Field trip to the Central Cemetery

I am taking a class here in Vienna called Fin de Siecle Vienna: 1848-1916.  It focuses on the time of Franz Josef’s rule, and what life was like in Vienna at this time.  We’ve learned about a ton of people, and this past Friday took the 71 tram out to the 11th district to see their graves!  It was pretty creepy being at a cemetery on Friday the 13th, but it was a really cool field trip.  After the trip we went to (my favorite restaurant and brewery) Salm Bräu for dinner.

The entrance to the cemetery is done in art nouveau.

Cemeteries in Europe are much different from those in America.  The graves follow the pathways, and there are huge fields in between a square of tombstones... hopefully I have a photo of what I mean.

Salieri’s grave.

Peter Altenberg’s grace.  It says “Er liebte und sah,” which means “He lived and saw."

Adolf Loos’ grave.

European cemeteries also often have “peace paths” (as my professor called them),
where mourners can walk and reflect on the lives of their loved ones.

This is a grave for over a hundred people who died in a fire in the late 1880s at a theater in Vienna.

Me and Gabby with Liechtenstein’s grave.  We’re not thumbs-upping because we’re glad he’s dead.
We live on Liechtensteinstrasse!

Beethoven’s grave

A memorial to Mozart in the musicians’ section of the cemetery.   No one knows the exact location of Mozart’s burial (just that it’s in the 3rd district) because Mozart had no money when he died and couldn’t afford a proper burial.

Franz Schubert’s grave

Arnold Schönberg’s grave

The Krieskys’ grave

Dr. Karl Lueger’s tomb is located underneath Karl Lueger Kirche (Karl Lueger’s Church).
Lueger used to be the mayor of Vienna, and was a huuuuuge anti-Semite. 

The inside of Luegerkirche

Professor Hanreich!

The grave of the unknown artist of 2010.

This is the oldest part of the cemetery, the Jewish section.   

A lot of it was severely damaged in WWII, and they’re still rebuilding a lot of it.

The unluckiest place to be on Friday the 13th.

Nick drinking a Salm Bräu märzen Bier!

They are known for their ribs, and rightly so! They were DELICIOUS!

Marillenstrudel, aka Apricot Strudel!

Back to studying!

Sorry for being so quick on all these posts, there’s just so much to do in SO little time!!

Rapid Wien & Karaoke!

On Wednesday, I went with some friends to a Rapid Wien game.  Rapid Wien is one of Vienna’s two football (soccer for all you Americans) teams.  The game wasn’t that exciting but was still a lot of fun!  The team played another Austrian team, SV Mattersburg, and tied 0-0.  After the game we decided to go to Sing Your Song, one of our favorite places to hang out.  It’s an awesome underground karaoke bar and a ton of fun!

Me and Bailey with IES Student Services Tobi! 

This is me rapping some Usher

Carrie and Eric singing Summer Lovin'

That was just a quick post to update you a little on my last week and a half in Wien.  I still have to write about this weekend and all my finals... but until then I have studying to do.  Auf Wiedersehen!

Frühlingsfest in München!

This past weekend I went to Frühlingsfest (Springfest) in Munich with a group of friends from my program.  I took a train with Jared, Eric (my Paris and Florence crew), Bailey, and Michael took a 2:14 train from Westbahnhof to the Munich Hauptbahnhof.  We got to Munich around 6:30ish and went straight to our hostel.  We stayed at the Meininger Youth Hostel, a great city pretty close to a S-Bahm line and the Frühlingsfest grounds.  It was definitely convenient for our purposes.  There were eighteen kids from IES in Munich that weekend, and (I think) we saw all of them!

Salzburg as seen on the train.

Frühlingsfest!!!!

Disney-themed carousal.

The Augustiner Bräu tent... we got here at about 2:30 PM on Saturday and got a prime table.
We also spent all night Friday here.

Me and Bailey before the party (German drinking songs) began!

He is holding 14 beers.  FOURTEEN BEERS.

PROST!

Zach got a little carried away.

Dancing queens Jared and Nick.

For Tommy - the Wildemaus!

Michael bought a vest at Humana (a secondhand shop) with Edelweiss on the buttons!

A lot of the girls bought dirndls, a traditional Austrian/German dress!

We got to the festival at 11AM (opening!) on Saturday and Eric and Jared played in these balls since there was no line!

PROST! means CHEERS! auf Deutsch.

Saint Paul’s Kirche in the background

Day 2 of Augustiner Bräu tent!

All the beer came from these ENORMOUS barrels

And another FOURTEEN!!

This kid chugged half a liter of beer while his friends lifted him up on a table.  Security even waited for him to finish before making him come down

Michael had an awesome time.

Sunday morning we decided to do some sightseeing and eating in downtown München.  Here is the Rathaus, which kiiiind of looks like the Wiener Rathaus!

No women and children allowed.

The HOFBRÄUHAUS!

This is only a half liter beer.  I find it kind of sad that I feel the need to say “only”.

My trip to München was my final trip outside Austria, and I loved every minute of it.  I was with great friends, ate great food, and drank great beer.  It’s currently Saturday morning in Vienna, and I’m finishing up an education paper due later today.  The paper is a reflection of my experience teaching and my time in Vienna, and it has me thinking about how unbelievably lucky I am to have gotten to go on all these amazing trips and study in this outstanding city.  I CANNOT believe I go home in a week.  This is the most bittersweet feeling in the entire world. Of course I’m so excited to see MY DOGS!!! and my family and Petey Parker and my friends, and eat amaaaazing food, but I have made incredible friends over the last four months that live all across the country, and I have no idea when I will see some of them again.  I’ll obviously also miss Vienna, and am currently making a bucket list of things I have to see/do before I go home.

Over the next week, I have 4 finals and a paper due (in 3 hours).  I’m not too worried about any of them, but still have to put some time studying!  Later today, our German class is going to Frau Summesberger’s house in Baden, so I will return to paper-writing.

Auf Wiedersehen!