Living that Vienna life

So I mentioned I am staying in the Wahring district of Vienna. I am in one of those tall apartment building that stand one after another in long rows.  The place I’m in is 125 years old. 

When you enter the building there is a cement staircase that is in a spiral that goes up as high as 3 stories. I’m sure it is the original staircase because of how it’s built and it’s appearance. At first it was kind of scary to go down, but now I’m used to it. 

What’s weird is that if you come in at night, there are no lights in the hallways or on the staircase. Maybe we don’t know how to turn them on, I don’t know. Kind of eerie. Especially in an old building. Probably ghosts of former residents wander the hallways.

On one level there is this wash basin thing (see picture) outside an apartment, obviously part of the original building. Maybe you washed your hands before you go in.

So the place itself is very decent. It’s weirdly designed in that there is a large room with a double bed and living room area. There is a kitchen. There is a small bedroom and a bathroom. The toilet is in its own small room. When you have to spend some time in there (!) it could be claustrophobic. 

The beds have very firm mattresses. Apparently Austrians and Germans like their beds firm.

Of course there is no air conditioning. A couple of good fans though. No screens on windows. Washing machine

is in the bathroom. No dryer. All of this has been standard with the trip except usually no fans.

To one side of the building is an outdoor market selling produce, flowers. There are a couple of restaurants that only have outdoor seating. One is fish. So smell of fish is strong. We aren’t on that side. 

There is a church about a block away that rings bells at 7 am, then at 7:45 am in case you didn’t hear it the first time. Then it ring at 6:15 pm and again at 7:00 pm. This is every day.

About a block away is street with groceries, coffee shops, clothing stores, restaurants, anything you need. Tram runs on that street. Train station couple blocks away. 

That is life in a Vienna neighborhood.

Tales from the Vienna church crypts

 St Stephens (Stephansdom) church in Vienna started being built in 1137 . Up until the 1700’s there was a cemetery surrounding the church. In about 1718 the cemetery

was closed and a crypt was built beneath the church. Between 1745 and 1783 over 10,000 people were buried in the crypts beneath the cathedral.

Well the crypts got filled to the brim and were walled off. Apparently this caused quite a bad smell. Only a small group of people were allowed into the crypts.

When the crypt got full, prisoners were sent in to stack the bones to make more room. There are cavernous ossuaries (container or room where bones of the dead are put) full of skulls and bones. 

The crypts have two sections. One part is for the bishops and in the past, nobility. In other words the rich and powerful. That area has caskets and urns. The other part is much darker and contains ossuaries where the skulls and bones are. This where the common folk ended up.

There is a tour where you can go down there and look at the whole thing, including looking down to see the skulls and bones. All for the low price of $5. Did I go down there? No. I’ll pass. 

Is Vienna public transport free?

Vienna has something that would probably never work in the U.S. its entire transit system is based on honesty. 

Vienna has commuter rail type train (SBahn), subway type train (UBahn), tram system, buses. You can use the same ticket for all of it. Same price. Here’s the thing: nobody is ever really going to check to see if you have a ticket.  There are no machines to put your ticket through, no ticket checks on the trains, trams or buses. It is entirely based on you doing the responsible thing of buying the ticket. Bazaar.

Hold everything!!!! They actually do spot checks. The conductor (driver) can decide to conduct a check. There are sometimes people who check at stops. There can be an inspector on the train. People are still RARELY checked.  You could probably easily get away with riding free. Fine for non payment: $105. A 2020 survey showed only 2% of people stopped didn’t have a valid ticket.

This is not the first city we’ve been in with this policy. In London you had to tap a card or ticket in and out. In Manchester we took the the tram. Nobody asked about a ticket. In Edinburgh there were random checks. In Belfast paid for bus like you would any bus. Dublin, nobody checked. Waterford and Cardiff we walked. 

Transport going from city to city is one of the more complicated things we figure out. What is the system? What part of it will we take? Where do we go to take it. It doesn’t take long to figure it out.  Now that we are in non English speaking countries it’s even more complicated.

But it’s part of the fun right? Har. It’s just part of the whole thing. Cant change it.

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August 29, 2022 at 06:07PM

Why are Vienna sausages in that little can?

 

I hope this isn't insulting but what I know about Vienna is Vienna bread (my mom bought it), Vienna sausage (in the little can) and it’s known for music. Beethoven, Brahms, etc.

We thought about going to Austria in the spring but changed our mind. France was too expensive in the last part of August so we did some rearranging. We’ll be here a week.

We are staying in a building that is 125 years old. It is in the Währing district. It’s considered a suburb of Vienna. 

It has an interesting history. It was one of the centers of Austrian resistance during World War 2. A Catholic priest and a local citizen organized a group. It passed on plans and production facilities of rockets, tanks and planes to the Allies. They were able to bomb the facilities and protect residential neighborhoods. 

It is also on the edge of the Vienna forest, a 500 square mile forest. Within it are 2 cities, a mountain almost 3,000 feet high, 150 types of birds and 2000 plant species.

Other Vienna fun facts: (har)

1) The snow globe was invented in Vienna. 

2) OPEC headquarters

3) It has 450 balls a year. Big dancers these folks.

4) Vienna boys choir has been around since 1498.

5) German word for Vienna is Wein. So you see the word here, there and everywhere.

6) The end.

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August 28, 2022 at 06:56PM

Ryanair hawks scratch off tickets on their flights

 We flew on Ryanair from Dublin to Vienna. Kind of reluctant to book it but it’s cheaper. Other than leaving a half hour late, it was fine. 

It was one of those get on from the tarmac planes up some stairs. Aisle was reasonably wide. We had good leg room because we sat in the exit row. Interesting story about that…

The flight attendant took one passenger in the exit rows booze away that they bought at the airport. I don’t know if you can’t drink your own booze on the flight or if they don’t want exit row passengers drunk. 

Ryan air is no frills. You pay for carry on luggage. You pay for a coke or water or snack. First thing that happened was the flight attendant tried to sell us the inflight magazine. Then the $3 water, pop came through. Half way into the flight an announcement is made that they will be coming down the aisle with things for sale: perfume, cosmetics, electronics, jewelry, everything but the kitchen sink.

You could buy a $15 scratch off ticket. They came down the aisle twice in case you changed your mind. 

It was an older plane. The seats weren’t really comfortable. Sounds like I hated it. No it was fine. The flight attendants were great.

What is like to travel to 5 countries in 3 months?

In 13 weeks we have been to 5 countries: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland.  Three plane rides. Eight train rides. Five air bnbs. Three hotels. And a partridge in a pear tree.

In London we took the underground which was convenient and easy but sometimes involved walking long distances going up and down stairs. In Cardiff we walked. In Manchester we took the tram. In Scotland we took the tram. In Belfast took the bus. In Dublin took the tram. In Waterford we walked. 

The hardest part of this trip is traveling to the new place . Trains are fiascos half the time. Adjusting to staying in a new place so often is hard.

Figuring out local transportation such as trams is pretty easy because there is always a ticket machine at the stop. Buses are hairier for two reasons: 1) Sometimes you have to go to a specific place to wait, like Parnell stop 6004. The buses that run on the same street might stop every other stop or something. Another thing we learned the hard way is that you have to have exact change when you get on the bus. No cards. No change given. 

Since we have been in Ireland, we deal in Euros which is so much easier and almost equivalent to USD. In the UK it was pounds and it was confusing. 

Some things that are different in the UK and Ireland: No dryers. Clothes are hung to dry on racks. Washing machines are confusing and can take 2 hours or more a load. No air conditioners. One hotel had none but it had a fan. No screens on windows. Naprosyn is a prescription med here. (WTF!) They have “digestive biscuits” (crackers) that you can eat and they have an antacid effect. Black pudding, fish pie, beans at breakfast, sausage rolls, chips(fries), haggis. 

It’s been an interesting trip so far. Cant wait for tomorrow!

those rebellious Irish

those rebellious Irish
those rebellious Irish

 Tomorrow we leave Ireland. I am really sad about that. I cannot believe we have been here for a month. It has been a once in a lifetime experience. I grew up being told I was 100% Irish by my mom. Of course that wasn’t true and if I believe ancestry DNA I am about half Irish. I will always consider myself 100% Irish! What else would I want to be? I reject my other heritage, dammit!

Starting in Belfast was weird because of the continued tension there. The history of the troubles is real there even now. I learned a lot about Northern Ireland history. Although I’m no long a practicing Catholic, I thought about what it would have been like to be Catholic in Northern Ireland. Cant help but admire the Catholic people and their struggle for an equal place in society. I don’t think they’ve achieved it yet.

I was kind of thrown by Dublin at first. I thought so this is all about tourism? The Temple bar? There is so much more to Dublin than that. There is a rich culture and history. Dublin played such a major role in the country’s independence. It feels weird to be staying right in the area where a lot of it took place.I absolutely loved learning about Irish history. It gives you a real understanding of irish people and my background and the people in my family.

My great grandfather John was born a year before the famine hit. He grew up in a tumultuous time in Ireland after the famine. Imagine having 1 million people starve and 1 million people leave and the effect that has on the country, on the Irish psyche. It probably continues to affect people to this day because many more people left after the famine.

Every Irish I have met has had a relative in the United States or they have been to the United States. There’s a close connection.

Finally there’s Waterford, where my Dads family came from. His family is still here. Some left. It has been so interesting to see the area they lived in, to learn the history of Waterford and imagine what life must have been like for them going back to 1790, as far as I can trace them.

People in Waterford are friendly, saying hello to strangers, eager to talk to. 

So as we leave Ireland, if I had to describe it I would say there is a sense of melancholy.  Definition of melancholy: a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause. 

Other words to describe Irish people: resilient, rebellious, joyful. In a way that describes me. God knows I’m resilient. I’m defenitely rebellious(!). I’m happy, haven’t always been.

I think the part of the Irish people I like the best is the rebel in them. They never gave up, fighting til they won.

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August 25, 2022 at 09:36PM


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August 26, 2022 at 03:11AM
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