The View from the Cafe Car

My first impression of Austria came when we stepped onto the bright red Austrian train in Ljubljana.  The cars seemed freshly painted, sans the graffiti we had seen on other trains.  Inside, the compartments were clean and modern, with glass doors and marked seat reservations.  There was even a cafe car, complete with white tablecloths, black leather chairs and windows that looked out as the train sped through the Slovenian, and then Austrian, countryside.

We happened to go to the cafe car at an ideal time: right as we were traveling through the Austrian Alps.  My reaction to the whole scene was not something I expected.  Rather than feeling relaxed, like any other vacationer taking in the sights, I felt oddly surprised.  As background information, this is the first trip I’ve planned without the help of either parents or some sort of structured program, and the first trip I’ve paid for entirely with money I have earned myself.  It was certainly a surprise to recognize that I bought myself the opportunity to be lazily sipping tea while I watch the Austrian Alps go by.  It felt far too adult.  (I’m kicking myself now for not taking pictures of the landscape.)

Vienna offered more of the same sensation, with grandiose buildings at every turn.  We had also been given an incredible wealth of information about things to do by the staff at our hostel, which actually just made it difficult to decide what to do.   Our first morning, we floundered a little bit, overwhelmed by all of the options, and then stepped into a church where we heard organ music playing.  As it turned out, the organist was actually just practicing, but sitting helped us regroup a bit.

From there, we went to the incredible Kaisergrüft – the crypt of the Austrian monarchs.  It was creepy at points - at left is a reliquary (yes, those are real bones), and at right is a sarcophagus. Still, it was really interesting to see.

After that we went to St. Stephansdom, the giant church in the middle of the old city.  It’s still used for masses, baptisms, etc.  Just outside of it, guys dressed like Mozart try to get you to come on their tours or to their museum.  (Let me tell you, they love their Mozart around here.  Mozart is their cash cow.)

 

Emerging from St. Stephansdom, we found ourselves in the middle of a protest.  Pushing away images of Istanbul, we realized it was an anti-LGBTQ demonstration which was mostly attended by pro-LGBTQ people waving rainbow flags.  As we walked further, we realized that this was apparently Vienna's Gay Pride week, and that we had just missed the 'Regenbogen Parade.'  Also note grandiose building in the background, because that's how Vienna rolls.

After a dinner of Wiener Schnitzel, we settled down at the hostel, called Do Step Inn.  I have to say, this hostel is infinitely better than our Belgrade hostel.  It's clean and extremely well-run.  For our second day, they helped us find options for nighttime live music, which led us to the surprisingly good show from a Swedish band called Slow Earth.  They kind of looked like a bunch of 19 year-olds on summer break, but they did a good job.

The day activities for yesterday and today consisted of an art museum and the Vienna Jewish Museum, respectively.  I'll let Tim talk about the art museum, since I think he can do the best job of describing the star painting there, but I'll just say that the Jewish Museum was fascinating.  On the ground floor, instead of just giving out information, they lay out the central questions that the museum deals with, and give space for guests to write out their own questions and comments.  They also display former questions and comments from guests that address the central questions - debates like "To what extent should a Jewish Museum focus on the Holocaust?"

The main exhibit in the museum was about Jewish humor as it developed throughout the 20th century.  They talked about wordplay, cabarets, revues, and satires.  They had one or two rooms that addressed how Jews satirized Hitler.  Below is the theatrical satire by George Tabori that shares a title with Hitler's memoir.  This is from 1986, but there were a lot of examples from much earlier, including during the war.

Further on, they showed newer examples of Jewish humor like Woody Allen's films.  It was a fascinating exhibit.  At the other location of the same museum, centered where the Jewish quarter of Vienna used to be in medieval times, we saw the excavation of a synagogue that had been demolished in 1420.  It made for a really interesting afternoon.

Tomorrow we are planning a day trip to Austria's Pielachtal Valley, the home of the dirndl, which is apparently a fruit similar to a cherry.  After that, we're looking forward to another day in Vienna, which we're hoping to fill with some pretty unique-sounding museums and a trip to the Viennese opera.  Looking forward to reporting back about all.

Much love from Vienna!