Vienna, Week of February 6

February 6:

February 7: Woke up to blizzard. I think about 4 inches fell, but by 11AM it was beginning to melt a bit. The snow seemed to be covered rather quickly with a thin black film of dirt. We were planning to go to the Staatsoper in the evening so decided to eat out. However, the performance started at 6:30 instead of the 7:30 I had planned on so we had to eat quick. Stopped in at our local vegetarian restaurant (Mary’s favorite) and had carrot soup, palenta, and pizza. I’ll admit carrot soup did not set my taste buds tingling, but if you make soup out of lentils or beets, why not carrots? It tasted pretty good—I can’t say how it was flavored, but it had some small slices of onion and parsley. Palenta is an Italian corn meal patty which I have had before. I think it tastes very good, although some might see it as bland. The pizza was like a pan pizza on a spelt dough. It consisted of chopped carrots, corn, broccoli, artichoke, tomato, and a little cheese on top. A couple of slices of pepperoni would have made it perfect, but obviously that would not be appropriate in these “green” circles. After dinner went to the opera “Der Rosenkavalier.” We wanted to see at least one opera in the Staatsoper—the tickets are “pricy,” but I managed to get some on the 6th tier near the middle for $65 each. I actually wanted to go to a performance of “Fledermaus” (my father’s favorite), but it wasn’t being performed. I picked “Der Rosenkavalier” because Strauss composed the music, but I can’t say I will see it again. It was great singing, but it is a schmaltzy Vienna story about a sex-crazed baron who was trying to marry a rich middle class girl for her money. From here on out, I will try to get the cheap “stehplatze” (standing places). I was surprised to see only one woman in the orchestra (a cellist)—it looks like a male bastion. We didn’t get out until close to 11PM. Coming back by the unterbahn saw a lot of drunks in shop area of the underground station at Karlsplatz.

February 8: Tonight we were invited to an apartment (actually it was as large as a home with at least 3 or 4 bedrooms, a maid’s quarters, and a huge dining and living room area—I estimate 5,000 square feet) to listen to two people give a private recital (oboe and bass cello) as a warm-up for an audition to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, a world-premiere orchestra. There were about 20 people there to listen in the huge living room. This couple wanted to practice performing before us to give them a sense of what it would feel like when they auditioned before a small group of orchestra officials for seats in the orchestra. They had already done this several other times—those that have heard them do this in past weeks said they were much better this time. They will probably compete with around 15 other musicians who are obviously top-flight musicians. I am not an expert in either instrument, but they were very good. I just can’t imagine the level of competition they are facing. In about 2 weeks they are supposed to let us know what happened. Also met a number of people, including a Roumanian Ph.D. geneticist working with plants, a computer scientist, a businessman working with voice over the internet protocol, and some others. The hostess also served cranberry juice!—something my wife has missed. We will need to find out where to purchase it. We did find cranberry jelly.

February 9:

February 10: We have been fighting sore throats, but thought today would be a good day to take the bus to Bratislava, Slovakia. It is the capital of the Slovak Republic. There is a nice bus line that goes from Vienna to Bratislava for only about $12 roundtrip. It is much cheaper than the train and takes about the same time. We took the unterbahn to the Erdgasse station and bought tickets. As we left Vienna we could see more snow and it was beautiful riding through some of the villages and seeing more rural life. Just before entering Slovakia we saw a lot of wind generators. Slovak customs just looked at our passports and quickly passed on to the other 6 or so passengers. By 1PM we got off at Nový Most in the city center and headed down the street to take a look at Bratislava. I had bought Rick Steve’s Eastern Europe travel guide as a resource. Sometimes you can see him on PBS videos trekking through Europe. Travel guides are good to help get you oriented and can give some good advice on restaurants and pensions as well as describing the sites, dealing with money, etc. However, Rick Steve’s guide is practically useless for Bratislava (and some other Eastern Europe cities as I found out—I should have checked it out more thoroughly before buying it at Books-a-Million). Basically, he said Bratislava is not worth visiting and if you go, just spend an afternoon. So we didn’t have a lot of direction except for some of the sites. We got some money exchanged, although one bank wouldn’t take one of our $20 bills because the edge was a bit curled—a currency exchange store just down the street did and the exchange rate was about the same. Bratislava did take me back to the iron curtain era—in spite of a slew of McDonald’s and some other American businesses, the buses and atmosphere still has that communist feel. One store we went into still insisted on showing you everything from behind a counter—you could not look at anything without a clerk handing it to you. We went into a department store which was a bit more open, but still a far cry from a Dillard’s. We decided to go to the Tourist Office and asked about restaurants. We were recommended a couple and decided on one which was a bit on the expensive side (for Bratislava). We tried two different appetizers: a piece of ham with a small slice of cantaloupe in the middle and a good-sized piece of salmon with an olive on it. Mary ordered garlic soup—it was quite strong and also had some meat and bits of bread in it. She said it would be healthy, but I only had two sips. It really wasn’t bad, although I don’t think it would be the highlight of a School of Arts & Sciences “Garlic Soup Cook-Off Gala” (but it might help lower our cholesterol). For the main course we ordered a Slovak farm plate—it was huge with two small, boneless pork chops, 2 pieces of Slovak ham (a bit fatty) and small pieces of dumpling cooked in sauerkraut. There was also a slice of tomato with horseradish on it. Bratislava is much cheaper on some things than Vienna so we may go back. Walked around and saw the Presidential Palace and then discovered a small Jewish museum. We went in and may have been the only people to stop in all week, but it was very interesting even though it was small. I was allowed to take pictures, which is very unusual in museums so I have some good pictures (I hope) for class. I tried talking to the old fellow at the desk—I assume he was Jewish. He seemed delighted to see us, but he couldn’t speak English or German. I had forgotten my Czech dictionary and it has been 35 years or so since I last spoke it—Czech is similar to Slovak so it is possible to communicate. He was born in 1932 and somehow survived the Holocaust. My vocabulary was not good enough to get into all the details, but he had a brother who was a pilot and lived in New York City. The museum opened in 1993 after the fall of communism. Slovaks do not have a good track record in the treatment of its Jews. We then walked up to the Hrad (castle) which is not one of the most attractive in Europe, but is in a great spot overlooking the Danube. Since we had some time before our bus left, stopped in for coffee and tea and some kind of zakousek (torte!). It was getting colder so when the bus came and Austrian customs let us pass on through, it felt good to get back to our apartment. It started to snow just as we left the unterbahn for the 4 block walk to our apartment—it was so beautiful to see the flakes coming down on the narrow streets.

February 11: Grocery shopping and class preparation. At 2PM we met a Turkish student (working on a graduate degree in industrial engineering) for dinner at a Turkish restaurant on Schweglergasse. He knows some German and is trying to improve his English. He also wanted us to have the best Turkish food Vienna has to offer. So we met at the unterbahn station and went in to a clean, brightly-colored little restaurant. The menu was in German, but Mustafa explained the entrees. We ordered Donarkebab because he felt it was the most Turkish (it was only 7.5 euros which is quite cheap in Vienna). Mary toyed with a soup or salad, but he said the main course would be plenty. For drinks we ordered Turkish “Ayran”—had no idea what to expect. He was speaking to the waiter in Turkish so we weren’t sure of all that was happening. The waiter brought out some pita-like flat bread along with a salad plate filled with lettuce, sliced carrot, sliced tomatoes, and two kinds of cabbage to put on our kebabs. Then our kebab plate was brought out—it was huge. There was a tortilla-like flat bread covered with shredded roasted lamb. Also on the plate was a mound of rice and a paprika pepper. He showed us how to assemble it so we dug in—it was not much of a problem because I like lamb. Everything was very tasty. The Aryan drink came in a small glass and was white in color. When we tasted it I asked if it was sour sheep’s milk!—actually it tasted somewhat like buttermilk, except it was a bit sourer and had a bite to it. I can’t say I will regularly order this drink, but Mustafa says it is very healthy for you! When we finished we ordered some Turkish tea, which came in very small clear glasses and was quite hot and strong. We sat and talked for two hours. Before we were going to leave, the waiter said he would give us some Turkish coffee on the house—Mustafa had introduced us as his American friends who wanted to try everything Turkish. Turkish coffee comes in small demitasse cups and is very strong and sweet. They also give you a small glass of water to sip as you are nursing it. The taste is different from other coffees I have tasted—also there are some highly refined dregs at the bottom of the cup which you are not supposed to drink. Anyway we spent about 2 ½ hours at the restaurant. While in our discussions we did not dwell on international policy, I had the distinct impression that these Turks liked America. Certainly Mustafa kept referring to the US as Turkey’s friend and that Turkey did not like Iran and even some other Middle Eastern countries which I won’t mention who are giving the US some diplomatic problems. He and his brothers are trying to get ahead through education. His sisters are married. We will be doing this again.

February 12: Went to church. Following the service the chairs are moved and tables brought out and people can buy coffee, tea, etc. People stay and talk. It is not like the US where as soon as the service is finished everybody heads home or to the restaurant. We had an interesting time visiting with a Nigerian computer scientist. Decided to walk back to our apartment for the exercise. The temperature is a bit warmer. Saw a part of the Inner City we had not explored. On the way through the Hofburg we heard the most beautiful male voice singing opera selections. Usually there are people singing and playing instruments in the tourist areas hoping people will throw some coins in the hat. Normally we go on by, but his voice was so clear and pure that we stopped to listen and even threw some money in his case. We could have listened to him for hours. Mary found out that he was from Slovakia—I assume he was a vocalist trying to make it and was trying to earn a bit of money. We have also caught some of the Olympic coverage on Eurosport. I think this channel is better the ESPN (very few commercials) and also, from what I have seen, I like their Olympic coverage. You see almost all of the competition so even the losers get some media time. Also it is not just one country that gets focused on as in the US.