A true love: Connecting Austria

"The Mozart's concert in Palaiz Aungsberg did not get me bored,

it was me not paying attention on them....
some questions kept bothering me throughout the concert:
What do I see from Austria?
What do I learn from Austria?
.. definitely, Austria do not teach me how to appreciate classical music,
not that for sure..."

-- 5 August, 2008,
Vienna time: 2308 hrs; M'sia time: 0508 hrs (6 Aug.)
Wombat The Base, Vienna.

At this point of time, I still miss Austria.

Especially in the month of Ramadhan, I appreciate what Salzburg and Vienna gave me during my trip to Austria.

What Austria gave me, was a reason for being who I am and what I am now, a reason for holding my faith.

This year's Ramadhan, I need to be more and more mentally prepared than of previous years, to stay firm on what I believed so far about fasting together with all my Muslim friends during the holy month of Ramadhan.

This year, I received quite a frequent of unexpected discouragements from people around me -- from people whom I know so well, to people whom I don't know at all. And that was really pathetic and sad, and to be frank, those critics really let me down, for not even once.

Maybe this is what my Muslim friends mean by the dugaan, the challenges, that happened during this holy month -- it's a test from The Almighty -- so we have to stay strong. I used to perceived my fasting month as an endurance test, but this time I think it involves faith as well...

..and thank to Austria that helped me in keeping my faith.

Autria is no doubt a beautiful and charming country, but what made me so deeply fell in love with her, was not simply due to its beauty and charm. I wrote something like this in my journal during my wander in this country:

"It is the fine and classy touch that define Salzburg's grace; It's the deluxe and royal aura that define Vienna's elegance; it's something beneath those splendour that define the atmosphere of Austria... but what is it?"

What is it?

I insisted to rush to Mozarthaus Vienna despite of the very tight hours we had before departure of our train at 1300 hrs to Praha, Czech Republic.

Mozarthaus Vienna is the apartment that rented by Mozart Wolfgang after he moved from Salzburg to Vienna in year 1784. We visited his house in Salzburg and learned some of his biography, but I still thought I needed to visit the apartment where he stayed in during his years of greatest achievement.

In fact, I was still looking for the answer about what's in Austria that made me felt so connected, after visiting the magnificent fortress of Festung Hubensburg in Salzburg, listening to the story of Emperess Elizabeth (Sisi), Emperor Franz Joseph and Duke Rudolf from their palace.

Rina, Amir and I had a rushing tour scanning the apartment, but that was already enough for me to realize the common thing between Mozart Wolfgang, Emperor Franz Joseph, Emperess Elizabeth, Duke Rodulf and I.

When one of my colleague in my office questioned me about my intention of fasting, I was shut up by the way he asked. I did not answer his question properly because I did not think I needed to. "Just call me a maverick, sir," I told him in my heart.

My sister calls me a maverick, my aunties and uncles in my backyard call me a maverick, my friends in my hometown call me a maverick, my parents sometime shook their head and thought I'm a maverick...

Mozart Wolfgang was considered a maverick during his days and all his friends and family abandoned him.. He loved the see things in differently, to the extent of writing his masterpieces in the way of mirror image..

Emperor Franz Joseph was a maverick and he executed a lot of unusual policies when he ruled the country;

Emperess Elizabeth was a maverick. She was considered a rebel in the palace after she got married wih Emperor Franza Joseph, and she took an unusual step to set off a journey of her life..

Duke Rudolf was a maverick who fell in the dilemma of fighting against his royal family with the people of Austria and staying with his own royal family. Duke Rudolf ended his life by committed suicide with his love.

The moment I left Austria, it was not Mozart's any piece of classical music that played in my head. It was a song sang by The Fray instead. A song that pulled my attention to Vienna, a song that inspired me to shot the photo set themed "The Abandoned", a song that hold my blues, a song that made me come to Austria..

A song titled "Vienna"..

"There's no way to reach me
There's no way to reach me
There's no way to reach me
Am I already gone?
This is your maverick
This is Vienna.."

ps..: I-dun-know-what-kind-of-detail-do-u-want detail:

1. The official language in Austria is German.

2. The train Salzburg to Vienna (Wien) will take around 3 hours ride, and cost around 30++ Euro.

3. Purchase a Salzbrug Card at around 24 Euro per pax and gain access to all public transport and places of interesting including Festung Hubensberg, the castle that MUST VISIT when you are in Salzburg.

4. Vienna Card/ Wien Card, however, only gives you discounted price to enter some interesting places and free ride to public transport. So if you don't intend to visit the palaces/ museums of Vienna, you can just purchase a normal ravel card that gives you 24 hours / 48 hours free ride on public transports.

5. If you have a valid student card or International Student Identity Card (ISIC), that would work like a Vienna Card in order to gain discount on entrance fee!

6. Highly recommend to lodge in Wombat City Hostels. Wombat Vienna The Base and Wombat Vienna The Louge provide two diffrent choices of Wombat Hostels with two different atmosphere. In short, The Base is wild and The Louge is cosy.

7. Again, if you still think you need to know more about the solid details of the trip, you can check them out in Fariz's blog.

8. More pictures in my flickr.