wien
well my time here in the monds household is sadly coming to an end, but i'd be lying through my teeth if i said i wasn't excited about getting on a train to slovenia (which departs in about an hour and a half so i have to power through this post)
we arrived to the smooth commercialism of the west in fine style on a luxury train from prague to vienna which cruised in in under 5 hours, which wasn't too bad considering we'd been accustomed to 8+ hour rides around the east on sticky pleather seats and open windows. the airconditioning all the way to vienna didn't really stop us having that sticky/stinky traveller feeling when we arrived; neither of which phased our host who is apparently well rehearsed in picking up student travellers from the trainstation. donna drove us home, took us into her house and then proceeded to wash (read: was on the verge of burning) our clothes for us before putting plates of steaming pumpkin soup infront of our faces. from this point she became our host and guide here and you couldn't ask for better. she came home thisafternoon for beers for me for the trainride tonight, amongst other nibblies so i am, literally, indebted for life to her.
the following morning we dragged ourselves out of bed for a backseat tour of vienna; donna at the wheel of the car/tourbus tok us up to her favourite spots. first a view over the city for some orientation, and then down to the hundervasser emplacements. the housing commission sites in vienna have been decorated by this excentric artist in colourful and flamboyant asymetry, which somehow comes off as beautiful. then we took a walk through the city park and certain sections of 'the ring': that section of the city which was converted from a moat in the renaissance into gorgeous bourgeoise buildings which served as a hunting ground for the creative elite (mozart included).
vienna is an incredibly grand city, and considering it was the capital of the hapsburg empire for about 600 years one is not suprised. our trip to the schoenbrunn castle on our second day was both incredibly spectacular and exhausting. we toured 40 of the most intricately and extravagently furnished/decorated castle rooms one could imagine before walking for hours through the gardens, which hold an alice-in-wonderland hedge maze. it is a strange feeling to walk the very same hallways that members of one of the most famous families in modern history lived in. most irksome is knowing that the demise of this family's empire signifies the birth of modern political history and, most famously, pretty much the start first world war. i am now a hapsburg hardcore, considering that i have seen where franz ferdinand was killed, all i need to do now is see where maria antoinette was beheaded and i will be a true groupie.
following this we went into town and walked through the vienesse equivalent of pitt-street mall... the comparison finishes with the shopfronts, however, as the facades of the building are all original baroque and renaissance style and the mall fans out from an immense gothic cathedral from the 14th century (which we were too buggered to bother climbing the tower of). our last day was a visit to the kunsthistorisches museum, which was comissioned in the 19th century by franz joseph but really the collections were put into action before the museum was ever concieved, mostly by maria theresa who was an advocate for the arts and culture in the late 18th century - her massive statue (and she was a big woman) sits between the museum of art history and the museum of natural history. the latter of which was closed today but the there was enough art to fill our afternoon and tire my feet. the one thing more impressive than the incredible collections of egyptian, roman and european art was the actual museum itself - which was decorated in parts by gustav klimt and is literally a shrine to the renaissance.
have enjoyed vienna immensly, and most of all the stories from donna of the change in 'feel' of the city over last 12 years. when she and her family arrived here vienna, from a local (but alien) persons perspective felt very much like a fringe western city on the edge of the east. no 24hr stores, sundays were holidays, petrol only just sold on public holidays etc. basically consumerism as one knows it from the modern west didn't exist here, and it is only in the last 5 years when the eastern block countries have started to open up that vienna has evolved into a 24hour city and a truly western block capital. the big companies (coke, kraft etc) have moved in and a highrise 'business park' (or city) has sprung up out of nowhere in the last 7 years, before which the ringstrasse was the only centre one knew of. infact, as we came in on the train one of the things i noticed most was the relative newness of the highrise architecture, which makes complete sense now.
must get my shit together for the train. we have a veritable feast organised for us by donna who i can't thank enough for the last couple of days. in true western style vienna is fucking expensive; euro prices everwhere so we wouldn't have managed this many days here without the hospitality, and you can't see vienna in any less: the density of its history is insurmountable in any shorter period.
slovenia here we come ay
we arrived to the smooth commercialism of the west in fine style on a luxury train from prague to vienna which cruised in in under 5 hours, which wasn't too bad considering we'd been accustomed to 8+ hour rides around the east on sticky pleather seats and open windows. the airconditioning all the way to vienna didn't really stop us having that sticky/stinky traveller feeling when we arrived; neither of which phased our host who is apparently well rehearsed in picking up student travellers from the trainstation. donna drove us home, took us into her house and then proceeded to wash (read: was on the verge of burning) our clothes for us before putting plates of steaming pumpkin soup infront of our faces. from this point she became our host and guide here and you couldn't ask for better. she came home thisafternoon for beers for me for the trainride tonight, amongst other nibblies so i am, literally, indebted for life to her.
the following morning we dragged ourselves out of bed for a backseat tour of vienna; donna at the wheel of the car/tourbus tok us up to her favourite spots. first a view over the city for some orientation, and then down to the hundervasser emplacements. the housing commission sites in vienna have been decorated by this excentric artist in colourful and flamboyant asymetry, which somehow comes off as beautiful. then we took a walk through the city park and certain sections of 'the ring': that section of the city which was converted from a moat in the renaissance into gorgeous bourgeoise buildings which served as a hunting ground for the creative elite (mozart included).
vienna is an incredibly grand city, and considering it was the capital of the hapsburg empire for about 600 years one is not suprised. our trip to the schoenbrunn castle on our second day was both incredibly spectacular and exhausting. we toured 40 of the most intricately and extravagently furnished/decorated castle rooms one could imagine before walking for hours through the gardens, which hold an alice-in-wonderland hedge maze. it is a strange feeling to walk the very same hallways that members of one of the most famous families in modern history lived in. most irksome is knowing that the demise of this family's empire signifies the birth of modern political history and, most famously, pretty much the start first world war. i am now a hapsburg hardcore, considering that i have seen where franz ferdinand was killed, all i need to do now is see where maria antoinette was beheaded and i will be a true groupie.
following this we went into town and walked through the vienesse equivalent of pitt-street mall... the comparison finishes with the shopfronts, however, as the facades of the building are all original baroque and renaissance style and the mall fans out from an immense gothic cathedral from the 14th century (which we were too buggered to bother climbing the tower of). our last day was a visit to the kunsthistorisches museum, which was comissioned in the 19th century by franz joseph but really the collections were put into action before the museum was ever concieved, mostly by maria theresa who was an advocate for the arts and culture in the late 18th century - her massive statue (and she was a big woman) sits between the museum of art history and the museum of natural history. the latter of which was closed today but the there was enough art to fill our afternoon and tire my feet. the one thing more impressive than the incredible collections of egyptian, roman and european art was the actual museum itself - which was decorated in parts by gustav klimt and is literally a shrine to the renaissance.
have enjoyed vienna immensly, and most of all the stories from donna of the change in 'feel' of the city over last 12 years. when she and her family arrived here vienna, from a local (but alien) persons perspective felt very much like a fringe western city on the edge of the east. no 24hr stores, sundays were holidays, petrol only just sold on public holidays etc. basically consumerism as one knows it from the modern west didn't exist here, and it is only in the last 5 years when the eastern block countries have started to open up that vienna has evolved into a 24hour city and a truly western block capital. the big companies (coke, kraft etc) have moved in and a highrise 'business park' (or city) has sprung up out of nowhere in the last 7 years, before which the ringstrasse was the only centre one knew of. infact, as we came in on the train one of the things i noticed most was the relative newness of the highrise architecture, which makes complete sense now.
must get my shit together for the train. we have a veritable feast organised for us by donna who i can't thank enough for the last couple of days. in true western style vienna is fucking expensive; euro prices everwhere so we wouldn't have managed this many days here without the hospitality, and you can't see vienna in any less: the density of its history is insurmountable in any shorter period.
slovenia here we come ay
Comments