Dr Burnside

10-18-24 Friday Salzburg Haus Wien
We all know that the movie the Sound of Music was based upon a true story, but how much do we know about the true story? A lot of the story follows actual real events, yet a lot was also made for the big screen. I’m okay with that but the von Trapps are not happy with a lot of the movie. I’m also good with that because without the movie we wouldn’t know who they were or anything about their story. I didn’t intend for my stay in Salzburg to be about the movie it just worked out that way since I was here. The Sound of Music is easily on my top 5 movie list.
I took a guided tour of the Feistspielhaus, the venue for the real & movie Salzburg Festival. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. There were no tours in English the entire time I was in town. I managed to sweet talk/smile my way into a group doing a tour in German. It was 7 euro & got me inside. An hour & a half tour and I understood not one word. While they were doing their German thing & decided to look up the real story of the von Trapp family. Here is some of what I found comparing & contrasting the real story with our beloved movie. I’ve included a bit of my own opinion here & there. There is a great reference at the end from a researcher at the National Archives if you want to know more. Here is the venue from the outside and the inside with a gigantic cloak room with a Rolex wall clock, of which there were many.
Maria was indeed a novice at the Nonnberg Convent. As a novice she was not yet committed to the order, the Reverend Mother sent her to the Baron because she was a qualified teacher and to let her find her own way. She was sent not as a governess for all the children, but as a tutor for the Barron‘s daughter Maria. Maria von Trapp had been sick with Scarlett Fever, the same illness that took her mother. She had been ill for a long time and was behind in school. Maria was sent for Maria but quickly fell in love with all the children.
The Nonnberg Convent is way up on a hill just below the spectacular Hohensalzburg Fortress. The convent is below on the left of the castle. While I was there, I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was a place I have known for 55 years. As I took this picture a nun walked around the corner. She is in the bottom left. Okay, I timed it that way, you know orchestrated. As she walked by, she struck up a conversation. It caught me a bit off guard. She asked where I was from, I told her Texas USA. I asked if she lived there. She said yes, but she was on holiday and not wearing her proper attire. She said: “As I walk around tourists take pictures of me and I wish I was in my usual clothes” Then she asked who our next president was going to be. I told her I did not know. She asked if I liked Trump. I said that I did. I couldn’t tell what she thought of that, and I tried. She had experience with people, she had no expression.
The real Maria was not nearly as jovial and pretty as Julie Andrews’ character portrays. She was rather plain looking, not that is a crime, but she was not beautiful & smiley like Julia Andrews, and who is? People will say the same thing when Brad Pitt plays me in my biography! The family described her as having a volatile temper, sometimes she would fly off the handle and was even known to throw things around! One child described her as a thunderstorm. It would pass and then things would be nice.
One of the issues the family had with the movie was that the baron was nowhere near as stern and cold as portrayed by the great Christopher Plumber, especially in the beginning of the movie. They describe him as gentle, jovial and playful. The portrayal of Baron von Trapp is the major issue the family has with the movie.
The baron had attained his title by distinctive and meritorious service as a submarine commander in World War I. Then in the early 1930s, his banking business ventures failed as did many businesses during the depression. He reluctantly took the family on concert tours to pay the bills
It is true that they sang in the musical venue that I visited this morning. It is absolutely beautiful and part of it is carved out of a sheer rock face. Today they have it set up for a different performance (Ugly). It was instantly recognizable. I was anxious to get this picture of the tunnel from which the von Trapps did not emerge. The same tunnel where the N**i guard runs out and exclaims “They’re gone!” The 3rd picture is of a tunnel through the mountain for traffic/people to get from one side of town to the other. The theater is 50 yards to the left of the tunnel. The 2nd pic is from outside the music hall. That castle is now a 5-star hotel, if you have more money than you know what do with you can stay there. Me? I’ll take my rustic $65/night place every time.
They did win the world famous Salzburg singing festival in 1936. The movie definitely deviates from the true story toward the end when the new N**i governor was at the concert. It was true that the baron had invoked the ire of the N**is by refusing to fly the N**i flag at his house and also refusing to have his family to sing at Hitler’s birthday party in 1938. They were skating on thin ice. The family was also very religious and could see the N**i anti religion as a threat.
The song Edelweiss is not a national Austrian anthem as I have thought my entire life. It is the last song penned by the great Oscar Hammerstein just before he died in 1959. None the less, in my world it is. When I see Christopher Plummer sing that song in blatant defiance of the N**i governor I feel patriotic pride. True or not the character feels strong national identity and disdain for the new regime. He knows at that point what his destiny is going to be. I can put myself right there. When it comes to good versus evil what do you do? The easy path is to cave in, as so many did. The tough choice it to take your family and flee if you can. Stay & fight is another option, but I can’t see that for out good baron, and really that doesn’t usually turn out well. So every time I see that clip I know how he feels and I know what I would do.
In real life however they did not leave the concert hall and flee. They did not take the nun’s car and walk over the mountains with suitcases & instruments. That would be crazy and they all would have died trying. As part of their regular concert tour, they got on the train from Salzburg and went to Italy. They just never came back. They eventually made their way to America. They had some trouble with our immigration process (political comment excluded) and were held for three days at Ellis Island. They were finally allowed into US and eventually settled in Stowe Vermont. One of the things Maria said about the movie was that of course they didn’t climb over the mountains. Don’t they know geography? As strange as it sounds the way the border works as if you leave Salzburg and go south over the mountains, you end up in Bavaria Germany.
Another thing about the movie where there is, in my opinion a serious inaccuracy is when the nuns assist the von Trapps in their escape from the N**is. If I’ve learned one thing in the last month is that the N**is had no sense of humor. Had the nuns aided family there would have been very serious and dire repercussions. Especially with a new governor. But it makes a good story and I love the nuns laughing with the coil wires! In real life that wouldn’t have ended well.
Maria and the baron did have three of their own children for a total of 10. She also said that when the baron asked her to marry him and become a second mother to his children that had he not included the children in his proposal? She might’ve said no. But after the years, she did grow to love him, but in the beginning, she really loved the children.
They all literally lived happily ever after
CAB 29
Movie vs. Reality: The Real Story of the Von Trapp Family | National Archives

Start every day with a small win!

Yep, and how you cannot be is beyond my understanding

Okay, so an on point post

At the Abby where Gregor Mendel (Genetics) worked/lived there is a library. Just amazing. The guide & I are in here for like 30 mins and she asks me if I see anything in the left corner over there. Low & behold there is a secret door! It leads to a 2nd library where the monks kept material not suitable for an academic library She said comics & novels & such, wink. Anyway, I asked her if she'd ever been down there. She said no. I tried to talk her into going down there she said no. I was kinda disappointed. I want to know! I mean how cool is that???

Yesterday I visited the Gregor Mendel Institute of Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Vienna. Mendel did study here. It was pretty much a biology department in a major university.

I have only one place left on my list to visit, a statue of Andreas Vesalius in Brussels.

It is going to take me a week or so to meander my way over there. So, in the meantime I am going to leisurely make my way east through Austria and into Switzerland before heading north to Amsterdam.

I can't leave for home before Halloween from London so I might as well make the most of it. I still have plenty to write up that I will share. There is nothing that says I can't do that in a cafe in Innsbruck, a chocolate place in Geneva or a "Coffee" shop in the Netherlands. Yea, I'll do a bunch of writing on trains too, but those trains will be going through the Austrian/Swiss Alps

I've still got to eat! Food, Vienna! I had two of these brat sandwiches from this humble stand and some apple strudel from a sidewalk cafe! A whole 15 euro. Delecisio! When traveling one doesn't have to go into fancy restaurants to find great food. Especially if you are trying to be frugal.

So stand by for a lot of off topic posts and some on topic. Check out that last pic. That statue of Hapsburg King Joseph II is at least 50' tall. That palace is crazy (Built at taxpayer expense)

Gregor Mendel: The father of genetics. I've been in Brno (Brrr ooooo no) since Thursday. Brno is in the southern Czech Republic, region of Moravia.

I visited the Mendel Museum, at the Abbey where he grew his pea plants, Took in a private tour of the Abby grounds with a nice graduate student. It was a great tour. Rented a car and drove about 70 mi out to his birthplace/childhood home in Hynice. (Hin Cha say) Couldn't read any signs but I made it there & back, it is a very quaint & quiet town.

Took a selfie standing on the edge of his famous garden at the Abbey. Crashed a birthday party for the big guy (Abbott) They had been roasting a pig all day! It was awesome.
Then today I went to his grave site and contemplated everything I had found out about the man. That was an interesting experience. I realized he died at 62, I am 64. I do feel like I know the man now, this was the point of coming here. Next stop tomorrow at the Mendel Institute of Molecular Genetics at the University of Vienna.

I am way behind on my travel posts but check this out. I this popped up on my memories from 2013. If you are still on this page gimme a hollar back & let me know how you are doing! Just Classic

My reply: It is with regret that I must inform you that I did take some kind of sick pleasure reading about your antics yesterday! I did notice that you were not there, albeit not until I entered the grades and noticed that someone who made a 90 on exam 1 was missing. That is a very unusual occurrence. I saw a friend request from you on my Dr. Burnside FB page last night and sent you a note to that effect.
I will be on campus until 7:00 tonight. If you can get here before say 6:15. I will permit you to “Bitchify” this exam. I don’t do this often, but I will in your case for these reasons:
1. I actually believe you.
2. I don’t believe that you “F**king hate” those dogs. I think you are a softy and love them!
3. I too have been clothed in such a manner when dealing with my own “Gluttonous mongrels” of various Canis lupus familaris varieties to where I would hope no one I knew or didn’t know would see me.
4. You correctly used the taxonomy for that species.
5. You currently are the leader in the ongoing “Why I missed the exam” contest. After 23 years of teaching at the college that is quite an accomplishment!
AND
6. You made me look up “verisimilitude”!
I will be in or around my office ESEE 2325A until 1:30, in the anatomy lab 2210 130-330, back in the office 330-530 and in ESEE 2312 5:30 – 6:50 then I’ll make like a tree & leave!
Hope that you can make it!
Dr. B.

Send a message to learn more

This is off topic from science but this was today

Today we took a tour of the Terezin concentration camp about 35 mi outside of Prague. Another very solemn and sober day. The weather was damp & dreary.

The town & fortress was built by the Hapsburg King Joseph II in the 1784 and named after his mother Teresa. Both the town and the fort were fortified. So much so that when Napolean came by, he decided to just move on.

The moat system in particular was quite impressive. The defensive walls had a series of tunnels running about 10' deep. Impregnable for sure.

The N**is made use of the existing structure and turned the very small into a ghetto w/58k prisoners and the fort a concentration/work camp.

There were not gas chambers but 80k+ died from starvation, overwork, neglect or disease. Everyone in the ghetto & camp were under sentence of death.

Two of the pics are of a room designed for solitary confinement where 10 people would be held and the second a cell for 80 souls. They would be let out into the yard and counted in the morning. They would be sent out to work hard labor for 12-16 hours. Then they would be brought back, counted again and put into their cells for a little while.

They spent about 4000 calories a day but were only fed about 600-100 cal/day and very low-quality food at that. Within about 4-6 weeks most would lose half their body weight.

The N**is were known to be meticulous record keepers. They gave each person a # and made a card with that # and all their personal info was on the card They were filed like an old card catalogue in the admin building.

Just before liberation, May 8, 1945 (Soviet army), knowing full well they'd done evil, the N**is burned most of the cards. Hence many graves and not able to be linked to a name. All of the headstones in the first cemetery have only on them. The second cemetery is even more disturbing, everything here is disturbing. Each headstone represents a mass grave w/5-25 people buried there.

There ia a pic is of a monument to the unknown.

Running out of space the N**is did what N**is did.

They forced the prisoners to build the crematorium. Then they forced them to cart corpses to the crematorium and then to operate them. They knew that if they died or were killed, they would be cremated there. If they didn't die, they would likely get transported to Auschwitz.

A large person would take 30-40 mins to cremate, a skinny one 15-20 mins. I am sure you can see how the starvation played into the plan.

The cold, calculated evil cannot be described. Only that it can't be allowed to happen again!

I could just show pics of my pizza from today. But I am a teacher in teaching mode & my friend Michael Galante likes my attempts to be like Rick Steves. So you can just look at the pics but for the rest of the story read on. And yes, I did work today, more on that later,

Today's taste of Italy is another pizza. This one is a 4 cheese con fungi (Shrooms Max Presnell gotta have those shrooms!) I made it a 5 cheese with this literal shot of fresh shredded parm. It melted into the pizza! A drizzle of EVOO for good health (Or to offset the cheeses) and BAM An awesome pizza for 11.00 euro. If I made this at home I'd toss on some fresh basil. This is the only food your favorite miser bought today. Breakfast at the hotel was ok but was included in the room, so eat away! I'll do the same in the morning.

What makes this place special is that it is the same place I got the Divola (Spicy salami) & shrooms last night. Why go back to the same place you ask? When there is so much variety here? Good questions. Believe it or not to pull this mission off I have to be frugal at every moment of everyday. This sabbatical is already irresponsible at best. So, bargain shopping is my business. Once you get here, which costs enough already you can spend a LOT of $$$ if you are not careful. I've been super careful at every step, besides they are good!

Between yesterday & today I walked at least 20+ miles in Florence. Sometimes past the same places. I constantly stop to look at menus, dozens of them each day. I look for a few things.

1. Do they specialize or try to do a bunch of things. I like menus with fewer options thinking they concentrate on what they do and do it well.

2. What are the prices like? I look for a few things that I know the typical price range of. #1 Margherita pizza 5-12 euro. Below 6.50 you're not getting good stuff. Above 9 you're getting ripped off. So 6.50 - 8 is the sweet spot. 7 tells you you are at the right place. Here are some other sweet spots. Carbonara 10-14, 12 is perfect. Spaghetti con volgone (clams) 12-16, 14 is perfect, spag w/ragu (Tomato sauce) 9-11. There a lot of others. My menu analysis is complex.

3. Of course, judge the facilities and atmosphere. I ALWAYS look at the pizza oven & make station. Afterall, for a LONG time before I started professoring I was a pizza guy. I know my pizza & I know good facilities. If I see a good dome shaped wood fired pizza oven, well, I won't need any Vi**ra.

4. Since all the menus are outside as is a lot of seating, I'll try to look at what people are eating as discretely as possible. Does it look good it always a test. Then does it smell good. That is tough here as everything smells good.

So my place was along a street lined with similar looking indoor/outdoor seating all looking alike. Near the mercado (Market) and away from the city center main tourist areas. This joint only does pizza, check. And look at that oven!!! Check. Be still my beating heart. Their Margherita IS 7.50 euro, check. Last night I saw a pizza as they brought it to the table and it aced the sight test, check. All 4 boxes, checked.

After walking another million miles (At least 2) and maybe having some wine in a Powerade bottle (or more than some, but I'm not driving) I went back for dinner.

Pics: Pizza, parm in a shot glass??? Heaven! Pizza before I ate it. Oh yeah, they bring it uncut, and you use a knife & fork. The oven. The receipt showing the name & address of my favorite pizza place in Florence.

**[Safety note, yes I was drinking wine, perhaps I may have been buzzed, Also I was alone. Do NOT do this if you are not familiar with your surroundings. At this point I have spent 2 weeks of my life in Florence. I can walk around without a map. I knew where my hotel was and how to get there even though it was complicated (tram + bus) and I had made that trip twice. You MUST be aware of your surroundings at all times. If you've been drinking even more so! More on that later too]

So Caio for now. If you come to Florence or Firenza as it is called here, stop here for some pizza! Tomorrow my sister Becky Burnside is buying my dinner. It won't be this level of write up. She wants me do have a meal on her I wouldn't otherwise do. I've already scouted the place and I'll let you know tomorrow.

I'll see you on the next episode of Craig scammed his Job into sending him to Europe (J/K You know I getting great work done here!)

Bologna Italy is know as the food capital of Italy. So why not endulge? I have been very frugal to this point! Breakfast, lunch & dinner. A pistachio filled pastry, custard fruit cup & cappuccino. Lunch a pizza Diavolo that is with spicy salami & Dinner I made at the apartment I am renting. Pasta & veggies from the market! Nom nom nom

Now back to begging for table scraps!

University of Bologna hosts its own anatomical theater. Built in 1637 it is 42 years older than the first anatomical theater at the University of Padova. The similarities scant, the differences are striking. While the theater in Padova is very dark, claustrophobic and built like an ice cream (or gelato) cone the theater in Bologna is bright, open and much more like a teaching laboratory.

At Padua the professor or a trusted apprentice would perform the dissections. The body would be on a table, which was not there when I was there. Lighting was an issue. Since it was made of wood and if it caught fire it would burn quickly, they had to be careful with candles & torches! The students would be in the rows above the table. The most senior students would be closer to the bottom. The newest above. As they went through the program they moved down, although they didn’t aspire to be on the table. They would also cover the faces of the cadavers when they could to protect their identity.

At Bologna the professor would usually sit high in his lectern and direct the dissection. (Just off right center in the photo above). Although much more open and far brighter than its older counterpart the students couldn’t see much detail from the benches. I’d guess the wooden fence is a later addition to keep tourists out & off the table. I would think the professor would often invite his students to come down & take a closer look, but I have no information about that.

While the theater in Padua is spartan and plain, the theater room in Bologna is highly decorated. The lectern is flanked above by two wooden statues called the “Skinned” Men without their skin. Above the woman who is an allegory for anatomy receives a gift from a cherub. Instead of the usual flower though, it is a femur!

There are statues of famous anatomists and professors along the walls. One such statue is the ancient physician Gaylen. It was his work and text that set the basis for the study of anatomy for 1500 years. It wasn’t until Andreas Vesalius began dissecting human cadavers in the mid 1500’s that he realized Gaylyn had not conducted human dissections. Gaylen had dissected primates and other mammals but not humans. The Romans and the Catholic church later had very strict prohibitions on how human remains were to be treated. Dissecting them was not permissible. Indeed just 50 or so years previous Leonardo & Michelangelo had to conduct their studies in secret and at night. Still Gaylen’s contributions cannot be overlooked, and he is enshrined at Bologna with this statue.

Interestingly, saddening and maddening on January 29, 1944, the wing of the building housing the theater took a direct hit from an allied bomb, destroying it. Although the room was mostly destroyed the wooden statues were not. They were blown off their stands and found in the rubble. The room was rebuilt immediately after the war.

The ceiling is also very ornate with wooden figures representing constellations. Some are zodiac sings and others are regular star groups. Even in the 1500’s it was still common to consult the stars before undertaking a momentous event, and surely a human dissection was one of those.
Ciao

On Wednesday I took a day trip to Venice. It was a 30 min train ride & E4.80 each way. I stayed a half a day. It is a unique place. SO different than anywhere I have been before. I mean I knew it was water roads but until you see it it is not real. It looked like a James Bond or Italian Job movie. Very tight & VERY crowded.
I went to the main art Museum, Galleria de Academia it was very good. I have a thing for paintings of the Annunciation & Judith Beheading Holofernes. The latter because of the cool story & gore & the former, well because. Ah the Annunciation. It was the beginning of events that would change all of history and give hope & new meaning for all of humanity. So here are my favorites of each. Adding in a martyrdom of St Bartholomew who was skinned alive!

I like this version of Judith & Holofernes because she hasn't done it yet. She will, she wants to & she knows it needs to be done. The general is passed out, the sword its there, the hand maiden is like "Well you going to do it already?" Chop off the bad general's head that is.

I like this annunciation as the holy spirit in the above left is so bright, brighter in life than in this pic. The word is that as Gabrial was telling Mary she got pregnant from a whisper of the Holy Spirit. I think it is well shown here.

St. Bartholomew was skinned alive. When I came into this room I gasped & said S***, ouch!
Ciao