So here are a few more excerpts telling about what I do here!
Place: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum –Museum of Military
Histroy
Location: U1 Sudtiroler Platz, then bus
Today I saw something I have wanted
to see since 10th grade when I learned about it. I saw the car Franz
Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria, was riding in when he was assassinated. I
saw his clothing, the bullet hole right in the chest. I saw three guns out of
the four that were used to shoot at Ferdinand. Our guide at the museum told me
that the museum just got these guns five years ago. Some monastery had had them
and the Franz’s bloodstained shirt since clear back when the Habsburgs gave it
to them to hold. Then just five years ago they turned the items over to the
museum. I loved this museum, although I would have preferred to go there on my
own, not during class. My teacher just
kept showing us paintings of people and talking about them, and I couldn’t
image why we were spending so much time in front of paints when we were in a
whole museum dedicated to fascinating war objects! I would have loved to have
more time to wander around and read about the different items myself. But I was able to see some of the first guns,
the first hand grenade, the first “air craft,” and tons of stuff from WWI and
WWII. Oh and lots of Turkish war items such as tents, hats, spears, and
swords. All these items were very
interesting and I found this overall to be a very rewarding trip.
Place:
Melk Monastery and Bike ride to Krems
Location:
Train from West Bahnhof to Melk, then Krems to Franz-Josef Bahnhof
Cost: unsure…
train ticket and bike fare
Today I biked
from Melk to Krems, a 20 mile ride. First we took the train to Melk and toured
the Monastery. It was huge! It has 30 practicing monks living there and a
middle school and high school. These are grammer school, pretty prestigious,
and have around 900 kids attending. It was beautiful and full of old
interesting church items, such as an old monk robe and lots of books. Then we hopped on our bikes which were very
comfortable 24 speeds with the bent handle bars so you don’t have to lean
over. So we road through the mountains
next to the Danube, and through little towns and grape vineyards and apple
orchards that made me feel like I was in Italy.
There were old castle ruins all along the way. It was unbelievably beautiful,
and it felt so good to be out enjoying the fresh mountain air. After a while
though my butt started to hurt, but we didn’t stop! I road the whole 20 miles
in 2 hours, only stopping 3 times very shortly. One of those of course was to
touch the river and skip a few stones.
There were points when I thought I couldn’t pedal any more, cause my
legs and butt were totally dead, but 5 minutes later I was in the groove and cruising!
I was amazed at myself and how I really did just keep pushing and pedaling. It was well worth it because I was able to
enjoy one of the prettiest views in Austria, the mountains.
Place: Brother Wilhelm Hirschmann
Location: His home, U4 Margaretengürtel
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| Me and Willi |
The whole
group went to Brother Hirschmann’s home.
Willi is and 81 year old man, who was an 8 year old when WWII started.
His father married a Huber, so Johann Huber, the first member of the church in Austria,
is his grandfather. Willi’s father built tow apartment buildings in 1907 and
that is where we went today. Willi is
the cutest old man I have ever met. He is so short and skinny but he can go,
go, go! He showed us all around the buildings, where and old Blacksmith use to
work, where a bomb landed during WWII, where he looked out the window as an 8
year old and saw the German tanks rolling in, in 1938, and he showed us the
attic. He spoke little English so Brother Minert translated, but I enjoyed
listening to him. He and his wife insisted that they feed us. They gave us
cream of wheat. It was like oatmeal, with applesauce on top. This is what
Brother Hirschmann was given by soldiers during the war, and he said it was the
only thing that ever filled him up. It was good, and filling! I asked and found
out he was baptized in the Danube. He was a very interesting kind man. After the
tour and food we sand for them. Once
again I love singing the hymns in German, feeling the same powerful spirit. My
favorite hymn we sang was Auf Wiedersehn- God be with you until we meet again.
I only wish I could speak to him
better. I was able to get a picture with
him, and found out this week he is in my ward on Sunday!
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| Basement passageway |
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| Attic |
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| I love this poster! auf deustch! |
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