The Last Stop

After three weeks abroad in which I tripled the number of countries I had visited in my lifetime, I am writing this final blog as we travel home on the plane to Houston. Although I could surely go into my thoughts on the entire trip, I will just stick to our last 4 days in Vienna and save my complete assessment for another time.

We arrived in Vienna Wednesday morning after taking the night train from Hannover. There was no upgrade to a private compartment like on our trip to Copenhagen so we got to try out the Lieberwagen which consisted of 3 bunks on each wall so six people in a compartment. Once everyone got settled I once again got better sleep on the train then I had during the rest of the trip. If only planes had the same luxuries. We were met on the platform by Dr. Rainer, the head of AIB, who was replacing Nils as our coordinator for our time in Vienna. We immediately traveled to the hotel where we had a chance to get ready for the day’s sights. When everyone was ready, we traveled to the center of town guided by Dr. Rainer’s sister-in-law Susan. At the center of the city was St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a Gothic church that dominated the square. From the square we started our medical history walk and Dr. Wasser showed us some of the locations where many important medical discoveries were made and gave us background information on those that made them. After a traditional Viennese lunch, we returned to St. Stephen’s and were given a tour of the catacombs. Like many things in Europe, the old area of the catacombs was restored and thus new looking while the new area was unrestored thus looking old (even though new in Vienna was the mid-1600s). The old area contained the tombs of the cardinals of Vienna, some of the royal family from the 1700s, and important priests from the church. The new area was a much darker place. Walking through the damp, dark, cold tunnels made me feel like I was in a different time. This was only compounded by the thousands of skeletons that we were able to see in this section of the catacombs as this area was used as a public cemetery. Some of the bones were from victims of the plague that hit Vienna in the time that the new catacombs were in use. I must say it was creepy to see so many real skeletons especially in the room where prisoners of that day had been forced to clean and stack the bones like one would build a log cabin. Once free from the catacombs, we visited a few other important landmarks in the city including the memorial to the victims of World War II and the adjacent memorial to the Austrian Jews who were victims of the Holocaust. After this tour, we had coffee and cake at the famous Café Demel. Not being a fan of coffee, I had hot chocolate and almond chocolate cake, which was incredibly good. However, all the sugar tired me out and I returned to the hotel and took a nap before dinner which ended my Wednesday.

Thursday brought with it a morning trip to the largest hospital in terms of area in the world. We first received a lecture on how medical school is run in Austria. It turned out to be very similar to the system in Germany and once again very different from our American system. After this lecture, we were able to go on the roof of the hospital and see some amazing panoramic views of the city with the mountains in the background. We then traveled the Josephinum to see a medical history museum. The museum really showed how important Vienna has been in the development of modern medicine as many big names and procedures in medicine came from or worked in Vienna. The museum also included some wax figures from a couple centuries ago. These were very interesting as they were very accurate with real hair and features and the organs were also correctly placed and designed. It was cool to see how generations before us still had such an interest in human anatomy and even without the technology we have today were able to create such accurate models to help young doctors prepare to be successful. Lunch turned out to be very interesting as we ate at a Pakistani restaurant that was an all you can eat buffet where you could pay as much as you wanted. The place was packed and the food was surprisingly good and there was a definite collegiate air in the building. After this very interesting lunch experience, we traveled to the Narrenturm, which was a round tower built for the housing and care of the insane. Now it has become a museum housing thousands of specimens both healthy and diseased. Despite how interesting thousands of models of skin diseases that were actually modeled on the live patients to be as accurate as possible, I eventually had had enough of the visually unappealing representations. I actually found the design and purpose of the building to be as interesting as the exhibits themselves. The building was the first of its kind in terms of a coordinated effort to actually heal the insane and treat them as opposed to just locking them up and forgetting about them. I was especially amazed by all the astrological and moon references that were supposed to have healing effects. Thursday night was capped off by a trip to the opera house where we saw a modern rendition of the operetta The Count of Luxembourg. Fortunately Dr. Rainer explained the plot of the show, so despite the fact that the whole thing was in German I was able to understand what was going on. The whole experience was very enjoyable and the music and singing were great and I would definitely go back.

Friday was our final full day of the program and we started off by going to the Spanish Riding School and watching the famous Lipizzaner stallions during their morning exercise. What was just as impressive as the horses was the building that they practiced in. The hall was huge and ornamented with statues and paintings and looked more like a building for royal receptions as opposed to the majestic stallions prancing across the floor. It was too bad that we didn’t get to see any of the signature jumps that the horses would perform during a show, but maybe one day I’ll have that opportunity. After lunch we traveled to the Sigmund Freud House. There we received a lecture about Freud and his life and methods from Dr. Wasser. Freud led an incredibly interesting life and his work on psychoanalysis has truly shaped modern psychiatry. Being in the same rooms where he lived and worked was truly an awesome experience. I could only imagine what it would have felt like to be around in Freud’s day and have the chance to be analyzed by him. I wonder what he would have found out about me. After Freud’s house we went to the city museum of Vienna. There we got a tour and saw how Vienna rose from a Roman fortress city, to a Medieval and Renaissance powerhouse, to the city it is today. We saw a city with lots of history and whose influence has shaped the course of European history, especially with the successful, albeit lucky, defeats of the Turks. Friday night a couple of us found an awesome Greek restaurant to eat dinner at followed up by an equally amazing dessert at a Viennese restaurant.

Saturday was our last events of the program and in the morning we traveled to the Danish Natural History Museum. Of all the museums we had seen on this trip, this was the most impressive. The specimens were numerous and diverse and were topped off by the Venus of Willendorf, a 25,000 year old fertility figure. This was especially relevant to me as I learned about this in art history in high school and had always wanted to see it. After a small tour of the main museum, we went to the special exhibit of the Animal Body Worlds. There we got to see the plasticized bodies of many different animals ranging from an ox, to a bear, to a gorilla, all the way up to an elephant. The exhibit was very interesting as we got to see the physiology of these different creatures and there was even a man thrown in. After this exhibit, we found the first and only water fountain on the trip. It was cave water and very good. Some of us returned to the Greek restaurant for lunch, because it was just that good. After lunch, I ventured out on my own to photograph the areas around the royal palace. I was able to see the very impressive government buildings and this experience really solidified Vienna as my favorite city of the trip. Our trip came to a close at the farewell dinner at a brewery. The food was great, the company was great, and of course the seven different beers brewed there that I was able to try were great as well. It was a fitting end to a truly life changing trip and it is bittersweet for it to be over. I’ll be back in a month to give my in depth reflection on the trip as a whole. Finally, a thank you to Dr. Wasser, Nils, Dr. Rainer, Susan, Lena, and the many guides who made our trip and experience possible. Until we meet again.