Our first stop along the way was to Eisenstadt, where the Hungarian noble family Eszterhazy resided and where the composer Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) lived as the family’s personal composer. We arrived there around noon and ate a quick lunch before the tour of the Eszterhazy estate. The tour was a little boring because it was mostly pictures that we have either already seen or could have looked up ourselves. For example, this tour was probably the third or fourth time that we all heard about how Joseph II was a pragmatist (see Day 9). Because of this, I did a fair amount of solo wondering around the museum to see some exhibits. What was most striking to me was learning about how music fit into society in those days. Instead of having a largely free market to demand music like we do today, composers were hired by independent families to create for them. In Eisenstadt, The Eszterhazy family employed Haydn and thus he was beholden to some of their desires. I love music and I purchase a new CD on iTunes probably around once a week, so the idea that a certain composer was endeared to one family for tenure and mostly made music for them was something that was completely alien to me. Yet, at the time, the larger and more prominent families were the only ones with enough money to purchase music and thus could employ their own composer. This is not to say that there was no free-market for music, Melton writes “The opportunities for performance and composition offered by London’s array of public concerts did, after all, help lure Haydn away from Eszterhazy in 1790 and free him from the aristocratic patronage on which he had subsisted for almost thirty years.” The fact that musicians look for a public sphere in order to escape the private sphere was astonishing to me.
In preparation for this trip, I listened to some music by Haydn. The piece that I listened to was titled “The Clock.” I, having little to no background in classical music, could honestly not tell the difference between his music and that of any number of the famous composers that I have heard. This probably just because of my ignorance, but I did not hear anything special about the music itself. That being said, I did like it. I found it quite relaxing, and actually found it again to listen to as I write this blog. It’s very good music to study with! I am not sure that Haydn would appreciate my very new-age undergraduate-y application of his life’s work, but this is the most appreciation that I have had for classical music ever so I am counting it as a win for him.
After the museum tour, we went on a walking tour of the city. The culminating stop on this tour was our visit to Bergkirche, the church where Haydn is buried and the site of intricate carvings of the Stations of the Cross. However, I was not impressed with the tomb for a few reasons. The first was that the room that we were corralled into was dank and did not have any fresh air, making it an unpleasant place to stand. The second is because there was nothing very impressive to see. There were two skulls on display, but that turned out to be an imposter from when someone tried to reap the reward that was posted for Haydn’s skull. Because Haydn did not specify where he would like his body to rest, his skull was stolen from a temporary grave and was not returned until 1954. The other skull that was displayed was a wax impression of the real skull. So of the two skulls, one wasn’t real and one was from a stranger. Other than that it was an interesting experience to see the tomb of a very famous composer, especially one that I had listened to and enjoyed.
By far the most interesting and intense display that we visited on this brief sojourn was the Stations of the Cross. These were life-size wooden statues that depict Christ at each of the Stations along his Passion. They were built with the idea of presenting the citizenry with a scene that would put them into the Passion and would evoke spiritual stirrings. These wooden scenes are located in an area that looks like a dungeon where there would have been candle light that made the figures appear to move. As we walked from station to station, it was clear how a viewer could easily become contemplative and want to believe. What was interesting to see was how the figures were portrayed. Each person was dressed as they would have been at the time of the carving instead of at the time of Christ. Kathy specifically pointed out that the Jews who were jeering Jesus were wearing black hats that were common to the time period of the statues’ birth rather than when the scene took place.
After a post-tour lunch we were done with our visit to Eisenstadt and piled back onto the bus and continued our journey to the Alps! Around 1700 hours (5 pm) or so we arrived at the base of the mountain where we were going to stay, and prepared for the gondola ride to the top. The actual ride in the small box was not as terrifying as I thought it would be because it was much smaller than the ones that I had seen in James Bond movies and the like, but that did not stop some of the students from closing their eyes during our ascent. We made it safely to our lodging, a place called Raxaple (www.raxalpe.com). At the time I thought that it was a small place, but I would later learn how small the lodging can really get in the Alps. It was situated overlooking the gorgeous view from the top. The picture does not do it justice; one must actually be standing atop the ledge to fully experience the breath-taking awe of the place, and even then the site is too marvelous for one person to process.
We waited for our dinner by sitting on a bench outside while Professor Stuart found one of the resident cats named Otto.For dinner, I decided to go native and try a traditional Austrian dish called Kaiserschmarrn (spelled to the best of my ability; it means “imperial nonsense”). It consisted of sweet dough dumplings, coated in powdered sugar, and plum jelly to dip the balls in. It was delicious! It was an odd choice for the main course because it was really sweet, which would seem like a dessert to most Americans. There are no complaints from me, though it was by far the best option to have as my first meal in the Alps. The night was concluded with merriment and joy by all. My friends and I made plans to strike out early for an intense hike the next day, so we retired into our small Alpine room with more excitement than when we woke up that morning.
Day Two of our stay in the Alps dawned, and we prepared to depart for an epic day of Alpine hiking. The original contingent of mountain-men included Jordan, Tyler, Zach, Carlos, and Alex Nunn, and myself. However, we managed to attract more followers to the group became rather large by the time we hit the trail at around 0900 (9 am). Our plan was to hike to the hardest, steepest, and highest point that we could find while stopping at the small huts and cottages along the way for food, just like the Austrians do. This was unlike any hike that I had been on before, and not just because it was in the Alps. The mountains are dotted with little cottages along the trails. These cottages are usually owned by a family and they serve food and drink to the hikers. Many of the lodges that are higher up in the mountains offer overnight services to those who are brave enough to venture to them. Each establishment had their own flag, and some had their own cats! This is an idea that I have only seen or heard about existing in Europe. Of all the places that I have hiked in the US, never have I seen a system of authentic lodges like the ones in the Alps. What made the hike interesting further was seeing the people who were making the high-altitude hikes. Whereas is unusual to see older folks doing high-adventure hikes in America, it was almost the norm here in the Alps. We saw many groups of people who looked old enough to be parents or more traversing the same trails as we were, and many of them were faster than most people in our group! It seems like the culture in Europe favors physical activity and maintaining one’s body. The same is true of the general body type in Vienna as well; there were far less obese people than there are in America. I can see how this is true in Vienna because a person does so much walking around the town and up its many stairs. In addition to that, Vienna makes it really easy and almost preferable to use a bike as a primary mode of transportation. Of course, what made the hike the most amazing hike of my life thus far was the fact that it was in the freaking ALPS! I still can’t get over that.
We stopped at one of the lodges for lunch and randomly met up with the professor, her friend Hans-Joerg (who, as it happens, is one of the world’s leading experts on the history of print). During our meal, the sky looked as though it were about to rain, which prompted most of the group to abandon the outdoors in favor of the safety of our lodge. As it turns out, Kathy, Hans-Joerg, and I were the only ones with enough gumption to press onwards towards the peak. The others left, and we started out. Thus began the best hike of my life.
Much to my disappointment, it did not rain. In fact, it got sunnier and warmer as we went along. After about 30 minutes of hiking and a discussion about how one is supposed to make a living pursuing a history degree, we started to get the feeling that we were not going the right way. We wanted to go up the mountain and we were going downhill, which was not a good sign. After we corrected ourselves, we stopped at another lodge for a snack and a rest. It was here that Kathy turned me on to a beverage called a Radler, which is half beer and half lemonade. After a few hours of hiking, it was just what we all needed. It was at this lodge that we had our first view of the cows that live in the Alps. Cows were first transported to the Alps to provide milk and meat to the people who lived on the mountains. Now, they exist in fairly large herds and have free range on the pastures. Bells are attached to the lead cow (the one that all of the other cows follow) so that their owners can find all of them once it’s time it bring them in.
Once we figured out where we needed to go, we set out on the steep uphill portion of the trail. At the trailhead that led to the top, there was a sign that read “very intense hike ahead, only the experienced should attempt.” Not to be deterred by a warning, we pressed onwards. The hike quickly became more of a climb as the trail was so steep that metal rods and chains had to be drilled into the rocks for hikers to hold onto to prevent a fall to a rocky death. For a few hours we advanced by holding onto the railing for dear life as we looked back and could see an increasingly impressive view of a large portion of Austria. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries before I could get the chance to photograph any of the incredible views from certain points along our trail, but the memories will never leave me.
After another hour or so, we reached the top. It looked just like a Discover magazine cover, with patches of snow on the mountains around us, wind-swept grass, and no sign of habitation save for the one lodge that the workers had to take a gondola to reach. Inside, I decided that I was going to be adventurous in another way as well: I was going to order the infamous Griebenschmalz, which is rendered pig fat with chunks of bacon in it spread over bread. Basically, it’s like ordering Crisco with bacon in it. We had all heard about this dish at the first informational meeting for the trip and had not had a chance to try it yet, and now I was going to be the first among the group to sample the beast. It was actually surprisingly tasty, albeit with a strange consistency. Unfortunately my stomach could only handle one slice, so I gave the other one to Kathy to finish off. During the discussion over our meal, Hans-Joerg shared some of his knowledge of the history of print. According to him, during the 16th and 17th centuries many authors would go on tour by staying at different lodges and inns around a country and setting up shop for other patrons to purchase books. In this manner, inns became hubs for the sale of literature and a way for people to meet authors of the time period. This is similar to how the coffee houses in the cities developed into intellectual centers of activity. In Vienna specifically, they became places where one could sit for extended periods of time and engage in discussions of the findings of Freud. I would never have thought of inns and cafes as being prominent places of learning and discourse, but it makes sense for this to be true since there were almost always people there and they were encouraged to stay for long periods of time.
As the day grew late, we realized that we had to leave if we were to make it back to the lodge in time for dinner. A very frigid three-hour hike later, we made it back to the lodge where everyone else was already clean and seated to their meals.
I was incredibly hungry so I was fortunate that Jan ordered me the gulasch, which is a dish that is literally half marinated beef and half potato dumplings. The perfect meal for a starving hiker. After a shower, I spent my last night in the Alps talking with friends until we all fell asleep. The next day we all packed, rode down the mountain, and slept on the bus ride to our next destination before Vienna. We made a stop at Seegrotte, Europe’s largest underground lake. It was originally a gypsum mine until an explosion in 1912 caused 20 million liters of water to flood the cavern. It was requisitioned by the Nazi war effort during WWII as a location to produce parts for jets safe from Allied bombing raids. Many concentration camp inmates were corralled into the corridors and forced to help make the Luftwaffe function. It was also the site of filming for a scene in the 90s’ rendition of The Three Musketeers. The short boat-ride that we went on was kind of cool, but ultimately the tour was fairly gimmicky and offered very little in the way of substantive information.
We all slept on the way back to Vienna, and we all piled off with a new appreciation of the country in which we are living for a short month. I personally was proud to have gone further and longer than my peers and was also impressed that the professor and Hans-Joerg were right there for the whole thing (basically, they are hardcore). To reduce the experience into a one-word conclusion: epic. Pure, simple, epic.
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