Vienna 10th May 2013

I started today early with little plan or idea of what to expect. My first stop was the Westbahnhof to make reservations on an ICE (InterCity Express) train for Tuesday to ensure I can get to Brussels in time to check in at my hostel there. My reservation is for a 6:52 AM (!!!) train to Frankfurt where I will change trains again and continue on. I'm going to try to be a bit earlier for this one!

This has definitely been the worst day of allergies for me so far this year, despite the fact that I am taking daily medicine for the past week or so... I spent the first three or four hours of the day sneezing my way across Vienna like an idiot, pausing in bits of shade to hide my squinty and itchy eyes from the sun and to breath... Protip: if you have allergies, never expect to be at your best on any gorgeous day. You'll be disappointed.

But it was gorgeous in Vienna today. Early this morning the sky was clear and the sun was out. This is a fantastic city for the history nerd. Literally around every turn there is a beautiful new Imperial building to explore, at least in the Hofburg, where I spent most of my day.

Opa liked the Habsburgs. It is strange to think that I am in the Imperial City, the home of their Winter Palace, from whence the Austro-Hungarian Empire was ruled... It is even more strange to think that this is the place Opa was born, the place he lived for 10 years, the place the story begins, and the place I might have been born myself, had circumstances been different. Knowing this gives the city a great weight. A great urgency. I have something to learn about Opa here. I have something to learn about myself here.

It was my intention to see the Jewish History Museum, and wandering the Hofburg I found a sign that pointed the way. It is a museum in two parts, and my status as a student got me a discount. The first I visited, on Dorotheergasse, focused on Jewish humor and media and had an interesting archive on its top floor. I ate lunch there.

But the second, on the Judenplatz, was fascinating. In the plaza is the Shoa Mahnmal, a memorial for Austrian victims of the Holocaust. It is a low gray building, simply built and surrounded by the names of places Jews were killed. The effect of the memorial was powerful. I sat there and thought of Opa and his mother for some time... She was murdered at Auschwitz.

The museum itself featured the remains of one of Vienna's largest synagogues destroyed in 1420. Antisemitism is not a new thing.

The second location is also home to the Jewish Welcome Service of Vienna. I spoke to a woman there who helped me locate Klosterneuburgerstrasse, the street where Opa grew up, as well as how to get there, and the site of the nearest synagogue (the former site, more correctly. Only one synagogue of Vienna's previous ninety-four survived the war). I will make my way there someday very soon. I wonder what I will find...

I continued to wander and toured the Austrian parliament and ate Wiener Schnitzel. I considered attending services at the Stadttemple, the synagogue that survived World War Two, but decided against it.

The weather turned darker later in the day and it is supposed to rain tomorrow. In any case, most Jewish sites are closed on Saturday for the Shabbat. I am not certain what I will do yet. Wien is holding an annual festival of art and culture, so I may see what that has to offer.

Until tomorrow, readers!