YA update 5: words may fail but they're better than silence

Updated: Aug 30, 2022

It's tricky to know where to start and what to say and whether to say anything at all. But it would also be to leave a gaping hole in this YA story if I were to keep silent and wait until I could write an entirely cheery, positive post.

(View from the Kunsthistorisches Museum)

Last week was one of a kind. It began so well with many 'pre-lockdown' celebrations in the week leading up to Monday 2nd November. I bought an annual museum pass (not the wisest timing, I agree), we went for a curry, I ticked Café Central off the list and generally, a wonderful time was had by all in anticipation of the impending restrictions.

Vienna was, is and will always be a wonderful city but it's one that I now appreciate even more after what it's been through recently.

Along with the rest of the population, my friends and I decided to have one final knees up on Monday evening, opting for a pub just south of the city centre. The choice was quick, lazy and barely thought out - we'd been there before, it's a short walk from the 1st district but far enough that it would likely have free tables. As our final two friends arrived, reporting police on the streets, it was a matter of minutes before the notifications starting coming in. 'Stay inside and avoid the Innere Stadt' was the consistent advice. And that we did until I, very fortunately, was able to taxi home to a friend's apartment.

That Vienna was the target of a terrorist attack is unbelievable. As the saying goes, “When the world comes to an end, move to Vienna because everything happens there twenty years later." Tuesday's events have clearly shocked the city but (in a clichéd way) certainly united it. The outpouring of solidarity both within the capital and from abroad goes to show how special this place is and that is something which can never be shaken or destroyed. Tributes now stand to the victims in streets I'd walked almost every day and outside pubs I'd sat in just nights before. But it's futile to say 'what if' because, thankfully, we were lucky.

The newly born motto which has come to express the city's reaction, summing up the unique dry wit of the Viennese and their fierce loyalty to the city is "Schleich di du Oaschloch!" Screamed in thick Austrian dialect from a man on a balcony to the attacker below, it translates roughly to "Get lost, you asshole!"

"Schleich di du Oaschloch!"

The city is numb but will not be changed. In a bid to both pay my respects and make a personal stand against terror and fear, I visited the site of the attack last night. As the sun was setting on the Danube, turning the sky pink, crowds passed over the candlelit cobbles and laid flowers in remembrance of the victims.

The next days and months will be odd for many reasons but it's onwards and upwards, as shown by the raising of the 33m Christmas tree outside the Rathaus on Thursday. To quote Vienna's mayor, Michael Ludwig, the Christmas tree is ,,Ein Zeichen des Friedens" (a symbol of peace).

,,Ein Zeichen des Friedens"