the world has turned and left me here

Vienna #2

Here is a glimpse of Shaun and I together in all our radiant glory. Shield your eyes.

After Schloss Schoenbrunn we did something extra touristy and went to the Friedhof graveyard on the outskirts of Vienna. We had read that quite a few composers were buried here. Of course, their whereabouts weren't exactly advertised, as that would detract from all the other dead dudes there, so we had to wander about awkwardly for a while to earn this merit badge. Then suddenly we were looking at the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, and Brahms all lying within 20 feet of each other. Such an understatement would not survive more than a day in America, the land of Wall Drug.

We ended up on the opposite side of Vienna for dinner, in a little "wine tavern" (used in the loosest sense possible) that we had to trudge through several blocks of suburbs to reach because the bus lines gave out. It was basically no more than grandma's kitchen with a few picnic benches put in the adjoining room. The locals were really local-looking. And we were not. But it didn't matter, because "grandma" was nice and her accent not too difficult to understand, and the food good. Shaun and I had a great conversation there.

It was dark when we left, but the night wasn't quite over. Later we hit a club called "Excess." The only thing that was excessive about the place was the amount of people that were crammed in there; moving from one end of the dance floor to the other was quite an undertaking. The crowd was a bit older and girls were outnumbered by muscled-up macho guys. In spite of it Shaun made me proud by talking up a cute Austrian girl. It was his first real club experience, he said, and I hope it won't be his last.

It was difficult to get up the next morning on 5 hours of sleep but it had to be done. It was rainy. But our trip to the Vienna woods was well worth the trouble. Supposedly Kafka, Freud, Schubert, and a bunch of other big-names drew inspiration from long walks in these same woods, and you can probably see why for yourself.

We met this little guy along the way. He reminded me of the salamander (Oliver I think I dubbed him) that used to live in Grandma and Grandpa's farmhouse basement.

Then it was time for me to take leave of my gracious host, and the city where we had pretty much run the gamut of experience, both cultured and uncultured, man-made and natural. Somehow between all the rushing about I found time to reflect, and made some pretty important discoveries about things in general.