So, the set the timeline. I'm posting this 9/25, Sat night, but it's about the last few days... wrote it yesterday morning. We're in Vienna. Enjoy!
After Salzburg, we made our way into Vienna on the hunt for the internet. We met Julia, a dancer from Vienna, at the Munich exchange and she invited us to their Tuesday night dance as well as set up some housing for us for the evening. Sean remembered where there was a Starbucks by the opera house, and so we set off using my cell phone like a water stick, sweeping it from side to side in search of signal as we made our way down the street. After about 45 frustrating mintues trying to get our internet phone program to work, soy latte, and a choco chip cookie, we gave up and just made our way to the dance.
The venue was great, a little basement in the bottom of a cafe in the 7th district. The walls were dark and covered in paint, the floor a deep-colored hardwood, and the lighting was mellow. It would have been great for a Halloween party, or some vampire game to tell you the truth. But instead, original 30's and 40's big band recordings were blasting overhead, and folks were just trying to make the best of the small space. I don't see myself as the unapproachable type, but not until the end of the night did people work up the gupta to ask me to dance. Not that I didn't enjoy myself in the mean time. I met a woman who had lived on Long Island for a number of years who now ran the office at a osteopath school, and an American named Kyle living in Vienna while he was finishing up his Master's in Econ. Sean had no shortage of partners, and pretty much kept moving the majority of the evening. Good beer, good dancing, good times.
Our host Anna is an art student and graphic designer studying film in Vienna. She rents a little studio apartment in the 5th district right along the river front (more notable for the design of the canal rather than any actual water being there). She was much too gracious, and gave up her bedroom so she could work on some projects through the evening. Thus far, everyone in Austria has been fantastic about speaking English, and whether they had the words or the phrases right, they always try and usually ask for the correct grammer. We had a great conversation in the morning, with city sounds and soft sunlight filling in the quiet moments. After putting our packs together again, it was out the door and off to the café.
The night before on our walk to Anna's, we spotted a small, outdoor Art Deco café along the “river front”. As it turns out, it was one of Anna's recommendations and favorite places, so we made our way back and parked ourselves under a tree in the courtyard. One of the truth's of Europe is soda is expensive, done and done. Sure, you can still grab a 2L at the grocery store for a fair price, but in restaurants, it's an amazing rip-off. What would amount to about $3 US gets you a small glass, 0.2L. My co-worker's can attest to my bad soda habit the last few weeks I was at work. While here in Europe, I've had 2 small servings, and that's it. My COFFEE habit has been out of control, but we won't get into that now. ;) Another truth of Europe is that most cafés assume you have all the time in the world. You find your place, set yourself down, and may not see a server for 10-15 minutes. Once they are there, get your WHOLE
order in, because again, you may not see them for another 15 minutes after that. In some circumstances, they're legitimately busy. Other times, they're just having a cigarette in the other room.
The train out to Mistelbach was short and sweet, maybe an hour. Sean lived in this part of Austria after he graduated college for almost a year doing a teaching assistanceship at one of the local high schools teaching English. It was during this time that he met the Grills. Mr. Grill (Tony) was the librarian, and also sang with the choir. His son Johannes also was involved in music, and Sean and him formed a small cover-band called Joy of Cooking. They've all kept in touch throughout the years, even if only just a few words now and again. The last time we were here was 4 years ago just before Sean started nursing school. Tony picked us up at the train station, and it has been sweet sensations ever since ;)
Mrs. Grill (Christa) is an amazing hostess. Coffee time is no small matter. She brings out the full gear... dessert plates, sweet apricot jam, breads/pastries, whole milk... the works. Johannes, his wife Verena, and their 2 sons (Konstantin and Julian) made their way over when they could. And then it was off to the high school for some meat and wine. Yes, the high school. High schools out here are clearly a bit different than they are in the states. Think of them more like prep schools. At the school center, there are a few different programs. First and foremost, of course, is the vintner's school. This part of Austria contains the wine district, and there are vineyards everywhere. In fact, they only make 2 things out here... wine and Catholics, and I'm not sure what they make more of. They also have a technical school, and more of a generalized school with science, music, etc... The last is where Sean spent most of his time. Where we ended up was a small restaurant associated with the farming/wine program. This is the time of year when the sturm is ready, a sweet drink made from grapes, but reminds me somewhat of a cider. And you do not toast with sturm, we made this mistake. They consider it more like a meal (not sure why), so Nooooo toasting. And of course we had the typical Austrian meal, bread, meat and cheese. And it was GOOOOD :D It was the caliber of food you could only find in artisanal shops at home, and we still had to take some home. To feed 4 people with wine only cost $34 Euro... excellent.Afterwards, we made our way to spend time with the music teacher at the Borg, Georg Gauss. Sean knew him 10 years ago, but they had not seen or heard from each other this whole time. He and his wife Sabina had just built a new house, and we were invited over for wine and conversation. And wine we did... 4 bottles worth. Needless to say, I was overly tipsy, but it was a wonderful night.
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