Day 8 8/9: War and its discontents

Today was a day that I had been looking forward to since before we left: our trip to the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (the military history museum). According the museum’s official website, it is the oldest museum in Vienna. The entire reason for my love of History is because I grew up learning about the World Wars and how important they are to our lives today. It should come as no surprise then that my favorite area of historical inquiry is military history, so this day had been on my mind for quite some time. A group of around five of us headed out relatively early in the morning so we could fit in as much time at the museum as possible.
On our journey there, we passed by one of the most memorable graffiti pieces that I have seen here. It was on what we think is the cement block containing the transformers for the trams, and it said “capitalism kills.” So, naturally, we got a couple of pictures of Jordan holding his money and talking on his iPhone next to it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I enjoyed thinking about it because I have not seen any significant amount of anti-capitalist street art back in the States, but I have seen many pieces here that vilify capitalism. This is interesting to me for a few reasons, chiefly among them because it exposes a more European attitude towards American economic dynamism. Many of the Austrians that we have talked to have commented about how consumer-oriented American culture is, with our country responsible for a much larger per capita portion of the world’s pollution. Secondly, what I feel should be noted is that the idea of capitalism not only came out of Europe but was also most heavily practiced in Europe. Adam Smith, a native of England, argued in his 1776 treatise “The Wealth of Nations” that the pursuit of individual wealth would benefit the general populace because the ‘invisible hand’ of laissez-faire economics would allow governments to accrue wealth along with its private citizens. Once the Industrial revolution came around in the early 19th century England was the world-leader in industry, followed by France, Spain, and many other European countries. It seems that a larger proportion of Europeans are ready to move away from capitalism, while Americans embrace it much more and even allow it to increase its hold on our culture (and thus the world).
Anyway, on to the museum we go. The museum is housed in one of many buildings called the Arsenal, which was built between 1850-1856 as the Imperial Army garrison and armory. One gets this impression because of the rows of old canons that line either side of the front entrance. Once inside, we started our tour of over 400 years of Austrian military history. Our first destination was upstairs, to the section devoted to the 30 Year’s War, the Ottomans, and Prince Eugene of Savoy. Going into the museum, I must confess, I knew very little about the 30 Years’ War (1618-1648). Looking at the many battle standards displayed and the many names of militias that participated taught me that this was really the first world war! There is no clear goal that each faction had, which makes it hard to describe exactly how/why the war started. It was initially a result of the fighting between Protestants and Catholics who each wanted religious dominance over the lands, but it eventually escalated to involve the Habsburgs who were opposed to the Bourbon rule in France. According to the hand-outs and the audio guide the soldiers in the war did not fight for countries, but instead fought for private militias. Previous to the 17th century many of the soldiers that made up armies were only hired for the duration of a specific campaign, but this war necessitated the formation of a permanent military presence for each power group (in many cases, soldiers were granted tax exemption in order to encourage people to enlist). The war was so all-inclusive that there were multiple peace treaties, just like in the World Wars. In class we learned that the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 stopped the war, but the hand-outs in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum identify the peace treaties of Osnabruck and Munster as ending the conflict. Among the consequences of the war was religious freedom for the German provinces.
Of interest to me were the different ways that painters in the Habsburg territories portrayed the Turks who tried to invade Vienna. Well, to be honest, I was not interested in this at first because I was waiting for the sections on the World Wars. But since it was assigned, I did it. I actually found it an enjoyable intellectual exercise; thanks public education! Anyway, much of the display of the Turks was in the section on the 30 Years’ War and when they tried to invade Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683. Common to almost all of the paintings of battles, the Turks were portrayed as dark barbarians. These images of the enemy as less than human is a common ploy in wartime in order to bolster support for the war effort and to frighten the citizens into compliance with whatever wartime agenda takes form. I see parallels between these images and the ones produced under the Nazi regime where the Jews looked more animal-like than human. This practice is almost universal to wartime, and displays the nasty human tendency towards hatred and misunderstanding. I suppose that this lesson was an appropriate one to learn in a museum of military history.
Next we were on to the section of the museum that had been in the back of my mind all day: the section that held the actual car that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in, the uniform that he was wearing, and the couch on which he was pronounced dead. This was a seminal event in European/world history because it ignited the powder-keg that was Europe in 1914, directly leading to WWI. Once I got to this section, I really did not know what to think. On one hand, it looked like any car, any uniform, and any couch in that time period. Had I not known about their significance, I would not have cared. And yet, that fact made them have more impact on me. I can’t exactly describe the feeling of staring at these plain objects that were the stage of one of the most pivotal moments in our history as a species, especially to someone who is obsessed with the history of war, but I can say that it was a marvel to see that things so simple can become so important to our narrative. Anyone who is a war-buff, or just interested in history in general, NEEDS to see these objects for themselves.
After a few speechless minutes, we moved into the exhibit on WWII. I have to be honest; I was not impressed with this display. There was little to no information on the Austrian involvement in the War! The exhibit was designed to vilify the Nazis and Hitler in every shape and form. In a museum that espouses itself to be a bastion of historical information, they chose to put in a weird art exhibit featuring Hitler as a wolf instead of providing much REAL fact on one of the most important times in world history. The section on the Austrian Navy was more informative than the WWII exhibit! Austria today is a COMPLETELY LAND-LOCKED COUNTRY! I can only assume that the move to present Austria as juxtaposed to the Nazi agenda instead a part of it is just another method of coping with the ghastly past that was the Nazi annexation. Yet, pointing at this part of the past and making it seem evil does not change the fact that Austria was intertwined with the German war effort. To what degree, as Father Clemens remarked earlier in the week, we will probably never know. There were certainly Nazi sympathizers, but the numbers were so distorted by the Nazi party that it is hard to say how invested in the Third Reich the common Austrian was. Still, I wish that they could present the information to the best of their accurate knowledge and let us judge for ourselves instead of hide it away. Then again, I have seen very little in museums in America about our involvement in the genocide of the Native Americans during our colonial period. I suppose we both have things to learn.
Later during that day Jan organized a trip for a few of us to go to one of the largest cemeteries in Vienna, which happened to be really close to our apartments. It was an eye-opening experience to be sure. Of special note were the graves of such musical luminaries as (look this up!). Sadly, Jan could not find the burial site of Falco, a popular European pop artist (I think). Some of the more prominent families could afford to decorate the graves of their family and loved ones with ornate pillars, granite edifices, and impressive obelisks. As we journeyed deeper into the cemetery, however, we got to the most interesting and haunting portion: the Jewish section. Rows upon rows of gravesites were completely run over with weeds and grass. There were scarcely any Jewish graves that dated after the mid 1930s, which helps explain why these graves are allowed to be in a state of such disregard. After the Third Reich took power during this time period, many Jews were corralled into concentration and/or extermination camps. This process was effective enough to leave a Jewish presence in Vienna that is small enough to allow the graves of family and friends to be retaken by tall grass and weeds. At the end of one row there was a pile of broken grave stones which were the fragments left-over from a time when the cemetery was bombed.
The whole scene, from an objective stand-point, is easy enough to understand. You decimate a certain population, there is little voice left to prevent graves from becoming forgotten. Yet as a person actually walking around and seeing the graves of Christians as works of art while some portions of the Jewish section have been untouched in decades it was an eerie feeling. These people had lives, stories, families, and histories. It is a shame that war can even now take all of these things away from people. Additionally, it was an odd coincidence that earlier in the day I was engaged in an intellectual pursuit of the history of war and later I was walking through the still very emotional aftermath. It’s as if seeing the graves was the ultimate and final exhibit on military history.
To all those souls who have their last earthly holdings overgrown by nature, you will not be forgotten.

Day 7 8/8: Bringing a little bit of that Davis bike spirit to the Danube

Today was our first Saturday of the trip! A group of around ten of us decided that we were going to spend the day riding bikes along the Danube River and have a picnic. The beautiful thing about this city is that the Viennese built a stretch of island in the river complete with beautiful greenery, benches, and docks to go swimming off of. Ever since we learned about this island on the first bus tour (see day 2), I had been longing to take some good food and friends and explore.
Once we assembled, we started our journey by going to a bike shop close to our destination called Pedal Power. Being in there made me feel like I was in a professional bike shop in San Francisco; these guys were competent and very friendly. The young man who helped us get situated reminded me of some of my cyclist friends back in Davis: long hair, baggy shorts, and a friendly smile (pictured below behind CJ).
He seemed really eager to help us get everything that we needed for our ride, including the information necessary on safe biking and directions. I was impressed at how welcoming they staff at this bike shop were being, considering that we were American students who had no idea how to get to where we wanted to go. In previous encounters I had been treated as an ignorant outsider by the Viennese (see day 1, margarita incident). I was happy to see that the youth of Vienna are not propagating the same kind of resentment that the older generation are. Additionally, I think that the fact that we were coming together over a common activity (cycling) really provided a medium for us to have friendly and high-spirited interactions. This was the first time that I fully realized that attitudes towards Americans are not uniform among the population of Vienna; a realization that in turn caused me to question how attitudes would differ in other European countries/cities. I guess I am going to have to travel more to find out! After we were all geared up, we were off.
The ride was amazing. The combination of biking in the park with the cityscape in the background was absolutely beautiful. We stopped at one of the many benches along the way so that we could eat and swim.
My friend Melody and I decided to be awesome and swim to the other side of the stretch of the Danube that we were swimming in. It was a little harder than we expected, but well worth the effort. After we tired of swimming, we ate some sandwiches and had a relaxing time just talking about the different things that we were experiencing on this trip so far. The most popular subject of this discussion was how weird it was that the Europeans seem to think that putting ice in drinks is somehow bad for you (this sentiment later confirmed by Jan, our program coordinator who grew up in Germany). Every time that we have ordered drinks they have either had one or two cubes in them, or none at all. This is something that we are not used to in America, where we expect everything to come in a nice package and be well prepared. The same is not true here in Europe, we suppose, where people do not care as much about receiving everything designed to specification and convenience. What I think is really REALLY odd is the fact that a country that had a 23.2% smoking rate in 2006 (many of whom smoke multiple packs per day) is concerned about the use of frozen water to cool beverages. It seems pretty backwards to me, but I guess that’s the way things turned out. (Stats courtesy of http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/37/38979610.pdf)
After lunch a fair portion of our group headed back. The remaining four of us decided that we wanted to press on and see more of the island. Little did we know that we were heading for disaster. As we rode along, we noticed that the level of nakedness was going up the further we went. It was not until we were about 5 minutes down the road did we realize that we were accidently riding head-long into a nudist colony! This would not have been terrible, but there was not a single person there younger than 50. Once we were out of the jungle, so to speak, we stopped to recover from our scarring excursion. Looking back on it, this experience is very indicative of the different attitudes held by Americans and Europeans on the human body. My American upbringing has ingrained in me that the naked form is reserved for private moments. We have public indecency laws against exposure and social norms sending the message that nakedness is only for a narrow range of situations. The same is not true of Europeans, where there are sections of public space DEDICATED to nakedness. I would have thought that this practice would lead to some form of moral degradation (being the American that I am), but it in fact is just another method of relaxation for them. They take it as a way to truly experience the outdoors. I don’t plan on becoming a nudist, but I have definitely gained a new respect and appreciation for how the naked form can be integrated into society for the purpose of quality of life. (That being said, we biked as fast as we could).
Hunger drove us to finally return the bikes and find some dinner. On the way back my friend CJ and I had the misfortune on meeting the ugly side of Viennese aggression towards Americans. We accidentally rode on the wrong side of the road because there was construction on the road and we were not familiar with the signs directing us to the right way. We rode to the sidewalk as soon as we could so we would not cause in more danger to ourselves or to the motorists. When we got off the bikes so we could walk them to the path, we were confronted by a couple who asked us where we were from. We told them that we were from California, expecting a friendly conversation. “You’re both brainless idiots,” was the response that we were met with. Stunned, we did not really know how to react. We tried to say something but they already disappeared into the crowd by the time we could form a response. That’s probably a good thing, because I was pissed off enough to have said something rash. CJ and I both understood that we were doing something wrong and we tried to fix it as soon as possible! Their actions toward us are a discredit to the Austrians; we had already seen how friendly and understanding they could be when the guy working at the bike store helped us out. I will try and be diplomatic in my discussion and conclusion of the incident, but I will say that I hope to run into them again at some point. The lesson that I chose to learn from this is that there really is not a unified consensus among Europeans/Austrians/Viennese on how to feel about Americans. In the same day we were treated with both kindness and contempt. This just proves to me that, just like that couple made assumptions about us, I made assumptions coming to Vienna that there would be a pretty consistent attitude towards us. I guess that we were both wrong.

Day 6 8/7: "Look at me, I'm smART!"

Today started off well. Because of the long day that we had the day before, Professor Stuart decided to cancel morning classes. A lot of sleeping was done. After we all woke up and fed/cleaned ourselves we were off to the Kunsthistoisches Museum, the Art History museum of Vienna, to take a tour of some of Vienna/Austria’s most famous and significant paintings. The building that houses the museum took 20 years to construct (1871-1891) when Emperor Franz Joseph I was trying to expand the city.
We met up with a friend/colleague of Dr.O’s who was to be our tour guide of the museum. Once we were all assembled outside of the doors, we went in. The building, like most museums and places of importance in Vienna, is massive and ornate. By now I have been in Vienna long enough to not be absolutely taken aback by how grandiose the interior was, but it was still quite an impressive building.
Our tour guide, unfortunately, was not as adept as I/we would have hoped. It was very hard to understand her quiet voice and what information we did receive was nothing that we could not have found out by reading the little placards next to each painting. She was very nice and a pleasant lady, but it was very hard to keep my attention focused on the things that she was talking about. Because of this, a fair amount of us decided to go and look at the paintings by ourselves. I have never spent time in an art history museum before, as I was never interested in art as much as I was interested in guns and battles of the past. However, because I had been learning about the artistic and historical contexts behind each painting it was much more interesting to see the actual visual representations of the things that we had been learning about.
The most poignant example of this was the comparison between the paintings of Catholic artists and Protestant artists. According to both the class lecture and the reading in Parsons, the Counter-Reformation heavily employed the Baroque artistic style in order to inspire religious fervor in those who gazed upon it. In the Kunsthistoisches Museum I saw that not only did this mean the construction of grandiose building but also the production of lavish paintings which depict scenes of angles, demons, and the general triumph of God. Specific to this point are the paintings of Rubens, who was a luminary artist of the Catholic Church. The painting of his that I was most captivated by was St. Ignatius of Loyola, which depicts people in the throughs of demonic possession along side the glorious saint.
It is very indicative of Catholic artistic propaganda that was aimed to invoke a deeper sense of religiosity in the Counter-Reformation period. In addition, and what I personally find more interesting, is how this painting sheds light on the mind-frame of mental illness at the time period. Our professor explained to us (as this is her current field of research) that the Church at the time saw mental illness as a form of possession by satanic forces. In today’s society we recognize that mental illness is not a form of possession but an affliction just like any other medical issue (well, at least most of us do). Two other paintings of his also exemplify the Catholic mentality: “Lamentations of Christ by the Virgin Marry and John” painted in 1614 depicts Jesus in a state of pain so real that the viewer cannot help but almost feel the same pain and thus gain reverence for the sufferings of Jesus. “The Miracle of St. Francis Xavier” painted in 1617 depicts the Saint calling in the forces of Heave to cure the sinners below him. This image is meant to evoke emotions of self-reflection with the intent of repenting. Rubens’ paintings propagated the idea of ‘mystical realism,’ which suggests that Saints in paintings must have visions so that those viewing the piece will desire one as well. This again proves how Catholic artists during the Counter-Reformation period tried to ignite a religious/Catholic passion among the people.
The same is not true of painters in the Protestant camp. In class we learned that a key theological difference between these two religious groups was/is that Protestants reject the idea of objects and practices outside of the Scripture having spiritual meaning whereas the Catholic dogma incorporates many religiously significant customs into the faith (see Day 4). Indicative of the absence of grandiose religious symbolism are the paintings of Rembrandt. The dominant themes in his paintings focused on portraits, landscapes, and stories. He has many self-portraits in the Kunsthistoisches Museum, my favorite being the portrait in which he looks older and shows the weight of his burdens (he outlived two of his sons and was buried in an unmarked grave in Westerkerk). Whereas the art of Rubens was focused on the supernatural, Rembrandt’s art focused on things of this Earth. This became clear when we saw that the paintings of his that were in the museum were very simple, for example his “Portrait of a Woman” and “Portrait of a Man” both painted in 1632. They were literally portraits of a man and of a woman, with no message of higher beings. This disconnect highlights many of the differences between Catholics and Protestants in their view of how to allot their focus; Catholics obviously want everything to glorify God whereas Protestants prefer to keep the spiritual realm to only scripture.
To me, seeing actual history in the paintings and reading into the contexts under which each one was executed made the whole experience much better than the other ones that I had in art museums. Not only is it more interesting to be able to understand how and why painters created what they did, but it is more fun to be able to fill in the lines between art and history. Perhaps next time I travel to a city, I will read up on some of the art history and visit the museums that house the great (and not so great) artists of all time periods
Today's blog was brought to you by the German word 'beantwarten,' which means 'to answer'

Day 5 8/6: In which we first meet Fr. Clemens

Best day of the whole trip thus far. Hands down. We woke up early so we could catch a bus for our trip to Klosterneurburg where we were to visit an almost 900 year-old monastery of the same name that also houses one of the largest wineries in Austria. I had been looking forward to this day ever since I heard about it; I mean, we were going to get a tour of an amazing location of history and culture by a real canon!
When we got to the monastery, I was amazed by how beautiful it was. It was the type of place that I had only seen in movies and post-cards before I had ever been outside of the country. I took a picture of me doing push-ups in front of the fountain, you know, for fun. We started our day with a tour of the wine cellars, where real wine was still being made and stored. The winery of Klosterneurburg is not only the largest in Austria, it is also the oldest. The monastery’s wine production takes its roots (pun) many hundreds of years ago when the Catholic Church gave the order permission to grow wine in order to raise money for its existence. Although I am from the wine country in Sonoma Country and go to UC Davis, I knew very little about wine going into the tour. One thing I learned that was of particular interest was that having black mold on the side of the walls of the tunnels is a sign that the humidity levels are about right for the grapes. The most interesting thing to me, aside from hearing that mold was good, is that the people who built the tunnels could actually build in an early method of air conditioning in order to alter the conditions for the grapes. They did so by first by pioneering the idea of making double walls with about a foot in between to keep extreme temperatures from affecting the grapes. They also built vents that the cellar master could open and close. I never knew that there are so many factors that go into making good wine! I thought that it was a function of the soil and grapes, but even the environment in which it is stored plays a crucial role in the quality of the product.
The tour guide went on to briefly mention something in passing that I wish she talked about more: she said that, although the winery is doing fairly well in Europe, it can’t compete abroad because of the lower prices of American produce. I wish that I had a chance to talk with her more about this, because one of the causes that I am interested and involved in is the abolition of American agricultural subsidies because it creates artificially low prices that other countries who can’t afford to subsidize their agriculture can’t compete with. I was a little angry to hear that our economic hegemony has affected the ability for this amazing and historic winery to function on a more global level. I wish that a larger portion of the American population knew about the plight of agriculture abroad, and perhaps anyone reading this blog who wants to learn more should visit www.kickaas.typepad.com for more information on how subsidized agriculture is undercutting the global market. That’s my soap-box for this blog.
After the wine tour, we grabbed a quick lunch at a café where I had one of the most delicious treats I have ever seen (pictured below).
We met back at the monastery and began our tour with the best tour guide I have ever had. We were led by Father Clemens, a practitioner of the Canons Regular order which has existed at Klosterneurburg for centuries. He is originally from New York, so being led by someone who not only spoke English but was familiar with our cultural background was a welcome change of pace from the heavy accents and stale tours that we had been on before. Besides, the guy is hilarious. He was making jokes and taking cell phone calls during the tour, which made him and the information that he was giving us much more accessible.
Klosterneurburg was founded by Leopold III of Babenberg, who was later canonized as the patron saint of Lower Austria. During the reign of the Habsburgs Charles VI altered the monastery with the intent of making his place of rule resemble the Escorial, which was the ruling location of the Spanish Habsburgs. The Spanish Escorial was very indicative of the ruling paradigm at the time, which was the combination of church and state into one empire. The structure consists of four courtyards with the royal court at one end and a church at the other, thus fusing empire and God into one. This was the archetype for Klosterneurburg when construction was started, but Charles VI died before it was completed. Only the church had been finished. His daughter, Maria Theresia, was not interested in pursuing her father’s vision and focused her efforts elsewhere. Still, Klosterneurburg is a very impressive structure. Of all the many items and sights that Father Clemens showed us, there are two that I will never forget.
The first was the Verdun Altar, one of the most impressive pieces of medieval art in the world. It is named after Nikolaus of Verdun, who stopped in the abbey as he was traveling and stayed for almost 10 years in order to finish the altar (it was completed in 1181). It consists of 51 panel made entirely of enamel arranged in three rows that depict scenes in the Old Testament that foreshadow events in the New Testament. My favorite was the panel that shows Jerusalem, the heavenly city, at the top, the Devourer (representing Hell) at the bottom, and Jesus in the middle as the path separating the two.
To me, the altar was the perfect combination of artistic beauty and philosophical expression. One cannot gaze upon its magnificence without also contemplating the message of the piece. To be honest, I don’t remember much of what was said about the altar because I was so captivated by it. I was the last one to leave the room that it’s housed in, and I am already making plans to go back and see it by myself.
The second sight that held my gaze and thought was the inside of the church itself. I am not exactly sure how to put this into words, but I suppose that I have to try. The building is very tall, with every inch of the interior covered by an ornate gold piece, art depicting heavenly scenes, and/or gorgeous granite.In the back is an organ more massive and taller than any other that I have seen. There is not a dull sight in the entire place. Again, this church is very indicative of the Catholic belief in meditation. A parishioner in this church is inspired to meditate on Christ and his sufferings so much that he/she can almost feel it. In this manner is one elevated further on the path to salvation, according to Catholic theology at the time. I learned that mass is still said here, which means that I have one more thing to add to my list of things to do!
After our extensive tour, we were all incredibly hungry. We made our way to a Heuriger (meaning this year’s), a wine-garden that serves the most recently produced wine and delicious food. We all piled in and sat at two different tables. Some of the people at my table ordered the blood sausage, while I tried an assortment of meats and pastes. Everything was very good and very filling, which is exactly what we all needed after our 3+ hour tour. After Father Clemens joined us, we ordered the wine. The night only got better/more ridiculous from there. He knew the best wines that the garden offered and made sure that we were well looked after. His company was much appreciated. What was most astounding was that he invited many of us back! So, naturally, we all made promises to return and spend more time in the fabulous place. Some of us stayed at the table for nearly 6 hours by the time we decided to head home. We bid him farewell and concluded out amazing journey. I made it back and went to bed with a smile on my face. What a day.

Day 4 8/5: I like to ride my bicycle!

Today’s lessons in Vienna were focused on the role of religion and how it affected much of the history of the city. In class we learned about the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the church’s movement against the Protestant Reformation that began in the mid 1500s. During this time period the Catholic Church made aggressive moves to retake ground that people like Luther had gained once he split with the papacy. One of the main areas of theological contention between Luther and the Catholic Church was the Church’s use of spiritual aides outside of the Scripture to supplement a person’s religious experience. Whereas Luther proclaimed “solascriptura,” meaning “only scripture,” the Church relied on practices and elaborate items to show their devotion to God. The reason for this difference is that, as Beller writes, Lutherans believe that original sin is so damning that an individual can only receive salvation when God gives him/her the grace necessary to make it to heaven. Catholicism teaches that a person must earn salvation through deeds and not just the reading of the scripture, thus giving legitimacy to the sacraments, praying the rosary, and praying to specific saints. The Counter-Reformation aimed to make these practices more prevalent in Europe. As a Catholic myself, I had never quite understood the reason for the split from the Church. My lessons thus far had dealt with the social qualms that Luther had against the Church, like the use of indulgences, but I had little to no real appreciation for the ways in which the Protestants had/have a real theological disagreement with Catholicism. This lesson caused me to begin to examine my faith in relation to others so that I may come to a more complete understanding of the underpinnings of my practices and beliefs, as well as a better understanding of the faiths of others.
The lesson became even more vivid for me once my friends and I went to Karlkirche, the ornate Roman Catholic church completed in 1737 as a sign of thanks to God for his help in banning the Black Plague from Vienna. It was commissioned by Emperor Charles VI in the time period when Catholicism had retaken its role of vital importance to the lives of those in Europe, and as such it was built with the idea of being a true house of God. As the picture below shows, the Catholics were not messing around when they wanted to celebrate God.
The building combines many styles of architecture, such as ancient Greece and Rome, as well as Baroque, into an impressive and beautiful structure that is as pleasing to the eyes as many of the famous churches in the world. The interior is even more impressive. There is not a single portion of the ceiling that is not decorated by elaborate paintings of saints, angels, and of course the dove which symbolizes the Holy Spirit (although to see this dove I had to walk up the wooden flight of stairs, an act of faith in itself).
The bright gold altar is the center of attention as one looks towards the front of the church, but one cannot help but let the eyes wander to the rest of the gold statues and beautiful paintings. In this way it is indicative of the Catholic faith, because it encourages one to seek methods of connecting with God outside of just the scripture. One can imagine how a parishioner attending mass might shift attention away from the readings and ponder the life on a saint depicted on the wall, which is a central theme and practice for the Catholic faith. I had never realized this but I do the same thing in my own church back home, although it is not nearly as magnificent as Karlkirche. I fully admit to losing attention to my priest so I can think on one of the many Stations of the Cross that are all around me on Sundays. Never before had I thought about how historical trends can infuse themselves in architecture, but now that I have learned about this I will look for this significance in any future building that I visit.
The day continued when we decided to rent a city bike and roam around Vienna. It took us a while to figure out how to rent the bikes; I accidently took my bike out and put it back in, which meant that I had to wait another 15 minutes before I could take it out again. Super fail. After half an hour of being obviously American, we were off. The thing that impressed me the most about that ride was how easy it was to ride as a large group in the middle of a fairly metropolitan city. I have spent a lot of time biking in San Francisco where I would have to take my life into my own hands. In Vienna there are well-defined bike paths and lights specifically for bikes to cross. This is impressive even to a Davis student! After about an hour of getting lost we decided to stop and split a bottle of wine. We purchased a bottle with a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge on it so we could taste a little bit of home. While we were sipping on the wine a friendly (and probably drunk) Viennese man named Wolfgang comes up to us and with a thick accent asks us where we were from. “California,” we all responded as we pointed to the picture of the Bridge. Upon hearing this he began to do a little jig and sang some song about California. We tried our best to communicate with him and had ourselves a pretty good time.
We decided to leave once other drunk Viennese decided to join in. We did not want to be too obviously American. The day ended when we returned the bikes found our way home to have dinner and relax. A very packed day!

Day 3 8/4: "what the $@#$ is that?!"

Today was an eye-opening day. It started out in class where we learned about how the needs of people and empires hold sway over the flow of history. Check it: In 955, the German King was victorious at the Battle of Lechfeld and gave control of Osterreich (the eastern empire) to the Babenberg family. They would become the first of two families to hold dynastic rule over the country. What was fascinating to me is the fact that rulers at the turn of the century had very few methods of telling whether or not their orders were being followed, so they had to have many capitals and places of residence in different parts of the country in order to maintain a more effective rule over their country. For example, Melk and Klosterneurburg both became places of imperial residence during the Babenberg rule. This process was indicative of the formation of more modern states, as Parsons argues, because it shows the shift away from smaller lands with territorial lords to larger holdings where law and order were to be carried out by authoritative agents. I see it as the difference between Free Imperial Cities (German equivalent of nation-states) and more current nations. As a student who is predominantly versed in United States history, it is interesting to see how European countries had a much different struggle with the establishment of their states. We divided power among the federal level and state level, where the federal laws were carried out by the individual states. The president did not have to travel to each state and see his laws obeyed, he could rely on the state’s government itself to see to that. I think that the reason for this is that we institutionalized power instead on consolidating it. The constitution was our way of creating a country, rather than giving the reigns of control to one family.
One area in which the US and Europe share similar histories in the process to state-building was the consolidation of violence. In the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (medieval period to 1806, approximately), there existed the idea of The Knight’s Right to Private Warfare. This was the result of each individual territorial ruler employing his/her own army to expand and defend his/her land. In this way they built estates. The formation of a nation, however, demanded the abolition of this practice in favor of only one army. Parsons writes that “by 1493, the Habsburgs had consolidated their position in Central Europe and were ready to move from the defensive to the offensive.” Many battles were fought between cities who wanted to keep their autonomy and the then Habsburg rulers during their dynastic rule. The end goal was to have the use of violence be consolidated to the state, thus legitimizing its power and its very existence. The same can be said for American history, as we fought wars not only against the Native Americans and the Spanish, but sometimes our own citizens (Civil War, Bloody Kansas, etc) in order to end the use of violence by parties other than the federal government. I see these two courses as a way to view the roll of any country, because the existence of a military not controlled by the government is a threat to that government. It’s why we have gun laws today. I was amazed to see that this process took its roots in history that is so far back!
After class we made a very somber journey. We were on our way to St. Stephansdom, a massive gothic church that is almost 850 years old, when it started raining. And I mean it got dark, scary, and wet. I was enjoying the change in weather until we broke out of the shopping district and beheld St. Stephansdom. The thing is a monolith. It’s domineering size and impressive gothic looks coupled with the dark rain made it an experience for all of the senses. Hollywood could barely make a more impressive scene. Even after walking all the way around the church I had to sit down and try to digest what I was seeing. No wonder there is a law in Vienna stating that no building in the city can be taller than St. Stephansdom! This law’s existence would most likely not be tolerated in the United States because we are (usually) very careful to separate church from state. Preserving this church’s impressive significance just highlights the fact that we are in a very catholic country. Parsons argues that this church is a symbol of Vienna’s survival as a Catholic country. This sentiment is true, to a degree. Obviously the Viennese want to preserve their identity by keeping St. Stephansdom as the seminal building of the whole city when one views it from afar. Yet, from a street view, the church is often times hidden from view by the expensive shopping district with a Starbucks and McDonald’s on every other corner. It is an odd locus of European and American cultures. St. Stephansdom stands as one of the Viennese most proud monuments and places of worship, but that has not stopped the encroachment of capitalism trying to pray on the tourists and their wallets. It is almost a shame that the area surrounding the church has been so developed with brand name stores, but I am impressed that this has not stopped the Viennese from preserving it as best they can.
It took about 20 minutes of staring for us to finally walk in. The interior to the church was even more impressive that the outside. It reminds me of that Disney movie Hunchback of Notre Dame. There are gothic depictions of Jesus and angels everywhere, with beautiful stain-glass windows adorning many of the walls along the church. The tour that we went on included a visit to the catacombs, which served as a mass burial site. It was definitely an eerie experience to see so many bones of people centuries gone. After we finished the macabre visit to dozens of people long dead, we headed to one of the towers of the church. The view from the top was absolutely amazing; we could practically see all of Vienna with the near panoramic vantage point that the tower offered. After some minutes of our awe-struck stay, the tour was over and we descended.
We took the public transport back to Simmering, the part of Vienna in which we were staying. Thinking about the differences between the Viennese and American systems of public transportation was astounding. Viennese subways were prompt and frequent; we never had to wait more than 5 minutes for our train to arrive. Going back and forth between the classroom, Simmering, and wherever else our adventures took us was never a difficult task. It was no wonder that many Viennese did not have a car because there was really no need for a car to go around in the city. Compared with the transport in San Francisco, for example, it is far superior. Bart alone is never discussed in a positive light because it frequently breaks, is late, or is plain unsafe to use. Muni is a little better but that still take a while and does not cover parts of the city that one would want to travel to. In addition to the underground transportation, the Viennese tram system is also very good. Most of the American tram systems that I have been on take a long time to get anywhere and/or do not extend to where people want them. Viennese trams are pretty much the exact opposite of this. By the third day we had figured out how to get almost anywhere that we wanted/needed to go in the city and we could do it fast. If America were to have such an efficient system, it would go a long way to curtailing the effects of global warming and might even have additional benefits for the environment.
Today’s blog was brought to you by the German word ‘wahrscheinlich’, which means ‘probably’!

Day Two 8/3: Riding the not-so-short bus

Another information-filled day in Vienna. Before we got started with the day’s activities, I went to my first Viennese café with some of my friends from the program. This was an experience in culture for me because the Austrians, and most Europeans, have vastly different ideas about what going out should be like. In America we are used to going to a restaurant, ordering right away, eating, and leaving once the meal is concluded. This is not the case here. I thought that the waitresses forgot our order because it took them forever to bring the food and drinks and even longer to bring us the bill once we were done. We had two hours before we had to be somewhere, and we spent the entire time relaxing at this café. Spending that much time at a restaurant just does not happen in The States because people are so rushed in our hectic lives, but here it’s an every-day occurrence. The experience highlighted for me the difference in mind-frame between the two cultures. The Europeans are very concerned with the quality of life and having a good time whereas we are almost trained to be stressed about something. Between school, job, extra-curricular activities, and general running around I don’t have time to blow two hours sitting down and doing nothing. It’s a practice that I plan on making a habit of once I get back to Davis.

At 2:00 pm we met up with a woman named Dr. O (her name is too hard to pronounce for us Americans), a friend of Dr. Stuart who is a teacher in Vienna so that we could go on a bus tour all around Vienna. We piled onto the bus and went off on what would be a long and intense journey of sights and history. All along the bus ride we were listening to Dr. O giving commentary on the historical significance of many of the buildings that we were passing. The little piece of information that struck me the most was the fact that some of the streets along the Ringstrasse were built wide so that troops would have an easier time firing upon crowds who might be revolting. This planning is very indicative of monarchical governments, as Parsons says in his book on Viennese cultural history. I agree with this observation, governments who consolidate power frequently have to take steps to guard themselves against their subjects, as there have been (and continue to be) revolts all throughout history.
We stopped at one of the most amazing places I have ever been: The Belvedere. This is the Baroque palace commissioned by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the early 1700s as his summer retreat. The palace complex consists of two large buildings, upper Belvedere which is by far the larger and more opulent building situated on top of the hill, and lower Belvedere. Prince Eugene was a brilliant military strategist who helped the Habsurgs defend their territory against the Turks. What I find ironic is the fact that Prince Eugene was not an Austrian, but a French native who wanted to fight for Louis XIV. It was only after Louis rejected his service did Prince Eugene move to Austria. His is one of the most beautiful and revered palaces in Vienna. I also find it surprising that Prince Eugene did not live in upper Belvedere, but let his friends and guests live in it. He preferred the intimacy of lower Belvedere, among his art collections. To me, this trait is an admirable one. Most military heroes of the time period demanded as much pomp and circumstance as they could, whereas Prince Eugene selected a relatively relaxed life-style. I also admire the passion with which he collected art. His collection has largely lived on today and is available for the future generations to enjoy. The history of the palace, however, was hard to focus on when I beheld the view. The sheer size of the complex has few equals in the United States!
After our tour of the grounds, we tried to head back on the bus tour. Silly us. The front of the bus had been hit by another bus, creating a giant crack in the windshield and breaking one of the side mirrors off. We had to wait for about 30 minutes to get another bus. While we passed the time by getting in some shopping, our bus driver smoked a few cigarettes to relax. Funny stuff.
My favorite part of the entire tour was our visit to the scenic Vienna Woods. This area is on the foothills of the Alps that overlooks the city. The view from the top is absolutely breath-taking! Also at the top is a church that Pope John Paul II himself visited (Austria being his native country). Dr. O explained to us that since many Viennese live in apartments or in urban areas, they don’t have much in the way of nature to call their own. So they go to the Vienna woods to hike, picnic, and take in all that nature has to offer. I am an avid backpacker and a lover of the outdoors, so I can honestly say with some authority that the beauty of the Vienna woods rivals some of the most celebrated outdoor destinations in the US. I plan on taking bread, cheese, a nice bottle of wine, and some friends there again for a long day hike.
By far the weirdest stop on our journey was Hundertwasserhaus, an apartment complex built by Friedensreich Hunderwtwasser between 1983 and 1986. He was an Austrian artist-turned-architect who is famous for his use of free-flowing, almost stream of consciousness techniques that made his buildings look like they were designed by a child with a colorful imagination. He hated straight lines, on occasion going to far as to call them ‘evil.’ The apartment complex itself reminded me of something that I might find at Disney Land with the wandering lines and the uneven windows. He allowed his tenants to draw anything they wanted within arms’ reach of the windows, so it has all sorts of different colors. It’s quite amazing.
Hundertwasser became my favorite architect for two reasons. The first is that he was a brilliant artist who had original ideas. He rejected conventional wisdom and refused to create anything that was not his own, all the while feeling comfortable inviting criticism because of it. The second reason is that he wanted to be an agent of the people in service to Vienna. His apartment complex was built with the idea of being for public housing, giving a cheap and attractive option for those who can’t afford to live in other places. As a student, I can appreciate this sentiment. He also transformed the city’s factory into an attractive and imaginative structure, believing that even a factory can be fun to look at. Anyone who can be that brilliant by allowing the child within to live and not be crushed by society is a man worthy of high praise in my book. Basically, I love this guy. Too bad he’s dead. I ended the day thinking about his legacy and how I can apply it to my life.
Today's blog post was brought to you by the German word meistens, which means mostly!

Day One 8/2: sights sights and more sights

Vienna. Is. Amazing. This program is the first time that I have been outside of the United States, so naturally I was amazed when my roommate and I were dropped in front of our apartment complex and saw buildings that were older than our country being used for Laundromats and fast food chains. My shock did not stop at the buildings however, as the rich and fascinating history of the city was still ahead of me.
The first full day in Vienna started in the classroom of the Austro-Amerikan Institute. The Institute was founded in 1926 as in an attempt to foster cross cultural learning and awareness in the post-World War I era. It operated successfully until the outbreak of the Second World War prevented the peaceful exchange of students. Today Viennese students learn English there during the school year, and it plays host to American students like us during the summers when most Austrians are on vacation. The director Markus and his staff are very accommodating, I look forward to working under their supervision.
We moved on to a walking tour of the city near our classroom led by Professor Stuart. We began with the Oper, the old Viennese opera house located right across the street from the classroom building. It was built in the 19th century in the Neo-Renaissance artistic motif. Sadly, it was bombed in WWII and had to be rebuilt. The Viennese reception of the building was not warm. They criticized it for not being as opulent as the other buildings that already defined Vienna. They said that it resembled a “sunken box.” The harassment got so severe that Van der Null, one of the architects, committed suicide. This history is shocking to me because the building is actually very ornate and beautiful by American standards and would be a revered addition to any US city. The level of elegance that the Viennese experienced and still experience in their living environment is incredibly high because of the wealth and power of the dynastic rule of the Hapsburgs who ruled for over 600 years.
The next stop that struck me was at a corner that was the site of an apartment building that housed civilians during the bombing of Vienna in WWII. It was struck by a direct bomb hit, killing everyone who was taking refuge inside was killed and their remains were never excavated. It serves as a memorial to “the victims of fascism,” at least that’s what the English sign says. My friend Chris who studied the German language at Davis told me that the German sign does not say “memorial to the victims of fascism,” but says “memorial to fascism.” This slight difference in rhetoric echoes what must be the Austrian method of dealing with the duality of their history. On one hand, they feel a need to distance themselves from that part of their past to the English-speaking world, but on the other they feel a need to maintain the historical importance of the time period to those who speak German, and are therefore more likely to understand the sentiment. One of the more interesting subjects to me is how former Nazi countries deal with the past. The picture below shows that one way to deal with it is to form social movements to get away from the Nazi past.

The highlight of the day, however, would have to be our visit to the Museums Quartier at the end of the tour. This area is in the 7th district of Vienna and is among the top ten largest cultural centers in the world. The whole day had been walking in fairly brutal heat and this was the first time that we got a chance to settle down with a cool drink. It was here that I first experienced how rude the Viennese can be to Americans. I wanted to order a “frozen margarita” without alcohol (it being 4 pm, after all). After I communicated this to the waiter in english, he stared at me and very curtly replied “so what am I supposed to put in it?” My friend Jordan and I told him to make it with just the mix, but he insisted that it would not work and treated me like I was an idiot. I believe that the absence of alcohol would not have compromised the margarita’s structural integrity, but he seemed to think different. He blended it, plopped the concoction into my cup, and slammed it on the table. Needless to say, the asshole did not get a tip. His attitude towards Americans is not unique, as I was treated very poorly on many more occasions throughout the trip. I was also treated very well by other Viennese so there is not a uniform distaste for Americans, which I was expecting going into the trip. I am happy that, maybe in part because of centers like the Amerikan Institute, there is largely a comfortable cohabitation between Americans and Europeans. All you have to do is be humble and smile.


Today's post was brought to you by the German word 'Verdienen', which means 'to learn.' Appropriate!