By this time in our usual vacations, you would have been flooded by three or four emails describing the quaint customs of the natives and their curious folkways. Don’t hold your breath, however. This part of the vacation has turned out to be more of a family time than an adventure into a new world.
Not that interacting with Toni’s family has been bad, and they certainly have gone out of their way to take us places and feed us. But it has required us to give reports on the family, show baby pictures and be on my best behavior.
Giki, one of Toni’s cousins, has let us use her apartment in downtown Vienna on Favoritenstrasse, an area of four story apartments that appear to have been built in the late 1800s. None of which have elevators, which makes one wonder how older people manage to get up to their third or fourth story apartments. All of the windows have what appears to my untrained eyes to be neo-classical window treatments, and a great many of the buildings are painted in a bright mustard yellow, which Giki said was a color associated with the Austrian Empire.
I am very impressed with the way the Austrians use energy. The refrigerators are quite small, and the water heaters are the ones that only heat water on demand. It makes me feel that everything we do in the States is oversized and wasteful. Vienna is surrounded by wind generators, those huge propellers that gather wind energy.
Unlike the massive (and ever increasing) supermarkets of the U.S., Vienna has a plethora of small shops. There is a coffee shop, a wine shop, a fruit store, etc. Further, they have this strange custom of selling things that are actually in season, as opposed to being able to buy any type of veggie at any time of year. We have managed to arrive right in asparagus time, as there is a flood of large white asparagus. Indeed, we have had what seems to be a traditional meal for this season of white asparagus and potatoes for supper twice in a row. It certainly has been wonderful!
In stark contrast to the dusty landscape of New Mexico, Austria is in the midst of a beautiful, green spring filled with lilacs, tulips and daffodils blooming everywhere. Another of Toni’s cousins, Andrea and her husband Michael, took us out to the Wachau, which is the valley surrounding the Danube to the south of Vienna. The Wachau is famous for their vineyards, old 10th century castles in ruins, huge, opulent monasteries, and quaint villages. The villages looked like sets from Disneyworld. One expects singing dwarves at any moment.
In a short time, Giki will be picking us up and taking us to the countryside. Giki’s brother Heinz and his wife Gudrun have purchased a weekend house that they wish to show off.
