Arrive SFO: 11:15 am
Departure: SFO 31 July 2:15 pm
Arrival: FRA 1 August 9:30 am
Flight time 10.5 hours
Departure: FRA 4:30 pm
Arrival: VIE 5:30 pm
Flight time 1 hour
Time on a plane: 11.5 hours
Time on the ground: 13 hours
Time change: 9 hours
Total time: 33.5 hours
Estimation of time spent:
Essen: 1.5 Stunden
Lesen: 8 Stunden
Toilette: 1 Stunde
Gehen: 3 Stunden
Sitzen/Schlafen: alle übrigen
I have come to question my choice of reading for the long flight. It was not because I did not like the reading material; I actually choose to read similar books in my free time even if this one in particular is assigned reading. However I question reading Ruth Kluger’s Still Alive because it really influenced my first impression of Vienna.
As I landed on Viennese grounds I could not help but think of Kluger’s childhood in this city. To many Vienna is known as the City of Music. To Kluger Vienna did in fact teach her to speak with “intense lyricism.” Nevertheless she remembers Vienna as “a city that hated children—Jewish children to be precise.” Needless to say, instead of excitement to explore the vast history of Vienna’s Habsburgs, Mozart, and Hundertwasser, I found myself in a melancholy and downright depressed state.
As I looked out the window of the bus that took me into the city I wondered if I could find Kluger’s old home and the sandbox she played in. I thought about finding the Vindobona Café she mentioned. I tried to imagine Vienna as it looked after being devastated by bombings. I attempted to snap myself out of it but found it difficult after the many hours of travel. Then I went underground and elbowed by way onto the crowded UBahn with my luggage hoping easily find my way to Kandlgasse.
Ever since watching Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah I have never looked at trains or geese in the same way. Now I find myself on a train in the city that sent Kluger and many other Jews to Auschwitz on a train. My train ride was quite different than the freight trains and cattle cars that transported the Jews to their death. I was not on my way to death; my train was enroute to life. I found my way safely to my apartment on the 6th floor of my apartment on Kandlgasse 30. I checked in, unpacked and put my travel weary, introspective self to bed. Ich weiß, dass Wien mehr zu bieten hat.
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