The Lord of the Ring... Roads

The best way to see Old Town Vienna is to ride the O-Ring Tram. The ring road is a circular grand boulevard around the historic Old Town District of Vienna, Austria.

It was the first time for us to ride a city tram. What a wonderful way to go around the city. All the buildings in this ring are built in a “historicist style” called the Ringstrassenstil, (Ring Road Style), a blend of classical, Gothic, renaissance and baroque architecture that in its combination can be called “Viennese”

Because of its architectural beauty, this road has been dubbed, “Lord of the Ring Roads” and is designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Definitely a sight not to miss when in Vienna.

Interesting Buildings to see in the O-ring

Vienna State Opera House

(This was our group pic taken in 1998 in front of Vienna Opera House)

Rathaus

Burgtheater

Votivkircke

Losing my camera on the first day

As we strolled around the city center, one figure stands tall and catches our attention. The spire of Stephansdom. ST. Stephen 's Cathedral (more commonly Known by its German title: Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral, seen today in Stephansplatz, has borne witness to many important events in Hapsburg and Austrian history and has, with its multi-colored tile roof, become one of the city's most recognizable symbols. 

like a moth drawn to the fire, our group slowly made our way to the church. along the way we saw in posters that there was a youth choir festival in Vienna happening today. it said that there was an American youth choir that will perform in the church a few minutes from now. 

We made our way to the church and found the way to the seats blocked by a barrier. you have to pay to sit down or stand in the barriers if you wanted to watch for free. easy Choice, we stood up.

as we were listening to the concert, we could not help but take note of the interior design of the church. it was truly a beautiful church, the most beautiful enemy so far. it was so beautiful I had to take a photo of it. 

as I brought my camera up, someone jostled for position to hear the concert and bumped me. I tried to grab my camera as it flew in the air. It was futile. It fell to the ground with a loud cracking sound and deep down inside I knew it was damaged. I picked it up and the shutter was stuck. I could not rewind it nor use the shutter. my first day in Europe and I would have to spend the rest of this tour without a camera. What a tragedy!

Can I exchange for Austrian Schilling Please?

Right after breakfast we went to the Philippine Embassy so that we could rehearse. Competitions are tough if you are travelling. You are forced to compete with who can pay for the tour instead of your complete roster. We were finding the Competition song difficult, O Tod Wie Bitter Bist Du by Max Reger because of balance issues. (song for 10 voices but only 16 singers on tour)

(How I wish we sounded this good)

We had lunch in the embassy and it was decided that the first order of the day was to exchange our money. I found it tough to figure out how much to exchange because at that time there was no Euro yet and you’d have to go change leftover money in the next country. I was always conservative when it came to exchanging money.

One problem Filipinos had before was that our currency is not commonly  exchanged. We had to exchange pesos to US Dollars and then exchange these US dollars to the local currency. We lose money 2 times to commission fees and the challenge was finding a place with the lowest commission.

The Staff told us that we could exchange our money in the old town or the tourist square. What a treat, we get to do our business and sight see at the same time. 

Breakfast in a suit

In every tour you never really know what kind of hosting/lodging you will get in a particular city. I’ve lived in one room studios to houses with 10 rooms . Sometimes within a certain city you can have varied accommodation. You have your Haves and Have Not.

To be assigned to live with the Ambassador was quite the experience. He was quite famous and was a career diplomat he gave the impression of someone who had a good education and highly intelligent. He was very formal when he spoke with us and breakfast was a formal affair. He had 2 maids to take care of his house and they told us to come to the breakfast in a suit.

We only saw the ambassador during breakfasts. His wife we saw every day. Not that she would talk to us. She always sat in the living area smoking and drinking her champagne as soon as she wakes up till evening. I guess it is not easy to live a life of a nomad – changing cities every few years. It takes a toll on you.

I guess they love champagne a lot. We are served Champagne during breakfast too but they mix it with orange juice.

Living in this house was certainly a luxury. We were driven around by a driver and the house felt like a hotel.

We became friends with the house help. The phrase, “taga saan ka?” [where do you come from] opens myriads of conversation possibilities. Pre internet days we discovered that we were supposed to be news bearers, one common phrase we heard during this tour was, “what’s happening to the Philippines?” They’d ask us all sorts of questions like what is happening to this particular actress to thoughts on the current government. In hindsight I should have read upon current news before going on this trip. 

What is that Car?

The time came for me and my housemates to be picked up from the embassy. There were four minors in this trip, me included, and we were distributed to different houses. I was to be housed
with  the two eldest guys in our group and will be staying with the Philippine ambassador to Austria. We went down the embassy with our bags in tow and looked as a car pulled up along the driveway.  It was BMW.

Prior to globalization and the internet boom, the only cars available to the Philippine Market were Japanese and American cars. European cars can only be brought in if it was bought abroad and shipped to the Philippines. To have a Mercedes Benz was a status symbol among the ultra-rich back then.

To the Filipino, even today, BMW is synonymous to wealth. back then, it was my first time seeing one, let alone riding one. Here's how I remember that ride:

Pure luxury. At least to my 18 yr old self that's what it seemed like. Chauffeur with uniform, fragrant leather smell,  soft leather seats and powerful acceleration. It also felt like you were "hugging the road" or running on rails.

I was also amazed that no matter how fast we were the driver would always stop or slow down every time there is a pedestrian lane. It was totally opposite of how things were in the Philippines where pedestrians and drivers play cat and mouse. pedestrian lanes are mere "suggestions" and you get honked upon for walking  too slow and where mayhem is the norm and it's usually a free for all affair. .

How can I tell if it's old or new?

Upon arrival at the embassy we were welcomed by the Staff and the one in charge of the Cultural Affairs. We had a briefing there about our stay and to which houses we'll be assigned to. Some choir members had their foster parents pick them up already, I was assigned to stay with the ambassador so we had to wait awhile. 

Being the curious kid we were, we decided to go out and see what Vienna has to offer. At that time walking in the streets of Vienna felt like walking in a theme park. It seemed to me that all the building were in the same style and color. I have never seen anything like it in my life, Manila being an eclectic mix of modern and old, rich and poor, all in the same area. 

When we went back to the embassy, I asked a staffer about the things I saw. He told me, "Not everything is old. See that building there? It's new but they have to conform to a certain style and color that fits with this area. If you want to see new buildings there is a place where those are being built" 

its so hot inside this car

Our Pickups finally arrived and we were assigned to different cars on the way to the embassy where we will be picked up by our foster families. The Car assigned to us was an Opel Tigra, a car I’ve never seen before in the Philippines. One of the “Titos” (literally means Uncle, but in the Philippines it a generic word for any male older than you) wearing a light brown suede jacket asked us to ride in his car.

The ride was pretty good and there was no traffic. Vienna is amazing city to drive in during spring, so many colors and tulips on the center islands.  I really didn’t want to mention it but coming from the cool weather outside this car was stifling hot. I still had my jacket on but I was sweating bullets.

(I imagine this was how I looked) -image not mine

 In all honesty, what I really wanted to do was open the window slightly to let the cool air in. It was my first experience with a heater.

I was in the passenger seat and looked at the backseat, at my choirmates. Yes, they were suffering as well. I looked at our driver and he didn’t even break a sweat with his leather jacket on.

(Is it hot in here?)

 I tried to open the conversation by saying I’ve never seen a heater before. I guess he noticed I was sweating buckets and told me an interesting theory. Here is what he told me:

You kids haven’t adjusted to the weather yet. You still like the cold weather because it hot where we came from. But to him who lives with cold weather all year, a hot car or room feels very good.
(That still didn’t explain why we were sweating buckets and he wasn’t) To cut the story short he allowed us to open the window slightly to let some cool air in.