Today started my second full day in Vienna. After doing the reading, I was a little bit disoriented by all the rulers, tribes, and empires that have rolled through and ruled Austria. It was nice to watch a video on the Hapsburg and receive a more concise and focused view of the great ruling family of Austria. I remembered that when I went to Spain a few years ago I visited and saw many of the Hapsburgs buried in Madrid and always never understood why. Now, it makes sense since during the time of Charles V, the Hapsburg ruled over the Spanish empire also since Philip of Burgundy married Juana of Castile allowing Charles V and Ferdinand of Austria to inherit parts of the Spanish empire. Also another tie I found with Spain and Austria is the Hundertwasser House. It reminded me a lot of the Gaudi buildings that I saw in Barcelona, similar style and innovation with lots of colors and no straight lines.
It was also interesting to see the Belvedere (beautiful view, with truly beautiful views) palace of Eugene of Savoy, defeater of the Turks. I have previously taken a class on the modern history of Turkey, so I am familiar with the events that occurred during the late Ottoman empire and the beginning of the Turkish republic; however, I am not as well informed about how the Ottomans acquired such a vast empire and where they won or lost important lands. It will be interesting to learn about the Ottomans from the perspective of the Hapsburg dynasty. I also found it hilarious when Dr. O told us about how the Turkish embassy in Vienna is right next to the summer palace of Eugene, the defeater of the Turks, even more ironic is that their embassy is actually on Prinz-Eugenstrasse. Speaking on a tangent off of the Ottomans, I have noticed that there are a lot of Turks here in Vienna. Doner and kebap cafes are just as prevalent as biergartens and wienerschnitzel stands. I know that the Turks immigrated in vast numbers to Germany during their industrial boom when the Germans needed cheap labor and the Turkish economy was suffering; however, I was not expecting to see so many Turks here in Vienna. I wonder why Turks have immigrated to Vienna.
A great thing about this trip is being able to learn history and be able to see it. This travel study program has made it very possible to make the history we learn to be tangible. For instance, today in class we talked about the Babenbergs, the Austrian rulers that preceded the Hapsburg, and then this afternoon we drove by the church of Klosterneurburg where Leopold, a Babenberg, built a church where he had found his wife’s veil that had been lost almost a decade before. It was also interesting to be able to tie the images and busts seen in the Hofburg to the Hapsburg we talked about in class today.
In the Lonely Planet guidebook and just from others’ experiences, I have found that the Viennese are known to be rude or proud people; however, I do not really find this the case. Today, I was out looking for a converter and I walked into this electronic store and since I only speak a little bit of German it was difficult to communicate with the clerk. Instead of sending me away, he got all the employees in the shop to try and help me with the problem. When that didn’t work, he got onto Yahoo! Translator and typed in what he said in German and translated it into English. It was a genius idea and I found it very nice that he would go through so much trouble to help me. Furthermore, I was able to practice the little German that I know in the cell phone shope when I was trying to get a SIM card. The shop owner told me that he as really happy that he was able to practice his English and I would be able to practice my German. I have made a really good connection with all the people I have at least attempted to speak my poor German with. They have always been very gracious and willing to help me, which makes me really happy that I did decide to go through the trouble to take German classes before coming on this trip (even though I only know a tiny bit it’s been very helpful).
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