Goodbye Vienna

Local music group from a small town near Salzburg
performing in Vienna for Wind Music festival


Leah and Rich


Haus der Meers in old Flak tower


View from the car of the ferris wheel

In the ferris wheel car

I am sitting at an outdoor café on a lovely Vienna morning, lingering over my mélange and thinking about how fast 4 months can go! Tomorrow we leave for New Jersey and life returns to normal. This has been an incredible experience and we are truly grateful for the opportunity to be here and experience all that we have. While we will be sad to leave this extraordinary city, we do realize this has been a unique respite, and not reality. So I trade my Wiener mélange for drip coffee and the efficient Wiener Linien transit system for New Jersey Transit and get on with life. I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me!

So today I will just mention a few more things that we did recently, just to be sure to get in some mention of the experiences. One afternoon Rebecca, Rich and I visited the Haus der Meers, a small aquarium that is located in one of the former flak towers in the city. I am not sure if I have mentioned these before, but they are huge, concrete structures, put up by the Nazis during the war as places to shoot from as well as for defense. There are 8 of them around the city, in pairs, and they are so large and heavy that it has been determined that it would not be worth it to try to destroy them. (Actually the Russians tried, shortly after the war, but did not get too far. The amount of dynamite needed would have also destroyed all the surrounding area! The one they worked on now has loose concrete at the top, held together with wires.) The towers were also used to house troops and in each pair, one had lights while the other had the guns. They really provide a shocking reminder when you come upon them suddenly. Anyway, the city has been trying for years to figure out what to do with them- most are empty and sit in parks. But this one has been adapted for use as an aquarium and while it is small, it is quite effective.
Near another one of these pairs of towers, in the Augarten Park, a concrete bunker was discovered. It now houses a very trendy bar where we also went one night, raising the median age considerably!

Another place we have gone where we were among the oldest folks present, was the Donaufest, a huge music festival on the narrow island in the Danube River. It is a whole weekend of various types of music on a number of different stages, all provided for free and a big draw. We went on a Saturday night, when most of the music was of the loud rock variety. We didn’t stay long for the music, but it was fun seeing it and being there anyway!

The summer is absolutely full of festivals, both of locals and tourists. One of the early ones was the Festival of Wind Music that brought in local, traditional bands from all over Austria in a sort of combination of concerts and competition. The Saturday morning of that weekend, various bands played at different local markets around the city, so went to the Rochusmarkt near our apartment to hear one of them. Pictures included here.

Another of our major occupations recently has been watching World Cup matches. It has been really fun being here for it, where people are really into soccer. Every bar, restaurant or little corner café has tvs set up, especially for this, with live coverage every evening. So most night we have been going out to find groups to watch it with, including one evening at the beach bar on the Danube canal. In several spots along the canal, enterprising people have imported sand and set up beach chairs to create a “beach” atmosphere (it is along the water after all)! We went here the night Mexico played its final game and unbeknownst to us, this was the Mexican hangout in town, so the fans were quite enthusiastic, even though they lost! But it is much more fun that sitting in our living room alone watching the games!

One of my favorite activities here, and one I have been looking forward to for the whole time was a trip on the giant ferris wheel. We see it from the window of our apartment and it has been a constant landmark for our stay in Vienna. It was erected for a world’s exposition in the 19th century and has been in use ever since. It was pretty much destroyed during the war, but reconstructed afterward, only with fewer of the big cars. It is a major symbol of the city and appears in many films about or in Vienna, including The Third Man and Before Sunrise. Those of you who know me, know that amusement park rides are not really something I like, but this is different. You sit in a large, enclosed car and it turns very slowly so that you get incredible views over the city. It does go quite high and I had a few minutes of nervousness at the top, but I knew I could not leave without having done this and I am very glad we did!

We also had a couple more trips to heurigens, or local wine taverns. One night we went with Leah to the town of Grinzing, which is very picturesque, near the Vienna woods, and full of heurigens. The one we went to is quite old, and displays a collection of wine bottle corks dating from the 17th century! They also had wandering musicians who went to different tables and sang traditional old Austrian songs. Luckily they seemed to know this was not for us! Also the final Fulbright gathering was at another heuriger, this time in Nusdorf, which is another of these cute old villages that have been incorporated into the city. This was a large group- of current Fulbright students as well as professors and it was quite a nice evening.

And of course, one of my prime activities during this trip has been looking at architecture. I have been slow getting it organized, but I plan on posting a number of albums of the various buildings we have viewed, including Red Vienna housing projects, Jungenstil buildings in Vienna and those from our various trips. So even though I may not write any more, those of you interested in the architectural component will still have some new material.

If anyone is still reading this blog, thanks for keeping up your interest. I did it for others to know what we were up to, but also so that we would have a record of all our wonderful experiences to look back on in the future. If you haven’t been here, maybe it will inspire you. This is definitely a city worth the trip.

See you soon back in the US of A!

Picnic in the Prater

We had a wonderful final Sunday in the Prater. We invited the folks with whom we spent Seder, Dave and Eva and Karl and Ina and their kids to join us for a picnic in “our” park. Turned out to be a wonderful day- beautiful weather and lovely people and a really great way to finish our stay in this most-livable city.
Dave and Eva have two little kids- Samuel who is 6 and extremely reasonable and easy to talk to and Olivia who is 3 and an amazing child. She is totally independent and often just wanders off to see something of interest. First thing at the park, she started climbing a tree- all by herself and all the way to the top where she stayed, swaying in the breeze! She did this numerous times during our outing, while her parents looked on and shrugged! Ina and Karl brought one of their sons- 8 year old Sebastian. They have two boys who mostly play American football, but today it was all soccer, probably in honor of the World Cup which is everyone’s main topic of conversation here these days.

We made some food and took it to the park, as did Ina, so we had a great picnic while the men (big and little) played soccer nearby. We also got to ride on the “Lilliput-bahn,” a small-gauge railroad that runs pretty fast, on coal, through a large part of the Prater. It is so cute and I have been wanting to ride on it, but needed small children to come with me, so today was my day! It was actually quite fun for everyone and even Olivia sat still through the ride! The best part of it is being able to say I rode on the Lilliput-bahn! While we were waiting for it to start Olivia decided she wanted to ride up in the engine, “where Thomas is,” and before anyone quite realized it, she had climbed into the driver’s seat and was about to move the throttle! Luckily Rich noticed it in time and grabbed her out before she could do anything. Later, Rich and the guys took the boys to ride on the bumper cars at the amusement park and they also had a good time there.

It was so lovely to be able to sit and talk with these interesting, warm people and I hope we can continue the friendship across the ocean. Getting to know such hospitable, friendly people has definitely added to our enjoyment of Vienna.

Oberstocktall and other locations along the Danube

Town of Durnstein

Ruins overlooking Durnstein


Gut Oberstockstall, courtyard

Gut Oberstockstall, church and courtyard

On the way to Oberstockstall- Leah and Ginny with Paul and Sandra

Last Sunday, Paul Brunner and his wife Sandra took us on another incredible outing! This time Leah was still here and able to enjoy it also (Rebecca had gone to Sarajevo to visit a friend from school).

We first drove in their car (a Prius, of course) through beautiful Austrian country to a small town about an hour north of Vienna called Oberstockstall, and went to an extraordinary restaurant for lunch called Gut Oberstockstall! It is on a farm owned by Sandra’s cousins for the last 5 generations! The property includes a small stone church from about 1500 and the monastery buildings that used to be part of the church, where they now live and run a restaurant! They have also started an award-winning organic winery on their land. Unbelievably picturesque and all the food and wine comes from their property. Needless to say, this was one of the best meals we have had on our trip! All delicious and fresh and amazing! Rich and Leah had cream of nettle soup! And chanterelles are in season so next to my chicken were raviolis filled with chanterelles! The whole thing was so yummy! And the wines were truly wonderful. Sandra’s cousin Fritz, who is now retired in favor of his son, sat with us the whole meal and carried on a fascinating conversation (translated from the German by Sandra and Paul). So you can be sure that we received extra special service too!

After several hours, we were too contented to move much, but we then drove to a couple of small towns on the Danube, Krems and Durnstein. Both are Medieval originally, and have retained some of the cute winding streets of the old town, along with castles and monasteries up on the hills overlooking the river. Since the Danube used to be the main way to transport trade goods and people, the rulers of these places grew quite wealthy by placing barriers across the Danube, forcing traders and travelers to pay taxes so they could go ahead! Also, Durnstein was the place where Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned until he was ransomed by the English crown. (We heard lots of stories about how this money helped finance a major expansion of the town of Vienna!)

All in all, a day full of beautiful scenery, interesting towns and wonderful food- what could be better!

Visit to Salzburg

Rich in his new Salzburg hat at an old cemetery

By the fortress, overlooking the town and river


Salzburg Festival hall- carved out of the mountain


Slazburg with the fortress in the background


Mirabell Gardens


Last week the four of us (including Leah and Rebecca) went to Salzburg for a couple of days. We stopped briefly at Linz on the way up so Rich could visit a building he wanted to see, and the rest of us walked around a bit and had a nice lunch. Salzburg is really a picture book town nestled in the mountains, with the Salzburg river (very green and fast) running through the middle and tall, steep cliffs on two sides. The old town is quite picturesque, with a tall clock tower and lots of winding streets, all full of tourists at the moment. There is an immense fortress built on one of the cliffs, overlooking the old town. Apparently it has never been breached, which is understandable! We took a funicular to the top, supposedly the world’s steepest. There are interesting historical displays of the fortress there, and it also served as a palace so there are some “royal” rooms going back to the Medieval period, others Renaissance and later.

We did all the requisite tourist activities, visited Mozart’s birthplace, and toured several places that were photographed in “The Sound of Music.” This included the Mirabell Gardens (as mentioned last time) and the Festival House, home of the Salzburg Festival and the site of the final scene where they are performing in the movie. Then Leah and Rebecca went home and found clips from the movie on the computer and we all ended up singing the songs for days!

We saw some impressive churches, of course, and a really interesting old cemetery. We also toured the palace of the Archbishop who was both the religious and secular leader of the town, and obviously grew quite wealthy on taxes he collected. We also heard a short harpsichord concert at this palace. Mostly, however, we enjoyed just walking around (when it wasn’t raining) and had lots of good food. One of the best lunches was at a beer garden part way up the fortress hill, overlooking the city and home of local Steiger beer. Those who drank it (everyone but me) said it was really good.

Leah and Rebecca at the baths at Baden


Rose Festival at Baden




Large interior pool at Baden baths

Exterior pool at Baden

We have begun to realize how fast our trip is coming to its close and there is still so much we haven’t done. Even four months is not enough for this city and its environs! And then we have daughters here to show it to, as well as trying to finish what we haven’t seen.

It is rose season here and the Austrians love roses! There is a huge, beautiful rose garden in the center of the city, on the Ring, at the Volksgarten. We went there with Rebecca on one of her first, rainy days here. Then we went to the Rose festival at Baden, on the first day Leah was here. That day was sunny and very hot, and the roses were almost past their prime, but really beautiful anyway. Again, so many and spread out in a huge rose garden. There were tons more at Schonbrunn when we went there, and in Salzburg, we went to the Mirabell Gardens (the place where the Von Trapp kids sang Do Re Mi in the movie) and there were tons of roses there too! Plus there are lots of little traffic islands throughout the city that are full of roses!

But I am getting ahead of myself! We spent another wonderful day in Baden with Leah and Rebecca (had been there with Rachel and Sarah so it was only right). Had to take them to the baths of course! Even tho the baths are better in the cool and rainy weather, they were quite nice in the summer too! There are indoor and outdoor sections, and it was much less crowded than when we had been before. Lots of areas for whirlpools and bubbly waters, all that lovely mineral odor! But you do feel great when you are done!

Meanwhile, Rich came out with us to Baden but instead of the baths, chose to go to a little local museum there dedicated to Joseph Gall, founder of phrenology. Lots of skulls to examine apparently! (the cross street near our apartment is Joseph Gall Gasse!)

Karl-Marx-Hof

More reporting on our recent activities in Vienna. Leah told me my posts are too long, so I will try to make them more user friendly! I will try to write one or two things at a time with more in different posts.

Rich and I have been very interested in the architecture of Red Vienna, the period after World War I when the city of Vienna was governed by socialists who were trying to create a viable alternative to Bolshevism in Russia. They wanted to show that you could create the new man and new society without eliminating liberal democracy. After the war, the city was in desperate shape-lack of housing and food for people, the end of the monarchy that had ruled forever, and ready for drastic change. The socialists came in wanting to create a country of more equality, but did so in a very paternalistic manner. One of the main ways they decided to improve life for most Viennese was to create a large amount of new housing for the huge homeless population of the city. They tried various different schemes, but ended up building huge numbers of apartments, often in large superblocks, located near the outskirts of the city (where land was cheaper). Through the design of these apartments and the type of life that would be lived there, the goal was to change certain basic qualities of people’s lives. The apartment blocks were designed with communal laundries and kitchens, meeting rooms, kindergartens and play areas, etc. to try to encourage people living there to interact in a positive way. Additionally, they provided medical and dental care, as well as advice for new mothers and other educational opportunities. The elitism and paternalism comes through in several ways. Workers were never asked what they needed or wanted in the design of new housing – how could these illiteratre and uneducated masses, raised under the propaganda of the empire, know what they needed to create a new and better society? Similarly, government workers told them when and how to wash clothes, raise their children, cook their meals, etc.

Rich and I have been going around the city to view some of the many developments from this period. There were large numbers built in the late 1920s, until the socialists lost power in 1934. After WWII, the city continued to build them, although these tended to be less architecturally interesting. One of the most well-known of the early ones is the Karl-Marx-Hof. During the “civil war” of 1934, when the socialists were ousted, many of them held out in this development, and cannon and other heavy artillery were used on it. It is a huge complex, built to house over 1,000 people and it extends for many city blocks, with a series of courtyards surrounded by several styles of buildings, none more than 5 stories high. It is still a very desirable place to live, and as we were walking around the area, we happened on an exhibition of the architecture of this period, sponsored by the current Socialist Party. I am posting several pictures of this building, including an example of how people personalize their balconies. (That shot was courtesy of Rich!) The early developments are pretty interesting, from an architectural point of view, all done by different architects and giving a very different visual effect.

It has been a long time

1
Ginny and Rebecca at the Heuriger, after a long hike.


Interior of Steinhoff church.


At the Volksgarten- notice the stork on the fountain!


Some of the crowds at the concert at the Schonbrunn Palace.



Stables at the Prater, getting ready for the harness racing.



Otto Wagner church at Steinhoff sanitarium.



Rich and Rebecca at the beautiful rose garden at the Volksgarten, in the rain.


Yes, I am still here! Just a hiatus while we returned to New Jersey and Massachusetts for Rebecca’s graduation from Mt. Holyoke College. It was a lovely spring weekend in the Berkshires and great to be with family for such a happy occasion. All our women were there, as well as Richard and Nena. The graduation was in a gorgeous outdoor amphitheater on the beautiful campus. And of course we are very proud of Rebecca! All kinds of interesting things in store for her, I am sure! For those who don’t already know, she is doing an Americorps program next year in D.C.- working for an organization that aids Hispanic immigrants, through Avodah, and living in a group house in that city. So if you are close by, look her up after the end of August.

Meanwhile, back to our travels. Rich and I made it home in spite of renewed volcanic activity in Iceland and a British Air strike. We were home for about 2 weeks- quite weird since we were not there long enough to really feel like we were there, but we were! Mostly we hid out, pretending not to be there! So if you did not hear from us, that is why. We had to return earlier than expected because of the strike, but did get back to Vienna on June 1, with Rebecca to keep us company this time.

When we left Vienna in mid-May it was still pretty chilly, and apparently continued to be so while we were gone, even tho it was so hot in New Jersey that it was hard to conceive of it being anything else anywhere else! So we were pretty surprised to find it still cool and rainy for a few days when we got back here, but that did not last long. When summer arrives, it really arrives- hot and sticky! So much so that you start to yearn for cool and rainy again! Oh well, this city has much to recommend it, but not the weather!

We have had fun showing Rebecca all our favorite sites, and our favorite local café, Café Zartel, that has been there since 1885. We went together to several things, including the big art history museum (Kunst Historiches Museum, where I could go every day of the week) and the Naschmarkt, as well as some sites we had put off seeing such as the Hofburg (the royal apartments), and numerous churches around town. Then she started exploring on her own, to the Freud museum and Karl’s Kirche, where you can ascend to the top of the high dome and get up close and personal with the frescoes. We all spent a lovely day going out to Otto Wagner’s church at Steinhoff which is a psychiatric sanitarium on the western side of town. It was built early in the 20th century as a (then) exemplary place to treat mental illness- a large campus with numerous individual buildings spread out on a low hillside, just on the edge of the Vienna Woods. (And still in use, although I presume the methods of treatment have changed!) Wagner laid out the plan which ascends the hillside , and he and his students designed the buildings. But the real jewel of the place is the large church on the summit- topped by a large round dome covered in golden panels and shining in the sun! (Picture attached) It is cruciform in plan and decorated with lots of beautiful Secession style ornament. Quite beautiful and impressive. There was a wedding there when we arrived, and I can’t think of a more lovely setting for that.

Note: In Vienna, no place, and I mean no place, is lacking for a small restaurant or café! While we were waiting for the tour to start, it was coffee time, and Rebecca and I found a small outdoor café in one of the sanitarium buildings- I guess you need a place to have coffee while you are visiting someone there!
After the tour (only in German) we hiked in the Vienna Woods for a while, then ended up at a nearby heuriger, which is a local wine tavern. This one was set up beautifully, with an outdoor area overlooking a small vineyard. In addition to serving local wine, these places also provide an interesting buffet where you can choose. These consist of small plates of food such as salads and sliced meats, usually a much more interesting and varied selection that the usual stuff available at every Austrian restaurant in the city.

We also took Rebecca to see the Wien Museum, as an introduction to the city. We had gone there when we first arrived and found it useful as a place to start to understand the history and layout of the city. They had a new exhibition of clips from films that feature this city. There are really a lot of them! I think a Vienna film festival is in our future when we get back home- Netflics here we come!
Last Sunday Rich and I went to the horse races, which are located in the Prater, not far from our apartment. They have harness racing every Sunday afternoon, and while we did not bet, it was quite fun to see. There is a café on one side, right next to the track. So people order their food or drink and then walk over to the track to watch each race, and then return to their tables in between! The track is a lovely old one and you can actually go right up to the stables and see them setting up for the next race. People bring their horses in from the surrounding area for the day, and the stables seem to be operated by various trainers. In the same area are also the stables for the carriage horses that drive tourists around the city. All the stables look quite old (at least are built in an old, picturesque style) since they have always had horses in the Prater, and of course in the city. You can see the carriages coming out in the morning and going home in the evening when you are walking thru the park. Also, sometimes the harness drivers practice on the long straight paths in the Prater and you can watch these beautiful horses running by (obviously something I love to see).

Last Tuesday we had a long day at the Schonbrunn Palace. This was Maria Teresa’s favorite summer palace and was rather far outside the city when it was built. Now it is a stop on the underground train line! It is often compared to Versailles in size and grandeur. So we went on the grand tour through the rooms and were suitably impressed, and then walked through some of the extensive gardens, which are now an open public park. There was a free, public concert of the Vienna Philharmonic scheduled for that evening so we thought we would hang around and go to that. There were a large number of seats set up, some for VIPs with tickets, but also some for the general public. The concert was supposed to start at 9 PM and by 6:00 people were already starting to sit down. We decided we did not want to sit there for 3 hours just to get a good seat, so we started meandering through the grounds, and then through the nearby neighborhood where there are a large number of interesting Secession style houses. We thought we could get a picnic for the concert and take it back to sit on the large hill that rose behind where the orchestra was set up. But we started wandering and got involved in that, and it got late and we were tired and hungry, so we ended up at a cute restaurant on the town square of that lovely village (called Hietzing) assuming we would forego the concert! As we sat there, we kept seeing more and more people heading over to the concert, so when we finished with dinner, we decided to check it out. As we walked into the grounds, there were hundreds of people streaming in with us, even though the concert had already started. There were also many people streaming out, and we could not understand what was going on! But we kept walking and found that when we got up to the actual palace area, the entire grounds were filled with people standing (not sitting)- and eating ice cream, drinking beer and generally having a fine time, except hardly listening to the concert! There were large speakers and screens set up, but we were so far back that you could hardly see or hear it anyway! And by 9:45, there were still hundreds of people streaming in- from all directions! We have been to pops concerts in Central Park where there are a lot of people, but I have never seen so many people at a classical concert. You would have thought the Beetles were back! Since we could not hear the music anyway, we decided to leave, but the subway was filled with people still coming! People in this city do love their classical music! (Or else it is a major scene!)

Much more to report, but I will close for today so you don’t have too much to read at one time!

Mauthausen Concentration Camp- by Rich

I didn’t want to write much about our visits to the two Polish concentration camps because I have nothing insightful to add. Every visit is a profound statement of its own, and the experience has been described often and well by those who are more eloquent than I. Just adding this short note about a somewhat similar Austrian excursion. Ginny became friendly with a lovely woman (Sharon Hamilton - whose equally pleasant husband, Dennis, is attached to the Canadian embassy in Vienna) who invited us to join them for the drive to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp for the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of its liberation by American troops under Patton.

We ended up in a small Canadian embassy caravan and, after snaking through some very high end Viennese neighborhoods we had not (& likely would not have) seen to pick up the ambassador (he didn’t sit in our car – it would have meant he and I sharing a bucket seat and that might not have served international relations well) we hit the open road towards Linz.

Mauthausen is just outside Linz – about two hours by car from Vienna. It was much too lovely a day for this kind of occasion – warm and sunny. Somehow it feels as if these places should only be viewed in grey and somber weather. We parked well below the entry in a broad and deep depression – the dug-out stone quarry that was the reason the camp was located here. Our hosts went off to carry an impressive wreath of flowers to the ceremony, while we wandered through the camp barracks.
Mauthausen was technically a work camp, not a death camp, but the distinction seems slight. The difference is, I guess, that in the death camps there was little pretense at work – people were mostly marched off to die with disgusting (words fail) efficiency. In the work camps prisoners were killed through labor except when they were for sport. (A line of “parachutists” was formed at the edge of the quarry - push the person in front of you over the edge or be shot now). The Nazis had grand building plans and needed the stone for them, so people were made to work, and the sight of starved 85 pound men carrying 100 pound blocks of granite was, they say, not uncommon

When we got there, the central street between the existing rows of barracks was filled with thousands of onlookers as representatives of dozens of countries created a procession to placed a wreath on a memorial stone. Most of the official visitors represented nations where prisoners had come from – but not all (it included China, for instance). They carried flags and were appropriately solemn and in many cases, included survivors or their descendents. Speeches and announcements were made, a military band played, and two young women sang a variety of songs – mostly in German – very little English.

There were speeches in Italian, though. Many Italians were murdered there – mostly anti-fascist or resistance leaders. Other prisoners included political leaders from Austria, Roma, and homosexuals. Malthuasen was not a camp for all or mostly Jewish prisoners – though Jews made up the largest group killed there. It also included Russians, Poles, Yugoslavs, Hungarians and Czechs. At the end of the parade were less official groups – representatives of many Italian cities and communes, and student groups, including a large contingent of the Austrian Youth Socialist Organization who came in singing an anti-fascist song – which was particularly moving given the ins and outs of local politics these day.

Still, the biggest contingent in the ceremony was from Israel – and it received the loudest and longest applause. It was also the only one that we could see that was bordered by security agents –plain clothes stern-faced men with white coiled wire coming up their backs to their ears, backs to their countrymen with eyes scanning the crowd. We saw several of them later walking through the exhibits. They were taking photos of the pictures on the wall (of victims in various states of degradation). I watched them doing this & imagined their thoughts (“this is why I do this job”).

Visiting Mauthausen was very different from going to Auschwitz. Besides being a smaller site it seemed more personal. One of the larger existing barracks had an extensive exhibit on what happened at the camp. Within this, there were areas of memorial photos and plaques that had individual names and seemed home-made, we think put together by family members in remembrance. There was no uniformity to them other than the uniformity of sadness and outrage. Near the outside walls, each country that lost citizens had its own memorial plaque, and beyond the walls were other, larger memorial sculptures donated by the various countries. They were adorned with wreaths and other commemorations that day.

We left the camp by wending our way through quaint and pretty local villages. Lest we be too entranced by them, our Canadian host told us a story as he headed toward Vienna to make the 2 hour drive in time for his evening plane to Bucharest. At one time, he explained, Mauthausen housed (worked, tortured) a captured cadre of Russian soldiers, who managed to successfully plan and execute a group escape. During the next day many local Austrian residents took down their hunting rifles and joined the German soldiers in a “rabbit hunt” – finding, capturing, and shooting fleeing Russians. Maybe the village is not so quaint after all.

Bathrooms in Europe- by Rich

Bathrooms – toilets, really. Everybody needs them, no one talks about them (except Kira*, but who reads him?). But the kinds, quality and upkeep can be critically important – at least for the obsessive among us.

For those who really care – for whom a clean and functional toilet is vital – Austria may be your Disneyland. In 3 months we have used toilets in apartments, restaurants, cafes, bars, train stations and subways. They all worked. They all were as functional as you could want. They all were clean & had toilet paper. Even in the subway (U-Bahn). (Well –the Swedenplatz U-Bahn station toilet had a messy floor – hardly worth mentioning but I am not sure a station manager wasn’t fined over it.) And some of the toilets on intercity trains were unpleasant – but those were the very old cars. [As a side note – intercity trains seem to be a place apart, where common European norms don’t seem to apply. For instance, I heard stories about a recent scandal on Swiss trains (fastidiously clean Switzerland!) when ALL the toilets on a long haul passenger train were broken. The conductor eventually agreed to stop at a station every time someone needed to use one, and it made headlines in all the papers. So the poor toilets on the Polish long distance trains were not such a surprise. After all, the whole damn train broke down an hour outside of Warsaw (at which point nothing worked until a spare engine showed up). But other things on that train are unusual. Like theft. We heard repeated stories about robbery on overnight trains through Eastern Europe. The conductor on ours made a special point of showing us how to use the extra lock on our cabin. A colleague told me that on a train to Serbia a few years ago he was told he was likely to be robed when he bought his ticket, and again by the conductor upon boarding, who showed him how to jam the lock with a bar of soap. And, yup, at 4 in the morning there was a flashlight shine in his eyes as burglars were trying to break in. (he was able to frighten them off). So here is Europe, safe streets, safe parks, crime rates a fraction of ours, in most parts, but the trains are open season for the sticky handed.]

But I digress - back to toilets. Forget about the fact that some toilets have levers, some buttons, some pull chains, and other foot mechanisms. The two – make that three – biggest & most obvious differences between European and American toilets are these; 1) solid walls & doors. Very rare to find a partition toilet stall there – all walls go floor to ceiling. Put a European in an American public toilet and they feel exposed to the world (we heard repeatedly this is a study of the World Bank building). These solid walls have other benefits, by the way, for saving space & money. Many restaurants have one room for their WC – with 2 stalls – one male, one female, with a shared sink. Wouldn’t happen with partitions; 2) split toilet & bathroom. You see that somewhat more in the US now – but it is the rule not exception in Europe –or at least the part we saw. Our small 1960’s apartment has this arrangement , other ones we saw – built earlier and later, did too. It makes so much sense – one person can be in the shower while the other - well, you know. When there are 4 people in that apartment it makes a big difference. It’s probably also why when you ask where the facilities are in a restaurant you ask for the toilet (“toiletten”) not “bathroom;” 3) water use. It is common in European’s to have a two flush toilet. Literally all newer ones do. One (the big round button) for a lot of water (solid) and another smaller button for less water. Again, you see it here, but rarely and then it’s a curiosity.

A few other odd toilet stories, now that you ask (you did, didn’t you?) There was the unnecessarily helpful women in the pay toilet of Wien Mitte train station (75 year old at least, maybe 4’5” in heels). I had just handed her by 50 cents and paused for a second to look over the choices. She took this, I guess, as evidence that I was pretty much an idiot and untutored in ins and outs of the biological necessities. She took me by the sleeve into the men’s area right up to the urinal. For a long moment I thought she was going to stay until I was done, but she finally retreated.

There were also two very friendly people who staffed the pay toilet at the Krakow train station (my bladder has cost me a fair penny). I just gave them my zlotys on the way in, and as I left they started talking to me. I stopped and they used a bit of English amidst waves of Polish to point to my wedding ring. They liked it. A lot. I told them my wife had the same one and it was made for us. They got excited – they REALLY liked it. They held my hand and looked it over closely. At that moment I thought to my self – its 10:45 pm, and I am the only “customer” in a big city central train station, two floors below the waiting room – taking off a gold ring to show it off to two strangers would not be a great idea. I exited quickly to a flurry of Polish compliments (I think). After that the public pay toilet at the Vienna Opera U-Bahn Station, which plays opera as background while you recycle the afternoon cappuccino seems quite ordinary.


* Kira, A. (1976 ). The bathroom. New York: Viking Press.

All the news that isn't

Decorative wine barrels with portraits of Franz-Joseph and Sisi


Heuriger for local wine


Rachel and Sarah at Heuriger

So- it has been a while and I need to catch up. It is Sunday night, May 16 and Rachel and Sarah were visiting here for most of the last week and just returned to the States today. They were lucky to get out for several reasons. One is that today we woke up today to “Ice Days.” This consists of the most horrendous winds I have yet seen in Vienna (and there have been some very windy days) and very cold weather- feels like early March again (low 50s F) . People say they always have a few days like this mid-May and afterwards it warms up for good, but we couldn’t believe it! Up to now, it has been getting pretty nice, except for the expected rains off and on, but today the trees were blowing like it was a hurricane! And the other reason is that the Icelandic volcano is erupting again! We are supposed to come home on Wednesday for Rebecca’s graduation and I hope we make it. Originally we were concerned about the British Air strike that is supposed to start tomorrow. That already made us change our Wednesday flight to London to Tuesday night. Now, it is uncertain if we will be able to get out of London even if we get there. Depends on the winds and the rate of stuff spewing from the volcano. Tomorrow we spend on the phone and web with British Air!

But before this, we had a lovely visit with Rachel and Sarah. They arrived last Monday and they stayed pretty busy all the time. It was so nice to have people to show the city to! We walked all around the city, took a day trip to Klosterneuberg where we toured the winery, the castle and cathedral and the royal apartments. That was a lovely day (the weather) so we really enjoyed being out of the city and in some beautiful country. I had been to this abbey in the winter but it was so much nicer to be able to enjoy the outside of it too, this time. We went to see the art museum, of course, and they toured the Hofburg, and the Jewish Museum. We went to the Naschmarkt and to a symphony concert and to see the Lipizzaner horses practice. But the best was that last Thursday was a holiday and so Rich came with us and we went to Baden and went to the mineral baths there. It is a cute little town outside of Vienna and we basically went swimming at a complex of swimming pools filled with warm mineral waters. There is a whole series of pools, some with whirlpools, some with different jets coming out, and some of various temperatures! But all very nice and relaxing and fun! I had been trying to get Rich to go with me, but it took other people here to make him do it! And then he was sorry we had waited so long! But I am sure we will go back- it was too nice! The other fun thing we did with them was to visit a Heuriger. This is a small wine tavern that serves local wines. They are mostly located in the northwest part of the city near the Vienna Woods. This was a rustic place where they serve very drinkable wine by the pitcher. They have simple food too- you go to the counter and point at what you want and how much and then carry it back to your table in the garden! Of course we had to take them to our favorite cafes too!

This afternoon, after they left, we visited with some Viennese folks we had met at the Seder last March. They invited us to their home in the 21st District, which is near the outskirts of the city. They live in a pretty modern townhouse, with four bedrooms- all very lovely, but small by American standards. They have four kids, with two boys still at home. She teaches English at a private school and he works for Hewlitt-Packard. Both speak English very well and it was quite interesting to be able to hear about their take on local politics as well as the school system and other interesting subjects. They said the recent election had a very small turnout, mostly because people thought the result was a foregone conclusion. More important local elections will be held in September that will determine whether Vienna stays with its leftist government. They also don’t think much of the public schools here, and send their sons to a private school. We have heard this same criticism from other people, and it seems to relate to the general lack of ambition that many people here seem to have. Because so many things are taken care of for them, people don’t seem to have a lot of reason to work really hard at things. They work at their jobs, but go home at the end of the day and don’t seem to work at nights or weekends at all. Work is work and leisure is leisure and never the twain shall meet. So this is the trade-off for this interesting city where people seem to have the time to enjoy life and think about and savor ideas in a way that we don’t often have in the US.

Visit to Przasnysz April 28, 2010

Below is a piece Rich wrote for his family about our visit to Przasnysz, the home of his grandfather. It reiterates some of what I said in the last post and contains many more details about the town than I had previously related.


1st I have to say many of my stereotypes are gone. The Poles we met among friendliest people we have encountered anywhere in Central Europe. Well, not all stereotypes. People in Warsaw & Krakow restaurants drink beer from stynes the size of small swimming pools (a full liter with lunch for a smallish person seems like a lot to me) and the beer bellies there were reminiscent of the NW side of Chicago.

After years of my own sad lack of inquisitiveness about Wener lineage, Ginny & I were able to set foot in Przasnysz, Poland on April 28th – the town from which the proto-Weners left for the USA around the turn of the 20th century. After seeing the sites of devastation and numerous war & holocaust memorials throughout Poland, I can only regret never having shown my grandfather the gratitude he deserved for taking the risk to come to Chicago, making our survival and current lives possible.
We arrived in Warsaw at 7:00AM on an overnight train from Vienna and, after a brief stop at the hotel met the car and driver we had arranged for the drive to Przasnysz. The driver was a local fireman and the brother of the colleague who had invited me to Warsaw to give a talk. He showed up with water bottles, chocolate bars and an interesting, though very roughly translated history of Jews in Przasnysz. Przasnysz is about 100km north of Warsaw and so should be no more than a 1 hour drive on good roads – but we saw no good roads. The ones we traveled were heavily congested & mostly 2 lane (which are largely driven as if they had 3 or 4 lanes – see Youtube videos about why not to drive in Poland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqq5_abn--k ). I was happy to make it back in safely. It is a simple route – routes 61 to 57 to 544 - but harder to drive than to map. Our driver (Chrystof) managed the 100 km in 2 hours of tough work.

Once we got within 50 km of Przasnysz the landscape was mostly rural but never empty land. This is a very old country and the many farms were small, with several neatly clustered farm buildings. There was an occasional restaurant typical of road restaurants anywhere - with garish signs (two 20 foot statues of chefs pointing way in; a place called Panorama – but on a ground floor with no view of anything that we could tell). The language on signs was all but impenetrable for us. There were dots of towns, some barely a cluster of buildings around a church, others more significant. We became excited when saw road signs with names that were now – Cechanow and Przasnysz, (we never saw Ducymin). Przasnysz is a regional center as is nearby Ciechanow.

We drove straight to house of Mariusz Bondarzok – with whom I had been corresponding by email for about 1 month. He is a local journalist and unofficial town historian – and may know more than anyone, & about the history and fate of the local Jewish population. He has made a small (& non-remunerative) avocation of finding facts about local Jewish life and sharing this with anyone interested. He has given many tours to people like us. Mariusz has written several books on the topic (he was kind enough to give me a copy of a recent book about the local high school which includes a section by a Przasnysz Jew who remembers some of the pre-war Jews. This man’s name is Seenek Ruda (91 yrs old) and he lives in Tel Aviv). Mariusz lives in lovely old white house at the main roundabout into town. He said it was once owned by Rabbi, who later became the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay.

Przasnysz was founded in the 15th century. It was largely destroyed in WWI during a Russian-German battle, and was rebuilt between the wars. Przasnysz has about 18,000 residents now, but there were only about 9000 before the war. The Jewish population began to arrive sometime in the 18th century. A novel by an American about life Przasnysz early in the 20th century can be found on Google Books - Irving Fienman -Here ye my sons (1933) – his father was born in Przasnysz in 1866.

Mariusz said that in Yiddish Przasnysz was called prusnitz which is also a play on words – meaning “happy here” “please nothing” as in “this is enough” or “good enough.” If so I suggested it might be a play on the Hebrew word “dayanu.”
Pre WWII Jews made up about 25% of Przasnysz’ population and they had been successful in Przasnysz. Jews owned many of the shops on the main street around town square, just a minute walk from the site of the two synagogues.

The center of town is formed by a classic medieval square – a small park & city hall in the center, tight buildings and shops around it, and rest of town spreads slowly from there. The Town Hall & Square are being restored. MB took us to a corner about 50 meters from the square that had two post-war and rather unattractive buildings. These, MB said, were the sites of Przasnyszs’ 2 synagogues –the Bet Midrash and the Bet Kinneset. This was the “Jewish Quarter,” although Jews lived in many places and were never segregated to a ghetto. All homes were undoubtedly within an easy walk of the synagogues, which does not seem difficult to imagine given the scale of the town.

The Jewish cemetery is not far outside the square. It dates from the 17th or 18th century. Nothing was left after the German Army tore up the stones (though the graves remained). There is now a small memorial from 1986 that includes grave stones although they are mostly from cemeteries in other areas (including Duczymin). The Germans, who obviously hated to discard good stone, tended to use them for building or to pave streets. Some of these were recovered after the war and have been used in memorials around Poland. Some of the stones from Przasnysz are in such a memorial in Putusk (called a “lapidary”), which we stopped to see on the way back to Warsaw. I left a stone on a grave in the Przasnysz Jewish Cemetery for all of us.

The last Rabbi of Przasnysz was Yitzak Parzenceski (spelling?). He was apparently a good friend of the local priest – they were known to take long walks together. There are stories of this priest trying to save Jewish children such as that of a local Jewish electrician who managed to get out with his son. His daughters didn’t make it so the priest tried to save the daughters by placing them in a cloister – but they were caught when the German army arrested all of the nuns there and eventually they died in the camps. Years later the son came to Przasnysz & cried over the priest’s grave for the attempt to help his sisters.

This area of Poland seems to have been ground zero for WWII. When the German army invaded in 1939 one army group came in from East Prussia (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Poland1939_GermanPlanMap.jpg), almost directly through Duczymin and Przasnysz . The Jewish population there was driven out and/or arrested – one of the first of the Jewish in Poland communities to suffer.

We were told that a German major, in a rare act of some small mercy, sent 10 trucks full of local of Jews – those willing to go (others begged to stay) toward Russia. Those who made it there (about 50% of all Jews in Przasnysz) avoided the Holocaust. Those who stayed didn’t. Of the total of about 2500 Jews in Przasnysz, about 1200 may have survived the war in Russia. Some came back to Poland after war, but many were afraid to go back to their home town as they were afraid of the public reaction if they wanted property back (read about the 1946 Kielce pogrom). Most went to Palestine.

Reference: Memorial Book to the Community of Proshnitz edited by Schlompo Bachrach 1974. Pub by Proshitz Landsmanshaft in Israel – Edit comm. Of Yizkor – book (some in Austria/ ask).

Late news – found on http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje31/text11p.htm


Here are more pictures from the town on a picassa album:
Przasnysz Visit April 2010

Searching for those “Wener” roots in Poland

Rich in our private compartment on the overnight train from Vienna to Warsaw


Stork sitting on nest seen from the car on the way to Przasnysz


Typical old house in town of Przasnysz

Our guide Marius

Memorial in Pultusk made of Jewish grave markers torn down by Nazis

Site of one of two synagogues that existed in town of Przasnysz

Town square in Przasnysz - buildings had been mostly owned by Jewish merchants

Memorial at Jewish cemetary in Przasnysz- stones from other places since the ones from here had been used to pave roads!

Old town square in Cracow

Old Town square with clock tower in Cracow

Street in Nowa Huta

Memorial in ghetto square in Cracow

Jewish Cemetery in Cracow - grave of famous rebbe Ramah

Only synagogue still functioning in Cracow

Our next adventure was a trip to Poland where Rich was invited to give another talk at a university in Warsaw. But he also used it as a springboard to do some genealogy searching to be able to track some of his ancestors. Unlike the Kurshan side which has benefited from all of Richard’s hard work, there has been little exploration of where the Weners came from. All they knew was that Wener was not the original name, leaving even more questions. So Rich has been gathering whatever information he could from cousins around the country and through the wonders of the internet has started to figure some things out. He somehow connected with a wonderful fellow named Marius in the small town of Przasnysz, about 2 hours north of Warsaw. He turns out to be a local journalist extremely interested in the long history of his town and everyone who lived there. Even though he is not Jewish, he has access to local archives and was more than willing to do some digging and share with us what he knew. He was actually able to find the marriage certificate of Rich’s great- grandparents, Mendel and Esther Ducyminer. They were married in the nearby town of Ciechanow. As best we can figure, the name came from the town of Ducymin, where they must have lived earlier. Probably when the family came to the US, the first part of the name was left off and the M became a W, hence the Wener lines began!

Rich and I took an overnight train from Vienna to Warsaw on Tuesday night, arriving early on Wednesday. He had arranged a driver to take us to Przasnysz that day. It was only about 100km, but took a long time because there were only 2 lane roads and lots of traffic. But we got there and spent about 2 hours with Marius who took us around the town and began to tell some of the many stories that he knows. He is a wonderful, kind, funny and generous man who just wanted to share his love of the town with someone who was interested. He was so sorry that our time was so limited. We had the feeling he would have been happy for us to stay for a week! Since this town is north of Warsaw, and the smaller town of Ducymin is even further north, this was the area through which the Germans first entered Poland. Ducymin in fact was the first town they went through, immediately wiping out all the Jews who were still there. Before the war, Przasysz had about 9,000 people, of which 2,500 were Jewish. Now there are about 18,000 people there, and no Jews. There had been a lively Jewish community with 2 synagogues (of course) and this is where Rich’s grandfather lived until he was about 13 and emigrated to the US. Actually the town was the site of a big battle in WWI which completely destroyed the town. Much was rebuilt right after that, but of course most of the Jewish sites were again destroyed in the Second WW and none of the synagogues are still extant. Even the Jewish cemetery was vandalized by the Germans, who took the headstones and broke them up and used them as paving stones. There is an interesting memorial in another small town not far away in which numerous grave markers are assembled into a large memorial statue, as a way to honor those whose names would otherwise be lost. Anyway, in spite of the obvious changes to the town, it was quite moving for Rich to think about walking basically the same streets that his grandfather had walked as a child.

On Thursday, we had a whirlwind tour of Warsaw given by the woman at the University who invited Rich to give a talk. She drove us to a number of important sites in the city so we could see something during our short time there. One of the things she took us to see was a film about the destruction of Warsaw in 1939. She had been explaining about the buildings being rebuilt after the war, but we had not fully understood the extent of the destruction of the city. (In spite of the history we had previously learned, the reality of a place is totally different.) As many of you undoubtedly know, the destruction was totally complete, since the Nazis wanted to get even for the Warsaw uprising. When you see the photos of the people coming back into that devastated place after the war, removing each stone by hand, it is amazing that anything is there today. And when you go to the Old Town and see how beautifully it has been rebuilt, it is even more impressive. And of course, then the Soviets came in and rebuilt parts in the grandiose Social Realism style with long, extremely wide boulevards that have no relation to human scale. It really makes you appreciate the Polish people and all that they have gone through- and are still going through. The recent plane crash which killed so many leaders of the country has been a real blow to their psyches.

Anyway, we came to Poland with little expectations of what we would see, but the people were so warm and hospitable and there is so much energy everywhere that we have been very impressed. Rich gave a talk about his research in prisons and jails to people from a variety of fields at the Warsaw School of Social Psychology. The city is booming with lots of building going on and new schools opening all over.

Rich’s colleague invited us to her house for dinner after he gave his talk and we had more chance to hear about life today and as it was under the Soviets. She told us about when she was in high school and having to come home from school to wait on lines at the grocery store for two hours before her mother returned from work and took her place in line to wait for their small amount of rationed goods! Her grandparents had lived in a small town to the east of Cracow during the war and had hidden a neighbor from their town. They are recognized in Yad Vashem as Righteous Gentiles and she is quite proud of them and of her father who worked with the Resistance.

So we realized we had seen very little of the city and it was with some reluctance that we left Warsaw on Friday morning to go to Cracow. But onward one must go, so after a 3 hour trip to Cracow, our next stop was Tarnow (2 hours by train east of Cracow) where we went on Friday afternoon. (Lots of train schlepping on this trip) We had a guide meeting us there, a lovely young woman named Magda who had lived in NY and converted to Judaism and as such was the only Jewish person living in Tarnow! Her father and mother were both social anthropologists and had started and run a museum of the Jewish community of Tarnow before the war.

This seems to be a constant thread- non Jews stepping in to keep alive the Jewish history since there are no Jews to do it. According to our guide, interest in Jewish culture and history is quite strong in Poland. Several cities, including Cracow, host a festival of Jewish culture that is a big deal. At the same time, the guide also said that she has experienced not inconsiderable anti-Semitism. And all this with hardly any Jews in the country. (However, she also told us that right now there is a movement of Israeli Jews moving to Cracow!)

Back to our itinerary: Tarnow is a lovely small town that used to be a large Jewish center before the war- about 45% of its 56,000 population was Jewish. Apparently Jews first came there in the 15th century and by the late 19th century were quite well established and held important positions in the town. There were several synagogues and small prayer halls, as well as a large mikva and other facilities. Beginning in 1942, the Jews were murdered and deported so there is hardly any trace today. All the synagogues were burned down and the only reminder is the bimah from one of them. This is the town where Rich’s great grandfather on his mother’s side came from, although they know even less about this side of the family!

So that was Friday, and on Saturday we took a trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau. This is everything you think and have heard from others and it is hard to find anything to say that hasn’t been said before- hard, emotional, upsetting, and very important to see. We never actually felt like we wanted to go here, but once in the area, we really had to do it. And we were glad we did. Actually standing on that ground gives you a feeling of linkage with those poor people that you cannot really get from reading or even seeing pictures. This day as well as this whole trip has been an exercise in “what if…” The area, the people, the food is all so familiar that we could not help but feel that it could have been any of us, and any of the people we know.

We finished the trip on Sunday with a walking tour of the Jewish area of Cracow given by the same young woman, Magda, from Tarnow. We saw the original Jewish area (not ghetto) which has recently become a very hip area with tons of restaurants and bars (sort of like the Lower East Side) as well as the actual ghetto that was built by the Nazis and from which everyone was deported. There are several synagogues left in the city, but only one is being used as a religious building. (There is a very small community in Cracow, just hanging on. ) We also walked by Schindler’s factory which they are turning into a museum (not open yet) and went to the oldest Jewish cemetery. As opposed to Warsaw, the city of Cracow was not physically harmed during the war because for some reason the Nazis believed that it was a German town and intended to use it after the war. So it is quite lovely and picturesque with a very large old Medieval center and castle up on a hill.

For a real change of pace, in the afternoon we made our way to a suburban area called Nowa Huta, which was built in the 1950s as a large community for the working class in the Socialist Realist style, with huge apartment blocks arranged along grand boulevards. No beautiful but interesting from an urban planning standpoint, so we had to check it out.

After dinner at a Jewish style restaurant with food and atmosphere that felt like Bubbe’s, we took a night train back to Vienna, arriving early Monday morning. This time we had to share a compartment with a couple of women from Slovakia who spoke no English. We were in the upper bunks which was quite interesting also! Not much sleep on that part of the trip, but we are back home and settling in again. More on impressions and other stories coming soon.