How it get started ...
Why did I start writing this blog? When Kenneth
Branagh, one of my favorite actors started writing his first autobiography, he
got the next conclusion for his similar dilemma: money.
My motivation is more sofisticated. Not just because
my writing’s genre, my life situation is different.
My goal is to share the sherds of the new chapter of
my life with those friends in the world who are living in different countries,
some of them on different continents.
That’s why I write it in English, however, my mother tongue is
Hungarian. And if it happens that I
could make some new friends with the help of my writings, let it be.
So what does that “new chapter” mean? In the spring I made a decision: from
September I’m going to give up teaching as a high school teacher. Stepping out
of our comfort zone is always risky but challenging at the same time. I have
already had some practice in it. In the mid 90’s I was a babysitter in the
USA. I got to know a different culture,
learned a new language and lived among nice people.
The need to start a new adventure like that previous
one has become more and more urgent in my soul. The challenge of unknown life
situations is calling again. And I’m convinced that a teacher has to be a life
enthusiast. This is the way how they can remain valid. But the routine works
against enthusiasm after a while.
I have been
working as a tour guide for a few years but being a responsible teacher in
parallel simply doesn’t work.
Travelling, living abroad a bit and also guiding Hungarian tourists from
time to time is my short term plan. Well, as I convinced an ex-colleague of
mine few days ago who felt sorry of my decision: guiding is a way of teaching but without
school building, classrooms, never ending staff meetings and so on…In a way I
don’t give up teaching.
The adventure will start soon. Be my reader if you
would like to be my mate in it!
22th August,
2015 Vienna
I know it is almost unbelievable but I have never been
to the Austrian capital city, Vienna before. Warsaw, Praque, Bratislava,Helsinki,
Stockholm, Brussels, London, Paris, Lisbon, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Athens are among those cities I have already been
but the capital of the former Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, the city of Sissy,
Franz Joseph, Mozart and Haydn was still a mystery. So it was high time to
spend at least a day there which was a destination of Hungarian crowds in the
late 80’s who were yearning after western goods. And still go there in the hope
of finding a better job or at least spend a day in the holly, magical
atmosphere of the Christmas fair.
I neither had
high expectations nor stereotypes in my mind when I decided to have a short
trip there. I could have mobilized many of them but I didn’t want to. I wanted
to give a chance for a plain visional/emotional first expression. The only
“blueprint” was a chatting with my mom who was there with dad in the late 70’s.
They travelled there via a classical IBUSZ trip.
As fast as the idea of travelling came as easy it was
to organize it. Thanks for having a friend who knows Vienna well and lives in
Budapest. Vienna is situated pretty close to the Hungarian border, just 80 km.
It takes 3 hours by bus from Budapest, the Hungarian capital. Eurolines, the international bus company offers
the round trip ticket from Budapest to Vienna for 6490 Ft which is approximately 20 euros.
The morning bus arrives to the bus station at 10 am.
The most comfortable way to reach downtown is using the underground. The tube
station is close to there, it is easy to recognize the sign of it, the big
letter of U. After 10 minutes we were standing in front of St. Stephen’s
Cathedral (Stephansdom), the iconic main church of the city.
Basically I like visiting churches. However, because I
have already visited many of them, it has to be so unique or I should be in a
peculiar mood to feel the similar devotion I felt in Canterbury the first time
or in Uppsala, Sweden.
So this time I
wasn’t really under the effect of the place. Except for the one moment when a
priest came into and was standing at one of the columns. According to his wear
he was not catholic. He must be some kind of orthodox. It always touches me
when I can see religious people in the other religion’s church.
After coming out of the cathedral we walked along
Graben and Kohlmarkt to reach the imperial Hofburg. We had a wonderful late
August weather with warming sunshine so on the way there a coffee on a nice
terrace was a must. A cup of good quality coffee/cappuccino has always given me
the feeling of luxury especially on the Graben next to the Holy Trinity column called Pestsäule.
Sitting on a terrace is a perfect occasion for just
looking at people who are around you. For me it’s one of the most relaxing ways
of gathering information about a new place.
The first knockout is the tranquility and easiness. There are lots of
elderly people in the streets who are in a good shape and have fun together.
They are having a glass of wine or a coffee at 11 a.m. I also saw many Asian
tourists, young couples, boys and girls. And muslim people as well. I could see
lots of women who were wearing black hidzsáb or at least scarf. And a little blond girl caught my eye,
approximately 4 years old, wearing a blue summer dress, straw hat and pretty
tiny shoes. She was jumping up and down and chatting with her older sister, a teenager
girl while they were walking hand in hands.
After the refreshing cappuccino the next stop was the
imperial Hofburg.
Well… Sissy’s footsteps are still there. There is
style, richness, refinement all around.
And one of the
gardens, Volksgarten is near here with its roses and shady benches offering
some rest for locals and tourist as well.
In front of the garden the Austrian Parliament
Building is located which seems to be a national museum for the first sight. At
least for those who got used to the looks of the National Gallery in London or
the National Museum in Budapest. But I could mention the stock exchange’s
building in NYC as well. All of them built in the same classicist style.
What I like so much is a bike road in front of it. The
wild green line takes in the city. It is possible to rent a bike if somebody
chooses this way to explore the city. I’d like to do it next time.
The next stop was Vienna City Hall. The square:
Rathaus platz gave home a film festival these days.
In the square we could take a culinary stroll through local
and international cuisines from around the world. It was like a gourmet
festival.
After a while I started to feel that it is enough from
that so elegant, sophisticated, perfect city where everybody seems to be
well-to-do, balanced and happy. Maybe my East-European soul got used to
contradictions and imperfection. I don’t know. Disneyland seemed to be more
realistic than the downtown in Vienna. I started to feel being in an operetta
setting. Beyond admiring magnificent buildings I’ve always enjoyed visiting
bohemian districts like Camden town in London or Greenwich in NYC. I like
strolling in the market, being among local people. It seemed Vienna is not for
that joy. Till then we reached the MuseumsQuartier.
Vienna showed up its different face. A sloppier,
fresh, youthful square.
And finally we have found the desired market as well,
the Naschmarkt.
Basically it is a multicultural food market. There is
a wild variety of goods, mainly vegetables, fruits, spices, pastries and
cheese, a huge amount of them. And a long line of little restaurants offering
everything from wiener schnitzel to falafel. But what happens to those products
which are not sold out…?
For those who love seeking
among odds and ends in the hope of finding stg valuable, Naschmarkt is a
perfect place, too. And to top it all, the area is full of marvelous mansions
built in secession style. The Wiener Secessionsgebäude, the museum of secession or jugendstil is
also near here, at the entrance of the market.
What else can be stuffed into a single day? A quick visit in the Tourist Info on Albertinaplatz, a wiener
sausage (a kind of hot dog which is sold all over the city, for example in
front of the Tourist Info), some more stroll in the center of downtown
and that’s it. The departure time of our bus was 19.30 so it was high time to
say good bye of the Austrian capital.
The last
message of the city at the border of it was the next, written on a board:
Difference unites us. Refugees welcome.
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