Weekend Adventures, and the Beginning of Spring

Now, I know what everyone was probably thinking after the last post. When is Nick going to stop traveling and start studying?! Well, March was certainly the answer to that. My classes began on the 1st of March and are generally a few hours long (a big difference between the US). For the most part, though, they’re only once a week instead of twice a week. I’m taking two German classes (through my program) and three other urban planning-related classes through the University of Vienna (Uni Wien). I don’t have much to talk about regarding the classes, I mean, they're certainly interesting, but probably more so for me. I have found it particularly interesting that many of the urban planning issues here concerning gentrification and equity are some of the same ones that Chicago has. Most of Vienna’s housing (other than its public housing) is in what are called Gründerzeithäusern. These are the stereotypical 5ish-story buildings that dot most of Vienna. They’re actually not that old (by European standards), with all of them being built from 1870-1915. In that regard, Vienna is a pretty new city. The center (what is known as the 1st district) has existed for thousands of years, but the first district is a tiny portion of the city. Vienna wasn’t much more than the 1st district until industrialization when its population exploded. This isn’t too different from other cities, like say Chicago. Gründerzeithäusern are essentially the Viennese equivalent of Greystones. Just like their Chicago counterpart, they’ve come under increasing threat of demolition as land prices spike and they fall into disrepair. At the same time, Vienna desperately needs new housing, and many of the renovated Gründerzeithäusern have fewer apartments than before (another parallel to Chicago deconversions). So it's no wonder that questions of historic preservation, gentrification, and affordable housing come up here too.

A newly renovated Gründerzeithäus- I'm actually doing a class project on this one

A quick urban planning aside

My apologies for the small detour, but it's interesting seeing the differences in planning methodology between Wien and the Chicago area. In Wien, the city strictly regulates urban development in cooperation with private partners. There is no such thing as “greenfield” development in the American sense of the word. No private developer can simply buy farmland and plop down a bunch of single-family homes. The city gradually opens up farmland for development over time. These developments are strictly controlled to create welcoming urban forms with high levels of density. On one hand, this creates beautiful, walkable urban neighborhoods (like the Seestadt- a new neighborhood on the outskirts of the city), but on the other hand, arguably limits unit construction. Since new large-scale developments need considerable government involvement, the end outcome is heavily influenced not by the natural demand for housing but by the wishes of the government. The newest Viennese neighborhoods I’ve seen are all beautifully designed with great connections to public transport, are highly walkable, and fit into their surroundings beautifully. At the same time, they probably don’t have as many units as demand would dictate. It's an interesting trade-off. I’ve put a photo of one of the biggest new developments below. 

The Seestadt development (it's basically in the middle of a bunch of fields)

Döbling

Ok, so as I mentioned, I’ve been a lot busier over the past month with classes and haven’t had as much time to go exploring. Plus, I’ve already checked out a lot of Wien, so there isn't more I urgently need to see. If there’s one plus to cycling that I always come back to, it's that you can get to know a city really fast. I already have a good grasp on the city from biking to class every day, going on rides for fun, and running around the neighborhoods near me. My favorite by far is Döbling. Döbling (or the 19th district) is the neighborhood on the other side of the Danube Canal from my dorm. As I mentioned in my first post, the neighborhood immediately adjacent to me is hideous. Like vomit worthy. I honestly don’t have a problem with brutalist or mid-century architecture as long as it's done well. The stuff near my building could have been created by a five-year-old with a series of grey blocks. The other side of the river, on the other hand, is an amazing neighborhood filled with plenty of lovely parks and greenery. Wien has a huge lack of trees, and Döbling stands out as one of the most forested parts of the city. The city used to have many more trees, but most of them died during the second world war or were uprooted in the postwar rebuilding. Instead of replanting them after the war, the city widened most roads (removing the sidewalk space where trees once stood) to introduce on-street parking during the 50s. They’re trying to solve this issue today with street-beautification efforts, but the work is slow. 

Anyway, Döbling is the opposite of most of the city and is full of lush streets and spectacular mansions. It’s the 2nd wealthiest district and traditionally was the wealthiest (the 1st district, the old city, in recent years has become the wealthiest). Streets are lined with beautiful mansions that wind their way into the hills. The further up you go the more extravagant the houses, to the point where many look like modern bond-villain homes. If I had unlimited money, I’d spend a few million buying a sweet pad here. Above those homes are calming vineyards (regulated by the city so that private developers can’t buy them), and finally, the forested hills and small mountains of the Wienerwald (Vienna forest). I’ve put some pictures of the neighborhood below.

View from the Kahlenberg- my favorite running destination

Baden

Apart from me running and biking all over Vienna, I spend most of March studying and enjoying the increasingly beautiful spring days. The temperature frequently got over 60 degrees, and there was a week of 70+ days that was wonderful. I get a huge kick out of seeing all the Viennese wrapped in winter coats when it's 60+ degrees out. Meanwhile, I’m walking around in a short-sleeve collared shirt. I even had a group member for an urban planning project ask me how I wasn’t cold when it was 65 out. Like c’mon people, it's basically summer weather! A few friends and I wanted to take advantage of these days, but since classes make doing longer travels difficult (this doesn’t seem to be an issue for most of the business students who are just pass-failing classes), we decided to do a short day trip. Wien is perfect for day trips since it has a great location close to a bunch of other cool cities, many of them in the East.

Our first short day trip was to Baden bei Wien, a small suburb no more than 40ish minutes away by train. I’d been there before on one of my extra-long weekend bike rides. I only spent about half an hour there to eat a quick lunch before continuing, but I liked it so much that I came back the following week with some friends to spend time there. Baden is famous for being the thermal bathing spa town of the Emperors of Austria. The Emperor had an apartment in the town (as did Beethoven!). It's dotted with villas and luxury estates from nobles and wealthy businessmen who wanted to be as close to the Emperor as possible. Today it's probably best known for its Monaco-esque 

casino. The coolest part of the town though, for my friends and me, was its large forest park on the edge of town. Baden sits on the edge of the Wienerwald, just like Vienna. On one side is a large plain, and on the other the hills and mountains that lead into the Alps. A spectacular rock valley leads its way into the town from the hills. It's this very valley that I traveled down by bike to see the town only a week before. Overlooking the valley and protecting the entrance to the Wienerwald are two 12th-century castles, perched on rocks for centuries. If you’re having trouble imagining the geography, I posted a Google-earth screenshot below. The valley lies to the left, with the main old town to the right.

The two castles now lie in ruins and seem to be the local hang-out spot for teenagers (judging by the number of abandoned beer cans lying around). I’ve posted a ton of photos of the exploration of one of the castles below, as well as some extra photos of Baden over my trips there.

View over the valley with other castle in the distance

Inside the castle tower

View over the town

Main square with Plague Monument

Lake outside on the way to Baden

Sopron

The week after our trip to Baden, we decided to do another day trip to the Hungarian city of Sopron. Sopron lies directly over the border from Austrian. It’s also known by its German name of Ödenburg, although no ethnic Germans live there anymore (I’ll explain this later). Similar to Baden, Sopron is only about an hour away by train from Wien and a quick day trip to experience a different culture and beautiful city. The group of people I traveled with (a few other people from my U of I program and Samuel, a friend from South Tyrol) altogether spoke eight languages (German, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Italian, English, Japanese, and Korean). We assumed naively that the Hungarians, directly on the other side of the border, would speak German and maybe a little English. 

We were, of course, terribly wrong. Nobody in Sopron could speak English or German, or any of the other six languages for that matter. This was truthfully a shocking revelation since Sopron is right next to Wien (if you’re curious about the geography I’d highly recommend looking it up on Google Maps). This language barrier led to some hilarious moments where ordering food went hilariously wrong. Samuel attempted to order mineral water but ended up with apple juice instead. We guessed that there was less than a 50% chance that any order of food would be right. Now, you might be asking, why is there such a lack of language education in Hungary even though it’s so close to Austria? 

Well, Hungary is in many ways a country stuck decades in the past. Its politics are extremely toxic. It’s had the same president (Viktor Orban) for almost 20 years, who has rolled back democratic freedoms and shut down the free press. In response, the EU has withheld vital subsidies the country needs to survive. This, of course, only feeds into Orban’s anti-EU policies (“See! They have an anti-Hungarian agenda!”). It’s patently ridiculous. Orban is also a big fan of Putin, so that probably helps put two-and-two together. But just like Putin, Orban is immensely popular within his home country. Of course, it’s ironic. His anti-EU, anti-West policies are the very same ones that continue to drag his country further into economic depression and cause people to leave. Hungary is the poorest neighboring country to Austria and has a GDP per capita 1/3 that of Austria. Other neighboring countries, like the Czech Republic, share a similar history of communism but have a significantly higher GDP per capita. While it’s a complicated topic, Orban’s policies certainly didn’t help their economic condition. He has outright refused to lay Hungary on a path to Euro adoption, or even change the currency Hungary has used since communist times. 

The Forint, the same currency used by the communists in Hungary, is still used today. The current conversion rate is around 400 Forints= 1 Euro. Now, in some ways this is fantastic. Everything in Hungary is insanely cheap and an utter bargain compared to Austria. But it also means paying with cash is a huge mistake. Although their currency is inflated against the Euro, the Hungarian bank has refused to eliminate smaller denominations of bills. They still have a 5-cent Forint coin. Doing the math, that means that the smallest denomination of coin you could receive is 0.0015 Euros. I, of course, did not know this. So upon ordering a small pastry at a local shop, I was shocked to watch the worker push a literal mound of change in my direction. I definitely won’t be making that mistake again if I return to Hungary (probably Budapest?).

Borders and quick history.

Sopron, like many cities in the east, at one time, had large German minorities (or majorities). The east of Europe was a much more ethnically diverse area of land than it is today. A big reason for this was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austrians at one time controlled much of today’s Eastern Europe. They kept a variety of ethnicities together through military power and economic incentives. After the collapse of Austria at the end of the first world war, each ethnicity vied to create its ethnic state. The Austrians wanted Sopron to be part of their new country, but the people of Sopron (slightly ethnically-majority Hungarian) voted to be part of Hungary. The German minority was left stateless in the new Hungary. As an aside, many Hungarians feel betrayed by the borders created at the end of WWI. Hungary was the second power of the empire, and they feel like the new borders cut off many ethnic Hungarians (which is true). This 100-year-old grudge is still a huge part of Hungarian politics. My weird roommate (probably one of the weirdest people I’ve met in a while- and not necessarily in a good way) is a big supporter of this logic. He wears a “Hungary was Betrayed” shirt at least once a week. It shows the former borders of Hungary and then states “We want our land back!” Yeah- like taking half of Slovakia isn’t going to be a huge problem now. Grudges last a long time in Europe, which is something I find ridiculous. On the other hand, it’s easier for me to understand the Russian invasion of Ukraine. People with a backward mindset (like Putin or my roommate) just can’t get over our globalizing world and want things to go back to the “good old days.” 

Ethnicities of the former Empire

Anyway, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, the German minority in Sopron. As I’m sure many of you know from history class, it was these German minorities that Hitler used to justify his eastward expansions. To prevent something like this from ever happening again, all the eastern German minorities and majorities were pushed westward after the war into the new German states of East and West Germany, and Austria. For this reason, Sopron is essentially 100% Hungarian.

Traveling to Sopron was a bit of a culture shock. After leaving the train station, you’re immediately greeted with classic communist housing blocks, slowly falling into disrepair. There are beautiful old houses that have collapsed upon themselves and roads that disintegrate beneath your feet. Yet at the same time, there’s something enduringly beautiful about the slightly decrepit nature of the town. Oh- and here's a cool little trivia fact too. If you watch The Crown you might remember the scene where a young Prince Philip follows the casket of his sister. That scene was filmed in Sopron! Anyway, here are a bunch of photos of Sopron!

The famous fire tower

Roman ruins- notice how straight the road is

Old town skyline

Also, look forward to a series of Easter Break blog posts soon. I think I'll break it up into multiple posts since I have so many things I'd like to cover. I can't wait to share them with everyone!