August 30

Today was our last day in Vienna, so I was a little sad. I spent most of the day just walking around and shopping for souvenirs for my friends and family. I also wanted to get one last look at Stephansdom because I think that is just such an amazing sight. Later in the day, we went to Wurstelprater, the famous amusement park in Vienna. Everyone was joking that we would run into a bunch of prostitutes because the park is located in a red light district. We all met up at the Riesenrad, the famous Ferris wheel. It is one of the oldest Ferris wheels because it was erected in 1897. It used to have 30 gondolas, but now it only has 15 because the Ferris wheel was severely damaged during WWII. One of the reasons the Riesenrad is so famous is because it appeared in the film, The Third Man. In the movie, the main character, Holly Martins, meets up with his old friend turned bad guy, Harry Lime. While we were riding the Ferris wheel, we had an excellent view of the whole amusement park and the city of Vienna. I wanted to spend more time at the amusement park, but we left to go to dinner at Centimeter right after getting off the Ferris wheel. Dinner was fun though, because everybody was there and we got to eat our food (schnitzel of course) off of swords. We also got to try some original Budweiser (Budvar) beer. I still didn’t think it was that amazing, but it was definitely better than the American version. After dinner, I just tried to enjoy my last night in Vienna without getting too sad about the fact that we had to leave the next morning. My stay here was so amazing, and I hope that I get to come back someday.
The German word of the day is fremd, which means “foreign”.

August 28 and 29

On Thursday, I went to the Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien(Vienna History Museum) because we had no class and the tour of the Leopold Museum with Dr. O got pushed back to 4 pm. This museum is located practically right next to Karlskirche, so it was easy to find. I liked this museum because it was very well planned out. Each floor had artifacts and descriptions from the different periods in Vienna’s history, such as the Biedermeier period and the Baroque architecture period. I thought the first floor was interesting because they had some cool medieval knight’s armor on display, and they also had some of the original stained glass windows from St. Stephen’s Cathedral. There were also many models of the city throughout the museum that showed what the city looked like at various stages in its history. I liked seeing the city how it was when the wall and the mote surrounded the main part of it. There was another model that showed the city when the Ringstrasse was being built. These models helped me understand Vienna’s development and growth over the years.
Later on in the day, we went on a guided tour of the Leopold Museum with Dr. O, our favorite tour guide. This museum is unique because it is mostly made up of the private art collection of Rudolf Leopold and his wife Elisabeth. They also helped design the unique building that the collection is housed in. Dr. O told us that there are some paintings here that the Belvedere museum would kill to get their hands on. There are paintings in the museum by many famous artists, such as Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Moser, and Schiele. One of the most famous paintings in the museum is “Death and Life” by Klimt. It depicts a death-like figure on one side and multiple versions of life on the other side of the canvas. I like this painting because there is multiple ways to interpret it. The death figure could either be seen as playful or sinister. I also liked some of the paintings by Schiele, the famous Austrian artist who died at the age of 28. His paintings were usually pretty bizarre. Many people liked the “Cardinal and the Nun” because it was obviously influenced by Klimt’s painting, “The Kiss.” I think that many of these artist’s paintings are a reflection of the times. The beginning of the 20th century was when most of these artists were in their prime, and it was also a time of change and chaos. The working class was growing, more people were moving to the cities, different political parties were forming, and the Habsburg empire was about to collapse. Many of these paintings definitely reflect the confusion of the times.
On Friday, I pretty much just walked around the city looking for areas and places that I hadn’t seen yet. I was starting to get sad that we had to leave in 2 days. I ended up walking around in the inner city. I found a cool church that I had never seen before near the Hofburg, but I couldn’t figure out the name of it. It was definitely built in the neo-Gothic style, but it was much more subdued than the Votivkirche. I also found a flea market, where they were selling lots of random things, such as opium pipes. I ran into a seller here who was very anti-American. He was getting angry with me for all the problems that America has. He blamed me for electing Bush to office twice, and he tried to convince me that Obama was a drug addict. I was annoyed and amused with the guy all at the same time. I listened to his babble for a bit and then left. That was the first time on this whole trip that I had come across someone who was so anti-American. Some people have been a little rude to me because I was American, but never so overtly so.

The German word of the day is wohnen, which means “to live”.
The German word of the day is Freundschaft, which means “friendship”.

August 26

Today we discussed our visit to the Mathausen concentration camp in class. Everyone started to share their feelings on the experience. One of the things that came up was the question of whether people should be allowed to visit such places. In her book, Still Alive, Ruth Kluger stated that she would never go back to a concentration camp and she doesn’t understand why anybody would want to. Many of my classmates, including myself, initially agreed with her that we didn’t feel a need to go to a concentration camp before we went. After visiting the camp though, most of us changed our minds. I think it is good to visit these places so that we can understand what actually happened during the war and so that we will never forget it. We also talked about how the camp was surrounded by a neighborhood. The people that lived in this town had to have known what was going on at the camp, yet they didn’t do anything about it. Yet again, what could they do about it? They were almost as powerless as the prisoners in some respects because they were so scared of what the Nazis could do to them. Most people didn’t know who they could trust because at the time, the secret police were everywhere.
After class, I went to the Kaisergruft (Imperial crypt) with Stephanie and Jennifer. Since 1633, the Kaisergruft has been the main burial place for members of the Habsburg dynasty. There were many elaborate coffins down there. The most elaborate ones belonged to the most important people, such as Maria Therresia and Franz Joseph and his family. Most people seemed to be most interested in the sarcophagi of Emperor Franz Joseph, Empress Elizabeth, and Crown Prince Rudolf. There were still lots of fresh flowers on their coffins.
After the Kaisergruft, we went back to the Kunsthistorisches Museum to look at more paintings. We were able to look at some paintings by Catholic and Protestant artists. The paintings done by Catholic artists were usually more elaborate. The Catholic artists wanted their subjects to be drawn in by their paintings. They also depicted many saints, whereas the Protestant paintings did not. The Protestant artists from the Reformation usually painted smaller, more portable paintings that were not meant to be ridiculously elaborate. They were more practical with their art. A few of the Catholic artists who had paintings displayed in this museum are Rubens, Peter Bruegel, Tintorretto, Parmigiano. Some of the Protestant artists are Peter Aertsen, Hans Baldung Grien, Lucas Granach, Durer, Hansttolbiem, and Bosch. Examples of Protestant artists’ paintings are Frans Floris’s “The Last Judgement,” “Lucas Cranach’s Judith and Holofernes.” Generally, Catholic artists were from Southern Europe and Protestant artists were from Northern Europe. I didn’t have a certain type of painting that I liked better. Sometimes I liked the simplicity of the Protestant paintings, and sometimes I enjoyed the more elaborate Catholic paintings. I am generally not an art person though, and I can only spend so much time looking at paintings.
The German word of the day is heute, which means “today”.

August 25

Today was the third day of our second three-day weekend. I decided to go back to Schonbrunn Palace and see all the things that I didn’t see the first day that I went there. First, I went to look at more of the gardens and the large and beautiful fountains that were laid out in various spots around them. My friend told while we were walking around these gardens that during imperial times the fountains weren’t run with pumps but with a crank that servants had to spin, so when the emperor wanted to walk around the gardens, the servants would have to run out before them and start pumping the fountain for when the emperor walked past. I thought that was interesting. Anyway, we went to the Wagonburg next where all of the imperial carriages were on display. Some of the less elaborate carriages exhibited here were used for everyday use, while some of the more elaborate ones were for celebrations and parades and such. I loved the more elaborate carriages, such as the Imperial Coach of the Austrian Court. It would be amazing to ride around in such an over the top mode of transportation. I also liked looking at the cute mini-carriages that were made for the kids. They looked exactly like the grown-up ones, except smaller. After the carriage museum, we then went to the Palmenhaus. This is a huge greenhouse that is full of many tropical plants that wouldn’t otherwise be found in Vienna. It was very beautiful. To finish off our second visit to Schonbrunn, we went to the Apple Strudel Show, where the chefs showed us how to make Austrian Apfelstrudel. We were given a free sample also. Even though it was good, I have to say that it still wasn’t as good as my mom’s apple pie.
After visiting Schonbrunn, we went back home to find something to eat. We eventually ended up eating Kabops once again. There are so many Kabop, Kasekrainer, and Pizza stands around this city that I can’t help but going to one of them to eat almost every day. I am kind of looking forward to going back home so that I can find something to eat that is not full of salt or fried. The Kasekrainers and the Turkish Kabops are very good though.
The German word of the day is Kino, which means “movies”.

August 27

Instead of going to class today we took a tour of the UN headquarters in Vienna. We had to go through security, which you would think would be very heavy, but the security at the airport is much worse. Once we got inside the grounds, we were warned by our tour guide that we were no longer in Austria, but on international land, so Austria’s laws no longer applied. He also told us that if we wandered away from the group then we would be arrested. So, this tour was very serious. Anyway, when we first walked on the grounds we saw a large fountain surrounded by the flags of all 194 countries that are part of the United Nations. We also had a good view of all the curved UN buildings. We were told that the buildings were made in this curved design so that every employee could have an office with a window. Apparently, sunlight makes workers more productive and happy. While standing around the fountain our tour guide told us about the UN’s mission, and how this Vienna UN headquarters is one of four UN duty stations around the world. The other UN headquarters are located in New York, Geneva, and Nairobi. After walking around outside, our tour guide took us into one of the buildings and showed us a model of the entire complex. He described some of the things that the UN workers did there, and he then showed us some of the various Nobel Peace Prizes that the UN has won over the years. We were supposed to go up to the large conference room next, but it was occupied so we went in a smaller one instead. I noticed that interior of the building looked a little like our 1970’s bus from the other day because it was decorated in brown and orange also. These buildings were actually built in the 70’s, so that explains the ugly color scheme. Anyway, the conference room was cool, because all the chairs were facing each other to make for an easy dialogue and each person’s station was equipped with a listening device that allowed for each person to hear a translation of what everyone was saying into one of the five main UN languages. These languages are English, Russian, Chinese, French, and Arabic.
After our tour, we went to listen to a lecture on the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). The employee who gave us the lecture focused his presentation more on the types of nuclear technologies that don’t have anything to do with weaponry, so that we could understand that Nuclear Energy is not just used in weaponry. The IAEA was first set up in 1957 as “Atoms for Peace,” which was created to promote safe and peaceful nuclear technologies. The 3 main pillars that underpin the IAEA’s mission are safety and security, science and technology, and safeguards and verification. In the lecture we learned that the number of declared nuclear weapon states is 5 (USA, Russia, UK, France, and China), but there are other countries that have it such as India and possibly Iran and North Korea.
We didn’t actually get a chance to ask many questions on the tour or during the lecture, but some of the questions that I had were: How closely does the IAEA work with other programs at the UN?; What is the UN and the IAEA doing about the nuclear weapons manufacture in Iran?; How closely do the 4 duty stations of the UN work together? None of my questions were really answered because we didn’t have time to ask them, but the lecturer on the IAEA talked briefly about nuclear weapons and Iran.
After visiting the UN, I went to the Naturhistorisches Museum with Stephanie and Jennifer. It wasn’t required that we go there, but I just wanted to see it. It looked basically the same as the Kunsthistorisches museum on the inside and outside because the two museums were built to mirror one another. Anyway, there were many cool things to look at here, such as the 25 thousand year old Venus statue, the dinosaur skeletons, and lots of nice jewelry and crystals. I didn’t spend loads of time her though, because it was ridiculously hot.
The German word of the day is Fussball, which means “soccer”.

August 22

Today we skipped class and took a bus to the Mathausen concentration camp. This camp was started in 1940 as a labor camp. It grew to be one of the biggest Nazi labor camps in German-controlled Europe. I had never been to a concentration camp, and I can’t say that I was excited about going because I knew that it would be intense. I was expecting the camp to be located in a more deserted area, but it was actually located on top of a hill right next to the town of Mathausen. There were houses and farms located all around the exterior of the camp. The first thing we did when we got to the camp was walk around the surrounding areas to look at the monuments and to walk down the stairway of death into the quarry where the prisoners worked. The stairway down to the quarry was called the stairway of death because it was a long staircase full of high and uneven stairs that the prisoners were expected to run up and down while carrying heavy stones and dodging the blows of the Nazi officers watching over them. Many of the prisoners died here from either falling down the stairs, collapsing from exhaustion in the quarry, or being pushed over the edge of the quarry cliff by the Nazi officers. The stones that the prisoners collected out of this quarry were actually used to build the camp. After visiting the quarry we went to look at all of the monuments erected for the prisoners of the camp. Most of the prisoners here were men, but there were some women and children also. In fact, one of the monuments was built just for the children prisoners. It has become a tradition to place pebbles and stones on the monuments as a sign of respect for the prisoners, so many of my classmates did so. After we looked at the monuments, we went on a guided tour of the inside of the camp. We first saw the wall were the prisoners were originally brought in and lined up. Many of them were killed here because they were too old or tired to become good workers for the camp. We were then brought to the shower room where the prisoners were cleaned off and their belongings were taken from them. Some of them who resisted were made to take a shower in scalding hot or freezing cold water. The tour guide then took us to the bunk houses where the prisoners slept. In these bunkhouses, the prisoners had to share one bathroom and washroom with thousands of other prisoners. They also had to share their tiny bed with one other person. It was really hard for me to walk around in these rooms because there were pictures on the walls of how the prisoners looked and how they had to live that made me feel really mournful for them. After seeing the bunkhouses, we were taken to a room where some of the prisoners were hanged or shot. This room was located right next to the gas chamber, where many of the prisoners were killed from the different kinds of gases that the Nazis tested out to see which kind was the best and the cheapest to use for killing. We then went into the cremation chamber room, where the bodies were burned. This room was full of pictures and plaques dedicated to the camp’s prisoners. At this point in the tour I was getting a little emotional and looking at all of the pictures of the people that died in the camp was hard for me. At the end of the tour, I walked through the museum full of pictures and examples of the prisoners clothing and then went to go watch the video. We all sat in the video room to watch a movie about the camp. The part of the movie that really got to me was when one of the American soldiers who came to the camp at the end of the war tried to tell about what he was feeling when he came here and he started crying. He could barely even talk about it. It must have been a intensely horrifying experience to come to this camp and find the thousands of prisoners that were in the shape that they were in. At the end of the video, we left to go back to Vienna. I know some people believe that it is wrong to go and visit these concentration camps, but I think that it is ok because it is not out of disrespect. It helps us to learn more about what actually happened to the prisoners, and it gives us a c=sense of appreciation for our own lives.
The German word of the day is krank, which means “ill”.

August 21

In class we talked about what happened in Austria during the early 20th century, especially before WWII. Some of the topics we discussed were how the assassination of crown prince Franz Ferdinand started WWI, how the end of WWI ended the Austrian monarchy, and the various rulers of the Austrian Republic before WWII. For example, the first chancellor was a moderate socialist, Dr. Karl Renner. We also talked about how there was little popular loyalty to the Austrian Republic before WWII, so many Austrians were actually supporters of the Nazis and Hitler. We also talked about the German invasion of Austria by Hitler in 1938, and how Hitler’s arrival in Austria generated more support by the Austrians for a union with Germany.
After class, I went with some of my classmates to Schonbrunn Palace. This palace was much bigger and better than the Belvedere. I bought the Golden Pass ticket that allowed me access to every part of the palace grounds, so I was a little overwhelmed because I thought that there was no way that I could fit it all into one day. I found out that the ticket was good for one year though, so I took my time going through each station. The first thing we did was tour the inside of the palace. The inside looked very much like the inside of the Hofburg Palace, but there definitely more elaborately decorated rooms here. My favorite room in the palace was the ball room. I was disappointed that we couldn’t take pictures of it, so I bought a postcard of it in the gift shop after the tour. While I was buying the postcard though, I ran into an interesting Dutch woman who kept talking to me in Dutch, German, and English. She kept switching from language to language without even noticing. It was very amusing, but she was a very nice woman. After the tour of the palace we walked around the enormous garden areas for awhile. I had never been to a palace before so I thought that the enormity of the grounds was amazing and beautiful. I guess the palace grounds were meant to be breathtaking though, because Schonbrunn Palace was built to be the Habsburg equivalent of the Palace of Versailles in France. We eventually made our way up to the Schonbrunn Palace Gloriette, which we climbed to the roof of. This allowed us to see amazing views of the palace and its surrounding grounds. The place is huge. After the Gloriette, we went over to the palace maze in the gardens. I was a little disappointed because I thought that the maze would be bigger, but it was still fun to get lost in. After visiting the maze, we made our way to the zoo to see the baby panda and polar bears that were shown in advertisements all over the city. I was surprised at how big the zoo was. I thought it would be smaller than most zoos because it is not even the main attraction at Schonbrunn, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a rather large zoo. We looked at most of the animals, but after that we had to call it a day because we were all so tired from walking around the palace grounds all day.
The German word of the day is vielleicht, which means “maybe”.