Vienna!

Vienna:
During our drive to Vienna, Lana (our tour guide and fearless leader) gave a challenge to the Americans to come up with a joke for every country we visit.  By the time we pulled into Vienna, we has risen to the occasion:
Q:What does it take to catch an Austrian field mouse?
A: Just Von Trapp
                                                                
Get excited, because these lafrfy-taffy style gems are coming at every border!

We’re meeting wonderful, interesting characters each step of the journey.  One of these is our friendly Latvian bus driver, Dennis.  When we were in Prague, Dennis was asked what he did on his day off. His response: “I sleep, I drink bottle of wine, I computer, I sleep again…then I, I ok!”  As we walked the remote streets of Vienna in the early afternoon, we were less than impressed by the city describing our experience in the style of Dennis.  With that in mind, here’s how we spent the early afternoon in Vienna:
We walk, we lost, we laugh, we search for magnet, we donut, we sandwich, we lost again, we see building, then, we ok.  For real, our first 4 hour hours of walking around Vienna was largely uneventful aside from trying to understand our poorly marked map and eating an amazing kebab sandwich.  Finally, after all our aimless stumbling, we found the city center.  This spot was definitely worth the wait.  Vienna’s city center is abounding in elaborate structural beauty. More than utilitarian edifices, these were built as works of art.  Ornate architecture and elaborate statues adorn the exterior of every significant government building, paying testimony to this nation’s prior status as a global power (not that the place seems to be hurting today by the way).  As enamored as I was by the beauty of downtown Vienna, the moment that will remain with me occurred inside the downtown cathedral…

Mass was in session as we strode through the towering archway and enormous doors.  An angelic female voice cascaded from the front of the enormous room, singing something soft and presumably praiseworthy in German.  A large iron fence kept me and all the visitors in the back of the church, far away from the angelic voice and whatever else was going on up front.  If there was any question as to our welcome as an outsider, a large sign next to the iron fence said “Mass in session, visitors not welcome.”

What a sad commentary on what reality used to be for common citizen pre-reformation.  Standing outside the bars, unwelcome to join, dependent upon the word of the priest, they are left wanting and seeking a mysterious God.  I know to some, elaborate cathedrals are a place to meet God, but for me he seems distant inside.  When I read the words of Jesus, I see no mention of his desire to have enormous buildings erected in his “honor.” I just cannot imagine him looking at this opulence and say “This is how I want my people to use their resources.”  Through the stained glass you can see people hurting, starving, and in need…though the glass can’t help but distort the picture…

Guess that’s a bit of a soapbox, but I struggle in cathedrals…these places are perhaps made to capture God…I say it’s futile.  Why not marvel at the starlit night sky or sit in awe of the beauty outside your window?

Anyway, Vienna was marvelous.  I thoroughly enjoyed the well preserved architecture inside an otherwise modern city…and the kebab sandwich.