Our visit to Vienna got off to a less than auspicious beginning.   We arrived in plenty of time at the Hauptbahnhof to even have a cup of coffee at, of all places, McDonalds!  Locals here told us that the coffee at McDonalds is delicious and they weren’t wrong.  Here everything is served in a very classy way…even at McD’s, your coffee or cappuccino comes in a ceramic cup, served on tray with a glass of water.  Just the ticket early in the morning.  Afterward, we loaded onto the train and waited.

It is not necessary to ride first class on trains, at least in Austra.  Second class seating is almost as comfortable, and that is how we went.

After 30 minutes of waiting, the announcement came that we must get off the train and make our way out of the station to buses which would take us to the first stop, Bruck an der Mur, (about 57 km north) where we would, presumably, catch the train.  Of course, we understood only a small portion of this almost none of this and were rescued by a nice young woman heading to her finance job in Vienna.  What was to have taken 2 1/2 hours now turned into more like 3 1/2.  Very unusual, we hear, for Austrian trains to break down.  By the time we met up with the train in Bruck an der Mur, the second class seating was completely overwhelmed and we ended up sitting in first class, the only available seating.  The conductor didn’t bat an eye and neither did we.

The trip was great…through the mountains (not the biggest ones), past small villages, into and out of tunnels, to Vienna.  Then, onto the U-bahn (underground train) system of Vienna, catching the U-6, then changing to the U-3 and finally jumping onto the U-2 to reach our hotel.  I was fond of that last train…good name!  What you must realize is that Vienna is like any other big city in this respect, with crowded trains, and almost never anywhere to sit down.  But poles and straps for hanging on are readily available.

Our first night there, we enjoyed dessert of course, with amazing Viennese specialties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our reason for going to Vienna was for the Fulbright Commission’s Orientation, attended by most of the Fulbright Scholars in Austria, as we all began our Summer Semester terms.

The MuseumsQuartier is home to many businesses and nonprofits.  Neighbors to the Fulbright Office are the Leopold Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, both home to numerous modern and contemporary pieces of art, which we will visit on future trips to Vienna.

 

Everyone but Bill was in history, law, languages, political science, psychology, philosophy, anthropology and art.  Not another natural scientist in the otherwise very distinguished bunch! A few other spouses attended, and some children did as well.  We spent the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday in meetings, learning about Senator Fulbright, the history of Austria, current politics in Austria, US-Austrian-EU relationships, and receiving some teaching and university tips from previous Fulbrighters.  All good stuff. I realized, however, I am not used to sitting all day in meetings! Good thing we had a brisk walk to our hotel each day. The orientation finished with a tour around the Hofburg area–the Ringstrasse— by our host and the head of the Fulbright Commission in Austria, Dr. Lonnie Johnson. He has lived in Austria a long time and is so knowledgeable.  Here are some scenes of what we saw.

From Wikipedia:  “The Hofburg in Vienna is the former imperial residence. From 1438 to 1583 and from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, thereafter the seat of the Emperor of Austria until 1918. Today it is the official seat of the Austrian Federal President.”  The biggest and most imposing buildings were created at the direction of the Emperor Franz Joseph, who took down the city walls to create both open areas and the buildings there today.  Walking further in, you come to the older sections of the Imperial City.

No I did not remember all my Latin.  Thank goodness for historians on the tour and also google translate!

Coming out on the other side, you enter into the business and chic district of Vienna.  Tiffany, Chanel, and all the big names are along these streets.  We window shopped only.  (sorry Kristina)  The Loos building (above) apparently so enraged the emperor that he never went inside. It was too ‘plain’ for him.

Vienna was and still is a city known for its coffee houses.  Many of them were specialized…for politicians, literary types, artists, etc.  Most still exist in some form or another.  Here is the Literary Coffee House.

One of the nice things the Emperor did was to create lots of open spaces for the people, these on the grounds that were formerly used to absorb cannon fire in battles for the city.  The Volksgarten looks like it will be beautiful in the Spring.  We plan to make a return trip to see for ourselves.  The Roses await!

Vienna’s imperial architecture is filled with nods to Greek Democracy.  Too bad women weren’t part of the official scene back then (unless you  count Maria Theresia).  But not in the official government in the 1800’s.  Maybe that’s why Athena is looking the other way!

Very near this dome is the headquarters of the Spanish Riding School.    It was one of the few places we actually had time to visit, on the Wednesday after the meetings and before we came home to Graz.  We were only able to see the morning exercise and training session, but I was thrilled to see this, having grown up riding and doing a little dressage myself.  Technically, it is absolutely forbidden to take photos, but seeing as how some official photographer was snapping away WITH FLASH, here are some that I magically happened onto. 🙂  The Lipizzaner horses are bred on a farm very near Graz. 

 

 

We saw the pirouette, passage and even one horse doing the levade (asking the horse to hold a position approximately 30-35 degrees from the ground. ) At the end, the riders line up, dismount, couch their stirrups, and give their horse a treat hidden in their back pockets!

 

Two of the most beautiful buildings are now Museums…the Art History Museum and the Natural History Museum.   We could see many school groups waiting to go in.     Maybe they were from a school like this:

 

These will have to wait until our next trip to Vienna, when we have at least a week to browse.  We can’t wait!