March 27: Friends from Longview arrived in the evening at the Erdberg strasse bus station. They had come from Kosice, Slovakia to Bratislava, Slovakia to Vienna. Got them and their luggage on the underground and got to our apartment. Went out to a nice German Gasthaus near our apartment and they had Viennese food—they tried cream of garlic soup and liver dumpling soup.
March 28: I went with them to Schloss Schonbrunn and we toured the apartments which were very interesting, although I think I like the Sissi Museum in the Hofburg better. It was starting to rain. I left them and Mary on the underground to get back to school. They went on to the inner city to see some of the sights. Ambassador Schuelte, the US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was scheduled to speak at 5:30. The room was crowded. The ambassador had worked in the White House and was appointed by Bush to the Vienna post. He spoke on the Iran nuclear situation. They only allowed students to ask questions and he was able to take about 6 questions. I was extremely impressed—his delivery was sharp and crisp—he knew his stuff. Also some of the students were loaded to get him, but he handled very tough questions with ease. A reception followed. One student I talked to wants him to come back and just discuss how he prepared himself to be a diplomat—I think the students, while maybe not agreeing with US policy positions recognized that he was a top-notch diplomat who they needed to learn from.
Afterwards met Mary and our friends and we went to the Volksoper to see “Nicht Nur Mozart”—it was modern ballet. The early performances danced to pieces from modern musical compositions; the last performances were based on some of Mozart’s pieces, but the dance movements were still modern. I prefer the more traditional ballet like “Swan Lake.” Ate a late dinner at a Turkish restaurant.
March 29: Mary saw our friends off by taxi and we trust they got to Bratislava for their return flight to London. It was a very rainy day. Wednesday I am in class basically from noon to 10PM so I am not out much.
March 30:
March 31: Got on the underground and a fellow got on and sat across the aisle from us. I was looking for the right station to get off and somehow Mary must have smiled at him and he said something about the station which I did not hear. He asked where we came from and I said America. He switched to broken English and said he was a Turk. He said Austrians never smile (that is probably why he asked where we came from). He asked me where we were from and thought of cowboys when we said Texas. He went on to tell us that Bush was behind 9/11 because he wanted to get control of oil and have a war. I didn’t argue. While transferring to the tram, got a slice of pizza. I can’t say I enjoy the pizza sold here—Mary’s spinach pizza was good, but I am not fond of goat cheese. Mine was a cheese pizza with egg and pepper. We took the tram to Grinzing which is famous for its heurigers and is full of tourists in the summer. Many heurigers were closed but we walked up to where the Vienna Woods starts and you could see the wine fields on either side. Also there is a beautiful view of the city of Vienna. Went back and headed over to Floridsdorf to go to a church which was having an organ concert of some of Mozart’s work. It was out from the city and was a very simple Catholic Church which was built sometime after the war—it didn’t have a lot of the baroque or gothic statues inside. It was heated which was nice. I saw two nuns in habits—I can’t say I have seen many nuns in habits since leaving Chicago many years ago. And these were the first in Roman Catholic Austria. Also we went by the large mosque near the old Danube.
April 1: It was a beautiful Saturday with a blue sky. After getting some weekend groceries, took the tram to see a church near Alser Strasse—it had been partially destroyed in WWII, but was very impressive. The interior was quite simple. From there we went to UN city by underground. It is a massive complex with apartments for UN agencies. Much of it was closed and also security would have made it impossible for us to get into the buildings. They are all very modern and not attractive. Took the underground back one station and walked along the Danube. It was high and certainly not “blue.” In taking the tram back to the Inner city, we walked through part of the Inner City. Decided to sit and rest at an Eis café where I observed my first obnoxious American tourist—an older, heavy set lady who interrupted a French(?) couple eating by us to comment on their camera lens (which was sitting on their table). Near the Eis café was an Easter market with booths set up on a square. Among the stalls was one with hundreds of painted Easter eggs—they are so beautiful, but would be very difficult to take back. We also saw a Catholic youth rally in the square—they were singing songs very similar to some of those sung in churches back home by youth. Some were even in English. Took the tram home and planned to go to a Chinese restaurant, but when we got there it was closed. So we made a decision to head back to the inner city to find a Russian restaurant we saw some weeks ago. We found out and tried borscht, a Georgian soup which was very spicy and contained some meat and rice (along with loads of garlic); beef stroganoff; and pelmeni (little meat filled dumplings). It was all good. On the way back got some Italian ice cream.
April 2: Met a young Serb today who said Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright are not liked in Serbia because of the bombing in the 1990s, but that Serbs generally like Bush (somewhat unusual). He said some Serbs believe Albright advocated bombing Belgrade because as a young lady living in Belgrade Milosovic had “dumped” her! Ate at a Kurkonditorei for a late lunch—I can’t figure out the name because it means a “Cure Café”—there are a number in Vienna. Had a very good meal.
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