Praise Him

We started the day with a walking tour which included a walk through the Pedestrian Shopping Area. We visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Traditionally when built the church had separate entrances and seating areas for the men and women attending service. Mass is still held there daily.  Architects at one point started including themselves within the structures that they created. Critics of the time told one such architect that the column he built wouldn’t actually support the organ. Proving that people had at that time a sense of humor even during the 16^th century M.A.P. circa 1513. In response he flippantly told them that he would carry it on his shoulders and proceeded to make a bust of himself upon which the column was mounted.  There could also be found artisans within the bases of the pulpits of the church while the founding fathers of the church were in the pulpit itself. Let me take a moment to be a geek here. The symbolism of even the railings in the church was awesome. The archways leading to the pulpit area had lizards and frogs climbing the railings symbolic of evil trying to take over. At the top of the railing was a watchdog of sorts, believe it was a bulldog keeping the evil at bay.  The curlicues in the rail were composed of either 3 or 4 curlicues each symbolic of the heavens i.e. Trinity~ Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and the Earth i.e. elements of the Universe Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. The dimensions of the building were divisible by 3, 4 or 7 for the specific purpose of connection to the Holy (3), the Earth (4) and the Completion (7). There are 343 stairs. Mozart was married, buried, and funeralized here. Some of his children were also baptized here.

The second part of our walking tour included a tour of the Opera House. The opera house contains a standing room only section. For 3 Euros 80 minutes before the show you can purchase seats in the standing room only sections of the Hall. This makes for an interesting experience when you think that an opera could potentially last for 3 to 5 hours and not being able to sit down.  We were able to see the Tea Room where the Emperor would view performances. As an educator that works specifically with deaf and hard of hearing youth the presence of real time captions available in German and English was fascinating to me. It means that a person with a mild or moderate hearing loss would still be able to enjoy the experience. Performers perform without amplification in a theater that seats thousands.

Lunch was a buffet at the Albertina Restaurant. The restaurant is within the Albertina museum, which currently boasts an affinity with rabbits. There is a gorgeous foil on the steps approaching the museum of the rabbit within a renowned art piece currently on display within the museum as well as both a pink and a green rabbit atop the roof. Across from the museum is the Monument against war and fascism. This monument upon initial glance just looks to be an odd conglomeration of random body parts cast in stone. Upon further explanation from our tour guide we came to understand that an apartment stood on that site that was bombed during the end of WWII and the monument commemorates the lives lost.

During our leisure time some of us shopped for souvenirs while Karen, Delores and I found a local yarn shop  in which we could experience what Vienna has to offer in the way of fiber. On our way to this excursion our taxi driver informed us in somewhat broken but understandable English of a demonstration that would be occurring later in the afternoon by the Nazis & Skinheads. My immediate thought was, how do we come half way around the world just to end up confronted with the hatred that so many of our fore parents have fought to eradicate at home.  He pointed out the very heavy police presence already in the streets. We passed 7 vans parked along the road with 5-6 officers in each just on one of the streets that we drove by. The LYS owner of Lauchmasche welcomed us warmly and showed off the softies that were specialties here. Needless to say there are some nice purple softies going home with me although I have no idea what I will do with them.

So on to the elephant in the room. What does a group predominantly comprised of African Americans do when there are Nazis and Counter Nazis demonstrating in the city center? We Praise Him. How? We sing.

We sing about the love of our awesome God.

We sing about the Power in His hands.

 We sing Hallelujah to the King.

 We sing Praise Him.

We sing I bless Your Name.

 In the midst of hatred we must acknowledge and realize that love has to conquer all. Many people say that hate is the strongest word in the English language but I have heard many arguments that it is actually love. As believers and proclaimers of the Good News it has to be all about love. Love~

·         Never gives up.

·         Cares more for others than for self.

·         Doesn’t strut.

·         Doesn’t have a swelled head

·         Doesn’t force itself on others.

·         Isn’t always “me" first.

·         Doesn’t fly off the handle.

·         Doesn’t keep score of the sins of other

·         Doesn’t revel when others grovel

·         Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth

·         Puts up with anything

·         Trusts God always

·         Always looks for the best

·         Never looks back

·         Keeps going to the end(I Corinthians 13:4-7 MSG)

Today was the second concert of our excursion. The demonstration meant that our trip to the concert had to be completed going out of the way streets and side streets as the demonstration had closed many of the main arteries. Our concert at Votivkirche was unlike any experience we have had for a concert. The high vaulted ceilings and massive structure of the ancient but stately edifice brought about a new set of challenges. But hey we went to Swarthmore we know how to adapt and problem solve. There was a relatively small crowd for the concert compared to our previous concert but the Spirit was still clearly present. Many concert goers wandered in to see the rich history of the church realized there was a concert occurring and stayed. One of our extended family standing at the doors welcoming people in also helped. Thanks Deb. We also met more friends from home. Parents of a Swarthmore Class of ’14 alumni were at Graduation last week and saw Vaneese receive her honorary degree and are now currently here in Vienna and decided to join us for the concert. I also met a young woman who while being from China and currently in Vienna got very excited when I explained to her that we were from Swarthmore. I never determined her connection to the College as the concert was starting but she stayed for the entire performance and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed herself. At the conclusion of the concert taking a short stroll  to the Schubert Restaurant proved difficult as many of the streets were still blocked by a very heavy police presence both human and K9. Our awesome guide Peter determined an alternative route which meant a hike up a rather steep set of steps and of course songs about stairs, Heaven and climbing. After all what else could we do we’re singers. We never actually saw the demonstrators as the demonstration ended prior to our concert closing but the feelings of tension were clearly present.

Dinner at the Mediterranean Restaurant Schubert was once again a treat finished off with an Apple Strudel type desert with ice cream.

Goodbye Vienna, hello Prague. We embark on the last leg of our journey in the morning.