IDMA Excursion in Austria 2007
The excursion this year was to Vienna and Graz. We were so lucky to have Brigitte, a native Viennese, as our guide. And what can one say about Vienna – a city of elegance, a city that makes you want to don a ballgown and waltz, or sit for hours at the outdoor café of the Sacher Hotel, nibbling their famous chocolate cake, Sacher Torte.
On Sunday evening, after our trip down the mountain, we were lucky enough to catch one of the open-air free concerts put on by the city over the summer, snacking beforehand from the many stalls of ethnic food set up in the adjacent gardens. Followed by a stroll through some of the narrow streets before heading back to the (somewhat faded) splendour of our hotel opposite the Schönbrunn Palace.
Next morning we took ourselves down to the Opera House and hopped on an open-top bus for the customary hop-on hop-off tour of the city. It was only then that the full magnificence of the Hapsburg legacy became apparent, as the bus takes us past the Hofburg Palace, Burgtheater, Karlskirche Cathedral, along the Ring Boulevard and out past the Prater with its iconic ferris wheel – how many of us having seen “The Third Man” have had this imprinted on our memories as the symbol of Vienna! Highlight of the morning for me was visiting the Belvedere - viewing Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”, was unexpectedly moving. And an unexpected find there also – the extraordinarily chilling painting “The Bad Mothers” by Giovanni Segantini.
What psychotherapist can go to Vienna without visiting Freud’s house, with his consulting room largely untouched, and a wonderful collection of psychotherapy-based cartoons. But, oh, the heavy energy in that consulting room – we weren’t inclined to linger. Then Brigitte took us on a tour of the old Jewish quarter, showing us the house where she was a Jewish cobbler in her last life. Standing on the corner opposite this, we realised that this entire group of 9 people had all been Jewish in our previous life! And then, serendipity, the sound of beautiful music drew us around the corner to a surprise – a tiny Romanesque Catholic Church, tucked away in the centre of this Jewish quarter, 
and a quartet inside practicing – one of whom was a friend of Maria!
Tuesday morning saw us on the road back to Graz, where we spent a leisurely afternoon wandering the narrow streets before having a delicious final meal together. A big thank-you to Brigitte and Maria for all their hard work in making our excursion such a success.