebecca in the Viennese sunset by the Donaukanal (2), entrance to the Hofburg Palace (3), a ticket system that makes sense, Neubaugasse (4), Schloss Schoenbrunn from the Gallerie

"Das isch Züri," or, Utopia Mapped

Early today as I watched while the skyline was shaking, I heard a rumbling
Early today the mechanical city was waking
And I ran out stumbling, mumbling
Out through the laughter of children and dogs
Did you see our brother
He was here the other day
But he only came to say that he can't breathe here
Did you see his lady, she was reaching for his hand
Just as if to tell her man that she can't either
They're bound to go
And the sun may find me running after them, seeing something far away
We won't be back

--"From Silver Lake," Jackson Browne


On Sunday morning, the day of Kim's departure, I got up early to meet my train to head off to Zürich and meet my parents there. It was altogether quite simple: U-Bahn to Marienplatz, S-Bahn to Hauptbahnhof (2 stops), walk up to my train, presto, easy. The train trip was about 5 hours, which was on the longish side, but altogether much more comfortable than airplane travel. It was beautiful, we went through all sorts of small little towns. I remarked on a little grocery store in a tiny town in the mountains called, in German, the Oasis, with a little painting of a lush paradise in the desert. I loved the juxtaposition there. The train also went past the Bodensee, which is a HUGE. HUGE. lake at the foot of Lindau, where we made one of our stops.


I arrived just before noon in the pretty and charming old Zurich Hauptbahnhof, where I met my father. Together we cabbed back to the hotel, which marked the first time I had been in an automobile in 10 weeks: it did seem a bit unfamiliar. I was surprised how much in Zurich was closed on Sunday, even many cafes and restaurants were closed (about half, or a little less than that, I would say). In Munich, all the shops are closed, but you can at least eat at a cafe or restaurant. Zurich is a beautiful city, though, situated just on the lovely Zurichsee in the mountains, and everyone seems to speak at least three languages. You will know of course, that the Swiss have their own little brand of German, Swiss-German, which is just plain weird. See my title of this post; this is actually an ad in Switzerland where they've abandoned the "t" and added a "ch" for the "ist" (is).


I was very interested to scope out the differences between the Swiss and the Germans, or, more specifically, the Munichners and the Zurichers. Zurich is much, much smaller than Munich, though the people were more outgoing and more inclined to kindness to "outsiders" than I feel would be the case in a German town of the same size. (Of course, Zurich is a combination of many influences, so maybe it's not quite fair to make a comparsion, since there can't ever really be a German town "like" Zurich.) I was at the hotel buffet pouring some orange juice and the waitress needed to get in my area, so she just touched me on the back to let me know she was there. In Germany, you would be greeted by a very loud and harsh "VORSICHT!" while they would mutter "youstupididiot" under their breath. Also, the waiters we had at various restaurants (not all expensive--well, not by Zurich standards, anyway--everything in Zurich is teuer, teuer, teuer, which would depress me if I lived there and wasn't a millionaire) were all just more open. I had asked one server about the meaning of a flag, and she went off to ask another server to get the right answer, and was just in general more open than I felt I have encountered in Deutschland. More neighborly? Perhaps is the right word. Here people are much more inclined to erect fences than to share. But, I'm not really sure which influences are responsible, and Zurich could be such an European singuarlity that it can't be replicated nor fairly compared to other European cities.

We had dinner with two of my mother's colleagues, who have both lived in Switzlerand for about 5 years. One has a gorgeous Golden Retriever dog. The dog has a tram card! I saw it with my own eyes. The dog comes to work, since apparently it is illegal in Switzerland to leave your dog alone for more than 4 hours. Your neighbors will report you. Wow, talk about government intervention. You cannot buy a house in Zermatt unless you list your primary residence there, and it's very hard for non-Swiss citizens to break in the little club there, since they want to let Swissies enjoy this mountain paradise. Things are done differently here. I wonder what the Swiss 6 o'clock news is like: "A dog was lost today near the river, however a Loyal Swiss Neighbor helped the owner recover it. It had a hurt paw and was taken to the vet for immediate treatment."

After spending about 2 days in Zurich, we left mit dem Auto out of Switzerland and into Liechtenstein, which was really neat! Liechtenstein is just across a river from Switzerland and accepts the Swiss currency as well as the Liechtenstein franc. Famous as a tax evasion place, Liechtenstein has more registered companies than citizens. Apparently, a host of German citizens had been stashing away some cash here in this quiet valley, and a disgruntled employee of a Liechtenstein bank offered to sell the German government names of German citizens who had accounts in Leichtenstein, and the German government took the bait. (Spiegel Article on the "2008 Liechtenstein Affair" ) The source was paid 5 million euros for this information. I personally feel uneasy about a *government* would negotiate with someone who was violating confidence laws. How would the German government feel about an employee of Deutsche Bank selling out names of clients to a foreign power? I know you have to work with unsavory individuals sometimes to get more unsavory ones, but no one's life was being threatened here. Reading the Spiegel article is interesting though--there's very much the sense that those who have committed tax evasion are "ignoring the responsibility they have to the common good," as the article says. Hahhahahaa, I dare you to find that quote in a major American news publication. Bei uns this concept does not exist. So that's a cultural difference for you.

We also drove through the beautiful mountains of Austria, Innsbruck, and up through Southern Germany, where it began to RAIN. LIKE. NO. TOMORROW. We had thought we'd evade this rain by the time we got to Munich, as Munich is far enough north of the Alps not to get that crazy weather, but we were wrong. It was the end of May, and it was cold and wet. Thunderstorms like that may be the du jour in Lousiana, but not in this town. I do love rain and storms. . . . as I've spent less and less time in Louisiana I become more and more shocked by their occurence. It'll always be a gift I take from the Bayou State, the upbringing I had in times of storms and lightening.

I spent the following week with my parents. We did the usual, restaurants and so forth and also went to the very impressive Deutsches Museum which is a museum of science and technology. There were whole ships there, whole aircrafts, exhibition on the Wright Brothers, history of publishing, glass blowing, photography, physics, chemistry, space--impressive stuff, well done, and not boring at all. It was huge, I kept getting lost. I had an ermäßigung for being a Studentin so it was only 3 euros (8,50 euro regular admission) Sweet. Definitely going back. My father remarked about the technical detail of this, how many jet engines there were. Germans are very interested in the fine details--they want to know how things work = Siemens, BMW, etc.

We also went to Augsburg to see the Fuggerei, which was neat. Very cool settlement; I can't believe it's been there that long!

Next up: Two days later I go to Vienna, Austria, to reunite with two of my Trinity friends!

Photo: view from Restaurant Seerose out to the Zürichsee.