Laundry, eine Kirche, and the Danube

So last night was "fun with clothes" night as I found out how to use the laundry machines here. I thought there were a lot of settings on machines in the States, but here, you have to pick your temperature (in degrees C), your material type, your length of drying (in minutes)...how complicated! Oh yeah, and you have to pay with a laundry card, naturally making use of the confusing card reader. So I put my clothes in, poured some powdered soap in the wrong slot (I used 'vorwasche' (prewash) instead of 'hauptwasche' (main wash)) by accident, then couldn't figure out the card system. Good thing another resident came in and offered his help..in English! Then I had to dry my clothes for an hour and a half on high heat because the dryers are pretty poor. Just what you wanted to hear about, right?? Well, at least the clothes are clean.

Today for our Arts in Vienna, we went on an excursion out to the Church of St Leopold (Leopoldskirche), completed by architecht Otto Wagner in 1907. This church is interesting because it was built simultaneously with the mental hospital which it serves, so everything in the church had to be extremely functional. Unlike all other Catholic churches, the front of this church faces south (instead of west) so the two huge windows on either side of the pews would allow a lot of light in (important for hospital patients). The pews are designed for only 4 or 5 people, so if necessary, it would be easy for a doctor to get to a patient. There are no paintings on the marble walls, but instead 2 small and 1-87 sq ft mural in the front. There were many other things making this church extremely functional (including a drop-by-drop holy water dispenser...safer for the patients than a bowl) but it is also extremely artistic and symbolic. Wagner designed the building AND everything inside it, right down to the instruments to be used by the priests. Naturally, this was more different than any other church I had ever seen, but it was spectacular - definitely a feat of architecture, art, and civil engineering.

After our tour, a handful of us decided to go check out the riverfront. We walked close to the Ringstrasse, and went into the Votivkirche (Votif church or Church of Thanksgiving). Much like a traditional catholic church, the Votivkirche had mamoth stone pillars and remarkably high, arched ceilings. The towers outside looked like thin, white Christmas trees reaching up towards the sky. I was thrilled, once again by the amazing architecture (by Fenstel, before 1900). The rose window above the pipe organ was a beautiful work of art...but so was the entire church. Apparently, the Viennese didn't really like how 'perfect' it was, instead preferring the more scarred look of the Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral, which has 1.5 towers), which had been around much longer. Honestly, both seem remarkable to me, but I will compare again after having the chance to see the inside of the Stephansdom hopefully next week.

So, having looked at the Votivkirche, we hopped on an U-bahn and made for the riverfront- not the canal adjacent to downtown, but the actual river in all its...glory? Actually, the river was pretty excellent, probably rivalling the width of the Mississippi, however, we saw it in a more industrial-empty part of town, and there wasn't really anything else to experience aside from the river itself. Actually, the U-bahn station we got off at was right next to the Stadium where the Euro is going to be (starting tomorrow!), so I guess that was something to look at. But other than that, there wasn't much at all.

Finally, we went in eine Lokal (a small restaurant) for dinner. The waitress was very nice and we shared some thoughts and a couple laughs with each other about our time in Vienna. She spoke broken English, so we had fun (not sarcastically) with our broken German explaining things to each other. Our enjoyment was topped off when one of our group members asked following our meal, "Könnten wir bitte erzählen" (Can we please explain?) when she meant "Könnten wir bitte bezahlen" (Can we please pay?)!! We all laughed a good deal about that.

Anyway, that's all from me for the weekend. Tomorrow we're off to Salzburg, so I'll post again either Sunday or Monday. Aber jetzt möchte ich ein Eis! (But now, I want an ice cream!)