TALES FROM VIENNA

This weekend our little group took a trip to Austria to see the other half of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Our first stop was Vienna, "the city of dreams". Like Paris, it was an empire city; the capital of the Hapsburg Empire. Like most European cities Vienna isn't a very large city and is shaped basically in a circle. However the difference with Vienna is that downtown is set off the river a good couple of miles as opposed to cities such as Paris, Budapest, or Dublin. At least this was the case up until WWII. After WWII when Austria became neutral the building appears to have taken place along the river area. The evolution of the city has taken place over a wide area with large parks in-between sections of the city. Therefore today the city appears to be much larger than what it really is.

We took a train from Budapest to Vienna; a journey that took about three hours. It was a very nice train operated by an Austrian company called Rail Jet. The economy class was nicer than most of the other trains I've been on and it reached a top speed of 125mph. The afternoon was very nice as well giving us a pretty good view of the Hungarian countryside. Arriving in Vienna we walked to our hotel near the train station, checked in, and rested up a bit before dinner.

For dinner we took the metro into the older part of town. Getting off at the Volkstheatre station we walked into a very large courtyard area with big tall baroque style buildings on two sides and another at one end. The sun was setting so we stopped and took pictures. Moving down the street we found a nice Austrian restaurant. We all had "Wiener Schnitzel" which was very good in my opinion. After dinner we walked around the old part of town in the direction of Stephensplatz where the cathedral is located. Vienna is much like Paris at night when the lights come on. The buildings are grand and brightly lit and there are always lots of people out enjoying the nightlife. One of the big differences from Paris is that there are not as many large open boulevards in Vienna as in Paris. Most of the streets in Vienna are only small enough for two small cars to pass each other.

Breakfast at our hotel was amazing! The Austrians and the Germans for that matter definitely know how to do breakfast well. We were all going back for seconds and thirds. That morning we went back to town the same way we went the previous night to see the town in daylight. However this time we went down a different street past the stables where the Austrian guard keeps their horses and then out into the square by the Opera House. Going back towards Stephensplatz again we came across a Church of the Order of the Knights of Moldova. It was tiny by very nice and was a quite peaceful compare to the noisy street outside.

St. Stephan’s Cathedral is very impressive. Like most other cathedrals in Europe it is in the gothic style. Once difference though is that the columns would have little chapels set up at just about everyone. The cathedral was originally built in 1137 but was renovated over the years until about 1304 when it began to look as it does today. However once one crosses the "cross" of the cathedral it is focused on the back of the church. There are also pews which is very rare in a European cathedral. Also when we were there a choir was in the choir area singing both traditional hymns and contemporary praise and worship songs. It was a nice treat because the acoustics of the cathedral were very good. Another very interesting difference is the 230,000 roof tiles. These tiles were replaced in 1952 to restore the damage done to the cathedral during WWII. However perhaps what gives the cathedral its charm are the different periods of architecture integrated together making it very unique.

The next stop was the Schonbrunn, the palace of the Hapsburg Empire. It was to be the Versailles of Austria; however this goal was never realized because work on the palace was stalled for several years. Although this doesn't mean that the palace is any less impressive. It still has a surface area of 1.79 km and 1,441 rooms. It's most prominent resident was Empress Maria Theresa, her husband Emperor Francis I. She had 16 children one of whom was Marie Antonia, later to be Marie Antoinette of wife of Louis XVI. One of the nice things about the palace is that it is livable unlike Versailles. The architecture is also a bit more pleasing to the eye than the overbearing gold and at times plainness of Versailles (in the sense that there wasn't much artistic care taken in constructing parts of the back of Versailles making Versailles very similar to the new American mansions in developments). The yellow paint was added in 1819 by Johann Aman unifying the facade and giving it its modern day warm and cozy feel.

The back yard and grounds are very impressive as well. Once again they are not as extravagantly large as Versailles. There is a long boulevard that which runs 200yds between the back of the palace and the fountain of Neptune. There are eight large flower beds filling the space between the palace and fountain. At the fountain the ground rises up a hill where at the top is a Gloriette which is just a viewing terrace. From here one can see a great view of the city. On either side of the Gloriette on the hill is forest. The gardens are very extensive and more flower gardens then shrubbery like Versailles. Over all the Schronbrunn is more livable and charming than Versailles. Although Versailles is very impressive, both palaces capture the culture and personalities of their countries.

The next day, Sunday, was a free day until our train for Salzburg left. I spent the morning by myself walking around the city doing some sightseeing. The first place I went to was the Ferris wheel at Praterstern or Prater Park. The Ferris wheel (Riesenrad in German) was designed by a British engineer named Walter Basset. The Ferris wheel is 65 meters tall weighing 430tons. The Ferris wheel became famous in the movie "The Third Man" directed by Carol Reed made in 1949 starring Joseph Cotton, Orson Wells, Trevor Howard, and Alida Valli. I went up the Ferris wheel which was about a 10 to 15 min ride. From the top is a magnificent view of the city and the countryside. It was one of my more memorable moments of Vienna for sure. The next hour and a half I walked around the old part of the city taking pictures and looking around. I came across a sports festival for kids situated right in front of City Hall. City Hall is really cool because it was designed in the neo-Gothic style and built between 1872 and 1883. There are five towers with the center tower rising about 100 meters. It's a very impressive structure to behold.

I had to quickly head back to the hotel at this point to pack and join the rest of the group to board the train. My stay in Vienna was too short but memorable. There is so much to see and unfortunately I can't spend another three months and explore it like I did in Paris. However, Vienna is not my favorite Austrian city. Salzburg easily takes that distinction. Hope you all enjoy this and check in soon for the Salzburg post!






*The information I used here came from a book called Vienna: Europe Tourism Collection and the Schonbrunn website: http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/

WELCOME TO BUDAPEST

I have now begun the last leg of my study abroad experience in Europe. Leaving France behind I chose to go to Budapest, Hungary and study with some students from my school in the U.S. We are studying at the Zrinyi Miklos National Defense University in Budapest (pronounced "Budapesht"). It's a combined Military and civilian college located on the edge of the city; specifically the eastern side of the river. However before I give you too much of my opinion you should know some brief history about Hungary and its people.

Hungary's official name is the Republic of Hungary (Magyar Koztarsasag) becoming a member of the European Union on May 1, 2004. The population of Hungary is 10,097,945 as of 2005. There are some 5,000,000 Hungarians who live abroad in the world with the majority living in the United States. The rest live mostly in the lands that used to belong to Hungary before the Treaty of Trianon; which broke up the Austrian-Hungarian Empire after WWI. The government is a parliamentary democracy with a single-chamber parliament. Half of the legislature is elected by the people while the other half is elected by a list system. The head of state is the President; however, the head of government is the Prime Minister.

Hungary is considered to be a "linguistically island" by European standards. The language is completely foreign to all the other European languages which are Latin, Germanic, or Slavic based. However, it does share some similarities with the Finish language. Hungarian or "Magyar" is spoken by most of the 15million Hungarians living either in Hungary or abroad. There are still a few who speak it but are not Hungarian. The Magyar tribe is an Asian tribe. However no one is exactly sure where the Magyars came from other than east of the Ural Mountains. They are not to be confused with the Huns for they are not Huns. Over the thousand years or so since Hungary has existed, the Hungarians have stayed the main ethnic group of Hungary. Others include the Roma (gypsies), the Germans, and Slovaks. They are a very intelligent people and very much enjoy learning and feeding their brains with as much information as they can.

Having been in Budapest for two days has been quite enlightening since it's nothing like Paris. It still looks very much like an old Soviet Republic under communism, even 20 years after the fact. However, in a way, it is a refreshing change from Paris. Since the economy hasn't recovered yet from the communist regime, the people have low incomes and are just trying to make ends meet. While in Paris people, though they complain about it constantly, make much more money, buy more material things than they know what to do with, and have a much better living standard. They can afford to go on long vacations, live in nice apartments, and buy the latest fashion in clothes.

The Hungarians don't seem to have those luxuries, though there are large malls and people do material things. Unlike France and Western Europe where there is a middle class, Hungary has a wide gap between the rich and poor with almost no middle class. There is still corruption and annual salaries are therefore lower than they should be. Despite all this though the Hungarians are friendly and don't seem to be too upset and angry at foreigners for not speaking their language. In fact they are just happy that you try.

Last night four of us went exploring and found the Danube River and we explored some of the Pest side of the river on our own. It's very fascinating to see how different the architecture and city layout is from Paris. Though perhaps not as clean and high tech as Paris, Budapest is just as historical and important of a city of the world as Paris. I can't wait to see more of it in the month to come!

This blog while not be opporational until June 1, 2010.