Day of the Dog and Ephesus

Today, we had to do our best to get up and out to Austria as early as possible to ensure we could do all the museums we wanted to during the day. This was quickly brought to a halt as the museum of natural history was closed. We also convinced ourselves against the museum of art history and so left ourselves with just the vienna Museum of Modern History. I was especially excited for this because they had a section about the ancient Roman city of Ephesus, in which I had been just a few months prior. This was really interesting as I could finally see the pieces that were missing from the site to be stored safely in museums. They also showed pictures of the statues when they had first been uncovered, allowing me to get a better idea of how the ancient artefact looked while still in ephasus - connecting the dots between the two sites. We then wandered through the modern history museum and learnt about Austria after WW1 and the Hapsburg Empire, their first attempt at the Republic, before an eventual, yet brief, return to dictatorship. Vicious conflict between far right and far left led to Dolfuss becoming chancellor in 1933. He instantly started to quash pro-nazi and pro-german-unification sympathisers. Later that year, a full-blown civil war would erupt, as Austria was torn between joining Germany or staying independent. When Nazi German aided in Dolfuss' assassination, many expected that Germany were around the corner to annex the country. Luckily, Dolfuss' good relationship with Mussolini caused a reaction in him that promised to protect Austria against a Nazi invasion. As such, Austria was safe as Germany tried to maintain relations with Italy. Austria's eventual unification with Germany through voting (rigged) meant that they fell under German rule during WW2. They would gain independence again once the Nazis were defeated.

After this, I began my journey to the most recommended thing to do in Veinna by my previous group. The hot dog. And, it was amazing. I wouldn't call it a hotdog, as the Austrian sausage was far too tasty to put them in the same category, but it was very nice. We enjoyed this and began our journey to more Christmas markets before ending up in the National State Library. This was actually really cool, though small, and it was very different from anything else I had seen during my travels. 500,000 books going back as far as the 16th century. It was very clean, organised and beautiful. Definitely recommend. The style is difficult to describe, looking like a truly ancient library while still feeling incredibly well maintained and modern. Unfortunately, there was an exhibition for a Japnese photographer and artist, but thus kind of took away from the library if anything. Not to mention, I have no idea what the connection was between him and the library. This was the end of our day as we took the long way home, grabbed a feed, and went to bed.Read more