Vienna ("Wien," pronounced veen in Europe) doesn't have the energetic zest of the other Euro-cities that I've been to so far. Said one local, "It's is the perfect place to retire..." but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Vienna is an obligatory stop for the sake Art History (and Euoropean History in general) because the Royal Hapsburg family in their prime amassed quite a bit of stuff worth seeing. Vienna is also the perfect introduction to the Baroque. Parts of the old city still feel as if the Protestant Reformation and French Revolution just never happened. To put it otherwise, in Paris my feet hurt from walking so much, in Vienna my neck hurt from looking up at all the ceiling frescoes.
Melk Abbey
I began by hopping off the night train prematurely on Sat. morning to see if I could get find my way to Melk Abbey. My ever faithful travel partner called it "one of Europe's great sights," so I figured I'd go, and great it was. The recently renovated place lacks the "old vibe" one might excpect from an Abbey and instead exudes a freshness attained by an intelligent blend of traditional and modern art, sculpture, decorations and exhibits. The place houses a private school (that only costs parents 60 euros a month) and the monks and residents are eager to make you feel welcome, which is after all a Benedictine specialty. If you're ever near Vienna, go to Melk.
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Art and Opera
Upon arrival in Wien I paid a steep admission price for entrance to the Hapsburg's art colleciton in the Kunsthistoriches Museum which was as exhausting as the Louvre - and as worth it. Among many other things, their collection of Pieter Bruegel's paintings won me over. I never realized they were so large.
Then it was to the famous Viennese Opera House for standing room only tickets (try the cool Panorama tour to see what I did). The building loses some of its majesty when one realizes it's called the "Wiener State Opera House," but I didn't let that stop me. The Opera was Werther, an adaptation of Goethe's novel. The 2 euro (!) admission fee left cash Finger Sandwiches on the Terrace during intermission with all the Viennese decked out in their glamour-wear. My binocs made the high spots really not that bad. Opera is a winner. The emotions expressed are something I suspect deep inside every one of us feel, but are unable to communicate. The talented, disciplined and trained are able to tap such depth, which is maybe why they're treated in Vienna like national heroes, as exhibited by the no less than ten curtain calls. Later I realized that they were so good I had given them a standing ovation during the entire performance.
Church and State
The music in Church on Sunday was of the same caliber as the Opera. Sunday Mass at Saint Augustine's Church operates much like a concert, again with standing room only. Some may have been there just for the music without an ear for faith. Some just for the faith without an ear for the music. I prefer both.
The cocktail of beauty mixed with belief is a strong one. I found myself lingering for quite a long while afterward digesting the experience - which was fortunately more than an "experience," but an encounter with God. (Incidentally, exploration of the relationship of beauty and faith is the reason for all the "Theological Aesthetics" links to your left.)
After this it was to the official Hapsburg Treasury. An extraordinary collection of crowns, sculptures, monstrances, vestments, narwhale horns and other things that a Royal family would have needed as State collateral. Like the Opera, I was not expecting to like this as much as I in fact did. That and a taste of Viennese food was all I had time for that day.
And speaking of Church and State, I found it a bit disconcerting that the Austrian flag occuppied an entire side of the roof of Saint Stephen's cathedral (the major donwtown Church)... not to mention the two massive bank advertisements covering the entire steeple. Anyone know the German word for tacky?
Baden Baden
Thanks to the overnight train I had another available Eurorail day, so after German class it was off to the obligatory "Baden Baden" baths near the Black Forest, just a short ride away from Mannheim. My college self would be indignant for my indulging in such bourgeois fluff, but it is made excusable in that the experience that would probably cost over $200 in the States can be had for 21 euros in the Friederichsbad. Going from the extreme heat of graduated Saunas to the ice cold plunge at the end amounted to a corporeal Roller Coaster ride. "Body this is millinerd, millinerd this is your body" seems to sum up the event.
Now back to learning German. It's nice when, for once, watching T.V. counts as study time.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Worms und Heidelberg
Mannheim is located in a place that made it possible for me to do a trip to Worms and Heidelburg in the same day, and all after German class.
Worms:
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But there is also a Catholic Worms. The same Cathedral that Martin Luther would have seen still stands, with a fancy Baroque altar added later to underscore its non-Protestant status. The Cathedral was gearing up for World Youth Day in Cologne, so it seems business as usual for Catholics in the town where possibly the greatest standoff against Catholicism ever took place. This is of course a testimony to the institutional strength of the Catholic Church. But I walked away from Worms feeling that the city was as much a testimony to the message of the Gospel which is able to survive, if needs be, outside any institution. This, I like to think, is what the Reformation was about.
If one compares Catholicism as institution versus Protestantism as institution, then Catholicism will always win. But Protestanism, though it unfortunately and very pathetically can be, is not about the Protestant institution but about the priority of the Gospel message over any institution. That's why if Catholics forget the Gospel they can at least get by. If Protestants do we just look stupid.
Heidelburg: Rick Steves said Heidelburg was not worth one's time because it's been touristified, and he's right. Everyone I talked to spoke better English than German, and the kiss of death... there's a Starbucks. But still Heidelburg is famous for good reason: It's gorgeous, and is now tied with Cambridge for the most beautiful college town millinerd has seen. The Philospher's Way is a short hike that overlooks the town, and I sat there looking at the ruins of the castle and listening to a college band's outdoor concert echoing through the river canyon. Quite nice. College students really seem to know how to relax in Germany. From the student campout/protests that I hung out at in Mannheim to the acres of Bratwurst-barbequeing youth in a park overlooking the Heidelburg castle, living well in Germany, as in Paris, seems the status quo.
But alas, if only Heidelberg was not only physically beautiful, but also had produced some kind of testimony to the God of all beauty in the form of a document that summed up the message of salvation in Christ. Oh wait, it did.
The ol' Heidy-Cat has a warmth that so many other Reformation documents lacked, as especially exhibited in the first answer. But that being said, I'm no fan of the answer to question 98.
Worms:
"The difference between Martin Luther and Jan Huss was that Luther had powerful friends."That is what an English tourguide I overheard said at the very spot where Luther stood before the Charles V and refused to recant... and he was right - the tourguide that is. Whether or not Luther was is the 64,000 Euro question. After Luther defeneded himself at Worms, he was removed from the protection of law and might have suffered a similar fate as Huss, but on the way back he was kidnapped by Frederick the Wise and whisked to the palace where he completed his German Bible translation. The words attributed to him at Worms are...
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"Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anderes. Gott helfe mich! Amen!"He may have not actually said this, but it's the thought that counts. This short article on the matter is helpful. Also at the Protestant Worms is the excellent 1868 Luther monument to all those Reformers who clarified the message of the Gospel in an age, not unlike our own, where it had been skewed.
But there is also a Catholic Worms. The same Cathedral that Martin Luther would have seen still stands, with a fancy Baroque altar added later to underscore its non-Protestant status. The Cathedral was gearing up for World Youth Day in Cologne, so it seems business as usual for Catholics in the town where possibly the greatest standoff against Catholicism ever took place. This is of course a testimony to the institutional strength of the Catholic Church. But I walked away from Worms feeling that the city was as much a testimony to the message of the Gospel which is able to survive, if needs be, outside any institution. This, I like to think, is what the Reformation was about.
If one compares Catholicism as institution versus Protestantism as institution, then Catholicism will always win. But Protestanism, though it unfortunately and very pathetically can be, is not about the Protestant institution but about the priority of the Gospel message over any institution. That's why if Catholics forget the Gospel they can at least get by. If Protestants do we just look stupid.
Heidelburg: Rick Steves said Heidelburg was not worth one's time because it's been touristified, and he's right. Everyone I talked to spoke better English than German, and the kiss of death... there's a Starbucks. But still Heidelburg is famous for good reason: It's gorgeous, and is now tied with Cambridge for the most beautiful college town millinerd has seen. The Philospher's Way is a short hike that overlooks the town, and I sat there looking at the ruins of the castle and listening to a college band's outdoor concert echoing through the river canyon. Quite nice. College students really seem to know how to relax in Germany. From the student campout/protests that I hung out at in Mannheim to the acres of Bratwurst-barbequeing youth in a park overlooking the Heidelburg castle, living well in Germany, as in Paris, seems the status quo.
But alas, if only Heidelberg was not only physically beautiful, but also had produced some kind of testimony to the God of all beauty in the form of a document that summed up the message of salvation in Christ. Oh wait, it did.
The ol' Heidy-Cat has a warmth that so many other Reformation documents lacked, as especially exhibited in the first answer. But that being said, I'm no fan of the answer to question 98.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
10 interesting things about Amsterdam
10. From the Anne Frank house which hid persecuted Jews to the Amstelkring Museum which hid an entire Catholic Church in an attic (when that faith was illegal), Amsterdam has an amazing history of hiding things. I assure you that the city no longer hides anything.
9. Marijuana is legal in the town where it doesn't need to be. Van Gogh and Rembrandt do the trick just fine.
8. Ironically, this city of prostitutes is also home to one of the greatest visual testimonies to marital fidelity that I'm aware of. Regarding this work of Rembrandt Vincent Van Gogh said, "Would you believe I would give anything to stand before that painting for a fortnight with only a dry crust of bread to sustain me?... Only Rembrandt knows compassion."
7. Amsterdam's Oude Kerk, a textbook victim of Protestant iconoclasm, is now in the heart of the Red Light district. So much for whitewashed walls adding to the spiritual vitality of a congregation. The Reformers were right about a lot, but not this.
6. Amsterdam seems transportationally challenged. Not only was there a country wide rail strike on my way there, but a two hour dead-stop delay in a windmill field on the way back. Even so, it beats American car payments.
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5. Doing my bit to keep the not-so-smart American sterotype alive, when looking for the Rijks Museum I asked someone where the Reichstag was. They said it was quite a ways. This conversation of course took place in the English that everyone has learned to speak in Amsterdam. (Come to think of it, that may not be much of a compliment to the English speaking world.)
4. Van Gogh, I learned while looking at the best collection of his work in the world, said this:
3. Another Vincent, the one from Pulp Fiction, was right as well: The Dutch put Mayonnaise on french fries... and it's actually quite good.
2. Haarlem is a gem. One can only take so much of the 'Dam, so the central Church and Frans Hals Museum in this more charming sister city are well worth 15 minute train trip.
1. Amsterdam is more fun with friends. It was good to hang with Lenlow, and for a little bit his colleague "Phuegoo," a Dutch Mash-Up artist whom I plan to listen to. In the meantime I recommend Lenlow's new stuff, especially his spin on the Cheers song.
Speaking of which, if there happens to be a "place where everybody knows your name," lets hope it's in not in Amsterdam.
9. Marijuana is legal in the town where it doesn't need to be. Van Gogh and Rembrandt do the trick just fine.
8. Ironically, this city of prostitutes is also home to one of the greatest visual testimonies to marital fidelity that I'm aware of. Regarding this work of Rembrandt Vincent Van Gogh said, "Would you believe I would give anything to stand before that painting for a fortnight with only a dry crust of bread to sustain me?... Only Rembrandt knows compassion."
7. Amsterdam's Oude Kerk, a textbook victim of Protestant iconoclasm, is now in the heart of the Red Light district. So much for whitewashed walls adding to the spiritual vitality of a congregation. The Reformers were right about a lot, but not this.
6. Amsterdam seems transportationally challenged. Not only was there a country wide rail strike on my way there, but a two hour dead-stop delay in a windmill field on the way back. Even so, it beats American car payments.
Continue...
5. Doing my bit to keep the not-so-smart American sterotype alive, when looking for the Rijks Museum I asked someone where the Reichstag was. They said it was quite a ways. This conversation of course took place in the English that everyone has learned to speak in Amsterdam. (Come to think of it, that may not be much of a compliment to the English speaking world.)
4. Van Gogh, I learned while looking at the best collection of his work in the world, said this:
"I exaggerate, I sometimes change a motif, but in the end I don't invent the whole painting, instead I find it ready made in nature, though I still have to extract it."It's seems the best artists humble themselves before the beauty of nature and try to capture it, apprenticing themselves in a way to the Creator, rather than competing with him in narcissistic gestations of self-expression.
3. Another Vincent, the one from Pulp Fiction, was right as well: The Dutch put Mayonnaise on french fries... and it's actually quite good.
2. Haarlem is a gem. One can only take so much of the 'Dam, so the central Church and Frans Hals Museum in this more charming sister city are well worth 15 minute train trip.
1. Amsterdam is more fun with friends. It was good to hang with Lenlow, and for a little bit his colleague "Phuegoo," a Dutch Mash-Up artist whom I plan to listen to. In the meantime I recommend Lenlow's new stuff, especially his spin on the Cheers song.
Speaking of which, if there happens to be a "place where everybody knows your name," lets hope it's in not in Amsterdam.
Labels:
travel
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
the bionic tourist: Paris
Les Museums
Home base was Jim Morrison's old hotel before he expired. It was a bit seedy, but not bad for 20 euros a night with a view of the Eiffel Tower. The first night I got lost several times and cruised the Seine banks where every student in Paris seemed to be out for a party-picnic. Museums in Paris can add up, but on a Museum pass you can get a reduced rate, and more importantly blow by the lines. So on one pass on Saturday I took a long overdue trip to the Louvre (seeing at least its best stuff) and to the brilliantly arranged Musee d'Orsay where my impressions that Courbet was a genius were confirmed. Then to the Museum of the Middle Ages, a quick stop at the Conciergre (Marie Antoinette's old cell), the incomparable Saint Chapelle (fortunately I sported the necessary binoculars), and finally the Archaeological Crypt that shows Paris' multi-layered history - all fueled by a croissant and a shot of espresso.
Continue...
Le Food
Then I enjoyed a multi-course Parisien dinner for, get this, 20 euros. Betraying my American-in-Paris status I said to the waiter, "Merci, Ca c'est ma premiere diner en Francais," the equivalent of "Thank you, that was my first dinner in English." But come to think of it, there is a degree of profundity in my error. It would be nice if we Americans learned to eat "in French," emphasizing quality over quantity and much more relaxed... a point underscored by some celebrities on MTV's Cribs who, presumably of super-abundant means, choose to have freezers stocked with microwave dinners. On the contrary it seemed in Paris all locals fathom that to live well is to eat well.
La Famous Street
After that it was to L'Arc de Triomphe (included in the pass), then a stroll down the Champs d'Elysees. In the famous Sephora perfume store a middle-aged man came in, well dressed for a night on the town, and doused himself with what seemed to be approximately 20 or so spritzes of a particular man-scent from (I kid you not) head to toe. They do it different there. But Quelle Rue! From the old Regime Louvre to the Revolution's Place de la Concorde to Napolean's nationalistic Arc all the way to the modern business district arch of La Defense - all western civilization seems chronicled in an eyefull.
Les Other Things
But the bionic toursit has limits. My feet were so blistered from Saturday that the following sights were done with a severe limp on Sunday: First to Notre Dame where the quality of the sculptures were so entertaining that one would think Pixar had bought the rights. One more nail in the coffin to the myth that art began with the Renaissance. Then to Sacre Couer church and to the old haunts of Van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec, Picasso, Renoir and the gang in that neighborhood (where rent was cheaper for artsy types in at the turn of the last century). Then a glance at the Moulin Rouge (which was sufficient), and lastly the obligatory stop at Pere LaChaise Cemetary - all fueled by some raspberries from an outdoor Parisien market. I got back to Mannheim via an overnight couchette (clausterphobics beware).
Berg Eltz
AND... my Euro-Rail pass was still hot for Monday (it carries over for overnight trains), so after class I toured the best of the Romantic Rhine by train and went to a picturesque German town where I hiked to (arguably) Europe's best Medieval castle, Berg Eltz. I got there right before closing. Er was Wunderbar.
Next week it's Amsterdam with Lenlow. Lots to see there too. Museums fear me.
Home base was Jim Morrison's old hotel before he expired. It was a bit seedy, but not bad for 20 euros a night with a view of the Eiffel Tower. The first night I got lost several times and cruised the Seine banks where every student in Paris seemed to be out for a party-picnic. Museums in Paris can add up, but on a Museum pass you can get a reduced rate, and more importantly blow by the lines. So on one pass on Saturday I took a long overdue trip to the Louvre (seeing at least its best stuff) and to the brilliantly arranged Musee d'Orsay where my impressions that Courbet was a genius were confirmed. Then to the Museum of the Middle Ages, a quick stop at the Conciergre (Marie Antoinette's old cell), the incomparable Saint Chapelle (fortunately I sported the necessary binoculars), and finally the Archaeological Crypt that shows Paris' multi-layered history - all fueled by a croissant and a shot of espresso.
Continue...
Le Food
Then I enjoyed a multi-course Parisien dinner for, get this, 20 euros. Betraying my American-in-Paris status I said to the waiter, "Merci, Ca c'est ma premiere diner en Francais," the equivalent of "Thank you, that was my first dinner in English." But come to think of it, there is a degree of profundity in my error. It would be nice if we Americans learned to eat "in French," emphasizing quality over quantity and much more relaxed... a point underscored by some celebrities on MTV's Cribs who, presumably of super-abundant means, choose to have freezers stocked with microwave dinners. On the contrary it seemed in Paris all locals fathom that to live well is to eat well.
La Famous Street
After that it was to L'Arc de Triomphe (included in the pass), then a stroll down the Champs d'Elysees. In the famous Sephora perfume store a middle-aged man came in, well dressed for a night on the town, and doused himself with what seemed to be approximately 20 or so spritzes of a particular man-scent from (I kid you not) head to toe. They do it different there. But Quelle Rue! From the old Regime Louvre to the Revolution's Place de la Concorde to Napolean's nationalistic Arc all the way to the modern business district arch of La Defense - all western civilization seems chronicled in an eyefull.
Les Other Things
But the bionic toursit has limits. My feet were so blistered from Saturday that the following sights were done with a severe limp on Sunday: First to Notre Dame where the quality of the sculptures were so entertaining that one would think Pixar had bought the rights. One more nail in the coffin to the myth that art began with the Renaissance. Then to Sacre Couer church and to the old haunts of Van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec, Picasso, Renoir and the gang in that neighborhood (where rent was cheaper for artsy types in at the turn of the last century). Then a glance at the Moulin Rouge (which was sufficient), and lastly the obligatory stop at Pere LaChaise Cemetary - all fueled by some raspberries from an outdoor Parisien market. I got back to Mannheim via an overnight couchette (clausterphobics beware).
Berg Eltz
AND... my Euro-Rail pass was still hot for Monday (it carries over for overnight trains), so after class I toured the best of the Romantic Rhine by train and went to a picturesque German town where I hiked to (arguably) Europe's best Medieval castle, Berg Eltz. I got there right before closing. Er was Wunderbar.
Next week it's Amsterdam with Lenlow. Lots to see there too. Museums fear me.
Labels:
travel
Monday, June 06, 2005
millinerd - It's Germany fresh!
I'm posting from sunny Deutschland where I'll be resisting the Anglosphere and studying German for a while. Get this - they have the internet here! But it costs, so I may be infrequent... that and I should study. So far I'm fond of the Goethe Institute - it's like a hospital for Yankee monoglots in a sea of trilinguality.
Frequent millinerd readers may be wondering, didn't you study this last year? The answer: Yes, but studying a language for "reading knowledge" (we didn't have to speak a word) is like studying theology without going to Church - it just doesn't stick.
Incidentally, as helpful as Rick Steves is (which is very), he was wrong about Zurich. He said it's not worth visiting, but I did during my layover there and it very well was. To see the the faint remains of centuries old depictions of Christ that have been rescued from the iconoclastic fervor of Ulrich Zwingli at his Grossmunster church was already worth the plane fare alone. And the Marc Chagall stained glass windows that I saw when I stepped into the eighth century Fraumunster during the crescendo of an organ concert... Das ist das Leben.
UPDATE: I realized later that Rick does give Zurich the props in his Switzerland specific guide book, the slight was in his general one. But the book is still great. In its "travel philosphy" section he advised being abnormally gregarious when abroad, so I went against my insticts and sat alone in the "Ottomon lounge" for ein bier. To make a long story short, I ended up drinking exotic teas and smoking apple tobacco from those huge Middle-Eastern pipe things with an Iraqi, a Jordanian and two Saudi Arabian who refused to let me pay a euro-cent. Tea not guns baby.
Frequent millinerd readers may be wondering, didn't you study this last year? The answer: Yes, but studying a language for "reading knowledge" (we didn't have to speak a word) is like studying theology without going to Church - it just doesn't stick.
Incidentally, as helpful as Rick Steves is (which is very), he was wrong about Zurich. He said it's not worth visiting, but I did during my layover there and it very well was. To see the the faint remains of centuries old depictions of Christ that have been rescued from the iconoclastic fervor of Ulrich Zwingli at his Grossmunster church was already worth the plane fare alone. And the Marc Chagall stained glass windows that I saw when I stepped into the eighth century Fraumunster during the crescendo of an organ concert... Das ist das Leben.
UPDATE: I realized later that Rick does give Zurich the props in his Switzerland specific guide book, the slight was in his general one. But the book is still great. In its "travel philosphy" section he advised being abnormally gregarious when abroad, so I went against my insticts and sat alone in the "Ottomon lounge" for ein bier. To make a long story short, I ended up drinking exotic teas and smoking apple tobacco from those huge Middle-Eastern pipe things with an Iraqi, a Jordanian and two Saudi Arabian who refused to let me pay a euro-cent. Tea not guns baby.
Labels:
travel
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