Week 5 – Vienna

This week has definitely been one of the most exciting ones filled with several interesting activities. On a late Monday afternoon after a day full of work we have all met for a Kaffeklatsch in Café Braunerhof for a cup of coffee to discuss the past weeks and plan ahead for Thanksgiving. The Café was an interesting place with a specific atmosphere. Maybe due to the fact that the famous  Thomas Bernhard used to spend all his days sitting here, and where a memorable picture of him still hangs on one of the walls of the Café. After dividing all our duties for Thanksgiving and sharing fair amounts of latest gossip J we dispersed back to our houses through the chilly streets of Vienna.

Tuesday started with a lecture by Frau Rosenauer during our art history class during which we continued our discussions about Otto Wagner and started talking about Adolf Loos and Joseph Hoffman and their fascinating works. (image on the right side of Otto Wagner’s Majolica Haus)

On Wednesday we attended another art history class continuing our discussion on the great architects and designers of Vienna. This followed by a Literature class were we closely examined one of the works of Arthur Schnitzler entitled “Der Traumnovelle” known in English as the  “The Dream Story”. A work we were to see on Saturday in Josefstädter Theater. After the literature class we all went to prepare ourselves for shopping for the Thanksgiving Dinner.

Thursday morning was filled therefore with preparations and cooking. Some people from our group, who managed to wake up early managed to also see the practice of the Lipizzaner horses before engaging in kitchen activities. At 7pm we all met in the Kirche Maria Namen for the Thanksgiving dinner. We ate, laughed and enjoyed the many foods we have prepared for the night. At the end we also introduced ourselves to the families and have thanked each other for taking the time to enjoy this day as a group and making it a nice experience.

The next day (Friday) we all met in front of the Stephansdom and departed to the UNO city where we took a guided tour and discovered the role and responsibilities of the United Nations. This was then followed by a ride on the Wiener Reisenrad, which is in place in Vienna since 1897.  Not much could be seen due to the bad weather but the ride was enjoyable nevertheless since we had chocolates left over from Thanksgiving that we quickly dealt withJ.  Then the group split in two. One half of the group decided to go to the Zentralfriedhof, while the other went to Schönbrunn Palace to enjoy the palace’s beautiful interior and it’s still beautiful gardens.

On Saturday evening we all attended the “Der Traumnovelle” performance at the Josefstädter Theater which was very interesting in its interpretation. After that we quickly sneaked into one of the Cafes, which was still open and enjoyed a warm drink while discussing our stories of the week and the play itself. While returning through the city to our houses we could enjoy the cities various Christmas decorations that have been put up slowly during the week and now were illuminating brightly, setting all of us in a cheerful, Christmas mood…

(Julia)