Random things I forgot to mention

Here is a picture of Rich and me at the Hotel Sacher enjoying some sacher torte for our anniversary. (Of course he could have told me he was taking the picture so I wouldn't have been talking!) We learned, several days later, that this cake (supposedly only this one!) is made with lard and therefore not kosher! Oh dear! But not to worry- many other places make it too!




This is a picture of our guide and the outside of the City Temple at Seitenstettengasse. It actually looks like a townhouse because in 1824, when the Jews of Vienna were finally allowed to build an actual synagogue, they were not allowed to make it appear as a house of worship for fear that it would attract the good Catholics of the city! So it is built inside another typical building so that nothing shows on the street. This actually helped it survive through the Nazi destruction although the interior was destroyed then and rebuilt in 1963. It was designed by Josef Kornhausel, a Biedermeier architect who made a very simple, neo-classical temple in an oval shape with women's galleries along 3 sides and a bimah in the front (instead of the center as was more traditional). Very much a product of the Enlightenment. My book on the Jewish community explains that the construction of this synagogue was a sign of "the gradual social recognition and growing self-awareness" of the Jewish community. The Emperor Franz Joseph officially recognized the Jews as a religious community in 1849. After that they created their own social network providing for the poor and the sick, arranging health care and burials, schools and support for those in need. It continues to do so today. (I think I am starting to sound like I am writing a designation report!)

The official recognition of the Jews resulted in Vienna becoming a magnet for Jews from other Central and Eastern European countries. Jewish population went from 6,200 in 1860 to 73,000 in 1880 to 180,000 in 1938 before the Anschloss. Most escaped or were put to death by the Nazis. Today, they say the Jewish community has about 7,000 people, but out guide thinks there are many more who are not affiliated or don't see themselves as Jewish. There are quite a few people who came from the former Soviet bloc and had little or no Jewish education or self- awareness, so they don't associate with the community.

Going back to another tidbit from an earlier time- even during the Medieval period, the Jews of Vienna had a neighborhood, but never walls of a ghetto in which they had to live, unlike other cities. But they did go through a constant struggle of being thrown out of town and persecuted when someone needed a scape-goat, and then being invited back when they realized they needed the Jews and their trades and money-lending.

So much for your Jewish education for today.

Other random pieces of information: the wind of Vienna! No one told us what a windy city this is- and not in the manner of Chicago, although that may be true also! Apparently Vienna sits in a sort of bowl that makes the weather react in a particular way, and increases the wind. And the weather here is unique to the city and changes as soon as you get out. So during the winter months it is very cold and grey with little or no sunshine and during the summer it is extremely hot and humid. So many people here have houses outside the city that they can escape to- either tiny little one-room bungalows or more fancy vacation houses, and they leave in the winter to go skiing and in the summer for hiking and other pursuits.

When the wind blows in Vienna you really have to hold on to your hats and our apartment feels like it is going to fall down! There must be some sort of vent in the toilet area and we hear the wind swirling around like crazy! And on warm days when we try to open the windows they blow around and doors and windows are constantly slamming! (There must be a knack to it that we still have to find out.)

Another thing we have observed is how physically active and generally fit most people here are. On warm days the Prater is absolutely full with people biking, skating, running, playing scoccer and everything else. In spite of the very rich food, overweight people are fairly rare. And so many people are walking or riding bikes everywhere- and many go skiing regularly. Makes us feel like lazy bums! (of course not many people with helmets on when riding or skating)
Rich has been finally using his bike and was almost run over by bikers with a tighter deadline than he had!

While I am making random observations, another point is about the children here. On the one hand, school doesn't start for them til they are 6 years old and each day generally is over about 1 or 1:30. Someone told us that the Austrians like to have their kids at home as much as possible. On the other hand, there seems to be so much more independence among the children here. For one thing, the transit system is so easy and safe grade-school children take it regularly by themselves. Also, kids are allowed to do things that would not be true in the States. I was observing a bunch of 4-5 year old boys playing with sticks like swords and then running with them and fighting, with their mothers watching from a distance with no apparent concern. And last night, at our second seder, the 6 year old boy was allowed to light the matches for the candles. And these kids were quite used to helping themselves to whatever they needed in the house, and moving in and out of the activities, and turning on and off lights depending which room they were in- no hovering parents. A very different feeling than what I am used to.

This will be all for now- have to get out while there is a break in the rain.

Where has the week gone?

The week since we got back from Prague seems to have flown by and no posts to show for it! So I will start to catch up.

Monday was spent recuperating from all the walking and general exhaustion from the trip (I hate to admit that this sort of thing takes it out of me more than it used to!)

On Tuesday, I met a friend of Nancy Sach's from DC who is now in Vienna with her husband who works for the Canadian Embassy. She was very nice and it was great to find someone I can talk to easily. We spent several hours and had lunch at the art museum, becoming ladies who lunch! (and why not!)

That evening Rich and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. Found a very nice Austrian restaurant, but one with a more modern take on the food, so it was considerably lighter than the traditional fare. Just like in the States, there is a lot of emphasis on the chef, whose photo was on the website and who greeted us from the kitchen when we came in! We had a great meal and fun to listen to the conversations around us which mostly we couldn't understand, but several times during the evening, we could hear the word Obama coming from other tables! The Austrians didn't understand all the fuss about health care, but clearly most we talked to and heard are happy about the vote (altho not nearly as happy as we are!)

And after dinner we walked over to the Hotel Sacher for some sacher torte, as we had said we would do. It is a very cutsey place, and very committed to the Original Sacher Torte. It is of course also made many other places, but they stand by that claim.




Carl and Michele came to our apartment for dinner on Wednesday night. We were happy to be able to host someone here, even tho I had to clean the place that day! We all took a really long walk in the Prater before dinner and made it much further out than we had done before. They had been all the way thru the Hauptallee (the long main road) on their bikes, but we hadn't.

Thursday morning I went back to the same yoga place, then met Rich at the TU for lunch afterwards. Then we went to an interesting show of current architecture in Prague that was on display at his school. Having just returned from there, it was particularly interesting. The main architecture and planning school is located at the TU, so that is the natural place for this sort of thing. Their comment was "here is what is being done, but why isn't it more cutting edge!" Some was really good, but not really that much. That night we found an English version of Alice in Wonderland, which was sort of fun.

Friday, after yoga at a new place, we took a guided walking of some sights of Jewish interest in Vienna. What was really interesting was that there were 8 people on the tour and everyone besides us was German-speaking and none of them were Jewish! But the guide was quite good and we hope to do some more tours with her in the future. On this tour we went by the main old synagogue- the Seitenstettengasse- the only one to have survived Kristallnacht. We couldn't go in because it was Friday afternoon, but we can tour it another time. Then we walked by the two kosher restaurants in town- one meat and one dairy, across the street from each other!


Then the tour took us by this building which replaced the building that was the headquarters of the Gestapo. Also a place of many murders in its basement. The stone band that you see here was added to an otherwise unremarkable modern apartment building to show what happened on this site. It has skulls, and images of torture as well as the dates and numbers of victims from this place.

Right across the street from this building is the memorial shown below- a memorial about Mauthausen concentration camp, not too far from Vienna. These are stones carved by inmates there, along with a plaque about the victims.

Then we went to the Documentation Center, where there are displays and ongoing research about Austrian resistance, (which the tour guide insisted was quite strong tho unacknowledged) as well as information about individual Austrian victims of the Nazis. The tour guide does research on individuals who disappeared, and there seems to be a major effort to document (and try to celebrate the lives) more than the deaths of the individual Austrian Jews and other victims.

Then we went to the Holocaust Memorial (which Rich and I had already seen) and she gave us some good stories about the difference of opinion about where it should be and when it should have been built. It was built on Judenplatz, which was the center of the Medieval Jewish ghetto, but not where most Jews lived during any of the 20th century. Apparently Simon Weisenthal was the main voice for building it here. And during the course of excavations for the monument, they found the remains of the medieval synagogue (which I think I explained previously). Anyway- there was a camp who wanted to move the memorial some place else, so as not to disturb these remains, but that was not acceptable to others, so the archeological remains were lowered in place and the memorial put on top, as it is now and the remains are visible thru the museum, by going down a ways! ( Always there are negotiations!)

So quite an interesting tour, and it obviously had to be completed by some coffee, which we found in the Easter Market which was located nearby. See Rich enjoying it below! The little booths are put up for a couple of weeks before Easter and sell all sorts of crafts, antiques, crap, and food-- in celebration of the holiday?




I will make a separate post about Saturday which was quite a special day.

wonderful trip to Prague

Vladislav Hall in Prague Castle


This is one of the numerous towers around the city of Prague


Here is the Charles Bridge, built in 1357 by Charles I, for a very long time the only bridge across the Vlatava River.



Some of the really interesting early 20th century buildings on Wenceslaus Square, and throughout the city.

The New-Old Synagogue, dating from 1270

We had a really nice few days in Prague. What an interesting city! It has a much more lively and younger vibe than Vienna, and even thought everyone told us it was really quiet (not yet tourist season) it certainly felt crowded and busy to us.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and went to our hotel whose name we got from one of our tour books. Sounded good, but it turned out to be a bit far from the center of things, so we stayed there one night and then changed to a wonderful art nouveau building on Wenceslaus Square for the other nights.

Spent lots of time walking around this city. It is built along a bend in the Vlatava River and the oldest section is cramped into that area. Although much has been rebuilt in the early 20th century, the Old Town section is full of tiny, windy streets with no right angles anywhere. I have never been so lost in my life! (and I consider myself a good navigator- so much for that!)

There is a large open square in the middle of the Old Town which is a great city space, lined with restaurants and bars and lots of people everywhere. The old town hall has a tall tower that one can ascend to see the city below, and a neat astrological clock that is a major tourist draw. On Saturday an Easter market opened in this square, full of little booths selling traditional food and goods.

The architecture everywhere is phenomenal! Really unusual art nouveau every place you look. I am making an album of them all for those who are interested. So many painted buildings or others with mosaics embedded on the facades. And all intersperced with overblown Baroque beauties and tall medieval towers! And yes, interesting new architecture also.

We took a long tour of the Jewish quarter on Friday that was quite extraordinary. The Jewish ghetto was in one of the oldest sections and much had been torn down and rebuilt around the beginning to the 20th century, so there are not many of the original buildings extant, except for several of the synagogues and the cemetery. But they were quite fascinating and suggestive in themselves. Only a couple are still in use for religious purposes- one is a Holocaust memorial and several have historical displays. The current Jewish community owns lots of artifacts collected from synagogues throughout the country when they were closed or destroyed by the Nazis. The Nazis had collected all the silver, Torahs, textiles, and other things and catalogued them all very carefully since they were planning to create a museum of an extinct race! Pretty scary stuff!

One of the most affecting displays was the original art created by children held in Theresenstadt concentration camp. There were also some pictures of the individuals and some artifacts, such as suitcases marked with their transit numbers. It made this history very real. Some of the kids were very young, and others were older and very good artists. There was one picture of the moon created by one of the teenagers that was taken on the space craft to the moon by one of the astronauts.

The other really impressive thing to see in this town is the castle- really a cathedral and royal palace and administrative center and residential area perched on a hill overlooking and across the river from the old town. We had to go two different days because Prince Charles was there the first day so some of it was off limits to peasants like us. (These royals can be so annoying!)
But the royal palace was very interesting- actually much of it a medieval building with later additions. The main room was a long open hall that was used as a throne room, a place of celebration and jousts, and sometimes a marketplace. (For my architectural colleagues, the ceiling was the biggest open space of the time, with vaulting that was designed by someone named Bernard Reid from Italy and it showed a transition from Gothic to early Renaissance, with spiraling vaulting shown in the photo at top of page)

And the really exciting thing was seeing the window from which the Defenestration of Prague took place! It was quite high up, and these poor folks were also shot at, after they landed in the dung pile! What ignominity! For those who are not aware- this was credited as the event that launched the Thirty Years War! Concilliators from the Hapsburg Court had come to Prague to try to convince the Protestants to return to Catholicism but obviously they were not successful!

After the major castle tour, we stopped to the the Lobkowitz Palace which was part of the royal ensemble. It is actually a separate building constructed within the castle walls that was and is still owned by a private family who was one of the richest in Bavaria and Moravia. They had been major players in the history of this country and were related to many royal families throughout Europe, and accumulated great wealth and property over many years. This property had been confiscated by the Nazis because the owner at that time was married to an Englishwoman and had been outspoken in his opposition to the Nazis. After the war, the family got it back for a short time, but then it was confiscated again by the Communists. So it was just after the establishment of the Czech Republic that they got it all back again! And amazingly, they got everything back!

In addition to their many properties, the family has an absolutely amazing collection of art and artifacts, including a very famous Bruegel painting, and the original manuscripts of the 3rd, the 5th and the 6th Symphonies of Beethoven because the scion of the family was his major patron as well as Mozart's reworking of the Messiah. Very cool!

And our big evening entertainment was a marionnette show of Don Giovanni! Now is that classy or what!

As for food, lots of meat in this town and they are not so interested in vegetables. Although I think there are more Italian restaurants than in Italy! Everywhere- so that one can get food other than traditional Czech if one is so inclined. In additon to beer and wursts, the food specialty is various pork things, duck over cabbage with dumplings, and a stewed beef served with cream and cranberries on top. All very heavy and served with fairly plain dumplings which are there to basically sop up the thick sauces. But mostly Rich enjoyed trying them out! But the thing that made me happy was that they like their coffee hot- as opposed to the Viennese, who seem to like it luke-warm!

Signs of Spring

So yesterday afternoon I had to walk to Praterstern (our local train station) for information about our trip to Prague. It is about a 15 minute walk through the Prater, which is a huge park practically right outside our door. It used to be the king’s hunting grounds, before he donated it to the people of Vienna. Now it houses lots of things- parks, playgrounds, a skateboarding area, a swan lake, numerous playing fields, (many for soccer but not all) a swimming pool, restaurants and cafes, and most importantly- a large amusement park that houses the large ferris wheel that appears in many films about Vienna. There are many, many paths for runners, bikers and Nordic walkers (a very popular pastime here) and many dogs, both on leash and off. It is a very busy area all year, but now even more so. Last week there were many men with rakes, cleaning up all the winter debris and yesterday I saw beds of daffodils coming up! And most exciting of all- the “Lilliputbahn” was working! It is a cute little train for kids that goes around a part of the amusement area. And also, throughout the city, the restaurants are putting out their outside tables, and the ice cream stores and stands that have been closed since we arrived are starting to open. So I am starting to believe spring will come. Clearly the Viennese believe that!

(OK- I know I talk a lot about the weather- but it really affects me!)

Now that is out of my system, I will get back to relating events. Monday was pretty quiet. Rich went to work and I was at home, and many museums are closed, so I hung around doing yoga and studying German, etc. In the afternoon I decided to explore the area across the canal from our apartment. So I walked along the canal for a way – nice paths and numerous dog runs (each with a stand for plastic bags- the important things). The Danube canal was created long ago to channel the wild waters of the Danube river and to drain swampy area. It has created a large island between the river and the canal, that holds the Prater and is where our apartment is located. People use the parkland along the canal for running and lounging and lots of dog walking. (Vienna seems to have a huge amount of green space- parks everywhere, both large and small.) Meanwhile, while walking I found the Hundertwasser apartments and museum. I decided not to go in because I know Rich is going to want to see it too, but I did some initial exploring around the area. It is a large apartment block and a museum down the street that were both created by a very crazy guy about 20 years ago- Hundertwasser. (They call him “100H20” --get it?) His work is sort of a cross between Gaudi and the Watts Towers in LA, with statements about environmentalism and human behavior thrown in for good measure. Again, too cold for pictures, but I will post some when we go back. In the meantime, you will have to take my word for it!

Monday night we tried to go to see “Alice in Wonderland” but the information about the theater said it was in English and when we got there we found out it was in German. So we decided not to go in, and found a huge bookstore to hang out in instead. Then we went to a café nearby and has some kind of really yummy bread pudding thing with a thick vanilla sauce- a lovely late night snack if ever there was one!
Tuesday was another quiet day. I met Rich at his school for lunch in a really nice little restaurant in the park just outside the door of the TU. We are getting into the habit, when possible, of eating our large meal at lunch rather than dinner. It is quite a nice way of living, and feels healthier not to have such a big meal at night. It is definitely the tradition here, although many folks can no longer maintain it. After that, as he went back to work, I went over to the art museum for a bit. I had bought the yearly entrance card at our first visit, so I can stop by whenever I have a little time. It is a really amazingly luxurious ability to do that! I just went for about 1 ¼ hours and immersed myself in Rubens and Van Eyck- not bad stuff!

Then I went to a late yoga flow class at the same place I have been going. It started at 5:30 and was mobbed with almost 30 people jammed in --just a couple of inches apart! The class was fine, but the crowds made the room extremely hot and less than totally pleasant. I am now done with the introductory offer at this place and think it is time to try some other spots before I commit to one of them. (Now at least I understand when the teacher says breathe in and breathe out and move the left or right foot!)

So Wednesday was a really interesting day. Started early when we went to meet Carl and Michele and their kids for a field trip to the Klosterneuburg Monastery and Castle outside the city limits. It is so nice of them to invite us along to these things they plan. I am not sure we would have found this on our own and it was quite neat! Had to go to the end of one of the subway lines and then to a suburban line to get to the cute little town where it is located.

The area was first home to a Roman military outpost, and then housed a monastery from the early 12th century. The church has Romanesque elements but was not finished until the 18th century when the interior was thoroughly baroque-ized. They also added a large gothic spire sometime along the way, and put on the decorative tile roof in the 19th century. And King Margrave Leopold III had a royal residence here, followed by Duke Leopold VI and Emperor Charles VI, father of Maria Theresa. The latter one started a huge Baroque castle ensemble, but died before it was finished. Today there is an Augustinian Canon’s Monastery here, and the oldest wine-growing estate in Austria. We had a good tour of the interior and many of the treasures, including the Verdun Altarpiece (which I think I remember from art history classes). This is a huge bronze, enamel and gilt altar created by Nicholas of Verdun in the 12th century.
So this was a real highlight and a place I want to go back to so I can do the winery tour and show it others- notably certain daughters who I think would really like it!

I am going to try to create a picassa album of our pictures from here, with fuller captions for those who are interested. In the meantime, above are three pictures from the ensemble.

And now it is Thursday and Rich and I are on the train to Prague. Going thru beautiful, flat farmland outside of Vienna that is already showing signs of green and then into Czech Republic. It is very strange to be in a place where the language is so completely out of our ken. The train stopped at Brno and I don’t even know how to begin to pronounce it. Seems like they need a few more vowels to me! Very interesting old towns along the way however- but the train goes too fast to get any good pictures! Oh well.

Guess I will sign off for now and the next installment will recount our adventures in Prague. Why doesn’t anyone comment on the blog? Are you reading?

Lots to report

Can't believe it has been several days since my last post. The days seem to fly by, even when I have nothing to show for them. So now there is a lot to catch up on and I may not do it all at once.

Saturday was cold and rainy and Rich decided to stay in and nurse his cold so I met Carl and Michele at the MAK, or museum of applied art. What a wonderful place! (It was so miserable out that I did not bring my camera so pictures of this building will come later) It is housed in a 19th century renaissance-inspired palace with a fantastic 3-story interior courtyard with each floor and ceiling fully decorated with renaissance motifs. The collection is all the stuff that fascinates me! Furniture, textiles, lace-work, ceramics and porcelain, glass, etc. On the first floor was an exhibit of 19th century chairs that was so unusual and well done. It was displayed in a long, narrow room, with a narrow central aisle. On each side of the aisle was a wall of white fabric and to the outside of that, on each side, was a row of chairs. On the outside of them were lights focussed on the chairs, so that they threw strong shadows on the white cloth which you see as you walk down the aisle. Most of the chairs were variations on bent wood so their images were really interesting. And then you can go down the outside and see the actual chairs as well- really neat display!

There was also a small show on Otto Neurath- ever hear of him? I hadn't but look him up- very interesting.

And the museum store here is a bit like MOMA with beautiful and interesting objets! And the cafe is extremely modern and quite nice too.

Sunday was much sunnier and Rich was feeling better so we were out and about finally. Went to Judenplatz which was the center of the Jewish ghetto during the middle ages. Some buildings representing old stuff, but really not much there of that. But this is where they built a Holocaust memorial a few years ago- really a large statue- not anything you can go into, but it looks like a building of books, with names and places around the outside. (2 pictures above) And in the course of construction of this, they uncovered archeological remains of the medieval synagogue (top picture) so there is a small museum about that and medieval life in the ghetto. Quite fascinating even tho very small. They have reconstructed the outline of the building with some of the walls, and some indications of the location of the bima and the ark, shown in top picture above.

Later in the afternoon we went to see La Taviata at the Volksoper. Altho this not the "real"opera- only the opera for the people- it was really good. A beautiful, young Korean singer, Ha Young Lee was Violetta and was great. Unfortunately, the captions provided were in German, but oh well. One has to make do, you know.

That will be all for now- have to get to the OBB for ticket information before they close. More later.

time is flying by

So now it is Saturday and I am not sure where the days are going. I am getting a bit tired of constant touring, so I am trying to settle in to a more normal existance. Thursday morning I went first to a morning yoga class. I liked that much better than the evening, but there are not so many of those. Anyway, it was a lot better than the first time, both because it was less crowded and also because it was the second time and I had more of the hang of it. I have a special intro offer from this place, so I will be going a lot at first. And I think I will try other places also, since I have found that I can sort of do the German classes.

In the afternoon, Rich and I went back to the Albertina to see the top floor (it had been closed on Wednesday). It contains a lot of their permanent collection which started out in the 1980s from the donation of one couple's personal collection- an amazing assortment that ranged from Monet and Degas to Rothko, with a major emphasis on German and Austrian late 19th and early 20th century artists. It made me realize how anglo- and franco- oriented my art history background has been, because there were many I had never heard of that were quite good. Really enjoyable viewing!

After that we went to the Cafe Tyroler which was a really traditional cafe, with all the old banquettes and light fixtures. I love the professional waiters all dressed in tuxes! This business of afternoon coffee and... is a great institution. We are trying hard to resist the many the wonderful pastries- often unsuccessfully!

After our break, we wandered into the Capuchin church, a medieval church where all the Hapsburgs are buried. The interior of the church is not so exciting, but the catacombs go on forever and are quite amazing. They royals are not so much buried, as entombed, in major and extremely elaborate sarcophogus(es)- one trying to outdo the next. Of course Marie Theresa and her "consort" have a room to themselves, for their double sarcophogus on which they both lounge together, looking at each other longingly! Not exactly a pious representation! Around the edges of the room are the many coffins of their children, most died young!

By the time we got home Thursday night, Rich's cold had gotten worse, so we stayed in.

Friday he had to go to school for a few hours, but then we met at the market to do some shopping and peruse the international bookstore we found and restock on some English books.
Went home to make him soup and nurse his cough.

The weather is not great. There is a big storm swirling thru Europe that dumped snow on Spain and has lots of big winds. We got some snow showers on Thursday, altho no accumulation, and major winds yesterday afternoon and today. Makes it harder to get out and about, especially when Rich isn't feeling well. I may have to go out myself today!

A New Week

Here are two pictures from the Hofburg, the old royal palace of the Hapsburgs- sort of the Louvre, but not. This is where I started the day on Monday.

Michele invited me to go with their group of students for a guided visit to the Royal Treasury, where the crown jewels and other goodies are kept. It was led by an art historian who was really knowledgeable and good at explaining things. The treasury contains such wonders as the crown used by the Holy Roman Emperors- at one time it was believed that it was worn by Charlemagne, but that was disproved! and also Joseph I's personal crown, for when he wanted something a little less formal! But the whole place is full of really fascinating and historically important objects.

Afterwards, I spent several hours just walking around in the center city, particularly on the main shopping street, Mariahilferstrasse. I had a few errands to do, and mostly it was fun just looking at the different stores and exploring what was where. It was really exciting to find some stores that had things I needed, instead of just classy clothes that I wasn't going to buy anyway! Lots of fashionable folks here, as well as any number of stores we all know, such as Esprit, and Claire's which is kind of dispiriting. Also found a big bookstore with a large English section, as well as DVDs in English.

Monday was Rich's first really big work day. He had to give a seminar for the faculty of the Technical University about his work, and then later in the day, he had his first class. He was not sure of what was expected, but apparently it went very well. THe Fullbright info had said that people are very formal here, and he even wore a suit for this presentation! For him, that is really something! The typical response after a professor speaks, if they like it, is for people to rapp on the table, rather than clap hands. And apparently they liked it because the rapped loudly! And he found out that he was the most formally dressed person around! Last time the suit comes out for school! Also he got about 20 people for his class, which everyone said was quite good, so he was pleased. And in both presentations, they seemed to get his jokes and even laughed! That is definitely success in his eyes. Wait til they find out that he is going to ask them to do projects and papers for the class- apparently that is not usually done here. Big surprise waiting for them!

So that was Monday. Tuesday was pleasant but uneventful. I spent the morning around the apartment and then went down to Karlsplotz to meet Rich for lunch. We went to a very nice fish place at the Nachmarkt, then we spent some time walking to various music venues to get tickets for several concerts. There are so many concerts in this town, but they are mostly all well attended and unless you get tickets way in advance, it is hard to get them. So it is forcing us to plan ahead- what a thing! Maybe we will return as changed people, but don't count on it!

Tuesday night I went to a yoga class in German. Rather a challenge, but the teacher knew I didn't speak the language and occasionally gave me instructions in English. It was more of a Bikram class, altho it was not advertised as such. But they did lots of breathing techniques that I am not used to, and the room was pretty hot, altho not as hot as for hot yoga. I hardly understood a thing, except a long list of words that ended in hund, which I realized was "Downward facing dog!" Otherwise, I just watched everyone and did what I could. It was good enough that I am going back on Thursday. I actually don't like doing it at night, so I am going to try a morning class then.

Today is Wednesday- can't believe it. The days are going so quickly. We have now been here for 2 weeks and we are really getting comfortable with this city. It is really pretty small and the transportation systems make it really easy to get around. Once the weather gets warmer, I think we will be walking everywhere. As it is now, there are so many busses and trams and subways that you don't have to be out in the cold very much if you don't want to.

Rich stayed home today and worked this morning and then we went to the Albertina Museum in the afternoon. It is part of the Hofburg palace, and was a section built for Maria Theresa's daughter Maria Christine. There are several areas for temporary exhibits, and today was the opening of a show of Markus Lupertz, which we really liked. Also a show of Andy Warhol's cars. The main section had a show on Jacob and Rudolf Von Alt, who were father and son watercolor artists of the early 19th century. They were hired by the king to go around to many of the foreign lands owned by the Hapsburgs and create realistic landscapes, mostly to inform people about other parts of the empire. They were often displayed in something they call a peepbox, which had a concave lens in front of the painting to concentrate the eye of the viewer and make it seem more 3D. WE also saw a number of the official royal rooms where the rooms were lined by works by Durer, Michaelangelo, Rubens and Schiele, among others! Not bad. All in all, a pretty interesting place.

It was getting a bit warmer, so we walked home- about an hour. On the way, we happened on a small kosher store that was open so we went in and were able to find some matzah and other passover food. Most of what we will need, but extremely expensive, compared to what we pay in NJ. But I was really glad to find it.

So Rich has managed to get my cold and we are trying to let him rest and get over it so we can push on to more exciting activities! It is still cold here, but I saw the light fuzz over the trees today that shows that the leaves are coming. I am ready for spring, and everyone else here is too. The stores are putting out flowers everywhere, and cleaning and putting out their outdoor tables and chairs.

more on my life and days

Here are pictures of the outside of our apartment building, built in 1969! and ugly colors! Top shows the bicycle rack outside our door, with Rich's bike in front!

Have to catch you up on a couple of days. Sunday we first went back to the Wien Museum, mostly because it is free on the first Sunday of the month and we hadn't finished a couple of the special exhibits last week. The main one we wanted to see is called Madness and Modernity in in 1900- Mental Illness and the visual arts in Vienna. Turns out there was a huge round building constructed in late 19th century to house the mentally ill of this city- thousands of them. It was eventually replaced by the huge Steinhof Sanitorium which has the big church designed by Otto Wagner that is still on the outskirts of the city. The exhibition talked about the great interest in mental illness in Vienna at the turn of the century- and the medicalization of it as well. Obviously Freud didn't come out of nowhere. Anyway, to continue the theme we then went to the Freud museum in a different part of the city. It is at the apartment and office rooms that he and his family occupied before he fled to England. The rooms are all there, but only one is furnished with his things. It is kind of a wierd museum - one of the large rooms has walls covered with pictures and facsimiles of artifacts relating to his life and work. So you go around the room with a notebook that explains what you are seeing.

Sunday night was the best yet! We went to a wonderful concert of the Vienna Symphony. It was at the Musicverein building which was really impressive. This is where the New Year's concert takes place every year. It was built in 1866 and is just beautiful. And everyone gets all dressed up to go. So it was fun to watch the people too, but the music was fantastic. We heard a cello concerto by Shuman and th 6th symphony by Dvorak.

I was going to do more, but it is time to go out to a museum- so I will post this now and write more later.

no title

Captions for images: Top is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Next 3 are details on buildings that I just liked! Next comes the Palais Kinsky- 1713 that I passed on a walk and went in, randomly. Bottom shows Rich, Michele and Carl on a cold walk!

I am finding that coming up with a catchy title for these things is getting harder! So I am not going to do it!

Ok, now to get back to chronology-Back to Saturday where I left off.

Rich decided to buy a bike for himself because the bike paths in this city are too good to pass up! He found a used bike that doesn't look like something someone would steal (apparently that is a problem here) So Saturday morning he spent doing that, while I went walking again. (That is when I saw the Palais Krinsky, above) After lunch we met Michele and Carl Brezovec who are sort of related- Our niece Sharon's husband is Michele's brother. Anyway, Carl and Michele are here for a semester with a group of students from Franklin Pierce College where he teaches. They have been here since January and seem to know the city center pretty well. We met them at St. Stephen's Cathedral and first went inside for a tour of the catacombs. This church is the main cathedral in the center of Vienna (built 1230-1440) and significantly bombed during WWII and then rebuilt. The square around the church is really the main city center and meeting place for all Vienna. Various royalty are entombed there, but not terribly exciting.

After that Michele and Carl took us walking along various small and cute alleyways. The painted picture of the cow playing backgammon was from that walk. The streets are really remnants of the medieval city, with signposts and very picturesque angles and buildings.

Later in the walk, we saw the building with the mosaics on the facade, mid- 20th century, and the apothocary shop facade was created by Oskar Laske(1901) who was a student of Otto Wagner.

Then of course, we had to stop for coffee and... so they took us to their favorite place- Deglas. Very traditional coffee house with the best apple strudel I have ever had! And cool bathrooms with glass doors that cloud over when you lock the door!

We took a short break and then met them again for dinner at a German restaurant they knew, then went together to an organ concert at St. Peter's Church- a church that defines the word Baroque! More gold paint and gilt than I have ever seen in one place! Unfortunately, it was too dark to take pictures, but the music was really stirring in that environment.

So that was just another day in Vienna...

Linz and beyond

(Having trouble moving the photos around. So here are all the pictures of things I talk about in the text. Top are pix of art museum in Vienna, then picture of new "Ars Electronica building in Linz, then two general photos of Linz, then two photos of contemporary art museum in Linz.)


On Wednesday afternoon Rich and I, along with Clint Andrews, his colleague from Rutgers who is also in Europe doing research took a train to Linz. 90 minutes on the Rail Jet- high speed line.
Linz is an industrial city on the way to Salzburg, but it is undergoing a transformation into a major arts center. We went because Rich and Clint were looking at development they call a “Solar City. ” It is a large development with a master plan by major starchitects such as Foster, Rogers and others. They each designed one of the sections also, as did other architects and the whole thing is supposed to be done with energy saving techniques and sustainable design features. They seemed to be pretty impressed by it- some of the buildings more than others.
Since we had such a short time in the city, I decided to stay in town and look around rather than go out with them. The town is actually kind of cute- runs along the Danube and there is an historic heart of the city along with numerous really exciting new buildings. I went to their new contemporary art museum and that was pretty cool. Designed by Zurich architects Weber & Hofer.

There is also a large park with a sculpture garden along the river right next to the museum.

Buildings in Linz were interesting-different and much more colorful than Vienna- almost looked like a Mediterranean town with all the colors- The main square has a large column erected in thanks for having survived the plague.

But most important- I went for coffee to the bakery that says they created the Linzer torte! Cute bakery and it was good- but not like the Linzer tortes we know. This one was more like a coffee cake, with a layer of jam in the middle, and the jam is red current, not raspberry! Very important distinction according to them! So now you know!
Anyway, I was getting a cold and it got worse all day. Glad to get home that night. I just hung out the next day and by Friday was doing much better. So I went exploring for yoga studios. I have been asking around and found quite a few but all in German of course. So I decided to go talk to some in person to get a feel for whether I could deal with it. I think I found one and it is right near Rich’s school. Maybe I can get him to go with me!
In the afternoon Rich and I went to the main art museum. We had been thinking about doing a walking tour, but it was pretty cold today and we thought it better to be inside. This museum was fantastic. They have an incredible collection of Nederlandish art- biggest Breugel collection around, among others, and we didn’t even get to most of the rest of the museum! Also saw a really fascinating exhibit of connoisseurship about Vermeer’s work, The Art of Painting.
Spent the night at home and watched the final episode of the Wire—can’t believe there is no more!
Pictures of the art museum building and us having afternoon coffee there.

AS promised....

OK, after some exercise and fresh air - walking in the Prater, I am back to continue my saga.

Sunday and Monday were pretty busy, so here goes. Went first to the Wien Museum on Sunday morning. Smallish museum that recounts the history of the city thru various maps, models and artifacts, from pre-Roman to current tlime. Good for getting a sense of how the city developed. There was an incredible digital display of the Roman settlement- really a military outpost that was their northernmost boundary, holding back the Germanic barbarians! Lots of room-sized city models and on the top floor, the living room from Adolph Loos' apartment! Cool.

In the afternoon we went to a Purim party at the liberal synagogue- Or Chodesh. Turns out it is just a short walk from our apartment and it was really nice. Very friendly and hamishe people, many transplanted from US and Britain, but not all. They had a cute skit by some kids (in constumes of course) and read the Megilla in a variety of languages, and served lots of wine and schnapps for drinking, as well as extremely loud groggers. They are a do-it-yourself congregation with a rabbi that comes once a month from England. And best of all, they are going to have a community seder, so we will join them for that, as well as other times I am sure.

After that, in the evening, we found an English movie theater and saw Sherlock Holmes, so that we can talk to our daughters about it! LOts of fun actually.

MOnday was a day for getting necessary business done. First had to get a form signed by our landlord to testify that we are not living on the street (!) Then had to take it to the Magistrate's office to "register." So many people there when we arrived but it actually didn't take that long to wait- a chance to see the famous Austrian bureaucracy up close and personal. And they are really pretty efficient! Except then we had to take their form to a bank so we could open and account. It took three tries at 3 different banks til we found one that wasn't a big hassle! But we finally did it- so now we are truly official. All that took most of the day- and Rich's birthday at that!

In the evening we met an American colleaque of his from Rutgers who is here also looking at some of the green buildings Rich is studying. We had dinner with him and then went to see God of Carnage at the English Theater- the oldest English language theater in continental Europe. Quite a good production, alto the play is fairly depressing. Then we had to go to a cafe for strudel for further birthday celebrations!

So I am finally getting caught up. Rich went to the University today and really got started with his work. He met with some architects from the planning department and he went to see a new, solar office building on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately, on the way, in the subway, he had his pocket picked! But they were very nice thiefs and returned his wallet with all his cards- just wanted the cash and luckily he did not have very much on him at the time!

I spent a quiet day at home, catching up on a variety of things. Tomorrow we go to Linz- why you ask? For Linzer Torte of course!

catching up

For those who have been asking, here are the first photos of our apartment, specifically, Rich at the dining table and the living room. (on the internet, where we both seem to spend a significant amount of time.)

It has been a busy few days and I am fighting a cold so I am staying in today to try to catch up and clean up!

First I should go back to Friday which I missed. I went with Rich to the Fullbright offices in the Museumsquartier. (Just as orientation, this is a huge complex that started life as the imperial stables and has become a massive arts complex, with numerous museums, galleries, performance spaces, artists studios and offices of cultural institutions. I won't go into it too much now because I think I will be spending lots of time there.) Thursday and Friday there was an orientation for all the Fullbright people from all over Austria= about 15 or so. I let Rich go himself on Thursday as the subjects interested me less, but I went also on Friday. They had speakers from the American Embassy, talking about Austrian-US relations, a political scientist professor talking about the Austrian political situation, someone talking about the Viennese school system and another presentor about the sociological and cultural aspects of the place. All very interesting and fun to meet some of the other Americans here and find out what they are doing. I am very glad we are based in Vienna instead of any of the other towns in this country. While I hope to visit, I don't think I would enjoy 4 months in Salsburg or Graz as much as Vienna. At the end of the day, they took us on a short walking tour of the imperial city, in the rain, and then to what they said was a really traditional Viennese restaurant.

While we are really enjoying much about this country, the one thing that is less than wonderful is the traditional food! Very heavy, fried, greasy and meat-based! Good bread and pastry, but I can do without more schnitzel! It is not hard to find other things to eat tho- lots of restaurants of other varieties and lots of markets with fresh fruits and vegetables. Actually, almost everywhere you can find lots of organic produce and even meat and dairy. So eating at home is actuallty preferable in many cases.

In my job as observer of local people and customs, and according to some of what was said on Friday, I am beginning to see the Austrians as much more relaxed and easy-going that we anticipated. We were both expecting to find the Germanic efficiency and harshness, but have actually found less of that than we thought. While busses seem to run on time, one of the people on Friday joked about the clocks (particularly those at the University) never being accurate. And while people will not smile and say hello on the street, they are very helpful if you ask a question directly and they seem to really be demonstrative with their friends. (OK- lots of generalizations here, but bear with me) From what we read also, there is a cultural tendency towards a "whatever" approach to life.

The major political issues are with the immigrants from the Balkan states, many of whom are Muslim and often of lower economic status. The history of invasion from Turkey actually brought the beginnings of an eastern cultural influence many centuries ago, but it obviously has become a bigger issue in recent years, especially since they (like so many European nations) need the immigrants to do many jobs and the native birth rate is so much lower than that of the immigrant groups. And of course the recent upheavals in those countries brought many fleeing across the borders. (Here is an amusing tidbit- In Mexico, the people who bring illegal immigrants over the border to the US are called coyotes- here they are called schleppers!)

The other interesting factoid we learned is that the reason chefs here could develop the strudel is because the Turks brought filo dough with them when they came. I love the way all these cultures intermingle!

I think that is all for the moment. I will discuss our Purim adventures in the next installment, but must go do some yoga first!