Wien, Vienna, Bécs

I’m officially a train-setter, having rolled off to a different country for the weekend. At first I was a little skeptical of getting a good impression of Vienna in a few days, but I must say that as soon as Liz and I made our way above ground from the metro, I breathed different air, even as the cold bit at every exposed square of flesh. Liz was super-ecstatic to re-visit her old stomping grounds as she had studied in Vienna for four months previously. She certainly proved to be an excellent tour guide. It seemed as though we had traveled forward in time, but really it was just a 3 hour jaunt from Eastern to Western Europe. A Budapest train on the way there and an Austrian train resembling an advanced time machine on the way back (I haven’t seen anything so modern in a long time!)

The city was almost spotless and fresh snow floated above our heads as we raced to meet Liz’s college friends in a hotel. Our train leaving Keleti was half an hour late, subsequently getting us to Vienna later. Upon arrival, we ran down the streets, partly to keep warm, partly because there was modernity everywhere and partly because we were both excited to have arrived at our destination. We entertained ourselves that night at an Irish bar with Liz’s friends and a group consisting of a Brit, German, and a Hungarian. We couldn’t believe that we had taught classes that day in our respective northern Hungarian towns and were now cooling our heels in cosmopolitan Vienna. However, Yerik’s dash to Amsterdam for the weekend outdid our mileage just a bit, proving that you still can travel while teaching!

In front of the Belvedere Gallery Garden

The Happy Hostel was indeed Happy and provided us with our own beds and plenty of heat. After enjoying coffees and apple strudels at Liz’s token café, we discovered a new show on our TV one night while resting before wiener schnitzels at dinner. After seeing a trashed Cadillac give birth to Big Ron on Pimp My Ride (the only way he could get out of the car was through the window and what makes it funnier is the key word “Big” in his name), we were introduced to a new show only available in German interestingly titled, “Pimp My Whatever.” Soon enough, I fell asleep in my cozy bed while an MTV crew tried to upgrade/update some family’s brother.

   Massive St. Stephen's Cathedral

The next day, Liz and I went sightseeing, starting the day off at a café and then heading onward to the gargantuan Cathedral of St. Stephan, the insides being a kaleidoscope of both Baroque and Gothic architecture. We toured the Hofburg Palace, studied musical instruments of Beethoven and Mozart’s time, and walked through the once Imperial Apartments of Franz Josef and his tragically fated wife, Elizabeth, previous Queen of Hungary. This was by far my favorite walk as I became increasingly fascinated by Sisi’s legend. Maybe it was because she had led such a mysteriously melancholy life or maybe it was because she had dedicated a grand chunk of her time to Hungary…but the white Erzébet híd crossing the Danube in Budapest now has more meaning to me than in the past.

That night, Liz and I were exhausted from our museum adventures, so we wanted to call it an early night, when some kind of magnet pulled us into the Bermuda Triangle (a congregation of bars in Vienna). It was like dipping our feet into quicksand out of curiosity only to be completely pulled under. We found a place with live music – let me re-phrase that – GREAT LIVE MUSIC! And Liz and I were front and center (aka – a foot away from the guitars). We heard everything from Oasis to the Beatles to the Rolling Stones to Clapton to Billy Joel. Thus we disappeared into the Triangle for the night.

The next day brought a trip to the Belvedere Art Gallery and a look the Palaces’ winter snow-laden landscape. The gardens included frozen fountains, barely visible browned foliage mazes and long stretches of white. It was a good weekend to walk around museums and palace corridors inside. We sampled delectable cuisine and I had to do a double-take when Austrian waiters/tresses/store owners/ticket officers actually smiled at me. It’s just not the kind of thing you get in Hungary.

Our weekend wouldn’t have been complete without a CETP herding…if only for a few hours on a train in the dining car. We left our baggage above our seats to which Yerik soothed everyone’s concerns by stating something along the lines of, “Hungarians steal from the MAN, not their neighbors.” We (ok, I) was/were also concerned about half of the train detaching while in the dining car, as this is commonplace and can happen without warning (luckily not to me yet.)

Back in the Eastern World now (haha) and back to lesson planning. My motivation may slowly be returning…my patience with some of the kids…not so much.