Beautiful Vienna

Since arriving in Vienna just a couple of days ago, we've already gotten to see and learn so much. Yesterday, Wasser took us on a Medical Walking Tour of the city. It snowed steadily the entire day, and was very cold, but it also made it an especially beautiful walk through this beautiful city. We got to see the place where Motzart died, and learn about some of the things he did within his short (33 years), but very outstanding life. We also visited another cript, of the Hapsburg family, which were a royal family of the past.

After this, we headed to the Freud Museum, where we first recieved a lecture from Wasser, giving us some background information about his family, his research, and his life in general. He was a VERY interesting man in many ways. The things that he discovered about the human physche are controversial, but also brilliant. We learned about his famous concept of the id, the ego, and the superego, and how they work and interconnect with each other. We also learned about Jung, one of his 'students' or 'apprentices' if you will, and also about their falling out (which he seemed to do a lot with many of his friends and collegues). After the lecture, we got to tour his old house, which was also his old meeting room, where his patients would come to see him. It was very cool being a room where one of the most brilliant men in history once lived and worked. When the Nazis invaded Vienna back in WWII, he and his family were forced to flee to London, where he eventually died from cancer (he was a chain cigar smoker for most, if not all of his adult life). His youngest daughter Anna, was the only one of his children to follow in his footsteps of studying phychoanalysis, and was also the one who provided the museum with many of the original pieces of furniture, artifacts, etc. We also learned that one of Freud's 'passions' was letter writing, and got to see one of his most famous correspondents with Einstein. I had no idea that the two of them had been in touch, but it's fascinating that they did.

Last night, we got to see an Operetta, which was AMAZING. The acting and singing were spectacular, and they had subtitles giving the general plot of each scene, which helped out a lot. They all had subtitles for all of the songs. I only wish I would ahve been able to understand the dialoge between the characters, because it was apparently very humerous. It was an amazing show to see, nonetheless.

This morning, we got to sleep in a little later than usual (until about 9:30!!), and headed to the Josaphine Museum, where we got to see wax models of every single human body part you could ever imagine. They had models that were still in human form (a full body opened up, and exposing the organs of the abdomen, etc), and also had wax models of just each individual part, bone, muscle, etc. It was just amazing. They were all in their original cases, and the hair on some of the models was actual human hair.

So far, Vienna has been an incredible city, full of so much history, and also beautiful architecture. I can't believe we only have one more day left to experience before heading back to the states! Better make it count!