Oh my, Vienna! To be honest, when I woke up at 3:30 am to go to the airport, I was definitely lacking the willpower to be enthusiastic about this excursion. As soon as we checked into the hotel, I set out on a very important mission- to find coffee. After that, I was ready to participate.
We were all anxious to find out what the next item on our itinerary would be when a man dressed in a black cloak and a black leather bird beak mask emerged from the subway station. We came to find that this was my program leader, Dr. Wasser dressed up in a plague doctor outfit from the Middle Ages. I learned that the reason the plague doctors wore the creepy masks with the long beaks was because they thought that the plague was airborne and it would be a way to protect themselves while they treated patients.
He led us on a walking tour and we were able to see a lot of cool historical and significant places in Vienna, which was very interesting and very much appreciated. It started to become really tough to pay attention as I was running off 3 hours of sleep, but the fact that we were ALL in running off 3 hours of sleep and the distant hope of dinner kept me going. I took a break to enjoy an 8 euro cup of hot chocolate (no regrets) and then we toured the crypts of St. Michael’s church as a group, where we saw a real-life mummy. After, we ate dinner at a restaurant called the “Goulash Museum,” which was just a fancy stew restaurant. Sehr gut!
The next morning, we went to the pharmacy museum, which was filled jars containing insects, powders, and other mysterious compounds, and we got to learn about how they were used. Did you know that lice used to be made into lipstick? Or that eating a giant green beetle can have the same effect as Viagra?! All I can say is I don’t want to know the story of the first person who found that out.
I spent a part of my free time visiting the torture museum, which exhibited medieval torture devices. To my surprise, I noticed that a lot of the devices had the sole purpose of humiliating the criminal rather than inflicting physical pain. For example, if two women were fighting, they were put in a contraption to hash it out. Also, if bakers were found to be selling underweight bread, they were put in a cage that hung over the market square. My personal favorite, however, was the cloak of despair, which was a wooden barrel that criminals had to wear in public.
Overall, the highlights of my trip were definitely visiting the Kunthistorisches museum (art and artifacts) and the Naturhistoriches museum (natural history). Both these museums are huge and incredible, as I easily spent two hours on floor 0.5. The lowlight? Putting off dinner to complete an assignment, and having no option but to scour the streets of Vienna only to find that the only restaurant open is Mickey D’s.
After visiting this city, I absolutely wish that I had more than 4 days to see it. In this short period of time, Vienna has captivated me and I know it will be a place that I will return to. I loved the art, the music, the history, the architecture- everything!
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