Chapter 98 - Remembering What Europe Does Best

And what is it that Europe does best? Monuments - to God, to war, to pestilence, to rulers and heroes. Europe does monuments better than anyone.

In our time in Europe we saw so many of the monuments - churches, shrines, plague columns, war memorials, etc. There were so many, and here is a sampling of the most memorable to me.

No one loves plague columns like I do. I've been fascinated by the Black Death since childhood, and I knew that bubonic plague periodically "revisited" European countries, cities and villages. The people were so traumatized by the "pestilence" (don't blame them really - how horrifying to know that terrible disease was on the way and nothing could be done to prevent the horrible deaths it caused). Sometimes they would erect columns thanking God for taking it away. They didn't know about bacteria so it was easy to thank God, I suppose.

This is the beautiful plague column erected in 1679 after a particulaly virulent epidemic. It lies in the center of Vienna down the street from St. Stephen's Cathedral.


The plague memorial in the village of Donnerskirchen. Note the skull and crossbones - you see these all over central Europe.


The plague column in the center square in Korneuburg


This plague column lies near Schloss Esterhazy in Eisenstadt. I saw this one frequently and always paused to reflect.


I imagine no one but me finds this fascinating. These are the bones of 600 14th century Black Death victims that lie in a small dungeon in the basement of St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna. They were found during a general cleanup in the 1700s and re-interred together.


Small shrines dot the landscape all over Burgenland. You find them in villages, neglected in the weeds, alongside the road, in cemeteries, in towns, all over the place. I was told they were built either to thank God for something or to ask God for something. A representative sampling includes

this one in the village square in Au Am Leithaberge ...


near a church in Eisenstadt ...


by the side of the road near the village of Purbach ...


across the road from Burg Forchtenstein ...


and in an out-of-the-way park in Wiener Neustadt.


We also saw war memorials in every village and town. Austria suffered terrible losses during the two world wars, but the sacrifice of their soldiers is commemorated. A representative sampling includes memorials

in the village of Donnerskirchen ...


two parts of the memorial in the nearby town of Eisenstadt ...




in the nearby village of Siegendorf ...


in the village of Mullendorf ...


near the church in Kleinhoflein, which is today sort of a suburb to Eisenstadt ...


two of the many erected to the dead at Mauthausen Concentration Camp ...




this lovely quiet one at the back of the cemetery at St. Michael's Church in Sopron, Hungary ...


and this one dedicated to non-commissioned officers in World War I in London.


That's Lord Horatio Nelson at the top of this obelisk in Trafalgar Square. He was the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar when the British beat Napoleon.


That's Austria-Hungary's great Empress Maria Theresa at the top of the obelisk, her male generals and advisors below.


I guess the thing that Europe really builds best is churches. From stately cathedrals to small village churches, they're some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Surprisingly, sometimes the hardest part was learning what the name of the church was - St. Whosis? My German was good enough for that, but frequently people said it was just called the Bergkirche (apparently they liked building the church on the highest point in the village - I really enjoyed climbing up a lot of steps). We took pictures of them in every town and village. Some of the most memorable for me include

the Bergkirche (hill church) in Donnerskirchen ...


Siegendorf ...


the sweet in-the-middle-of-the-road chapel in Siegendorf ...


Bergkirche (Haydn's Church) in Eisenstadt ...


and its lovely gilded altar ...


Mullendorf ...


another Bergkirche in Kleinhoflein ...


Graz ...


the dilapidated church - named for St. Martin of Tours - in the small Hungarian village of Kophaza ...


the beautiful St. Michaels in Sopron that we passed every time we went to shop or eat in Hungary ...


This is the church in Klingenbach. Although the steeple is old, the lower part was remodeled a few decades ago. My primary memory of this church is the computer-set bells that ring four times an hour, and at several other times during the day for 98 peals and other times for hundreds of times. To tell you the truth, we really felt overscheduled. We lived only a block from it so we could really hear them. Not one of my favorite memories. The funny thing is that the name "Klingenbach" means the sound of ringing bells by the brook. First off, there was no brook, and the bells were a little overbearing.


This is the lovely church in Salzburg where the wedding scene in "The Sound of Music" was filmed.


You may recognize this lovely altar from the movie.


The front of historic Westminster Abbey in London ...


One of the sides of Westminster Abbey ...


And the best for last - St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna ...


The interior of the cathedral is beautiful and serene.


Building began in the 11th century, and renovations continue today.


More next time.

Chapter 97 - Remembering the Village

Two years ago Bob and I embarked on one of the greatest adventures of our lives. Moving overseas was a huge deal for us. It was very difficult to leave our families and, we discovered, our country. For almost two years we lived in the small Austrian village of Klingenbach and tried to immerse ourselves into company and village life, as much as was possible with the language barrier.

There are those who say that around the world people are more alike than they are different, but although we expected to agree with that we were surprised to learn that the adage is not necessarily so. We discovered that Europeans tend to look at the world differently in ways that seemed sometimes slow and hidebound to in-a-hurry Americans like us. Sometimes we were surprised at the underlying opinions on America and on some of their opinions about the different ethnic and national groups within Europe itself. On the other hand we saw some beautiful sights and gained perspective about our ancestors and the people who immigrated to America. It was a fascinating experience and one we're so glad we did.

I'm going to do a few blogs to wind up "Innocents Abroad" because the "Innocents" are now comfortably back in the Houston suburbs in the good old USA. Many people, places and events stand out in my mind, and I want to reflect on them and share my thoughts.

The pictures are all from earlier blogs, but maybe they didn't get much attention. At any rate, these are the things that stand out in my memory.

First up: the Village. We both grew up in large cities and had no concept of life in a village that's smaller than our subdivision. Klingenbach has 1,200 residents, no stores, four restaurants, a semi-pro soccer team, an elementary school and a church with infuriatingly loud bells. Few of the residents over 40 speak English. My German definitely didn't hold up to their combination German/Croatian dialect.

The village of Klingenbach


The border between Austria and Hungary just one kilometer from Klingenbach


A guardtower at the border, on the Hungarian side of course. I wonder if it's a replica since you'd think over 20 years of winters since the end of the Cold War would have caused an original one to deteriorate.


We crossed this Cold War border hundreds of times when we went to Hungary to shop.


Our flat in Klingenbach. Our flat (the three windows on the right upstairs) was over Burschi's restaurant/bar.


I absolutely adored our double-paned windows. You see these all over central Europe, and they're so handy. They open either out like in this picture or just at the top. The only downside is no screens.


One of the most annoying (along with the lack of a garbage disposal) things - the five required trashcans: garbage, paper, plastic, metal and glass - beyond aggravating.


I felt transported back decades as far as laundry went. I had such a hate/hate relationship with our washer/dryer. It took 3 or 4 hours to get just a small load done, and everything had to be ironed. My U.S. friends were quite amused at picturing me doing that!


At least I had a pretty view out the back of the flat while I spent hours at the ironing board. Cranking up country music on the Itunes on the computer and gazing out at the vineyards made it tolerable.


I had a love/love relationship with this tiny air conditioner. It's a real Rube Goldberg device - you have to vent it to the outside (and tape around it to prevent heat and bugs from coming in) and get a rubber hose to drain into a bucket. But it blessedly cooled our tiny bedroom. The rest of the flat could be boiling in the short-but-heinous Austrian summer, but our bedroom was comfortable.


This was our car during our time in Austria. While you certainly don't want to look a gift car in the mouth, I have to say this Citroen is malevolent. It turns the CD player, radio or the GPS off or on as it pleases. It hesitates when you press on the accelerator but only sometimes ... which is disconcerting when you need to speed around a traffic circle or get trampled. It will raise itself up and down a little. It's the weirdest car we ever had. You notice you've never seen a Citroen dealership in the U.S., and now you know why.


The blue building is Hotwell where Bob worked. It is literally across the street. The smaller building to the right is where we both got our hair cut.


These are Bob's favorite little sheep we found in a store in Eisenstadt. We mailed them home - and carefully wrapped them - but the postal service destroyed all but one of them trying to look inside them.


You never forget the village is in a rural area. Crops include fruit orchards, sunflowers and corn, but the predominant crop is grapes. Burgenland is the primary vineyard area of Austria.


Our first Hotwell friend, Ljuba, and her family own several rows of grapes. This is Ljuba with her father, Mathias. The families own rows here and there, abutting other families' rows. Extremely specific locations give you certain kinds of grapes, and they all want to grow several varieties.


This is just for show. I went along on a day when they picked grapes and took them to the winery, but my participation took the form of photography (and two blogs) and watching. But this looks good, doesn't it? Almost as if I were actually working!


They picked this many grapes from just a couple of rows. Different varieties are picked on different days.


This is the partyingest place I've ever seen. Parties and festivals all year long, and Burschi's Bonanza Bar (down two floors and perpendicular from our flat) is the scene of many of the parties.


Bob at Schoko's during Kirtag, a mid-summer three-day village festival


Hotwell owns two small apartment buildings in the village where some employees live. Many parties are held at the two houses. Outdoor cookout parties are held here at the Lower House.


The outdoor kitchen behind the Lower House


Where they cook the party food


At Vladimir's (from Romania) party, I saw a whole lamb on the spit for the first time.


And at Dragan's (Serbian) party, I saw a whole pig on the spit, also for the first time.

I may be too American, but I think I prefer to get my chops and ribs at the store. I kind of didn't enjoy seeing the whole animal like that.

The village band is a part of every event in Klingenbach. They play at every event and in all the processions.

Here they are at Kirtag.


On May Day


Leading the procession during a village wedding


This sight used to crack me up - you know you're in the country!


A pretty winter sight


Looks like a Christmas card


I'm from Houston so I'm used to heat, but this? Come on! This is Austria...in June! Now you know why I had such a thing for our little AC.

I have to say though that although the summer can be hot, it is short. On August 23rd, the high dropped 30 degrees to the 60s and never warmed up again.

More next time.