Now for an update on the past 2 weeks.
They had elections October 1. For the entire time I've been in Vienna, we've been bombarded by billboards and ads with the candidates faces and parties. Many had grafitti on them. I have tons of pictures of them. The Austrian government has 4/5 main parties, from right to left: the FPO which is basically fascist and had signs up that said "Islam go home" and such, the BZO which broke off from them 2 yrs ago, the OVP which was in power and in a coalition with the neoNaz...I mean FPO, the SPO (social democrats, had been in power previously for pretty much the entire history of this era of Austria) and the Greens. I saw a pretty funny commercial run against the OVP, with Clinton subtitled saying "I did not have sex with that woman," then LIAR on the screen, then Bush saying Iraq had wmds, then LIAR, then Schussel (the OVP candidate) saying something in German and then LIAR too. Interesting comparisons to make, sex, a war, and some thing Schussel said. Also the parties all seem to think bribery is ok. Well, not quite bribery, but I collected lots of election loot: a keychain lanyard and pen from the OVP (apparently I missed the hackey sacks!), a lighter, keychain, and little red gummy bears from the socialists (the gummy bears were awesome, totally would have had my vote...but for reasons other than the gummy bears), a pen, postcard, green teabags and a lime candy from the Green party. Pretty cool souveniers all in all. It was very exciting, the Socialists won, and a coalition is being formed now. Also the BZO despite being a new party made it into Parliament (pending official tally). The psoters for the FPO, OVP, and SPO all had stickers on them Monday morning saying "Danke." So civil and nice. The OVP is the only party to have removed their posters so far, sore losers. They did so Tuesday.
October 1 was also the date that most of the city's ice cream parlors close. Very, very sad. The ones that stay open aren't nearly as good, because the ones that close are run by Italians going back to Italy for the winter. I made it my mission during the first week of class to try all of the places in the IES booklet, and I did. 6 or 7 of them. My favorite by far was Tischy, at Reumenplatz, which I went to on Oct 1. There was a huge crowd out front, and Europeans don't believe in lines, so it was basically jostling your way through with elbows to get the ice cream, and took a while but was totally completely entirely worth it. Especially for the hazlenut. I asked when they closed, actually I asked what day they closed, becuase unlike most places they had no sign up, and they actually give away ice cream for free when they close. She said eleventh. Or I thought she did. Turns out she must have meant 11pm, or at least thats what I was left to infer from the fact that it was all shuttered up on the 4th. Now it is getting cold and there are chestnut roasters in place of fruit stands and ice cream stands.
That weekend (last weekend) I also went to Bratislava for Friday afternoon. We saw the Jewish museum but got there to late to see the clock museum, which I'm sure is pretty cool. Saw the castle and views, went out to eat, went to a bar where we think they made us bad drinks just to get rid of the Americans, went to an Irish pub, and went home. There's not much to see in Bratislava so aside from the clock museum I feel like I've seen it all. Then Saturday there was a Flohmarkt (flee market) on my street. Not the part I live on, but 2 blocks away and then stretching all the way through the 7th district to Mariahilferstrasse. I walked the length of it, looking to replace the beautiful amazing warm soft shawl I'd bought in Bosnia and lost somewhere in Slovenia the day I canyoned and hitchhiked and was in a general rush. Ended up with a u2 record and some old postcards of Vienna, plus had a delicious oozing melty kasekraner. (That's a sausage with cheese inside. sooooooo good.)
Monday was Yom Kippur. I will go to the Orthodox synagogue for Shabbat services some time, but for Yom Kippur I went to the new Reform synagogue. The rabbi spoke no German, was a once-a-month import from Jerusalem, the prayer book was in German and Hebrew, and the services went 3 hours before they took a break and I left. 3 hours! Then I went back after my afternoon class, cause I'd heard they were all going out for pizza, and they were doing annoucnements at 6:30 or so. But they launched back into prayers that I didn't understand and that appeared to have the potential to go hours more, so I left. I would have stayed if I felt like it was a good opportunity to meet Austrians, but most of the crowd seemed to be American expats, with some elderly Austrians. It was a nice little synagogue though, on the ground floor of a building by the river, and they mentioned they are trying to raise money and find a cemetary for the congregation.
Classes are pretty OK. I like my lit class and my Vienna history class that has a touring element. My econ and polisci classes feel like intros, which sucks a lot. Even though they have prereqs. Oh well.
Now I'm headed to Salzburg for just one night. Sorry I took so long to update, I'll try to be more regular. I wanted to write about the trip before I moved on, and that was quie a bit to write about.
October 1 was also the date that most of the city's ice cream parlors close. Very, very sad. The ones that stay open aren't nearly as good, because the ones that close are run by Italians going back to Italy for the winter. I made it my mission during the first week of class to try all of the places in the IES booklet, and I did. 6 or 7 of them. My favorite by far was Tischy, at Reumenplatz, which I went to on Oct 1. There was a huge crowd out front, and Europeans don't believe in lines, so it was basically jostling your way through with elbows to get the ice cream, and took a while but was totally completely entirely worth it. Especially for the hazlenut. I asked when they closed, actually I asked what day they closed, becuase unlike most places they had no sign up, and they actually give away ice cream for free when they close. She said eleventh. Or I thought she did. Turns out she must have meant 11pm, or at least thats what I was left to infer from the fact that it was all shuttered up on the 4th. Now it is getting cold and there are chestnut roasters in place of fruit stands and ice cream stands.
That weekend (last weekend) I also went to Bratislava for Friday afternoon. We saw the Jewish museum but got there to late to see the clock museum, which I'm sure is pretty cool. Saw the castle and views, went out to eat, went to a bar where we think they made us bad drinks just to get rid of the Americans, went to an Irish pub, and went home. There's not much to see in Bratislava so aside from the clock museum I feel like I've seen it all. Then Saturday there was a Flohmarkt (flee market) on my street. Not the part I live on, but 2 blocks away and then stretching all the way through the 7th district to Mariahilferstrasse. I walked the length of it, looking to replace the beautiful amazing warm soft shawl I'd bought in Bosnia and lost somewhere in Slovenia the day I canyoned and hitchhiked and was in a general rush. Ended up with a u2 record and some old postcards of Vienna, plus had a delicious oozing melty kasekraner. (That's a sausage with cheese inside. sooooooo good.)
Monday was Yom Kippur. I will go to the Orthodox synagogue for Shabbat services some time, but for Yom Kippur I went to the new Reform synagogue. The rabbi spoke no German, was a once-a-month import from Jerusalem, the prayer book was in German and Hebrew, and the services went 3 hours before they took a break and I left. 3 hours! Then I went back after my afternoon class, cause I'd heard they were all going out for pizza, and they were doing annoucnements at 6:30 or so. But they launched back into prayers that I didn't understand and that appeared to have the potential to go hours more, so I left. I would have stayed if I felt like it was a good opportunity to meet Austrians, but most of the crowd seemed to be American expats, with some elderly Austrians. It was a nice little synagogue though, on the ground floor of a building by the river, and they mentioned they are trying to raise money and find a cemetary for the congregation.
Classes are pretty OK. I like my lit class and my Vienna history class that has a touring element. My econ and polisci classes feel like intros, which sucks a lot. Even though they have prereqs. Oh well.
Now I'm headed to Salzburg for just one night. Sorry I took so long to update, I'll try to be more regular. I wanted to write about the trip before I moved on, and that was quie a bit to write about.
posted by trude at
11:32 AM
2 Comments:
Do you know I could have voted in the Austrian elections? Austria recognizes dual citizenship, even though the US doesn't. I'm really glad the Socialists won--they were in power when i was a little girl, before the Dollfuss dictatorship took over (it was catholic fascist sort of like Mussolini). The socialists were the party that built the great workers apartments in some of the more outlying Bezirke, like the Goethe Hof. They also introduced coeducation into the public schools. In those days, Vienna was known as "das rote Wien." I suspect today's party is not nearly as progressive as the Socialists of the 1920's--you could discuss this with your Vienna history professor.
One thing I definitely don't miss about Vienna is the October weather. You may remember that my birthday is the end of October, and it was always grey and cold by then and got dark around 4pm--how wonderful to bask in 80 dgree weather here in DC Ocotber, as we are doing at present!!!
So good to hear from you,
Lots of love,
Gma
By
Anonymous, at 3:02 AM
My history teacher has referred many times to Red Vienna. I'm sure the party is less progressive, but still moreso than the OVP. Interestingly, it's (I hear) the Greens that push for women's rights. The socialists campaigned on a better healthcare, jobs, etc.
Yes, it's cold, but it will still be 60 tomorrow (the 21st) and anyway it isn't any better in Philly or Boston. Maybe less wind at Swat.
By
trude, at 1:31 AM
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