Brest Tenderness And Plan B

Bad Ischl Bad Ischl

My husband and I spent the last weekend in Bad Ischl

, Austria. And of course even a short trip means lots of stories and adventures to share.

(Oh, and of course brilliant pictures from a wonderful spring weekend in the Salzkammergut!)

Annual Meeting of the "Catholic schoolboy Czernowitz" The reason for the trip what the annual meeting of the "Catholic Czernowitzer Pennäler”, a historical association of fraternities dedicated to preserving the memory of university life in Chernivtsi

that my husband is a member of.

Why Chernivtsi of all places? The Nazi era and the Second World War caused a harsh break in the university traditions of Chernivtsi. Fraternities and student unions were disbanded and reformed elsewhere after the war. Former members of Chernivtsi fraternities scattered to the four winds by war and flight made contact again after the war. And all of them remembered what was so special about Chernivtsi. Already in the 19th and early 20th century this university city in the easternmost corner of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire showed that a peaceful, multi-cultural life of the most diverse peoples and religious persuasions in one and the same city and at one and the same university is indeed possible. To quote the

historian of university life and chairman of the “Katholische Czernowitzer Pennäler” Raimund Lang: If an argument arose between members of the Catholic, Jewish, German or any of the other various fraternities and student unions, it was resolved on the soccer field and not in the ditch [i.e. with fists and duels].

The association has also committed to the support and research of literature and art of the city of Chernivtsi. Chernivtsi is best known as the birthplace of important German poets of the 20th century — for example, Paul Celan and Rose Ausländer hail from there. But due to the diverse mixture of cultural influences many more (today all too often nearly forgotten) writers, poets, musicians and artists emerged in Chernivtsi. Annual brochures published by the association highlight their works and lives. By now those brochures are widely recognised and much sought after academic sources.

With such auspices it’s easy to imagine that the annual meeting of the Katholische Czernowitzer Pennäler is something special. This year was no exception. As always the location of the meeting had something to do with Chernivtsi: after all, during the summer months Chernivtsi was ruled from the summer residence of the Austrian Emperor in Bad Ischl, too.

Very fitting: my husband and I stayed at the hotel “Hubertushof” right next to the Imperial Villa.

After enjoying a funny type of opera (a so-called “beer opera”, an old tradition among fraternities by the 

Erste Wiener Bieroperensemble)

on Friday evening, Saturday started for my husband with the usual meetings of the association, while a good friend and I enjoyed the morning, warm sunshine and beautiful spring flowers everywhere on a bench in the park.

Trip to Hallstatt

Around eleven o’clock we hopped on the bus and headed out to Hallstatt — yes, that’s the town that the early bronze age Hallstatt culture is named for.

Bright spring sunshine greeted our arrival in Hallstatt. But before venturing out onto the lake with a boat, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch.

Then all we had to do was lean back and enjoy sunshine and scenery!

Of course there was also a good reason for the boat trip: the ceremonial reception of new members of the Katholische Czernowitzer Pennäler.

The “Karner” — The Ossuary of Hallstatt

After the boat trip we climbed many steps to see the church and the cemetery, and most of all: the Karner of Hallstatt .

The “Karner” (Karner from Latin “carno, carnis” — flesh) is a unique ossuary that contains hundreds of bones and artfully painted skulls. The age of the remains kept there dates back to the 12th century. The last funeral in the ossuary took place in 1995.
A long time it was assumed that the exhumation and final burial in the ossuary had mostly practical reasons: simply that there was not enough room for a big cemetery on the steep mountainside. But new research has shown that only a small number of the buried was disinterred and taken to the Karner for their final resting place. Therefore nowadays it is held that this tradition is a special burial rite that goes back to the earliest times of christianity, when Christian and pagan rites mingled freely.

The paintings on the skulls have symbolic meaning: snakes symbolise sin, oak leaves glory, laurel victory, ivy life and roses love.

It is definitely a singular experience to see the ossuary, even if it may send an icy shiver down your back.

More pictures of the Karner »

Reception in the Congress Building

Saturday evening we met for a “Festkommers” — formal celebratory reception — in the congress building of Bad Ischl.

Highlights of the evening:  guest of honour was His Imperial Highness the Archduke Markus Salvator of Habsburg-Lorraine; a musical delicacy was a potpourri of the most beautiful songs of Franz Lehàr; apart from that we were entertained by a presentation of funny anecdotes about the composer; and of course the newest brochure published by the Katholische Czernowitzer Pennäler was presented to the public.

With one or two glasses Frizzante the evening simply sped away …

Villa Lehár
On Sunday morning after church we went to see Villa Lehàr.

For the most part the villa is still in exactly the same condition as it was in the year of
Franz Lehár’s death

in 1948. Thus it offers a good impression of the composer’s taste and way of life.

(… and to be honest, the interior is pretty awful.)

However, the opportunity not only to see the Steinway the composer used for his work, but to actually hear it thanks to a professional musician who accompanied us, was a real treat!

The Imperial Villa

Of course we couldn’t leave Bad Ischl without paying tribute to Empress Elisabeth.

The wife of

Emperor Franz Jospeh I

was something of the Lady Diana of the 19th century. Since she was originally a German (Bavarian!) princess, we Germans are especially fond of all things

“Sisi”

. Even more so because everyone in Germany knows a trilogy of very kitschy movies with the title

“Sissi” from the 1950s (and many people adore the movies for their lush costumes, old fashioned sentimentality and of course because they are the first movies of actress Romy Schneider ).

You can watch the original trailer for the movies with English subtitles at IMDb if you still have Flash9 »

And there is also a version without subtitles available at YouTube »

Anyway, therefore my my husband and I took a walk through the park of the Imperial Villa to the “Marmorschlössl” (a villa the Empress used as tea pavilion) and back.

All in all, it was an absolutely fabulous spring weekend in the Salzkammergut!
And for everyone who still hasn’t had enough of my trip,

there are more pictures here »

Originally published at

Stephantasy

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