I know some of you will probably not be happy about this...yesterday I went to a bullfight. While it is almost completely outlawed in Catalonia I felt that I could not live in Spain for over 4 months and not see one. It was just as horrible and gruesome as I thought it would be. Honestly, it wasn't really a fight- it should probably be called a ritual bull killing. There is a whole process to killing the bull, which I won't get into; its repeated six times with six different bulls. After three my friends and I decided that we got the picture and had seen enough so we left.
On to Austria...
The train from Munich to Salzburg was fairly short- a little over an hour. No-I didn't sleep. We got into the Salzburg train station a little before midnight and decided to take cabs to our hotel. My cab driver was an older Croatian man that spoke very little English. Amid the funny comments about good food and Croatia he asked us where we were from. I responded Chicago. He didn't seem to understand at first and someone else in the car repeated the city name slower. This time he heard. He immediately let out a big gasp followed by "Nooooooo" and a smirk. He then picked up one hand and made a gun shooting motion saying "Mafia" very loudly. We all started cracking up. In broken English he then asked for a name. I said Al Capone and he got very excited again. I know that Chicago used to be known internationally for that, but between Michael Jordan and now Barack Obama I have not had that response once in my entire time abroad. It was very funny.
After a short ride we arrived at our goreous little bed and breakfast type hotel. Not only was the building nice, but my room was nice, as well. For a four person room we had two stories and a large bathtub. By far the best part, however, was the view. Its no wonder they filmed "The Sound of Music" in this beautiful little city. I looked out my bedroom window and felt as though I was looking at a postcard with snow capped mountains flowing behind grassy hilltops. It was incredible. Tuesday night we hung out in each others rooms for a short while before going to bed.
Wednesday morning I was 4th to shower in my room. There was no curtain on the bathtub/ shower and it showed. By the time Lisa, Annie, and Jordan were done I could have taken a bath in the floor the bathroom was so flooded. Oh well, I managed. I then met everyone downstairs for breakfast in the small, quant dining room. Immediately upon sitting down a kind old women offered me tea. I think the place was owned by one family. We finished up breakfast and caught a bus to the center of the town.
After walking around for a bit and seeing Mozart's house, among other attractions, we took a furnicular up to the old fortress. It provided an incredibly serence view of both Salzburg and the mountains surrounding it. The headset tour gave incredible history about the Habsburg empire and the entire Austro-Hungarian region for the last 1000 years, very little of which I knew before going there. After the fortress we walked through the castle and saw the incredible gardens.
Ben, Barkan, Lee, Kogan, Jordan and I then caught a bus to the famous Salzburg salt mine (Salzburg= city of salt). The girls decided to walk around Salzburg a little more. It was an absolute pain to get to this place and we weren't really sure where we were going, what it involved, or any details. I was hopefull that it would work out, but not completely confident. After much confusion and multiple busses we made it to the mine. We bought tickets for a tour, the only way to go in, and wondered around the old Celtic village as we waited. While waiting we met a couple from Washington, D.C. area. The woman was very kind and quite mother-like to all of us; it was quite funny. I also think I learned more about her and her life in the couple of hours that we were with her than I know about some of my good friends. Anyway, the salt mine was soooo cool. To get down into the mines you have to go down these slides. They were long, fast, and awesome. The trip and cost of admission was worth it just for those. We then went through a salt lake under the mine, crossed into Germany territory underground, and learned about the history of the mine and its connection with the Habsburg history.
On the way back to Salzburg we got smart and took a train (thanks to the help of our temporary mother). We got back around 7:00 and wanted to catch an 8:00 train. Matt and Lee took a van cab out to the hotel and grabbed all of our bags while we contacted the girls and bought the tickets for the train. We all ate a quick dinner and were on our way to Vienna.
The train to Vienna was almost 3 hours long; I almost fell asleep. We arrived in Vienna around 11:30 and were able to walk from the main train station to our hotel, about 7 blocks away. The hotel was very nice, again, but only had 2 person rooms. We all got settled in and hung out for a little while before going to sleep.
Thursday morning everyone woke up around 9:00. Unfortunately this place did not serve breakfast, but there was luckily a supermarket right next door. We all grabbed some quick breakfast and then the group left to tour for the day. I was to be on my own, pursuing my "Feiger family history" adventure. My first stop was to the JCC/Synagogue in Vienna. I had been given the address and told that they kept records on Jewish families living in Vienna during World War II. As I wove my way down the small side streets in the heart of Vienna I began to see quite a few security guards armed with very large automatic weapons. I walked up to the synagogue front door and began speaking to the people outside who, by the way, spoke perfect English. Unfortunately the records area was closed for Passover. I then asked if they knew of any public of open Seders that night, seeing as it was the first night of passover, or if they had any suggestions for where I could go. They were very friendly but not very helpful and told me that they didn't know of any open seders but that I should come back later and talk to the Rabbi- that maybe he would have a suggestion. I agreed and left.
Next stop: Grandpa's apartment. I took the metro to the stop I had been told to get off at and wondered the streets surrounding it for about 30 minutes. Just as I was beginning to become disgruntled and give up I came across the street: Benedikt Schellinger-Gasse. I started to look for the address. Again it took me longer than it should have (I don't think they were in any kind of order) but I eventually found 11 on a street corner. I looked up to the third floor of the apartment building, still in tact, where my Grandfather had lived until escaping Nazi oppression. Walking up to the front door of the building and walking along the sidewalk was very strange. I compared it to my walk to school at age 13 and thought about how different my was from his- how dynamic of a life he has led. Another 'come-to-life' moment.
After wondering around that neighborhood for a while I decided to go see some of the sites of Vienna. I tried getting a hold of the rest of the group, but my phone was completely out of minutes and I couldn't make or receive calls or texts. The cell-phone recharge system in Europe is truly awful. I went to the Hofburg Imperial palace and walked around the gardens and fields and through the palace plazas and hallways before finding the famous Augustiner-Kirche church and Austrian Treasury. The crown jewels in the treasury were magnificant, rivaling those from Great Britain in London. After walking through the palace I decided to head back to the main square, Stephensplatz, and get some lunch. As I was about to sit down I saw Lisa Weitzman- she had gone there to meet Marc Kovarsky and Josh Keller. As I saw here they, along with another girl from Granada that was meeting up with us, were all walking up at the same time- quite a coincidence, but it worked out extremely well. They were all just sitting down to lunch, as well. (Group total up to 17.)
I was not the only member of the group that thought it would be fun to attend a seder. I discreetly mentioned to a couple fellow Jews that the Rabbi at the synagogue might have a recommendation and sure enough, all the Jewish people in our group wanted to attend. This wasn't a bad thing, but it did involve 9 of us trying to find a place to eat-a practical impossibility. When we went back to the synagogue there was no one there anyone and it quickly became a moot point. We decided it would be fun to head to the Jewish museum. First we went to the one in Judensplatz and they told us that the other one was better. I asked again about Holocaust records. They recommended that I go to the archive in the Old City Hall, just one block away. I told the rest of the group that I would meet them at the other Jewish musuem and was again on my own. After another difficult search for a poorly labeled building/street I finally found where I needed to be. I talked to about 10 people to figure out where the archives were and was finally guided to a small room upstairs int he back of the Town Hall. I searched the online records and then thumbed through the written documents. There were thousands of names but, strangely, no Feigers. My search had come to a dead end. I thanked the man helping me and ran off to meet the others at the Jewish synagogue.
After a quick peak around we all decided it was time to head back. The large grassy fields in the Hofburg palace provided a great nap spot before going to the hotel. We then headed back, got ready, and went out to dinner at a good, local, outdoors restaurant near the hotel. Unfortunately we were not told that wine would be about 22euros/ bottle. Our wine-expert friends from Italy confirmed that it was not worth that. Accustomed to our 1euro bottles the Spanish people didn't think anything could be worth that. Live and learn. Matt Reilly met up with us as we finished (total=18). We were now at maximum attendance.
Dinner ended and it was time to go back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. After hanging out in our hotel rooms for a while we decided to check out the Vienna night life. Club "Flex" defined Eurotrashy; quite funny. We had some trouble communicating where our hotel was to a couple cab drivers on the way back, but eventually figured it out. It had been a long, successful day.
Friday morning most people woke up relatively early to go on a tour of the Vienna Opera house. I had originally intended to go, but woke up not feeling well: I think it was a combination of my worsening allergies throughout the week and accumulated hours of sleep I had lost by never sleeping on public transportation while everyone else was out cold. The extra hour and a half of sleep was perfect and I felt a little better when I woke back up- cough had not subsided, though.
Keller and I went down to figure out who had checked out/ who had not gone to the Opera house, etc. We learned that Ben and Marc were also still in their room. Keller went up to wake them and learned that they had been locked in their room. We messed with them a little bit, but eventually had to let them out so we could check out. The four of us then walked around a little more and grabbed lunch at a small, local Austrian place.
The rest of the group wanted to meet us back around 1:00 and then wanted to catch a train to Bratislava. After some miscommunication we ended up back at the hotel after they had already left for the train station. We quickly gathered our things (and all the things that the rest of them had left) and headed to the train station where we caught the same train as the rest of the group...without their knowledge.
Overall:
It was extremely weird to be in Austria- the home of my living ancestor. I am about as Americanized as anyone I know, yet my European family history is very recent- a fact that came to light in these couple of days.
Salzburg was possibly the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. It is indescribably picteresque. My castle will definitely be there- I even picked out on which mountainside it will reside. I can definitely see myself going back and spending a week hiking, skiing, and relaxing there. I would even stay at the same place.
Everytime I saw a man in his 80s walking around Vienna I just kept thinking how easily that could have been my grandfather. It was truly strange. All in all Vienna was a nice, big, fun city with a lively feel to it. I think it felt more modern/ American than most of the cities I travelled to on this trip, though.
Yet again the weather was incredible.
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