Vienna 6

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Jim - Sunday - Write 6
I am sorry about not putting the blog on the internet but we have not had internet access since we got to Vienna.
We did not start off our home stay in Vienna too well. We got off the train one station too early. It was still in Vienna but on the east side rather than the west side. This was not one of our finer moments, we all were rather proud of how well things went before this blunder. Of course, we all had the station we were suppose to get off at on our printed schedule but we as a group have a little trouble counting off to check to make sure everyone was together, why could anyone expect us to read and follow directions.
I have put in a picture of the wind farms between Bratislava and Vienna. The single biggest difference between Vienna and Budapest is the infrastructure. In Budapest, the last major update on infrastructure was 1880. So every other street in Budapest is dug up. The train tracks are rough and some of the cars are old enough to collect Social Security. This is also somewhat true in Bratislava but they are not doing much to improve the infrastructure. Besides, Bratislava is really a small city compared to Budapest and Vienna. A lot of the residential areas of Bratislava was built during the Soviet Era and I suspect the infrastructure is relatively new if somewhat depressing.
When you cross the border between Slovakia and Austria it is amassing. All of a sudden the train tracks are quiet and smooth. I thought the transportation system in Hungary was great and it is. But in Vienna it is unbelievable. You can go from 15 miles outside of Vienna to just about anywhere in the city in less than 30 minutes. And you can get within a block or two of your final destination. Vienna has 4 subway lines, a wonderful trolley system and a few supplemental buses. I just wish we could have every Minnesota voter spend two days in Vienna and we would build a public transportation like it in the Twin Cities. The other thing that is so neat is the simplicity. After the first subway ride and reviewing the map, I felt comfortable going anywhere. Now I am so cocky I will probably get lost tomorrow but if I do it will be my fault and not the fault of their wonderful system of public transportation.
Now for the best part of the whole trip, our host family is just wonderful. We are so lucky to have Irmgard Unfried and her husband Günter as our hosts. Irmgard is a retired teacher and principal of a large school. She is now 68 and can walk the legs off of a 25 year old much less Mary Anne and I. She loves to travel and explore. While visiting Montana a number of years ago, she went on a camping trip of the major national parks with her host family. Another time she rode a Grey Hound bus across the US. She has been to the US a number of times and also to Chile and some other countries. Irmgard has stayed with Friendship Families in Memphis, in Bettendorf, Iowa etc. Her traveling is now somewhat limited because her husband Gunter has some chronic heart problems. Gunter is about 10 or 12 years older than Irmgard. They live 14 K outside of Vienna in a small village of 200 people. Their home and the village is on a ridge which is essentially the end of the Alps. Mary Anne loves it, no city noises.

Mary Anne, June 12-18th
Not having ever traveled with Friendship Force much less ever stayed with a host family that I knew nothing about it was a little scary for me. What a treat we were in for. Jim has told you about getting off the train at the first stop instead of where we were should of. Things were off to a rocky start and frankly I’m glad I was not involved in all the blaming.
If you come to Vienna as a tourist there are two things you should think about. Despite the wonderful transportation systems plan on doing a lot of walking and climbing a lot of marble staircases in very tall buildings. Irmgard and I hit it off right from the minute we met. We walked into the house and I handed her 2 weeks of dirty laundry and a couple hours later I looked out the window and I see our clean laundry blowing in the breeze on the clothes line. All of the others are staying in the city in crowed flats most several floors up. Lot of climbing going on! We, on the other hand are staying in the Vienna Woods. Irmguard was a teacher so she is very organized and a great planner. She is wonderful and can’t do enough for Jim and I.
On the first day the group went for a walking tour of the 1st district of Vienna. This is where the most concentrated number of significant buildings is located. We toured many of them, all interesting and certainly a side of history much different that our short history in the U.S. We visited STEPHANSDOM which is the cathedral of St. Stephen (different one then the one I wrote about in Budapest). This one has a distinctive enamel-tiled roof. If not the most impressive Cathedral we have seen as of yet, it certainly is in the top two. From there we went to ALTES RATHAUS (the old town hall). It was built between 1699 and 1706. It is now being used as the headquarters of the district management and the documentation archive of the Austrian resistance.
We saw Parliament and STADTPARK (City Park). Strolling, something you do a lot of in Vienna; we viewed monuments to Johann Strauss, Mozart and many lesser known, at least to me, composers and artists.
The real “star” of the center of the city is STAATSOPER (Opera House).It was the first building constructed in the Ring. How is that for culture, the first building built is an opera house? When I call it a ring it refers to how the city is laid out by district. 1st district is the center of the ring, 2nd district around that, 3rd district next and on and on. The most expensive stores are in the 1st district and it gets more reasonable as the rings get higher in numbers.
A couple of days ago we toured as a group the Opera House. All I can say is so many stairs with so many red carpets on them and of course you can never have too much real gold in your Opera House. The HOFBURG (Imperial Palace) is another impressive tour we took. The Imperial Palace has 18 wings, 54 staircases, 19 courtyards and about 2,600 rooms. Many of the Austrian emperors resided at the palace. The tours of the important buildings are not for the faint of heart, for those with sore feet or anyone who is fearful looking down a staircase from several stories up. The most interesting to me on the Imperial Palace tour was the SISSY Museum. The name refers to Elizabeth of Austria, wife of Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Sissy was of Bavarian royalty and brought to Francis Joseph many surprises. She had the first bathroom installed in the palace living quarters. The reason for this was because she wanted to encourage her husband to bath more often. At least that is the explanation I understood. The jewels and riches of the reign of the Hofburgs are displayed in the SISSY Museum. Hard to believe that there ever was that kind of wealth belonged to just one family. On display is the largest cut emerald in the world.
One of the special things we have done was to spend some time watching the morning exercise at the Spanish Riding School. This is where they train the noble thoroughbreds the Lipizzaner stallions.
Today we went a distance out of Vienna to “SCHONBRUNN” which was the summer home of -yes you guessed it the Hofburg’s. It is incredible! As the literature says-the design surpassed even Versailles in majesty and sumptuousness. Jim and I and one of our Vienna hosts took a side trip to see the royal carriage museum. Incredible carriages and sleighs all in perfect condition. Schonbrunn was the location that then President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev (Russian) held the summit in 1961.
This week in Vienna has been a time in my life that I will treasure. Irmguard took me to the ballet: ANNA KARENINA at the Opera House. I loved my first ballet and even better that I saw my first one in Vienna. Irmguard wanted to surprise me, so before the performance she took me to the famous Hotel Sachet Wien. She bought us beverages and original Sachet-torte. It’s a chocolate torte which has been made by the same family since 1832.
Last night we went to see the Wiener Hofburg-ORCHESTER. Their compositions were by Johann Strauss and Mozart. This was another first but I hope not a last for me.
Tonight was the get together with our Vienna hosts. There was lots of laughter and exchange of addresses. Even thou I am getting very lonesome for my family I felt sad leaving Irmguard and her husband Günter. It has been an exhausting week of culture, music, education and adventure and I feel very blessed to have seen and heard so much history and beauty that Vienna has to offer.
Off to Prague and new adventures in the morning.

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Photos

Military Band
The Military Bands in Europe always play in a circle.