Vienna

Once I got to Vienna, I was picked up from the Südbahnhof bus station by Fahrunnisa, a daughter of our relatives. We went to their house and had breakfast first, and then I was able to shower which got me feeling more like a human again, and after my shower we decided to go out and walk around Vienna, and they would show me the city and the places that I should visit during the last three weeks of my trip here.

Our first stop on the one-day tour of Vienna was the Yunus Emre Fountain in the Türkenschanzpark. Here's a picture of the fountain with me and Fahrunnisa:

The fountain is really quite beautiful, almost everything on and around it, all of the decorations and everything were brought from Turkey. The writings on the fountain are verses from Yunus Emre's poems. Here's a general view from farther back of the fountain:

After visiting the fountain, we walked around the park for a bit and then went to a school where there was another Turkish fountain, but the school was closed so unfortunately I wasn't able to get to see that fountain. Its supposed to be smaller but very nice, similar in concept to the Yunus Emre Fountain. I'll make sure to post a picture if I get to see it during my last three weeks there.

After looking for the fountains, we went back to the center of Vienna to meet Izzet Abi, Fahrunnisa's older brother, who gave us a tour of the center of the city which included all the details that most tourists miss from the guidebooks. His tour also included stories of the Ottomans from when they tried to conquer Vienna. The city is really quite beautiful with many statues and pretty buildings, but there was one thing that got to be somewhat annoying and insulting honestly as we walked around. It seems like the entire place defines itself by the defeat of the Ottomans and the victory of the Christian religion against the Islamic one. Many of the statues that we saw had at least the crescent being trampled underfoot if not a soldier of the janissery. Here's a picture of one of those kinds of statues:
You know the Turk from the beard. If more information for placement is necessary, he's the man lying down at the feet of the other victorious angels and such. This was the kind of statue and placement of figures that I basically saw around Vienna, and much as I understand the fear that people of the 16th and 17th centuries would feel when they heard the word "Ottoman," I don't understand projecting that fear into the present and the future. People do get along well, I assume, but I feel like it would put a strain on relationships between Turks and Viennese. But, what's done is done.

After walking around some more, we went to a really nice cafe and rested a while. Here's a picture of us in the cafe:
Going from left to right in the photo: Şahika (the youngest daughter), Şermin Teyze (the mom), me, and İzzet (the eldest son). Fahrunnisa was taking the photo which is why she's not in this picture. Because she isn't though, here's one with me and her:
After relaxing at the cafe for a bit we went back out and started to walk around and they pointed out some more places that I should definitely visit once I had more time. Since I was there only for one day we didn't actually go in and see what was inside most of the places simply because it would've taken too long, but they did show me the ways to get places so hopefully I'll be able to go around on my own or with my group once we get to Vienna.

We got home towards dinnertime, and by that time I was getting into really sleepy mode but eating helped a lot, and before and after dinner I got lessons in poetry and how to write dates from letters from Baki Amca, the father of the family. Husrev Abi also came to the house so I was able to meet the entire family. Here's a picture of all of us after dinner:
I went to bed at a pretty good time, around 9 pm, and was able to sleep really well and really deep. I definitely enjoyed my time here in Vienna. Tomorrow I go to Budapest, so the adventures of that day to follow in the next post!