A Tale of Two Sisters
I met Meg at the airport just after I got back from Rome. Luckily our flights landed within minutes of each other, and it was so great to have my sister with me in Vienna! We took the train back to the city (because the airport is actually in the town of Schwechat, which is a half-hour train ride away.) All we did on that day, Tuesday, was head back to my apartment, where Meg took a nap, and grab some dinner.On Wednesday evening, Meghan and I decided to go to Mass at the Piaristenkirche. While I was in Rome, I found out that a close friend of mine from high school passed away suddenly, and there was no way for me to get back in time for the funeral. I was lucky to be with friends and my boyfriend when I received the news, and I was even luckier to return to Vienna to a ten day visit from my sister, who was a wonderful source of support for me. She suggested that on Wednesday, the day of the funeral, we go to Mass so we could be with Zack in spirit, if not in body.
Before Mass, we were approached by a lovely and very friendly elderly Viennese woman, who pointed out some of the architectural hallmarks of the church and gave us a prayer card. After Mass, we left the church to see a rainbow stretching out over the city (you can see a city view from the church steps.) At this point, I’d been living in Vienna for nine months, and this was the first rainbow I saw – while leaving the church on the day of one of my best friend’s funerals. I refuse to believe it was a coincidence.
On Wednesday evening after Mass, we decided that we should take a trip and made some last minute plans for a weekend trip to Salzburg. We found inexpensive hotel accommodations on the internet (hurrah for technology!) and we decided suck up our pride and schedule ourselves for a patented “Sound of Music” tour – the thing for American tourists in Salzburg to do (and my second time taking it!)
I, being a travel agent wannabe, also scheduled a side trip into our journey. On Thursday, we left Vienna on a morning train, which we took to St. Valentin, where we changed trains. We arrived in the town of Mauthausen at around 2pm. Mauthausen was home to the only concentration camp that the Nazis set up in Austria, and as with the other concentration camps, it has been turned into a memorial and a museum. I, a person who considers herself a scholar of German history, had actually never been to a concentration camp before, and while I obviously wish the places never existed in the first place, I was glad to have the opportunity to see this one.
We arrived at the Mauthausen Bahnhof (train station), which, like most small rural towns, has just one platform and two tracks. We knew the camp was a few miles outside the town, but we weren’t really sure how to get there other than to walk, so we set out on foot. Luckily, less than a mile into our journey we actually walked past a taxi depot, where we hired a cab to take us the rest of the way (and they gave us their phone number for the return, bless them!)
I’m not quite sure how to describe the camp. Solemn is a good word. Desolate in feeling, but not in location, which was actually quite beautiful. The camp itself was rather bleak, as you might imagine, with buildings made of graying wood, walls made of stone, and fences topped with barbed wire. We received headsets with our admission fee, so we took a self-guided tour through the barracks and work areas and shower rooms. They have actually torn down many of the buildings that used to be there (mainly barracks), and ironically, where the buildings used to stand, there are now patches of beautiful wild flowers that are surrounded by manicured grass lawns. All over the camp people have donated memorials – plaques, obelisks, headstones – in memory of the victims and also of the soldiers who liberated the camp. It was a sobering experience, but I’m very glad we were able to go.
After seeing the camp, we headed back to the train station and took the train the rest of the way to Salzburg, where, since it was dark (and I do say this to offer an excuse, because I don’t normally do this!) we grabbed a taxi to take us to our hotel. We hadn’t had a proper meal yet that day, so we were overjoyed to be staying next door to an Italian restaurant, where we had a delicious meal, after which we headed to bed.
The next morning we woke up and headed back to the train station (we walked this time, because it really wasn’t very far) to meet Antonia (!!), who stopped for a few hours to meet us in Salzburg on her way to a weekend at her family’s lake house in Kärnten. After meeting up with her, we took a tour of the Mozart Geburtshaus (Mozart’s birthplace), which is one of several Mozart museums in the city. Being a good girlfriend, I took illegal photos surreptitiously of the old-fashioned instruments for my boyfriend to see ☺
After the Mozart museum, we wandered around the city, grabbing lunch in a Beisl (café), and stopping in to view the Cathedral, which is extremely different (and more modern on the inside) than any church I’d seen in Vienna. We played around in the city, taking fun pictures and having coffee until Antonia had to catch her train out. After that, Meg and I wandered some more before heading back to the hotel, grabbing dinner, and going to bed (because we had a big day the next day!)
We woke up early on Saturday so we could meet our Sound of Music tour bus on time. We stopped by several major landmarks of the movie – the house that is the front of the von Trapp estate (and is now a conservatory), the different house that is the back of the same estate, the famous gazebo (where Maria and the Captain sing my favorite song before smooching), and finally, the church where Maria and the Captain get married. The church is in the lovely town of Mondsee, which is right by a lake of the same name, and we stopped there for lunch. Strangely enough, while wandering around Mondsee I actually ran into a favorite pupil of mine from Vienna. Apparently her family owns a vacation home in Salzburg. I’m not jealous or anything!
We got back to the city in the mid-afternoon, after a rather fun tour. I have to say, it was a great experience, and we got to see a little bit of the surrounding countryside while sitting on a bus and singing along with the Sound of Music soundtrack ☺
Meg and I took the train back to Vienna that night, because on Sunday we had another treat. As a graduation present to Meg, my parents bought us tickets to see the Spanish Riding School perform! It was so amazing to watch those horses and riders doing their thing. While I got to see them practice, I’d never seen the actually perform, and it was a really cool thing to watch. Thank you mommy and daddy for that ☺
I had to work the next week, so we just did some of my usual Vienna-life activities (such as go to the English Bookshop and take our purchases to a café (if we wanted to be Viennese) or Starbucks (if we wanted to be smoke-free) to while away the afternoon. Unfortunately, the weather was cold, rainy, and gray for the duration of Meg’s visit, which really stifled the urge to sight-see outside.
One thing we did get to do was take a boat ride on the Danube through Vienna. I’d been on river cruises through the Wachau Valley before (outside of Vienna), but never through the actual city. It was interesting to see all the landmarks from afar on the water (the Danube doesn’t actually run through Vienna, but beside it.)
On Saturday, June 3, Meg and I woke up at 3am to get her to the airport in time for her flight (yeesh!) I was sad to see her go, but it was so wonderful to have her come stay with me! I only wish Bridget had been able to make it over as well, but maybe next time.
posted by Carly Fowler @ 7:53 PM
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