Munchen

After a night at the opera and a mini adventure to Gaga’s Romanian bar, Kiley and I woke up at 5 AM for our weekend trip to Munich. We left the Westbahnhof and changed trains in Salzburg, then headed off to Munich. The European railway system is so convenient and efficient, one cal literally travel all over Europe just by taking the train. Its super easy and we ran into no difficulties despite not speaking German.
We arrived in Munich at around noon at the Hauptbahnhof or main station. It was massive and a lot like a miniature airport. There were souvenir shops and many fast dining options. There were about 30 platforms where trains arrived from all over Germany and Europe. After arriving, we headed out for lunch and I soon saw that Germany had as many if not more Kebap and Doner stands than Vienna.
After lunch we checked in our 40-person room at Jaeger’s (Hunter’s) Hostel. This was my first hostel experience and it was pretty horrific. Imagine 20 bunk beds 40 travelers in a small room sharing 2 bathrooms, not to mention there was a 40-person room next door and their bathrooms were not working, so they had to come and use our bathroom. I probably took the fastest shower of my life in the most crowded, uncomfortable, and un-private bathroom. I’m glad we did stay there because we met many travelers from all over: New Zealand, Austrilia, Portugal, England, and even someone who goes to UC Davis.
After checking in, we headed to the Olympic Stadium, which they converted to an amazing park and carnival much like the Prater and Donau Insel rolled into one. The different stadiums were all built in a strange, but cool wave0like look. Each of the different buildings: the main stadium, track and field arena, and swimming pool surrounded a lake with many walking and biking paths and beautiful green grass. We tired to find the apartments of the athletes where the 12 Israelis were murdered during the Munich Olympics, but were unable to do so.
Afterwards we headed to the Hofbrauhaus in Marienplatz, the center of town, the most famous, traditional, and touristy beer hall and garden in Munich and maybe all of Bavaria. It is only proper that we visit because the Bavarians love their beer. It is an integral part of their history and culture. The Hofbrauhaus has about 400 years worth of history. It was founded in 1589, just 73 years after Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, created a brewing order of Bavaria, in which only four things were allowed to be put into beer: water, hops, barley, and yeast. The Bavarians are not allowed to put any preservatives or unnatural items into their beer, perhaps that is why its so good. They hold this standard to their beers even until today. Originally the Hofbrauhaus was only for the nobility and aristocrats, until 1828 when King Ludwig I declared the Hofbrauhaus a public beerhall.
Today the Hfbrauhaus features men dressed in Lederhosen and women in beer maid outfits. It is an enormous beer hall of 11,000 square meters and many rows of benches and tables. They serve 6 beers all in 1 L glasses: Hofbrau Dunkel, Hofbrau Original, Munchner Weisse, Radler, Dunkles Radler, and Russ’n. They also serve a selection of traditional Bavarian eats: sauerkraut, bratwurst, weisswurst, spatzel, and pretzels. It was a good experience to drink beer and eat a pretzel among locals and many tourists, listening to the traditional Bavarian music and old men siging drinking songs.
After visiting the Hofbrauhaus, we went to the English Gardens for a beer garden experience, by the Chineses Tower. Surrounded by trees and green grass there is a tower made of wood and straw that does not look Chinese at all, called the Chinese Tower. There are people playing traditional Bavarian music dressed in Lederhosen and hundreds of people drinking beers and eating wursts outside. This place seemed less toursity and more a local place to hangout, meet a friend, and grab a beer.
After the English Gardens, we returned to the hostel and talked to fellow travelers to end our first day in Munich.

Eisenstadt

Eisenstadt is a little city a few hours outside of Vienna. It is famed for being the residence of the Esterhazy family. This members of this aristocratic family were close friends of the Habsburgs and ruled over the Eisenstadt area. Eisenstadt is also famous for being the final resting place of Joseph Haydn, the famous classical music composer and father of the quartet.
To understand the Esterhazys, Haydn, and their relation to Eisenstadt better, we visited a museum in Eisenstadt called the Haydn Explosiv. This was a very strange museum that tried way too hard to mix the modern with the classical. The carpet was colorful and full of different patterns: stripes, polka dots, and diagnal stripes. The wallpaper was periwinkle with strange colored portraits of the Esterhazys. To be honest, it looked like Tim Burton threw up in there. The employees at the Haydn Explosiv were also very strict and would not let us take any photos of their precious wallpaper and strange carpet. It was all just very bizarre.
One of the most famous members of the Esterhazy’s is Paul II. He was part of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He worked part time as an envoy in Naples, there he fell in love with music and had hopes to renew an orchestra for his family. After the Count of Mortzen, the original patron of Haydn and his music, fell into some economic troubles, Paul II picked right where Mortzen left off and employed Haydn to renew his orchestra. After a year of working together, Paul II passed away.
Nikolas I, younger brother of Paul II, was the next to lead the Esterhazy family. He lived a gorgeous lifestyle and was famous for his lavish festivals. He was known as the lover of splendor and in the Haydn Explosiv museum the columns in front of his portrait are gilded to signify his opulence. Nikolas I was the patron for Haydn for the longest, 28 years.
The last of the Esterhazys to work with Haydn was Nikolas II. He did not understand the opulent lifestyle of his grandfather Nikolas I. Perhaps he was influenced by the Enlightenment for his reign was in the 1800s at the height of the Enlightenment period. During the Enlightenment, there is rise in the sense of reason, free-thinking, and practicality. In order to economize, Nikolas II dismissed the orchestra.
Nikolas II’s rule can be compared to that of Josef II of the Habsburgs. He was a very practical, not wasteful ruler. He closed the contemplative order, forbade lavish funerals, and he even went so far as to introduce the reusable coffins. He was for enlightenment and absolutism. Josef II imposed top-down reforms and that is probably why his reforms were not lasting even though they were revolutionary.
Franz Josef Haydn was born in Austria in the early 1700s and was most famous for his music composing. He had been very musically talented since he was a young boy. As a boy, he sang in the world renowned Vienna Boys Choir until his voice became too low. After being dismissed from the Vienna Boys Choir, Haydn had a difficult time getting on his feet. The next 10 years were difficult for him. He earned money by giving piano lessons and playing music on the street. Afterwards, he became the music director for the Count of Mortzen and after having some financial troubles was recommended to Paul II of the Esterhazys. He worked for the Esterhazys for nearly 30 years. His works were always a big hit and soon became famous all over Europe. At the beginning of his career with the Esterhazys, he was considered lucky to be under the patronage of the Esterhazy family; however, after a few years the sentiments changed and the Esterhazys were said to be lucky to have Haydn compose for them. His music is still revered and appreciated even today and Haydn’s name will always be sinonmous with great classical musical and melodic symphonies. “He has left us at least two truly magnificent choral works, the Nelson Mass and an oratorio, The Creation” (Parsons 181).

Schonbrunn

Today we visited the Schonbrunn, which was the Habsburgs pleasure palace starting from the 17th century. It was destroyed during the Second Turkish Siege on Vienna. The Turkish siege lasted for 2 months in 1683. The Ottomans eventually retreated in September 1683 after taking over Vienna in July. The Ottomans wanted to overtake Vienna due to its strategic location on the Danube and in Central Europe, also because it was the residence of the most influential empire in all of Europe, the Habsburgs. However, the Turks left before the fall of winter due to the cold. This was very helpful for Leopold I, king at the time, because it helped him to rally the people behind him and Catholicism, somewhat like a crusade against the Muslim Turks (Beller, 71).
Since its destruction, Maria Theresia had it remodeled in Rococo style. The Schonbrunn greatly represents the outwardly lavish and opulent lifestyle the Habsburgs lived. The palace is painted with a rich gold color, called Schonbrunn geld, to represent wealth and stature. The gardens in the back of the palace are of the Neo-Classical, French style with a very geometric and manicured look. The garden contains a large fountain with great Ancient Greek like statues and there is a great gloriet built on top of a hill with magnificent views. The Schonnbrunn garden is complete with its very own zoo, containing many exotic animals. This zoo was here even during Maria Theresia’s time. Just as in Vienna: A Cultural History, Parsons writes about the Habsburgs obsession with the exotic and used their wealth to obtain foreign objects to woo their subjects, for instance: their obsessions with elephants.
At the start of the tour of the inside of the Schonbrunn, you start by observing Franz Josef’s quarters. He was a very practical and hardworking king. His rooms were very simple and practical. There were very few displays of lavishness or splendor. Fran Josef was said to have started working before five in the morning, even having breakfast and lunch served to him at his desk. He was a family man, with pictures of his wife Sisi and children adorning his study and desk.
His wife, Sisi; however, was not as frugal or practical. All of her rooms were decorated lavishly with silk walls, gold thread, and many opulent chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It is said that Sisi did not adore Franz Josef the way he adored her. She would often be out of Vienna traveling and would never join the family for dinner so that she could keep her slendor figure. This demonstrates the need of the Habsburgs to keep up with outward appearances. This is especially evident in the rooms in which they receive guests. For instance the Great Gallery, where they held balls, receptions, and banquets was an enormous 40 meter long room with amazing detailed frescoes on the ceiling and hanging from it two large, decadent, gilded chandeliers.
The Schonbrunn is mostly decorated with paintings either of family, landscapes, or royal processions. For instance, there are three rooms, the Rosa Rooms, dedicated just for the art of Joseph Rosa. He painted scenes from the Habsburgs ancestral seat in Aargau, Switzerland. In the Children’s Room, the walls are adorned with portraits of all eleven of Maria Theresia’s daughters. Also, in the Hall of Ceremonies there is a painting of a wedding with 98 carriages following the wedding processions. This also shows the wasteful opulence of the habsburgs. It is very unnecessary to display their riches in such a way. I believe that the Habsburgs should show their status to some extent; however, it is not very necessary to overdo it in the way that they do. Like I said before, there are better places the money can go, especially into social reform and ensuring that their subjects live a better and more prosperous life.

Danube, Stephansdom, Schatzkammer

We started the day taking a bike trip along the Danube. We went to the Prater (an amusement park) to rent bikes and biked across a bridge onto Donau Insel. Since so many of the Viennese citizens bike, the city is very biking friendly. There are bike lanes everywhere and bicycle riders even have their own stoplight apart from pedestrians and cars. This is very different from America, where bikers just have a small little piece of road to ride on and making left turns is very difficult. The bridge even had a pedestrian and biking zone on the lower level. Once we got to Donau Insel, there were many walking and biking trails. Again, I saw many Turkish people barbecuing and enjoying picnics. Also on the way to the island, there were many graffiti signs of the PKK, a Kurdish Nationalist party in Turkey, which made me infer that most of the Turks here are actually Kurds who may have been oppressed by the Sunni majority. Along the biking path there were a lot of picnic tables and places where you could get down into the water. Closer to the bridge there were many bars and places to rent paddle boats and other fun water toys. The Donau Insel is actually a man made island and has proved to be a big hit with the Viennese. It is a lot like going into the countryside without getting out of the city. Today it was too cold to jump into the water, but I would definitely like to swim into the water soon.
After biking along the Danube, we headed back into Central Vienna to visit the Stephansdom. Since previously it was really crowded and I was unable to visit some of the sites. We visited the catacombs and the north tower. The catacombs were quite interesting and unique, I had never seen anything like it. The catacombs are a series of crypts and vaults beneath the gothic Stephansdom. Again, the icon of Jesus being crucified is omnipresent, on various walls through out the catacombs. The catacombs start with a vault specifically dedicated to high-ranking church officials. Here they have actually tombs and they are stacked about 9 to a wall (3x3). After the first crypt the other crypts are the final resting places of the hoi polloi. At first they would place the people and their coffins in here and stack them one by one; however, the smell became so strong and unbearable that people could smell the rotting carcasses from the Stephansplatz and also inside the church. During the plague, so many people were dying in Vienna that they did not have enough time to build coffins or give proper funeral processions for those who had died, that they just dug a hole in the Stephansplatz and would dump bodies into the catacombs of the church. Looking into the vault, you can see a lot of deteriorating bones. I had never seen so many bones in my life, it was quite a sight. The catacombs eventually began to reek and reach maximum capacity, so as punishment to prisoners, they had to clean the deceased bones and stack them to allow for optimal storage. In this crypt, the bones were neatly stacked with a skull for about every 100 bones. It seems that during the Middle Ages, prisoners had no social or civil rights. Nowadays in America, it would be considered cruel and unusual punishment to make felons clean and stack bones of the deceased.
After visiting the Stephansdom, we visited the Schatzkammer or the Imperial Treasury. The Schatzkammer is a museum located in the Hofburg and houses the jewels and valuable possessions of the Habsburg emperors and empresses. Among the gilded and precious jewel adorned items, the notable ones are: the Imperial Crown of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, the Coronation mantle of the Holy Roman Empire, the Order of the Golden Fleece necklace, and the largest Emerald in the world. This truly shows the opulence of the Habsburgs. In my opinion, these items are completely unnecessary and all the ceremonial processions that the royalty have to go through are completely superfluous. I understand that the monarchy had to display some sort of grandiose; however, it is at the expense of their hardworking people that they were able to receive these wonderful items and they did not make much of an effort to see that all their people were living above poverty. This money could have been better used to benefit society, especially since most of the items displayed at the Schatzkammer was just for looking at or only used once. Seeing all that the Habsburgs have has really shown me that they are very wasteful and harmful to the economy for their people.

First Weekend

The Naschmarkt is a huge outdoor market covered by awning. In the entrance near the Opera house, there are two rows of restaurant, serving all different types of cuisine: Asian, Austrian, Mediteranean, and Turkish (to name a few). After traveling further down, they offer a lot of fresh produce. There were many stands that sold fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and nuts. There were also stands that sold freshly made ravioli, tortellini, pickled vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives. I noticed that most of the salesmen were Turkish and I even found a few stores that sold Turkish Delight. It reminded me a lot of the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It was interesting to see that most of the stands sold the same thing. There were over 40 stands selling the same exact thing. I wonder how they make money, the competition must be very high since everyone is selling the same thing. Since it was Saturday, the Naschmarkt also puts on a flea market. It was full of a bunch of antiques and used goods.
Kaisergruft is the final resting place of many of the Habsburgs. Originally called the Capuchin Monastery, it was commissioned by Empress Anna to be her final resting place along with her husband Emperor Matthias. Since Ferdinand III, the Kaisergruft has become the burial place for the Habsburgs. Among the bodies buried in the vaults, 12 are emperors and 17 are empresses. Some famous Habsburgs that are buried here include: Leopold I, Karl VI, Sisi, Maria Theresa, Joseph I, and Franz Joseph I. Along with the emperors and empresses buried here, their family members are also buried here. The tombs are made of metal and have very intricate designs on the surface. Inside the vault, Jesus being crucified is an omnipresent idol, whether carved onto the tombs themselves or hanging on the surfaces of the walls. It is very easy to tell who the important figure’s tombs are, they are very extravagant, large, and have intricate carvings decorating the surface. The most magnificent vault in the building belongs to Maria Theresa. It is very obvious that her tomb is the oversized metal coffin in the direct center of the vault. Her remains are surrounded by Joseph I and Franz I. There are also some very small coffins, which I suspect may have belonged to babies who have passed away. Vienna a Cultural History states that the Kaisergruft was the burial place for only the Habsburg family. There decadent lifestyles were also carried into the afterlife where the coffins decorations and extra adornments could help one to determine the status of the specific person. For instance “coffins draped in black velvet and gold brocade signified that the occupants were rulers or their spouses, while red velvet and silver brocade were for the archdukes, archduchesses and their immediate families” (Parsons, 72).
After visiting the Kaisergruft, we visited the Beethoven house. Since it is not in central Vienna, our guidebook did not have very explicit directions on how to get there. So we proceeded to ask some people we saw on the street, however it did not seem that anyone knew that this attraction existed. We went all over town and checked the maps at the bus stops and finally found Probusgasse 6, where Beethoven’s house was. It was a modest little cottage with two stories and a courtyard in the middle. The actual museum was very small and did not have much besides some two original papers written by Beethoven. That was when I realized why no one knew where this supposed Beethoven’s house was because it is not much of an attraction (it did not even get its own section in the guidebook it was just mentioned in passing). After paying the entrance fee, I entered the house and read an information wall that said something on the lines of: recent research has placed doubts on the fact that this was actually Beethoven’s house, but it give us a good idea of what a house in the 1800s may have looked like. I was a bit disappointed that I had searched so long for a house that may or may not have belonged to Beethoven. Nevertheless, it was nice to get out of the immediate city and see the sights. We actually ran across a Heuliger that used to be Beethoven’s house and an apartment that Albert Einstein once lived in.

Kunsthistoriches Museum

The Kunsthistoriches Museum is a museum that predominantly displays the art from the upper Belvedere collection, which was opened by Maria Theresia. The museum features many famous works of art from the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque art periods. The building the museum is located in is part of the Hofburg. It is one of two identical buildings facing one another, part of a bilateral system. The other building now houses the Natural History Museum. The two buildings are built in a Neo-Renaissance style.
Carnival is considered the period after Christmas and before Easter and Lent is the period after Easter in which people would have to engage in fasting. Many historians used Bruegel’s painting in order to look at the daily life of the 16th century. During the reformation there is a tightening of moral screws and people become more and more conservative. It is interesting to see how indulgent the people were and then how very conservative they became.
Other interesting works by Bruegel on display at the Kunsthistoriches Museum include: Gloomy Day, The Return of the Herd, and Hunters in the Snow. Each of these three paintings conveys one of the four seasons. Gloomy Day represents spring, The Return of the Herd represents autumn, and Hunters in the Snow represents winter; the summer representation: Haymaking is on display in Prague. These season paintings are revolutionary because they demonstrate the period after the Reformation in which there is a shift from religious paintings to one of daily life scenes and landscapes.
Catholic and Protestant paintings differ in many areas. Because the Protestant faith preaches a “sola scriptura” ideology; it follows the idea that you don’t need to do anything for salvation and will receive salvation by grace alone. However, the Catholic faith incorporates the use of rosaries, saints, pilgrimages, and confessions to reach salvation. Because of the differences in ideology, the Protestant art does not focus at all on saints, but the Catholic art does. Furthermore, a lot of the Catholic art features visions of the Virgin Mary and demonstrates other Catholic practices, such as public Catholic exorcisms. An interesting feature of Catholic art is that after the Counter-Reformation saints have to have visions of the Virgin Mary as part of the painting. In these paintings, the Virgin Mary is usually featured very discretely as a triangle near the top of the painting.
The more interesting paintings of the museum are the portraits of the Habsburg. The most interesting of course is the portrait of Charles II. It is very evident that “you, happy Austria, marry” the Habsburgs had married into many royal families in order to acquire lands and kingdoms, instead of waging many wars. The portrait of Charles II very clearly shows the consequences of interbreeding between royal families. He is very pale, has a large nose, plump lips, and an enormous under-bite.
It was cool to actually see the differences between the different art periods that we had talked about in class. Before, when I visited art museums, such as the Louvre or the Prado, I could not really enjoy it because I had no knowledge or appreciation for art. But even just learning some basic characteristics of art styles and the history behind how they came to be and how they evolved, whether it is through religious movements or imperial influences, has really helped me to appreciate and enjoy looking at art. I can appreciate the hard work the artist put into his painting and I can also appreciate the history behind the art form used. This makes visits to art museums a lot more enjoyable.

Klosterneuberg

Klosterneuburg is the site of an Augustinian monastery built in the 1100s. It was commissioned by Leopold III, a Babenberg, who later was canonized a saint. The story goes that Leopold and Agnes, his beloved wife, were riding their horses, when her veil flew off her head. Nine years later, while Leopold was hunting in the woods he found her veil and saw a vision of the Virgin Mary, who asked him to build her a church on the site in her honor.
In the early 1700s after Charles VI lost during the Spanish Succession, he felt the need to show the Habsburgs power and decided to make Klosterneuburg the Escorial of Austria. He wanted to build his own escorial because he lost the Spanish one. However he died seven years after they started construction. The construction stopped once he died 7 years later because his daughter Maria Theresia had other more important diplomatic issues to deal with than to see the building of this church go through. Its interesting to see because the church is unfinished you can see the way they were going about building the church. The new visitor’s entrance to the monastery is only partially finished. You can see that they were beginning to smooth out the sides of the walls and cover the brick with a more aesthetically pleasing covering.
Now, Klosterneuburg is the monastery for Augustinian canons, this did not happen until about 20 years after the church had been commissioned. This monastery has over 900 years of Augustinian history. The Augustinian canons are a monastic order that follow the teachings of St. Augustine. The process to become a canon is as follows: one can approach the order and will become a novice, after a year as a novice the chapter meets to determine if the novice can continue on. If the novice receives the chapter’s approval, he will take his simple vows for three years. After three years, the chapter will meet once again to determine if they would like to keep him for life. If admitted, he will take his solemn vows and becomes a member of the monastery for life. The process the chapter follows for voting on a novice is one that is seen in many organizations. The chapter members have black balls and white balls and will place white balls if they think the novice should pass. If the novice has more white balls then black balls, then he can move on to take his simple vows. The same process is implemented to go from taking simple vows to solemn vows. Currently there are 46 members in the Klosterneuburg monastery and the median age of its members is going down.
Klosterneuburg is also the site of one of Austria’s biggest and oldest wine estates, dating back nearly 900 years and consisting of 275 acres. The cellars are Baroque cellars dating back 270 years. The grapes are from all different areas in Austria. Each grape has a different soil and microclimate that is most conducive to its growth and taste. These grapes are then brought to Klosterneuburg where they are stomped, fermented, bottled, and shipped out for sale. The close location of the Danube made it easy in the past to ship the wines to various Bavarian monasteries. The cellars are very cool and conducive to the fermentation process. In order to tell if the conditions are good, they can check the types of mold growing inside the cellar. Black mold means that the conditions are good; however, once white mold starts to grow than the conditions inside the cellar are too humid. Every year they ship out about 600,000 bottles of wine.
After visiting the monastery of Klosterneuburg, we went to Heuriger or a wine tavern, where they serve young wines. Here you can order wines and some small tapas like dishes. It was a lot of fun to get to know everyone on the trip better over a nice glass of wine in a beautiful garden setting. I preferred the white wine to the red wine and I tried some of the traditional Austrian dishes, which were very delicious.