It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Or at least I would hope so, as tomorrow is Christmas (Merry Christmas to all!!). I’m home, albeit briefly, but since you’re probably more interested in all things Austria as you’re reading from my Austrian postings, I’ll finish up the post I started last week about Christmas (or Wiehnachten) in Vienna. My apologies; I got a bit distracted with packing and last minute shopping and saying goodbye to friends and such, then finished this post in Albuquerque but lacked internet access to post it.

Never one for doing a so-so job of things, Vienna has gone all out on their Christmas spirit. Every open space has at least one little wooden Christmas stall selling seasonal wares.  Those aside, there are officially 13 Christkindlmarkts around the city. Each one is bustling with holiday cheer, packed with folks drinking their glühwein (mulled wine) and lingering in front of the stalls.  The lights are outstanding, and not just in the Christmas markets, not even only in the first district (though those are pretty dang spectacular), but glowing from the most obscure side streets all around the city. 

Alright, that's not an obscure side street, but please compare the size of the red balls to the cars

The whole city seems to be filled with the perfume of roasting chestnuts, spiced drinks, and gingerbread. The only bit of ambiance lacking was a whimsical white dusting over everything. Well, at least until the day I left, when it started snowing as I drove to the airport.

By far the best things about Vienna in December are the Christkindlmarkts. Unfortunately I never did make it out the the one in the Schönbrunn courtyard which is supposed to be worth seeing, but I did get around to quite a few of them. Although I had wandered through various ones since they began opening in late November, I made a more thorough exploration with Christian on the Sunday before Christmas. We met up at the Karlskirche market and caught up over a mug of glühwein (I hadn't seen him in almost a month) before taking in all of the sights.

This particular market was more geared towards handcrafted items - even if not necessarily Christmas themed - than the other ones I had been to, and it was really neat to see the handiworks displayed.

We then walked over to the market at Spittelberg, packed into narrow streets with a lot of history behind the Museums Quartier. I think this may have been my favorite market, and a lot of the shops that were behind the stalls were also open. Even sans market, I'd like to go back and poke around through some of those shops. Plus Christian pointed out a good bräu, sort of like a  heurigen except they brew their own beers rather than making their own wine.

Christian and I also popped into a chocolate shop where he insisted I purchase some Zotter, a Viennese specialty chocolate I’ve seen around quite a bit. Walking out, I unwrapped the bar and broke off a piece to offer him, causing him to laugh. He said the next time we saw each other he would show me how this particular chocolate is meant to be eaten: sliced in thin strips and let melt a moment on the tongue before chewing. I thought chocolate was chocolate, but hey, I’m willing to give it a shot if it makes that much of a difference!

We continued perusing the stalls, stopping here and there to take a closer look at some of the fun things they had on display, not all of which were strictly Christmas-y.

He also stopped at a stand to introduce me to another Viennese (or Christmasmarket – I’m not sure which) specialty that I would have totally bypassed: Feuerflecken. It’s sort of a mix between a large tortilla and a crepe heated up with yogurt (either with garlic or garlic flavor) spread across it and a dash of salt and pepper, folded up and eaten in crepe fashion. Sounds odd and relatively simple, but perhaps because of the crisp evening or perhaps just because it’s good, I really liked it.

After a while we ducked into a café for some hot chocolate to stave off the cold, then Christian had to go. But I was in a Christmas market mood, so I drove over to the Belvedere. The Christmas market there was a little smaller than I was expecting, but perfectly charming and spirited. Although I didn’t linger for more than half an hour, I’m glad I stopped by. It’s amazing how many different things they can offer at all of the different markets!

I then made my way back to the city center to see it lit by night. I had seen the Christmas lights there before, I just wanted to walk through one more time before going home. I started by going up Kärtnerstrasse and the lights just continued to get better. It wasn’t just streets, either; stores were also decorated lavishly.

Kärtnerstrasse and Kohlmarkt, respectively

Graben (not taken that night, obviously)

Although it was getting relatively late, I was surprised to see that people were trickling into Stephansdom. Curious both about that and the illumination I could see through the stained glass, I decided to pop in. It must have been mass or something along those lines, and a particularly elaborate one being an advent day, but they had a really neat light display.

I was going to swing through the Rathaus market on my way home, but it seemed to be mostly closing down, so I just made my way back to Bisamberg. However, this is what it looked like one night I went with Joe.

Having finally made it to that handful of markets, plus my few wanderings over the past month, I really wish I had gone through them more than I did. I also really want my friends and family at home to get a chance to come to Vienna during this time of year. If you have any control over when you get a chance to come, I highly recommend coming sometime between mid-November and December 24^th for the Christmasmarkets alone. Also, for a little more detailed information on the main markets, here’s a brief overview.

Bis bald!

Lessons About Krampus (or There's More to Saint Nicholas than You Thought)

I've spent so much time working on the Belgian portion of my blog (which, granted, can't be that much work since I haven't finished it yet) and studying for my finals that I have totally neglected keeping my devoted fans (i.e. probably only my parents) up to date on the happenings around Wien.

So, where did I leave off? I suppose nothing particularly noteworthy happened between the last weekend of November and the first weekend of December, when I went to Belgium with Lauren. My German 153 class ended, which I was sad about, but it meant I had two full days a week free, which was nice since I needed to buckle down and pick up the last few odds and ends of Christmas presents. Luckily I had the foresight to get a lot of them this summer, not sure if I would still be here in the fall and winter and thinking it would be fun to bring my friends and family things from Europe. Oh! Wait, there were a few things of note that happened that week (sorry, working more in stream of consciousness mode at the moment). Monday morning, since I didn't have class, Anna and I went out to Pandorf, a 'designer outlet' mall about 40 minutes out of Wien. I admittedly splurged a bit with a few birthday presents for myself and picked up some odds and ends for a few other people as well. I was pretty impressed with the stores they had there, actually, and it was fun just to get away and go shopping with Anna (wait, what, did I just put "fun" and "shopping" in the same sentence?? What's become of me?). Then, Tuesday, Anna rounded up some fellow Deacs and the five of us met up with Joe at Charlie P's for a birthday drink.

Although I'm not one for staying up late on a work day, it was worth it on this occasion. I thought it being a Tuesday and all that it would be a pretty relaxed night, but what I didn't know was that every Tuesday is Med School Night (the Uni Wien med school is less than a block away), so the basement was packed. We managed to find a table beneath the stairs and cozied up down there, chatting and all that. Wow, it felt like college all over again (take that as you will). Suddenly two heads popped below the staircase and, seeing a bunch of people (though more likely seeing a group of girls - though had they done their math right it would have looked like three sets of couples, but the guys were sitting/standing off to the side a little more), they decided to join in. Meet Markus and Geno. I actually didn't even talk to them all that much, but as we were leaving Markus got my number. Harmless enough.

So, Belgium that weekend. The week after Belgium I spent most of Monday studying for the oral portion of my Uni Wien German final the next day. I was slightly irked when I took said final because our professor had told us to memorize a paragraph that we had written up about ourselves and turned in which she returned, corrected, however when we got into class on Tuesday she told us that we would need to say ten things about ourselves, and she had those categories listed on the board. Granted, it was more simple than what I had written up, but it was only some of the same information. I still passed with flying colors, though, so I suppose it's all okay.

Also, Tuesday (December 6th) was Saint Nicholas day in Austria. They don't really celebrate Christmas the way we do (which is a whole other story), but suffice it to say that Santa Clause plays a very small role in their celebrations. His main role is actually on his name day. Let's just say he's not as fat and jolly as everyone seems to believe he is. You see, in Austria he goes around on the evening of the 5th with his cohort Krampus, derived from the Old High German word for "claw", and they meter out rewards or punishment based on how good children have been in the past year. But it's not really so simple as that. You see, as you might imagine, Saint Nicholas is the treat-giver, but if you were bad you weren't just given a stocking full of coals. No no. Krampus actually took you away in a bag or basket. Ever wonder why you were always told to go to bed before Santa came when you were a kid? There's your answer. They say only the bad kids stayed up late (but I resent that!). Or, if you were a girl then Krampus whipped you with a birch stick (just for being a girl it seems). And Jolly Ol' Saint Nick just looked on passively, then they went on to the next house.

 "Greetings from Krampus"

But that's not all. Although the tradition isn't as rampant as it once was, apparently it's pretty common to dress up as Krampus in black robes (or goat fur if you're really into it), dawn a mask, and drag chains on the evening of the 5th and go around terrorizing people. People then dress up in priest robes to be Saint Nicholas on the 6th and pass out chocolate and such to make amends for Krampus' mischievous ways.

Also, while we're on the subject, I just wanted to correct a commonly held belief. Coca-Cola is actually not responsible for our current image of Santa Clause. We have Thomas Nast, German-born American caricaturist commonly referred to as "the Father of American Cartoon", to thank (and being born in 1840, he was around way before Coka-Cola started using Saint Nick in their ads).

Alright, now that you've had your Austrian history lesson, I'll only mention that the 8th was a National holiday (Immaculate Conception) and leave it at that. Well, I'll also point out that it used to be a day for going to church, but Austrians would also then go to Hungary or the Czech Republic for the day to go shopping, meaning Austria lost lots of money, so the church and businesses reached a little compromise that businesses could open at 10:00am after people had had time to go to church in the mornings.

Friday night the WFU students had a Christmas/Farewell Party which was great. I'm sure they were all ready to get home, but I have to admit I was sad to see them go. The party itself was pretty laid back, just music and hanging out, and we ended with a showing of White Christmas, which somehow I had never seen. It was almost my new favorite Christmas movie. Almost. Nothing tops A Christmas Story.

Saturday night Markus asked me to come join him and some friends at a bar I hadn't been to before - Look Bar. It's right next door to a really snazzy place called Dino's (which reminds me of a 50's Gentlemans' Club - and I mean that in the original sense of the term, not today's version...). Look Bar is a deceivingly large Irish pub and may be worth checking out again some time. It was fun and got me out of the house for the night, but I don't really think anything's going to come of it.

I really don't have too much to report on from the last week. I had the rest of my German final, so studied a lot for that, I've been reading a ton (ripped through two books in the past week and am impatient because I have to wait until I go home before I get the sequels since the english bookstore I knew of here closed), and had a really superb final riding lesson.

But as great as this has all been, I fully admit that I cannot wait to get home! Not that I've been counting the days or anything...

Happy Thanksgiving from Wien!

Despite not getting to go to the Flow Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night, I had a particularly good weekend. Not only did The Family let me off early Friday night, they gave me tickets to attend the last performance of Charles Gounod's Faust (based loosely on Goethe's tragedy of the same name) at the Baden theater. Not just any tickets, either, but an entire box. I decided to take Joe along for the show, so I picked him up on the way. We didn't have time to wander through Baden, but the Christmas markets looked great! I can't explain what made these so charming, but I would love to go back soon. The performance was really well done, the voices were amazing, and the orchestra was fantastic! We were in the first box on the left and I admittedly found myself watching them play rather than what was going on on stage a few times. Unfortunately all of the Christmas markets were closed for the night by the time that we got out, but there's also a casino in Baden and it was still festively lit.

It was getting late by that point, so we headed back to Vienna and got a bite to eat before going to sleep.

Saturday was really the foundation for my great weekend, though. The morning started out with the usual riding lesson for die Mädchen, but afterwards we went to the Felber bakery's open house Christmas celebration. They had teamed up with the VolksOper to provide some really fun entertainment for kids by letting them all build and decorate gingerbread houses, then having snippets of the VolksOper's children's opera Hänsel und Gretel.

It's been forever since I made a gingerbread house, and I think I had just as much fun as all of the kids running around. I thought it was a really neat way for one of the local bakeries to get involved with the community, it seemed like everyone there, parents, children, and workers alike, was enjoying themselves, and it was a good way to start the Christmas season. Oh, and did I mention the parts of the house and the caulking were quite tasty?

After I dropped the kiddos off at home I headed back into Vienna for a Thanksgiving dinner. A little backstory: I had been into the son's school a few times and each time chatted briefly with the receptionist, a young man from Chicago who is living in Vienna with his wife for a few years because she's doing her Fulbright Scholarship. I had gone in on Thursday and happened to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving, and he asked what I was doing Saturday and if I wanted to join him and some friends for a Thanksgiving dinner. I of course accepted and asked what I could bring, but he told me pretty much everything was covered if I could just get drinks. So Saturday I wound my way past Schönbrunn and found my way to their door. Well, not quite their door. It turns out that the minister at their church was out of town with his family for the weekend and had offered for us to have the dinner there because it was bigger than Will and Mel lived. As I walked in the door I was greeted by amazing smells wafting out of the kitchen and a lot of unfamiliar smiling faces. They were just finishing preparing everything and everyone else arrived within the next twenty minutes or so, and before I knew it I found myself dining with a great assortment of folks - Americans, Austrians, and a Canadian. Will was the common connection between everyone, but the group was mostly teachers and a few friends from their church.

The conversation and company were great and the food was absolutely unsurpassed! Or maybe I was just really hungry. Everything was homemade and actually really similar to what one would expect of a Thanksgiving dinner even despite the lack of certain key ingredients. Will and Mel had attempted their very first turkey (which came out surprisingly moist), there was stuffing and gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and a really good sweet potato casserole (which perhaps I liked so much because of its toasted marshmallow topping). As if that weren't enough, there were two pumpkin pies, an apple pie, and pumpkin bread with a cream cheese topping for dessert. I might have tried some of each, even though I'm wholly unAmerican and don't like pie. I really wish I would have been able to contribute a dish to this amazing spread, but we were already overwhelmed with food as it was, so I didn't feel too bad for only providing everyone with a way to wash it all down. Afterwards one of the woman started playing some Christmas songs on the piano, and we got the special treat of a professional opera singer accompanying her. Not bad, not bad at all. As the tunes faded out we decided it was high time to go for a stroll, so we bundled up and rolled out the door to take in the crisp evening and festive lights in that adorable neighborhood. We walked and chatted for about an hour, then made our way back to the apartment (closer to walking than rolling, finally). Some people said their adieus, but about half of us stuck around to watch a movie. I finally said my goodbye around midnight and gave Vanessa, the opera singer, a ride back to her place before turning in for the night. I was so pleased to be included in that; this was my first Thanksgiving ever that I wasn't with my family, and while it didn't really hit me on Thursday (frankly it felt like any other day in Wien), it was so great to get to spend an evening with new friends and feel a little more like it was a home away from home.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early because Joe and I had finally agreed that it was high time we experienced a real Stephansdom mass. I had invited Linda, one of the people I had met at the Thanksgiving dinner, to join us, so I drove into Vienna in time to pick them both up and find parking before mass started at 10:15. That was actually the first time I'd been in the nave of the cathedral, or past the transept arms (normally they're blocked off and you have to pay to see them). Although I'm not Catholic, it was interesting to listen to the sermon because it was in German and Latin. Unsurprisingly it was a bit chilly in that massive Gothic space, but I enjoyed the whole praxis. There was also something about the incense that was very attractive and soothing.

Linda met up with her boyfriend after to wander through some of the Christmas markets and Joe and I got lunch, then I went back to my chamber to do some studying. As it got dark out, however, I felt a little restless and decided to go in to Vienna to work in a café. I thought it worthwhile to check out Pickwick's, an English café, bar, and video store near Schwedenplatz that Joe and I had gotten a (non-alcoholic) drink at one night. Great choice.

Although not the 'traditional' Viennese café experience, it had a great atmosphere, good hamburgers (I splurged, I couldn't help it), homemade chips (British style), really comfortable couches and chairs to sink down into, and a good playlist that reminded me a lot of Senior year California (Iron and Wine, the Decemberists, Andrew Bird, etc. - yeah, I still pull out your CDs for some throwbacks, Leslie and Julia). I stayed probably a bit later than I should have, thus didn't get as much sleep as I really wanted that night, but I liked the place a lot, even if it was a little on the hipster side.

And so ended my great weekend, but what a great weekend it was!

An Evening with Gideon

I had been waiting for Tuesday night since returning to Vienna. Well, scratch that, I had been waiting for Tuesday night since this summer, I just wasn’t sure at the time if I would be back in this romantic city when Tuesday, November 22^nd rolled around. Sometime in the summer I had looked up where Kremerata Baltica, a chamber orchestra comprised of young musicians from the Baltic states and headed by Gideon Kremer, would be touring. I had actually seen them perform last autumn at WFU for one of the Secrest Artist Series events and I was really impressed with their performance and quite taken with the pieces they performed – particularly “De Profundis” by Reminta Šerkšnytė. Being from the Baltics, I figured the odds of them performing in Europe were pretty high. It turned out that they were indeed going to be in Austria in the summer, but it just happened to be the same weekend I was going to Salzburg. I had also noticed that they would be in Vienna in November, but at the time I had no idea if I would be in Vienna in November. As it turns out, I am.

They were playing in the Musikverein, the famous Golden Hall where the Wiener Philharmoniker performs their annual New Years concert that's broadcast worldwide. I had my ticket. I had asked to have the night off early. I was ready to go. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and found myself getting into a conversation with the elderly gentleman sitting next to me. I’m not sure if he purposefully spoke slowly and clearly because it was apparent that I wasn’t a native speaker or if that was how he would have talked anyway, but I was able to converse completely in German with him, which was great.

They started with a piece by Mozart (how could they not) which was particularly neat because not only did they play it very well, they also played with it, inserting a few solos which I can only imagine were of their own devising; I doubt the original score included a solo for the timpanist!

My favorite piece of the night was easily Tchaikovsky’s, but that’s no surprise. I can’t recall how I arrived there, but sometime during that piece I found myself thinking back to one time when a guy that I had taken a fancy to was sharing some pieces of art that he was particularly fond of with me. I was, of course, commenting on them, and I remember quite clearly that he showed me a Rodin which invoked from me the response, half in jest, that I hoped someone would one day feel as passionately about me. He asserted that it was entirely factual that someone special would feel that way about me, but sometimes I wonder: what is my life going to be like ten years from now? Twenty? Forty? I wonder if I'll find someone to share a mutual passion with, and if I do, will we be able to maintain it, or will it fade away as the years go by? Nothing is forever, right? Is this just another chimera of my creations? I'm not sure what about this composition brought me back to that, or perhaps it's just that winter is coming on in general... who knows.

I remembered from the last time that I saw them perform that one of the contrabass players had the neatest carved scroll on his bass. Although I was sitting front and center for the last performance, I had not noticed it until the intermission, but I was curious if I would get to hear the melody from that lion’s head again. I noticed right away that the musician was there, although it was a little harder to see because I was further away this time. I was going to take a picture during intermission, but unfortunately I had left my phone lying on the table in my room. However, it looked a lot like this:

Although I think I actually preferred their first performance better for the company, price (free for students), seating, and pieces that they performed (they were more conservative in their selection for Vienna), I was still very happy that I got to see them perform again. I hope it was the second of more still to come.

Why Yes, Thank You, I Would Love a Glass of Champagne with My Haircut

I must say, as far as Saturdays go this one was pretty good. I knew das Mädchen needed a haircut so I had offered to take her when I went which resulted in my morning 'work' going as follows: we headed into Vienna about 10:00 in the morning to the hairdresser that the family always uses. The Mother met us there and took the Daughter shopping while I was got my hair washed and trimmed. They brought me back a really good panini from Harry's Café (somewhere near the French café Le Bol) and we ate a nice lunch while the Daughter was getting her hair washed. Out of nowhere I heard a cork pop and glanced in the mirror to see a rosé getting poured into two crystal champagne flutes. Hmmm. The Mother offered me a sip and when I nodded my approval she poured me a glass as well. Now, I'm not too learned as far as champagnes go, but this tasted particularly good to me. Sheesh, if I didn't love Sherry so much I would wish that this was my regular hairdresser! Although I have a hunch I wouldn't have gotten such treatment without the Mother there.

Anyway, das Mädchen and I left while she stayed to get her hair done because... we were going to the theater! The family was going to Baden, a town about half an hour out of Vienna, to see a childrens' production, 'musical' I suppose you could categorize it as, of Pollicino and they had invited me along. Although it wasn't my favorite, the set was well-done and detailed, the children did a very good job, and I was pleased that I understood a decent number of lines. It was a little hard to see the stage from my seat, so at intermission the Mother suggested I go sit on the opposite side with a friend of hers who had a box to himself. I mulled it over, then agreed that I would be able to see better from over there. I had met this man on Friday when I was in the family's office and he was quite friendly. Although I'm still not completely sure who he is as far as the family is concerned (friend or co-worker?), he told me that he used to be very involved in the theater both as a performer and a director (...I think. It was in German so I might not be correct), but now he was taking more of a back seat and mostly just supported the theater(s).

(photo courtesy of Techie Talk)

Although cozy, I really liked the theater, and the family said that they can get me tickets any time that I want to go to a performance there, so hopefully I'll be going back soon!

Trees in Basements and Other Updates

Minor mayhem aside, the last few weeks have been pretty good ones. Let's shoot for a relatively chronological recap of post-Lauren's-visit-to-Vienna:

-went to dinner with Austrian #3 (from the Danube Incident) in Krems. He took me to two really good Heurigen that I never would have found on my own but may be able to navigate back to one of these days. Not only were the food and wine particularly good, but we also ate some light and delicious toasted coconut marshmallow squares (unfortunately I can't recall the name of them) at Stagård, the second Heuriger we went to which apparently has the best wine in Krems.

-I finally had my first 'standing room' experience at the Staatsoper. Looking for something to do on a Saturday night, I went to La Sylphide, the ballet that I had been to with Lauren, on the 5th. As I had already seen it, I decided it would be worthwhile to try this standing room business that everyone lauded. Admittedly, my expectations weren't too high, but the evening started out well and just continued to improve. I arrived at the box office a little over an hour and a half before the performance started and was slightly dismayed to see how long the line was; I had tried to purchase a ticket earlier in the day and was told I could only get them 80 minutes before the performance (I'm not sure if that's only how it works the day of, or if that's always the case). I had checked online and saw that there were only 60-some tickets left, and there were easily more than 60 people in front of me. However, the line started moving relatively quickly and no one was getting turned away, so I waited. When I got to the window I saw that the price was only €4 instead of €8 (as was advertised online), which I certainly couldn't complain with. We were then ushered into a lobby under the grand staircase and arranged in lines by twos, and one-by-one each line was allowed into the theater. I was really surprised at how close we were to the stage, and I had a good spot on the end of one of the rails.

I was aware of the tradition of saving your place with a scarf and came prepared, so after a short speech from a woman from the theater about how standing room works (which made me think it's more of a tourist thing than I had thought, though it seemed about 50/50 to me), I tied my scarf and wandered the Staatsoper with a couple in their young twenties that I had gotten into conversation with while in line. The ballet was, of course, very well done, and it was amazing how drastically different some of the special effects were with a change of vantage point. The standing room area was considerably less crowded after the intermission; I got the impression from overhearing a conversation that people didn't realize there were two acts. Oh well, more room for me to lounge. Also, the actual standing wasn't nearly as bad as I feared since there were padded velvet-covered bars to lean against.

-I've officially started riding again! I really like my new coach. Although she's not much for casual conversation (or perhaps we don't know each other well enough yet), she's thorough in her coaching and has me riding a good horse, Phoenix, who is quiet - I tend to like 'hotter' horses - but very well trained and responsive. I'm definitely sweating at the end of every lesson. They're also one-on-one, which I love! I got to jump last week, too. Not very high, granted, but hopefully that will build relatively quickly.

-I went with Lauren to Freiburg, Germany and Strasbourg, France for a three-day weekend.

-I had my first Christmas Market experience! Joe and I went on Friday evening and it was, well, magical, really. The lights, the smells, the crisp evening air... quite something!

We didn't spend too long there because it was getting crowded and neither of us were in the mood to buy anything, but I can't wait to go back! We went to the one at the Rathaus, but the little wooden stalls are up all over the city - in just about every open space you come across. Apparently this is the most kitschy of the markets and although I liked it, I'm going to do some research on where the best of the best are.

-Also on Friday, we went to a really neat restaurant that I had caught a glimpse of earlier in the week. Actually, the food wasn't very noteworthy, but the atmosphere was awesome! Of course, I'm partial to cellars with vaulted brick ceilings anyway, but when you add a tree in the mix, man, does it get any better? That's exactly what Wiener Stadtbräu has. To get there you have to go through Chattanooga Café and Grill, a wholly uninspired place along der Graben, one of the most well-known streets in Vienna's first district. About ten feet into the grill there's a door into a basement on the left wall. Go downstairs, and behold:

Well, I was taken anyway. Maybe the chef was just having an off night, so I'd like to go back and give the food a second chance.

Yes, It CAN Happen to You

Tuesday, the 8th of November, dawned just like any other day: chilly and overcast. I stumbled through my morning routine as usual, was moderately awake by the time I went to the kitchen for breakfast, delivered die Kinder safely to school, then went to my own class. I arrived early enough to get a parking spot right next to Uni Wien, something that I'm not always lucky enough to get. I went in to class.

I lingered for a few minutes after class to ask the professor something, then headed out to my car, as always slightly apprehensive to see if I had a parking ticket. Technically you're not supposed to park anywhere in Vienna for more than two hours at a time although I see people do it often; I always park for two and a half hours (though I leave enough parking slips to cover that time period) for this class.

Good news: no parking ticket. Bad news: no right rear window. Well, that's not exactly true. The window was still there, partially, but it was thoroughly shattered. I looked immediately for the thing that I already knew would be missing, and sure enough, my purse was gone. Now, before I go any further, please, let me state here and now that I know that I was an idiot for leaving my purse in the car, there are no excuses, really. Okay, are you convinced? Well, you should be. Trust me, it's not something I'll be doing again, ever. Heck, I knew it was something that you're not supposed to do, but I had it well hidden under the seat; I didn't think that getting my car broken into was something that would actually happen to me, especially in Vienna, such a safe city, on a very public road. I mean, heck, my iPod was never stolen out of my car in the Corners and that was considerably sketchier than Vienna! Goodbye wallet, my favorite (well, only) sunglasses, digital camera, and very sadly, my Baptist Med School ID  - guess I won't ever be visiting that playground on the roof... Worse, it was not actually my car but the one that the family has given me to use.

I called the family, who told me to come in to the office, I called my parents (at about 4:45am for them - sorry Mom and Dad!) to start getting cards cancelled, I went across the street because I saw they had video cameras out front to see if they perhaps had any footage of the break-in (they didn't), then spent the rest of the afternoon filling out insurance paperwork, police reports, and continuing to deal with credit card arrangements. Not the absolute worst thing that could happen to me, but it was vey sobering and was (and still is) incredibly inconvenient and quite a hassle to deal with.

Luckily the family was very understanding about everything and I even had the car back by the next afternoon, complete with the service that it was due for and winter tires - both things I had scheduled to take care of at the end of the week. All things considered, it could have been much worse (and, imho, wasn't as bad as the minor fiasco this summer), but it's certainly something that I don't ever want to have happen to me again.

So, take it from lil' ol' innocent country me: Don't EVER leave your purse in the car. Ever. For any reason whatsoever. Just say 'NO'.

How Many Austrians Does it Take to Get Us Down the Danube?

Sunday, 30 October, 2011 - Lauren and I had been planning on taking a bike trip down the same stretch of the Danube that I had done twice this summer - once with the Freshmen group and once with my parents. Really, it just seemed like a perfect way to cap off a great trip! Well, wistful thinking at least...

Although it had been overcast (though thankfully not rainy) all week, Sunday morning dawned brimming with a promise of sun. I knew the drill pretty well, so we got breakfast, pumped up the bike tires, loaded them up in the car, and headed out. The Pater had kindly lent his mountain bike to us for Lauren's use. I had gone digging through saddle bag after the first ride on my bike to get a tool to tinker with some things and had scoped his bike out at that time: hardtail Scott complete with disk breaks. It would certainly do for our leisurely excursion. Mistake Number One (and really the heart of just about all of the other difficulties to come): I did not take the bike for a test ride. I waited for a minute after pumping up the tires, and when they held air I figured we were good to go. So off we went to Westbahnhof Train Station. Other than getting scolded by security for attempting to drive through the semi-circle drop-off-looking-area to leave Lauren with the bikes and then go find a parking spot, this leg of the journey was pretty uneventful. Parking found, tickets purchased, train boarded, bikes secured (with the nifty snake lock Mom gave me), tickets checked by conductor, fee of €5 for each bike (who knew you were supposed to pay for your bike to get on the train, too?), arrival in Melk. Good.

We got outside the train station and I pulled out the bike tool to adjust the seat hight for Lauren. Or not. It wasn't one of the quick-release clamps, just a collar which could only be adjusted with an Allen wrench, and the bolt was stripped. There was nothing I could do. So we walked through Melk to where the bicycle rental hut was, hoping they could help. They could not because they were closed (it was a Sunday after all, as I feared it would be). So we went to the gas station across the parking lot. When the tool produced by the cashier also proved to be of no help, Lauren and I decided to play the Damsel(s) in Distress card and flag down the next strong-looking guy who went into the station. Enter Austrian #1. A gentleman walks into the gas shop. Lauren and I haggle quickly over who has to ask him for help. As he steps out the door, I wave him down. He also tried unsuccessfully to use the Allen wrench, but says he has some tools that would probably do the job. Oh boy! But he has to go home to get them. Oops. We say it's okay, we'll figure something out, please don't drive home just for us, but he's also a cyclist and insists he'll be back in five minutes and jogs off to his car. Sure enough, he swings back into the parking lot five minutes later and unloads a gigantic tool box. Using a rubber mallet he was able to force a wrench in and get the seat adjusted for us. We thanked him profusely (and offered to buy him a beer or something for his troubles), but he just smiled and drove off with a wave. Alright! On to the trail for us as well!

Well, not quite. As Lauren begins to pedal off I call out to her to shift. Nothing. She stopped and let me hop on to get 'er going. Except, I couldn't get 'er going. I stopped, too, and fiddled with the gears for a minute before determining that somehow they're in fact disconnected to the derailleurs. Well shoot. I'm starting to feel a little disheartened. I'm pretty good with basic adjustments on bikes, but this was beyond my skill set. Lauren and I exchanged looks after quite a while of me tinkering. We were both thinking the trip was over before it even started, but neither of us wanted to say it (okay, actually, I have no idea if Lauren was thinking that, but I was). Perhaps a stroll down the Danube a little ways would suffice? However, I knew Lauren was really excited about this part of the trip, so I manually moved the chain into a medium gear and jerry-rigged the derailleur into staying in place so it wouldn't channel the chain back into a lower gear.

And off we rode. The ride from there was pretty uneventful for a while and the scenery was really gorgeous. Both of the times I had done the trail before I had gone down the northern route, but there was also a path along the southern banks of the river which I was keen to check out, so we went that way. I would go so far as to say the scenery was even more beautiful on that side, but perhaps it was just a more spectacular time of year to be riding.

The southern path didn't pass through as many towns (or vineyards), but it did more or less stay right along the banks of the Danube. We chatted and biked and really didn't come across too many people, and decided to stop for lunch about an hour or an hour and a half after we started since by then it was already past noon with our little morning mishap. We ended up at a Heurigen overlooking the Danube on the east side of a tiny town by the name of Aggsbach-Dorf.

Little did we then know it, but enter Austrian #2. It was a really charming little place which we had all to ourselves; I ordered a cordon bleu and Lauren went for the tradition of wiener schnitzel, though we decided we were going to just split them between us. The food was delicious and the waiter was really nice, but it was time to continue along the trail. Lauren was going to pay, but he did't take credit cards (not unusual for a lot of places in Austria). But no worries, we had brought cash for just such an occasion. Except for the minor detail that we had had to pay the conductor €10 for the bikes. Which left us with €20. The meal was €22. I asked if there was a bank-o-mat nearby. No. The nearest one was back in Melk. So there was really nothing we could do. We got him to write his name on the receipt, which had the address of the Heurigen on it, and promised to send him the remainder of the the bill. He grinned and beared it and let us go, but that was a really hard one to swallow.

Back in the saddle and stomachs full, we continued down the Danube. Lauren and I couldn't help but laugh at how many things had gone wrong thus far, but surely we had spent whatever bad karma had been lingering and the rest of the day would be smooth sailing. It had to be; we still had Romeo und Julia to catch at the Burgtheater that night. We pedaled ever onwards, basking in the surroundings of the absolutely gorgeous valley and going just fast enough to keep warm in the slightly brisk temperature.

After about another hour Lauren was starting to feel the ill-fit of her biker, though. The frame was really too big and being stretched out when you're riding is never comfortable, but being too stretched when you don't ride a bike too often is even worse. Although I'm shorter than Lauren, I offered to switch bikes; I figured if I could manage my Dad's mountain bike, also too big, I could work with this one. Conveniently The Pater also used SPD cleats with his bike, so I was able to clip in and not have an awkward ride balancing my shoes on his pedals. Unfortunately a simple bike switch wasn't the end of our problems.

About fifteen minutes later the ride was feeling really off for me, so I started looking around for the cause. Oh Scheiße! I had a flat tire. The past two times I had ridden the path I had wondered what would happen if anyone got a flat since we weren't equipped with a pump, but as no one had had any problems I let the curiosity go. Sunday was my lucky day to find out, and only one plausible answer was coming to mind: we were going to have to hoof it. An old man driving down the bike path (why? I'm not certain) told us, from what I could tell through his heavy country accent, that the closest town was 2 km away and the town after that had a train station. Okay, we could work with that. Not quite the destination of Krems that we had in mind, but not the worst possible news, either. At least we had even more time to admire the view.

Perhaps another ten minutes later a road biker came by and circled back to see if he could be of service. He had a spare tube, but being a road bike tube it was of little use. Considering he didn't have a pump it still wouldn't have done us much good. But he told us he lived in Krems and was on his way home and if we wanted he could drive back and pick us up. I was hesitant about the idea and had I been by myself I would have declined the offer and taken my punishment for being foolish enough to go biking without a pump, but he informed us that we were still 15 km out of Krems (and was quite taken aback when we initially declined the offer and said we would walk), so after trying to exchange looks with Lauren to ascertain her feelings on the matter without openly discussing it in front of him, we accepted. Hello Austrian #3. He was in his late 20s and seemed nice despite a poor choice of facial hair styling. At this point we knew we would be missing the performance that night, but we were past that and just wanted to get home without any more technical difficulties. It was also starting to get a little dark, which may have had some influence on our decision.

I exchanged phone numbers with Austrian #3 and we continued on a ways to find a good place to wait and lock up the mountain bike as he said he only had room in his car for one bike. We figured at that point as long as we could get back to my car we could work everything else out. So we perched on a picnic table to wait, and just as the last of the light was disappearing our knight in shining armor pulled up. Huge relief!

We quickly loaded the bike and were on our way to the train station, chatting merrily. We arrived just in time to purchase tickets for the train back to Vienna that was leaving in a few minutes, hopped on, navigated the U-bahn, and got back to my car. It took a little longer to drive back out to the locked-up bike than I anticipated, but we loaded up, then continued on a little further to the Heurigen we had stopped at for lunch. Although it was already closed for the evening, we wrote a note on the back of the receipt and left a generous tip for his earlier generosity. Although we were bummed about missing the performance, I think we were both just happy to get back to some warm showers and a good dinner.

And, lesson learned: I will be prepared next time I go out biking!

Lauren Comes to Vienna

Last week I had the pleasure of a visit from Lauren, a friend from college who is teaching English in France this year. We've been trying to plan various excursions around Europe for the next six months or so, and although she's been to this charming city before, she made the very good decision to come back and visit me during part of her fall break. I suppose she also wanted to see a different, less touristy side of Vienna.

Monday
I picked up Lauren at the airport after work that night and we caught up over wiener schnitzel and tea. The attempt to get to bed at a reasonable hour may not have been successful, but it was worth the lost sleep as we hadn't seen each other since graduation.

Tuesday
I (gasp) skipped class on Tuesday so Lauren wouldn't be left to her own devices on her first day back in Austria. After dropping off der Junge at school we headed over to the Military Museum.

Not long after arriving I got a call from Joe saying that he was also going to play hooky that morning and wanted to join us. So Lauren and I lingered through the first wing of the museum which was focused around the Thirty Years' War and attempted sieges by the Turks while we waited for Joe. The three of us then continued to amble through for another two or three hours before Joe decided it was time to be studious and I took Lauren to get lunch at Café Sperl. Also, fun fact, I was watching a preview for a movie about Freud called A Dangerous Method with Viggo Mortensen which is slated to come out in November in the US and one of the scenes is in the very same café! Check it out! And then pretend that I'm one of the patrons in the background...

We then strolled down to the Secession Building which I had passed numerous times but never actually stopped to explore further; I just knew it was a museum that had more works by Gustav Klimt.

There were fewer exhibitions inside than I had expected, and only one work by Klimt, though a very interesting one: The Beethoven Frieze. The rest of the museum was very contemporary with one room full of mirrors

and another room where I couldn't tell if they were preparing to set up an exhibition or if that was the exhibition itself. However I did learn that the Secession was built to house the artwork of the members of the Vienna Secession which was formed in 1897 by a group of artists who had left the Association of Austrian Artists to follow their own belief about what artwork should be.

That night Lauren and I ventured down to the Heurigen in Bisamberg that I've been wanting to check out as it always looks to be packed. We enjoyed a few glasses of some good Rot Sturm, a partially fermented wine that is usually only available for a few months in the fall. Apparently the Rot, or red, version is less common. We also indulged in a scrumptious pastry called Mutter's Cremeschnitte (which is ironically usually associated with Bled, Slovenia, the tiny town I visited in the summer of 2010) before walking back for the night.

Wednesday
October 26th just happens to be Austrian National Day, the day following the day that the last troops from the Allied Forces left the Austrian territory after WWII, thus marking its first day as an independent and sovereign country (although the Austrian State Treaty was actually signed on 15 May, 1955). This is a national holiday and there are always military displays all over Vienna. Lauren, Anna Butler (the girl who has my summer job), and I went to Heldenplatz to see the festivities.

Besides the military parade, there was an interesting mix of a carnival (rock climbing, pony rides, lots of unhealthy food) and an exhibition of military equipment. Also a fencing demonstration, but I'm not completely sure what category that falls under.

The three of us then walked to Café Central for lunch and each tried a different soup and delectable pastry. Continuing on with the Klimt theme, I tried a Klimt Surprise. I'm not completely sure what the 'surprise' was, but the pastry was really good!

Lauren and I then split ways with Anna and walked to Karlskirche. I had been in briefly during the summer and heard that the scaffolding for the repairs and repainting they were doing on the interior of the dome was open to visitors but would be taken down sometime this year. Luckily it was still in place so Lauren and I took an elevator up to the dome, then walked up some stairs to the inside of the lantern. It was really neat to be that close to the frescoes!!

It was interesting to see how much more distorted they are up close on the curved surface than they appear from below. I really liked how they depicted the wings on all of the angels. I was also very surprised to note that the marble in Karlskirche is all real up to the level of the dome, where there is no marble, but the 'marble' in the lantern is only painted to look like marble! Also, there was a bunch of money, coins and bills, thrown onto all of the window sills of the lantern which seemed like a strange place for people to be making contributions to the church.

Heading back into the city center, we decided to stop inside Stephansdom and happened to arrive just before the start of a candlelit mass (which I ascertained was for Austrian National Day). We didn't get seats in the nave as we weren't really dressed the part and weren't certain how long we would stay, but even standing in the back was a neat experience. I've never seen Stephansdom lit up like that, even on sunny days! I would really like to go back for another special service there and stay for the whole time.

Ironically Joe was also at Stephansdom at the time and called me shortly after we left. He joined us for dinner at an Italian restaurant, Regina Margherita, off of Wellnerstraße (sound familiar? I went there with Ashley this summer). We attempted to go to a movie after that, but to no avail. Thus we dropped Joe off at home and Lauren and I went to Café Aumann for a coffee where we ran into Joe's sister and friends. When I informed Joe of this he ran the five minutes down and sat with Lauren and I for an hour or so. Why oh why his sister's presence but not actually her company was enough to convince Joe to come I think will just have to remain one of life's mysteries, but I'm glad he joined.

Thursday
I figured that skipping both of my German classes in a week would not be for the best, so I dropped Lauren off at the Wien Museum on Thursday morning while I attended to my studently duties. Afterwards I convinced Lauren to try an Ethiopian restaurant I had been wanting to check out along the 40 tram line. Luckily I didn't really have to twist her arm because she loves Ethiopian food, which also turned out to be a good thing because she knew the proper way to eat it. I was surprised at how good the food was (and how much he gave us)! It took a little longer than we were anticipating so we decided to walk around Stadtpark before heading back to Bisamberg. Although it's not my favorite park in Vienna, it was really pretty with the fall foliage and pleasant to stroll about when it wasn't so crowded.

That evening we returned to the Bisamberg Heurigen, though this time they were fresh out of sturm so we settled for spritzers. Now, mind you, spritzers are really common here and perfectly acceptable to drink. In fact, that's usually how one takes their wine when they go to a Heurigen. Alas, again, I had work the next morning so we didn't stay out terribly late.

Friday
Lauren and I spent the morning in the Stephansplatz Aida to plan out our other European excursions and wait for museums to open. We stopped for a quick bite at my favorite bratwurst stand in front of the Albertina, then headed to the National Library (technically State Hall) in the Hofburg.

Majestic? You betcha! There are also currently some interesting exhibitions there including the various attire of all of the regions once under the Hapsburg reign and watercolors of the landscapes that can be found in Austria. Worth every cent of the 4,50 Euro to get in.

That night Lauren and I had our 'splurge' dinner at DO & CO which was most excellent! We then moved down the the Onyx Bar right below and spent some time there before going on to the Sky Bar at the top of another nearby building on someone's recommendation. Don't worry Mom and Dad, neither of us tried any drinks that were Absinthe-based, but Lauren discovered a particularly good Espresso Martini at the Onyx Bar.

Saturday
I had to work in the morning, but we went in to Vienna for lunch as soon as I was done. I took Lauren to the Naschmarkt even though she had been there before because you can really never have enough of the Naschmarkt. We went to my favorite restaurant, Kim Kocht (literally Kim Cooks), which is a sort of Asian-fusion type place. Always crowded, always delicious.

After dessert at one of the market stalls we went in search of the Museum of Art Fakes. Although small (the entire museum was contained in the cellar of a building), it had some really fascinating stories about professional art 'fakers' and how in some cases even they became famous enough that their fakes were faked.

I think my favorite biography was that of Tom Keating who went into the art restoration business after WWII. However, he felt that the gallery system was corrupt, so he attempted to destabilize it by putting his own fakes of famous works into galleries but planting 'bombs' in them such as putting a layer of glycerine under the paint so that when the paintings were cleaned the glycerine would dissolve and ruin the painting. It's a neat little museum and despite its meager size you could easily spend an hour or two there. It's just across from the Hundertwasserhaus, also architecturally interesting.

It was getting slightly late and slightly dark by the time we re-emerged from the cellar, so we headed back to the first district to get in a little art shopping before stores closed. We managed a quick change, then headed to the Staatsoper to see Taglioni's La Sylphide. The ballet was beautiful and both of the male leads (Roman Lazik as James and Kamil Pavelka as Gurn) were quite something to watch dance.

I felt that a post-ballet Salzburger Nockerl was in order, so Lauren and I went to Burgerhof, still the only place in Vienna that I know of which serves the delicious souffle-like mountains. I think that it is safe to say that Lauren was pleased. I certainly was.

Sunday
Lauren and I thought it would be nice to go biking down the Danube on Sunday. Things did not quite go according to plan. We'll leave it at that for now...