TAHERA Part III: Vienna

Burgtheater

We have finally come to the final part of The Austro-Hungarian Empire Rail Adventure.  Having miraculously escaped Slovakia, we arrived at Wien Hauptbahnhof on schedule, hopped on the metro, and checked into our hotel where we would be staying for two nights.  The sun sets earlier in this region than at home in Germany, so we were out the door shortly after dropping off our bag.  Dinner arrangements hadn't been made since our schedule was open that day, but the large lunch in Bratislava held us over for the rest of the day.  We spent our first night wandering from building to building shooting the incredible Viennese architecture.  Let me tell you, if you're an architectural photographer, Vienna is your playground.

Austrian Parliament

Speaking of architecture, this is a good time to bring up a rather disconcerting turn of events here in Europe.  As I've written about in the past, candid street photography (in which a private citizen can be recognized) is technically illegal in most European nations.  It's completely acceptable to take the photos, unless the subject sees you do it and objects.  However, it is illegal to display the photos in a public forum, meaning the internet or a location open to the public.  More and more cases are being brought to court against street photographers and fewer people are pursuing the art in Europe because of it.  In my opinion, this is a huge problem not only for photographers (professional or amateur), but also for the public.  Without photographic documentation of the world as it is, we are at a huge risk of losing cultural heritage and identity.  If these laws stay in place, candid photos in Europe may be completely lost to future generations.  Candid travel photos are at risk as well.  All that will be left are scenic photos or, worse, wedding photos.  What if this had always been the case and we didn't have the likes of Maier or Cartier-Bresson?

Well, architectural photography is at risk of becoming regulated in Europe as well.  If the current change to copyright legislation is passed in the European Parliament, buildings designed by living architects will no longer be allowed to be photographed without prior approval of the architect.  As it is now, some buildings fall under various copyrights in Europe already.  For example, posting or publishing a photo of the Eiffel Tower at night is technically illegal because the lighting design is trademarked.  It is ok to photograph the tower during the day and sell the photograph, but you can't legally sell one of it lit up at night.  Other landmark buildings can also be trademarked to prevent professionals from photographing them, but private citizens can still snap away.  It is one of those frustrating things photographers in Europe have to deal with.  Before this trip, I had to do research into photography laws for each country and plan accordingly.  This proposed law is even worse.  Not only will it regulate professional photos of modern buildings, it will regulate private photos as well.  Take a selfie in front of the London Eye?  Well, you can forget posting it to Facebook if these lawmakers get their way.  Once again, I find this absolutely ridiculous.  Photography should not be regulated to the degrees it already is in Europe, restricting it further is a crime.  Please, please, please, sign the petition at Change.org and if you are a European citizen take the time to contact your MEP.  Folks in the USA, you think this doesn't matter for you?  You're wrong.  If you ever take a trip to Europe, your photos are at risk of being regulated.  Also, these sorts of laws are springing up at home too.  Arkansas, I'm pointing at you!  Ok, I'm sorry for the aside.  This is a really sore subject and one that I believe is more important than most people think.

Anyway, back to Vienna.  Since we had two days in the city we decided to do more of the sightseeing things than we did in the past two stops.  The whole region was experiencing an incredible heatwave, but Vienna was the hottest.  The highs for both days were in the upper 90's Fahrenheit.  In order to beat the heat a little and dip our toes into Imperial history, we opted to visit a few indoor attractions- the colder the better.  Our first stop was the Imperial Crypt, or Kaisergruft, where a good portion of the Habsburgs rest in peace.  If you're really into Austro Imperial history, this is a must see.  We're not, but it was still a fascinating place to descend into since the coffins and sarcophagi are fascinating works of art.  It isn't a huge tourist attraction, so we were able to take our time and I took many shots of the interior and its contents.

From there, another cold subterranean location sounded nice so we headed to St. Michael's church.  At 11:00 and 13:00 they have guided tours of the church crypt.  The attraction for the crypt tour borders on macabre, but for the archaeologist in me it couldn't be passed up.  The crypt doesn't house the remains of anyone particularly famous (unless you're a baroque opera fan), but the condition of several of the remains is quite remarkable.  Down below St. Michael's you can view mummies from the 17th and 18th centuries, up close, in all their moth-eaten finery.  It's also quite cool down there, so well worth the visit for the overheated, but non-squeamish.  We were really impressed with the tour.  Usually, these types of attractions only permit visits with a guide who will only speak in the native language or give the briefest of brief synopsizes in English.  Not so with this tour.  It would have been a huge letdown to miss all the information provided by our guide, but he graciously gave each spiel in its entirety in both German and English, even though my husband and I were the only non-German speakers on the tour.  The guide not only gave us the history of the crypt, but also of the church, the area, and burial practices of the time.  We were also able to examine the mummies very closely.  It was a well spent, fascinating hour, which I heartily recommend.  Photos are not permitted, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

From there we headed to another cool location, the Imperial treasury located in the Hofburg Palace, the city residence of the Habsburgs.  This building is the main tourist hub of the city and houses several museums and the famous Lippizaner stallions that everyone makes a big deal of.

Interior dome of the Hofburg Michaelplatz Gate

Michaelplatz entrance of the Hofburg

Detail of the Master of the Sea fountain on the Hofburg 

This area is also the place to hire your carriage tour

I adored the expressive sculptures on the Hofburg.  This is detail from the Master of
the Land fountain.  The palace is also adorned with sculptures of the trials of Hercules

The stallions weren't performing during our visit, so we kept our tour to the treasury.  After spending the morning amongst the dead of Vienna, the gems and finery they couldn't take with them provided us with a stark reminder that wealth, in the end, is meaningless.  The people buried in the Imperial crypt are just as rotten as the ones we saw beneath St. Michaels.  All the things they acquired in their lives sit behind glass, unable to spare their previous owners from mortality.

As the sun began to sink a little in the sky it was time to head to the one thing we scheduled ahead of time, a live performance of Mozart.  Mozart's Requiem is one of my absolute favorite compositions.  Introitus, is probably my absolute favorite piece of all.  I couldn't pass up a chance to hear it live in Vienna, and there just happens to be a performance every Saturday evening in the summer at Karlskirche.

Karlskirche and its reflecting pool at blue hour, after the concert.

Detail of Karlskirche

Karlskirche is a masterpiece of baroque architecture, and one of the most popular spots in the city to photograph because of the reflecting pool.  The concert itself was not nearly as moving as I expected (alas for expectations unmet), a fact I blame on poor acoustics caused by a ton of renovation scaffolding in the dome.  However, spending time afterwards shooting the church made up for it.  It was probably the most satisfying location in the city, albeit a bit difficult to maneuver because of the crowds.  From there, we headed off to find dinner and then grab a coffee and a famous Sacher-Torte.

We picked up on something during our hunts for food and beverage in Vienna.  It is perhaps the most non-service minded city in western Europe.  We have all heard the stereotypes about Parisians and the its rude servers.  However, I can without a doubt in my mind, say that this is not true of the City of Lights.  At no time in all our travels in Paris have we encountered a rude restauranteur, server, or shopkeeper.  We have dined in fine restaurants, cafes, and everywhere in between and the staff have always been just as friendly as ones found anywhere else.  If a mistake was made (which is rare), they always rectify it with plenty of apologies.  If you want to have an unpleasant dining experience worthy of the Paris rumors, go to Vienna.  You will not be disappointed.  First of all, there is a weird law in Vienna that all outdoor seating areas have to be closed at 22:00.  So, if you arrive an hour before that time, you will be rushed, even if you're just having drinks.  One restaurant manager made quite the embarrassing scene when we arrived for dinner around 20:30, making a huge deal about how important it was that we hurry before the patio closed.  When we asked our waiter if we would be permitted to move indoors, the manager returned to make another fuss in which he asked us if we were accusing him of lying about the closing time.  We weren't the only ones to be made fools of by the staff.  It seemed everyone around us was having just as miserable of a time. Then, they spaced out our dinners a full half hour from each other.  I was finishing up my incredibly tough and unpleasant roast beef when my husband finally received his food, with no apologies from the staff.  Instead they pointed fingers at each other for the fault.  The waiter then had the audacity to request a tip at the end of the meal.  It is my firm belief that this was the worst dining experience we've ever had on the entire continent.  From there, thinking that must have been a fluke, we went to the Sacher Cafe for the famous coffee and torte.  Guys, the coffee comes out of the same machine that most European hotels have in their breakfast rooms.  The torte is the most overrated thing I've ever eaten.  It tasted like jam.  The chocolate cake was completely flavorless.  I wish I could say that evening was a weird one, but not matter where we went the service was inattentive.  We practically had to jump up and down to be waited on at cafes and the servers all had this attitude that we were inconveniencing them.  Dining in Vienna was surreal.  We've been traveling all over the continent for 3.5 years now and have become pretty used to the idiosyncrasies of the European service industry, but we have never experienced that level of rudeness anywhere.  We did have one nice meal, a lunch at Chamäleon.  The food was pretty good and, for once, the staff was attentive and respectful.  So, my recommendation?  Eat at your own risk in Vienna.  This might be the only place I recommend avoiding the local cuisine if possible.  Heck, the goulash is better in Hungary, the beef is better in Czech Republic or Slovakia, and you can get Wiener Schnitzel anywhere.

A scene from the one place we ate at in Vienna that wasn't dreadful

On Sunday, we took the metro out to the Schloss Schönbrunn, Austria's Versailles.  This is a location where unauthorized professional photography (and to the staff that means a tripod) is not permitted anywhere, even in the gardens.  No photography is permitted inside the palace at all.  So, we left the tripod in a locker at the train station and I shot a little bit on the grounds by hand.

You have to book your tour time online if you want to be guaranteed a visit to the interior, it is so popular.  We booked an afternoon slot, hoping to miss the tour bus crowd, and walked in what shade we could find in the gardens.  It was the hottest day of the trip so far and we were positively melting.  Climbing up to the Gloriette monument in the blazing sun was out of the question, so we dipped into the cafe near the palace zoo (the oldest in Europe) and waved and jumped around for a bit before we could order some drinks before our tour.  On a less hellish day, I would have enjoyed further grounds exploration and shooting, but with the temperatures near 100, the only thing that sounded manageable was a beverage in the shade.  Our tour of the interior was interesting, but very crowded, thanks to the holiday weekend.  We were happy to jump back on the metro back to the city for an afternoon in the park before catching the night train back to Frankfurt.

Volksgarten

National Library

However, despite its disappointing dining offerings and tourist crowds, Vienna is worth a visit.  It's definitely snooty and snobbish, far beyond Parisian standards, but it is a beautiful city to look at.  The sights are top notch and majority of the city looks like it is constructed of wedding cakes.  The photographic opportunities are endless.  I would go back to shoot more if given the opportunity, I'd just eat at Chinese or döner places instead.

Being Sunday evening, we headed to the station early since nothing else was open to do.  Wein Hauptbahnhof is the newest station in Europe, having just opened in October 2014.  The construction which continues in the area is incredible.  It is certainly the nicest station we've ever been in.  There is plenty of clean restrooms, lockers, and a wide variety of dining options for travelers.  We enjoyed people watching for a while from a comfortable waiting area and had another interesting chat with a fellow traveller.  This time we met a Romanian man who enlightened us on how itinerant workers like himself get around Europe.  At first we were concerned that he was a panhandler who just wanted to hit us up for money, but instead he just wanted to talk.  He said he had a pack of cigarettes and a can of soda and that was all he needed to be happy.  He told us how he travels by train without a ticket (baksheesh), what countries he can visit without a passport, and how he makes money on his travels when he can't find work.  That man has donated a lot of blood!  It was a fascinating conversation, and a part of the trip that will always stick clearly in my mind.  You never know who you will meet while on a train or waiting for one.

For once our train arrived on time, but it would be over an hour before we left the station (we would arrive 3 hours late in Frankfurt the next morning).  It was no matter to us.  We were able to purchase carryout at the station, so no need for microwaved hotdogs that evening.  We were once again in a private sleeping compartment and were quite comfortable for the remainder of our journey.  We ate our dinner sitting on the lower bunk and watched the rail workers outside the window while we waited to pull out.  With a rather early arrival expected in Frankfurt we turned in early.  I finished out the evening reading a chapter from The Great Railway Bazaar, fitting reading for the trip.

All in all, I think TAHERA will go down in the books as one of the most memorable trips we had in Europe.  It certainly wasn't smooth sailing nor did our destinations meet our expectations all the time, but it was a unique and fascinating way to see that part of Europe.  There are things we would do differently for sure.  We'd try to allow an hour between trains in Germany since DB is chronically behind schedule.  We would have preferred more time in Budapest, and would bypass Bratislava completely.  We'd skip the Viennese cuisine.  I'd shoot such a trip very differently too.  In hindsight, I wish I'd shot the trains and travel experience.  Because of our constant state of being rushed and overheated, photography was the furthest thing from my mind, but it would be nice to have captured the experience for posterity.  I tend to avoid shooting in train stations since they are high crime areas, but not having anything from a huge aspect of our trip is something I regret.  If we did another train tour, I'd shoot more of a documentary style and not focus as much on scenery as I normally do.  I'd bring with one prime to save space and weight, especially if the weather was the same.  One thing we definitely don't regret is booking the sleeping berths.  That saved a lot of time and effort.  It was nice to be traveling while sleeping, with a cup of coffee hot and waiting in the morning.  I'd never travel overnight in a regular seat again as we did to Prague, but I wouldn't hesitate if there were private compartments available.  On that trip it was more comfortable than the hotels because the trains are air conditioned. A train tour in Europe is something I've always had a hankering to do and I'm incredibly grateful we had the opportunity.  With the knowledge we've gained through the experience, I'd happily plan another rail adventure.

Photos from TAHERA can be purchased at capturedglimpses.com from the Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna galleries!