UPDATE: 15 October 2003
Vienna, Austria
"There's
only one Imperial city. There's only one Vienna."
- Old Austrian
drinking song
There are sights, smells, and
sounds that bring back indelible memories of three of the happiest years of my
life. When I hear Reggae or techno music, I think of dancing all night long
at the Volksgarten Disco. When I smell cigarette smoke, I think of being anywhere
in Europe! When I go eat German food out here in America, I think of all the
times my friends and I went to Cafe Piccolo. When I see a dilapidated building,
I think of that rat hole I lived in at Lilienbrunngasse 13... and smile. When I
hear an old 70's song called 
"Sister Golden Hair", I think of James
singing at Roter Engel. When I am cold, which is not often, I
reflect back on what it felt like to be really COLD. When I have a strong cup of
coffee, I think of the cafes that line every street. When I see a re-run of
"90210", I think of watching "neun null zwei zehn" with Helen
and Susanne. (That show is a lot better auf Deutsch than in English.) When I
think of Vienna, I think of these friends and all the great memories. One of
the hardest things I have ever done was to pack up my life in Vienna, say
goodbye to these friends, and step on a plane bound for America. Luckily, I have
been able to go back and visit a lot! Here's a look at the life I began overseas
in January 1993. I was 22 years old and didn't know a living soul on the
continent of Europe the day I landed.
Vienna, Austria is the city I called home for 3 years. It was 19 degrees below zero the day I arrived, but I was jetlagged and decided to go for a walk anyway. I remember being overwhelmed by the intricacy of the architecture... and by the exceedingly cold air that blew across the canal at Marienbruecke. I had no idea where I was, and then suddenly, only blocks from my flat, I saw it - St. Stephen's Cathedral. To this day, it is my primary image of the city I call my second home. Pictures of Stefansdom, and many of Vienna's other majestic glories, are shown below.
Photo - top: This pensive moment was captured on film by my friend Markus Bogner during one of Dr. Chawla's lectures, 1995. Photos - left and below: Not mine; I got them off the web years ago.
FOR
MORE INFORMATION
For
more information
visit this page on Austria provided by
The Economist; or check out the Lonely
Planet: Vienna on-line guide.
My first glimpse of Vienna - Stefansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) To the left you can see Haas Haus, a modern structure designed with mirrored windows that reflect the beauty of Stefansdom. |
An aerial view of downtown Vienna as seen from the roof of Stefansdom. |
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The interior of Stefansdom - one of many grand cathedrals in Vienna. Construction on this Gothic cathedral originally began in 1137, but after a fire destroyed most of it, it had to be re-built in 1230. |
The looming spire at the front entrance into Stefansdom. There used to be a hole in the square just in front of this door where people would drop the bodies of plague victims during the Black Plague. You can tour the catacombs and look at the thousands of skeletons just lying there in a pile in the damp, clay-floored chambers. |
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The famous tiled roof of Stefansdom and a look across the first district. |
Kaertnerstrasse is the main pedestrian boulevard through the center of the city. |
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Perhaps my favorite view - turning the corner of the Graben and catching that first glimpse of the Hofburg palace. (Especially effective when done at night.) This palace was the primary residence of the reigning Habsburgs during the hey-day of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. |
The other side of the Hofburg that empties onto the front of the palace and the entry to the national library. Austria no longer has a monarchy, so now the President has an apartment in the palace. Why no king or queen? You may recall that Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne, was murdered in 1914 by a Serb nationalist - the act that started World War I. |
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The Austrian Parliament Austria's political system is a social-democracy, and they have a free-market economy. (This basically means it's a really nice place to live - safe and stable with a high standard of living.) |
Detail on the roof of the Hofburg. |
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Believe it or not, this is a subway station. It's called Karlsplatz and was designed by an influential Jugendstil (art nouveau) architect called Otto Wagner. |
This is Hundertwasser Haus, the most unusual and famous post-war building in Vienna. It was built in the 1980's by an ecologically-friendly modern-impressionist painter named Friedrich Hundertwasser. |
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Schoenbrunn palace was the 'summer palace' for the Habsburgs. Construction began in 1695 and the 'new' wing was completed in 1743. |
As you can see, the gardens around Schoenbrunn are lovely. They are also large enough for walking trails and a full zoo to be hidden from the view of the palace. Napolean used to hang out here - not hard to see why. |
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KIM'S LIST OF THE BEST OF VIENNA
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