Wednesday in Vienna

 

Both Kathy and I really love a hearty hotel breakfast in Europe. We weren't disappointed at Pension Nossek. There was orange juice, cappuccino, great bread, meat, cheese, butter, jam, and fried eggs. The bread never disappoints, but I am always disappointed when I can't find something similar at home.

On our first full day, Kathy ordered scrambled eggs. After I had my rolls and meat, I went back to the room to use the facilities.  I didn't realize that she'd ordered some for me as well, so Kathy sat at breakfast for a half-hour, wondering why I didn't come back, while I waited around the room, wondering what was taking her so long. 

Fortunately, we had our phones and she finally texted me and asked where I was. When I got back to the breakfast room, the eggs were a little cold, but still fine. I may have had another roll and some yogurt as long as I was already there.

I liked these stained-class windows in our hotel...

... as well as the, unfortunately non-working, drinking fountain. 

In Austria and Germany, Art Nouveau was called Jugendstil, or "Youth Style". Graben Street has several fine architectural examples, including touches at our hotel.

As we set off after breakfast, our first stop was the last remaining Art Nouveau underground WC, located just under our window.

Kathy went into the Dammen and took a few pictures...

while I visited the Herren, where they had an exhibit of the patent for the first waterless urinal. 

Right around the corner from our hotel is the baroque St. Peter's, whose dome we can see from our hotel window, over the top of the Hermes store.

Before I get to St. Peter's, let me say a few words about the pagan gods worshiped in Vienna, of whom Hermes and Yves St. Laurent are especially revered. Their acolytes line up on the street before dawn, hoping to be admitted once the doors our open for "shopping". Only a few are admitted at any one time, and the lines go on throughout the day. I never discovered the reason, and certainly never saw anything like this at home, where their followers are no less devout.

The interior of St. Peters is Baroque. According to Wikipedia,  Baroque was an artistic style encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art, and music. 

The church is named after St. Peter, and there is a fresco of the Biblical story of Peter attempting to walk on the water, on the ceiling as you enter.

There is a lot of gold and a lot of emotion. Rick Steves (a Protestant), says that Baroque was the emotional response to the cold logic of the Renaissance. 

Here is some of that emotion ...

... and here is some more of that gold...

... and just little bit more. It seems to me that St. Peter always gets the biggest and most impressive churches (just consider St. Peters in the Vatican). So, I was pleasantly surprised to see that in Vienna, St. Stephen is number one. They even gave St. Stephen his own subway stop, so there.

Of course, the downside is that you have to pay to go inside the Gothic St. Stephens, while the Baroque St. Peter's is free. Kathy and I paid the 6E each and tried to listen to the audio narration from my Rick Steves' Pocket Guide to Vienna, using my phone and sharing a single pair of earbuds, which was a disaster. Each time one of us would turn to look at a relic, it would tear the bud from the ear of the other.

Behind the altar is a painting commemorating the stoning of St. Stephen, as related in the Book of Acts. Here's what Rick Steves had to say about it in the guidebook. "Stephen, having refused to stop professing his faith, is pelted with rocks by angry pagans." I guess it wouldn't do to have a guidebook to Austria that said he was being pelted with rocks by angry Jews. 

That led to Kathy and I stopping and having a conversation about exactly who instigated Stephen's martyrdom. After that, it was kind of hard to pick up the thread again from the guidebook, which was a little hard to follow. We looked for Mozart's baptismal fount, and found the tomb of Frederick III instead.

On the back wall was portrait of Pope John Paul the II I think.

On one side was an impressive carved wooden screen ...

... while on the floor, there were some interesting Hapsburg and Crusader motifs. It was nice having the guidebook to explain what everything meant, but, to tell you the truth, it was just as rewarding to me just to enjoy the artwork in St. Peter's, even without the backstory.

Since we had a few hours until lunch, we got on the Ringstrasse tram which circles the city center, and got off at the Hofburg palace. Both of us had to use the restroom, we couldn't find a public WC on Google Maps, so we walked into the library where they were having a large academic conference. I was a little nervous, since everyone was in suits and ties, and we really couldn't blend in. Nevertheless, we convinced ourselves in our minds that we were inconspicuous, found the restroom, and didn't get arrested or ejected.

The Hofburg Palace is, of course, no longer the home of the Emperor, but has been repurposed as government buildings and museums. The architecture and statuary is impressive. I assume that this is Cane and Able. The traffic sign even adds meaning.

Kathy wanted to stop by the Spanish Riding School. We watched a video, and considered going to a training session on Thursday, but decided against it. Outside, on the way to lunch, we found this statue which reminded Kathy of me. (I assumed that she meant the one in the upper-left with the cool beard, but, when asked, she was non-committal.)

Because we had such a big breakfast, it was hard to eat lunch at eleven or twelve. After traipsing around Vienna all morning, we were surprised to see that it was almost three and we were both hungry. We found a table at Reinthaler's Beisl, just around the corner from our hotel. I had the spätzle (a German mac'n'cheese), while Kathy had a spinach dumpling with salad. Neither of us were very impressed.

One thing that Kathy and I really enjoy is having a meal with our Calvary Chapel missionaries. Brian and Djudji Herrington have been in Viienna for years. Brian is an American, but Djudji was raised in Vienna. In addition to working at the Calvary Chapel in Vienna, they both teach in an American school on the outskirts of town. Last July, when they were visiting in the States, we got to take them out to the Golden Olive in Huntington Beach, one of our favorite restaurants.

Before we left for Vienna, we contacted them and arranged to meet them again. Since school had just started, we found that two of their children were sick, so one parent would have to stay home. Djuji volunteered to take the two youngest girls, Esther and Shoshanna, into town so we could get together for dinner.

Both the two girls and I had Wienershnitzel, and it was excellent. (As was the "potato salad"; delicious). Kathy had chicken livers; she was not impressed.

After dinner, we got some gelato and walked back to St. Stephen's, impressively lit up, where Djuji and the girls caught the U-Bahn for home. Tomorrow, we're going bike riding, and visiting Ivetka Higgins in Slovakia. 

First Stop Vienna

 

A little more than 20 years ago, Kathy and I made our first trip to Europe. On that trip, I kept a written journal, which I just found and re-read last week. On September 12th, 2007, we arrived at LAX only to be given a flyer on check-in reminding us that our carry-on luggage had to weigh less than 18 pounds, or it would be taken away from us at the gate, and we'd be charged $133 excess baggage for each piece. Since the entire price of our flight was only $235, I freaked out. In addition to our two 28-pound carry-ons, Kathy had also brought a tote filled with books for the students at the Calvary Chapel Bible school in Siegen Germany.

When we got the flyer, Kathy calmly distributed all of the books to our two carry-ons, and then carried our now 35-pound bags to the front of the line where she asked "can we carry these on"? The clerk weighed them, did a double-take at the weight, shook her head, and said "sure". I started to tell her, "but the flyer you gave us said...", caught Kathy's eye out of the corner of my own, and shut up.

You would think I'd have learned my lesson. But no!

On Monday, our son Judah drove us to LAX. The airline said to be there three hours early, so I though that we'd best be careful and get there four hours early, just in case. This time, the airline sent us an email, saying that our single carry-on had to weigh under 8KG or 18.6 pounds. Once again, I fretted all the way to the gate, while Kathy was still calm and serene (although perhaps I detected a bit of irritation at arriving at the airport four hours early).

TSA security was perfunctory We had to remove our shoes and belts, etc., but the lines moved fast. When we got the scanner, they pulled Kathy and I aside, along with three or four other people. I'd heard about SSSS, and I was sure that we were selected for this enhanced security screening. I almost turned to Kathy to say "See, aren't you glad we got to the airport four-hours early?" Instead, the TSA agent just passed us through and said, "We don't need to scan you." Once again, Kathy was right and I was wrong. 

Since we were there so early, we had time for a nice lunch at PF Chang's. We hadn't eaten there for several years, but it was just as I remembered; like Panda Express, but four times more expensive. After lunch we walked down to our gate (still a half hour before boarding). The boarding was very orderly, with each boarding group lined up separately, rather than the more typical stampede to the gate whenever a boarding group was called.

We were the first in line for our group, and when we were called forward there was another surprise. We both had our phones out, with our boarding passes, but, instead of showing a boarding pass, each passenger was asked to stand in front of a camera, had their picture taken, and was let onto the plane. Perhaps the airline is using facial recognition to identify the passengers from when they had their passports scanned before going through security.  I find that scary; like talking in your living room about taking a vacation, and having every Website you visit the next day show ads for travel agencies. It makes me think that Phillip K. Dick's Minority Report was prescient.

Austrian Airlines' current slogan is "the charming way to fly", and I have to say it really was different from other airlines I've flown on. It's true that we do pay a little more to fly "premium economy", mainly because at six-five, I need to have at least an inch between my knees and the seat in front of me. In regular economy that gap is measured in negative numbers. 

On Austrian, in addition to the extra leg-room, the service was outstanding. Before we took off, the flight attendant went around to each passenger and personally welcomed us on board. There were printed menus for the meal service (something I remember from the Cunard line, when I was ten years old.)

The meal itself was very good (cheese tortellini). Before dinner, the stewards covered each of our trays with a white linen table cloth. Along with linen napkins and real silverware, instead of plastic knives and forks, it felt like a real meal. They even fed us again (breakfast) right before we landed. (A few of you have asked that I take a picture of each meal, but I forgot breakfast.)

Despite the great service, though, flying is still brutal. I got a little sleep, but Kathy never slept at all. (I did see a really good movie: "Jerry and Marge Go Large", staring Brian Cranston and Annette Benning. I highly recommend it.) 

We landed right on time at 11:30am (2:30 am on California time). The trip through passport control was quick and painless. In fact, it was so fast and painless that we were too early to get onto the train into the city center. I bought a 72-hour transit pass from WienMobil, and pre-authorized the start time for 1pm, figuring it would take us that long to get though customs and passport control, and so the pass would still be valid when we needed to get back to the airport on Friday for our flight to Croatia.

Perhaps I'm a bit too cautious, but rather than taking a chance on getting fined for having an invalid ticket, I went and bought a second, one-trip ticket from the machine. (Just tap your credit card; it works like a dream.) In the airport, there were a lot of signs directing visitors to buy a ticket on the 16E per-person, non-stop CAT or City Airport Train. Our Rick Steves guidebook told us we could ignore the signs and just get a ticket for the S-Bahn train, which takes 10 minutes longer, but cost us 7E total for the both of us. (We got a senior-citizen discount).

Once at the train station, we had to switch to the U-Bahn (subway) which was painless. The subway let us out at the Herrengasse station. After a few false-starts with Google Maps, we found our way over to Kohlmarkt, a street lined with shops selling Prada, Fendi, Gucci, and jewelry. Walking past them and looking in the windows, I wondered why the rich don't order their Rolecks from Amazon like all of the rest of us.

Around the corner, we came to Graben, (which means ditch), where our we found our hotel right in front of an outsized sculpture of a pair jaws with teeth. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more lively, and find out the story behind the sculpture.

I always like staying at "characteristic" European hotels. The Boutique Hotel Nossek is right on Graben. Apparently they are trying to "upscale" their image on Booking.com, since the original name was Pension Nossek, and it's still called that on the WienMobil app, and, on the front of the building.

Nevertheless the hotel/pension is just what I like: a small working elevator, since the rooms are on the upper floors and I'm 73, high-ceilinged rooms, air conditioning, an updated bathroom, and a great view out of our window over Graben itself.

When we got to our room, there was nothing we wanted to do more than to fall right into bed. However, we realized that we needed to stay awake as long as possible, so we didn't wake up tomorrow at 3am. (Well, that didn't work. I just couldn't finish this last night, and, as you've guessed, it's now 3am.)

We decided to break out our guidebook and take the Rick Steves Vienna City Walk. Since it started at the Opera, we picked it up on step 11 at Graben, right outside of our hotel. As I mentioned, Graben means "ditch" and is the site of the moat from the original Roman military camp. During the 19th century, at the height of the Habpsburg Empire, over 200,000 people lived here inside the city walls. Today, there are 20,000 (plus the 300,000 tourists).  

Until the 1970s, Graben was a busy, 3-lane street, but, after the construction of the subway, it was turned into one of Europe's first pedestrian-only zones. (I did mention the 3,000,000 tourists, didn't I? I can't imagine the area with cars, but at least the horse-drawn carriages survived.)

Down the street, we found the Holy Trinity plaque column. In 1679 Vienna was hit with the bubonic plague, and about one-third of the city died. (That makes Covid look like nothing.) Emperor Leopold I vowed to erect this monument if God would spare the rest of the city. This became a model for cities through the empire that were struck with plague.

A few blocks further down the street is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Like other massive gothic cathedrals in European city centers, it's hard to get far enough away to get a good picture.

To make it easier to get a picture, in 1990, architect Hans Hollein constructed the Haas Haus across the street, with a glass curved façade, designed to echo the Roman fortress of Vindobona whose ruins were found nearby. The glass reflection allows you to take a picture of all of St. Stephens, but you have to do it at sunset. 

When we reached the Opera, I have to admit that I was disappointed. There are so many imposing, monumental buildings in Vienna, that I expected the Opera to be more impressive. We actually walked almost all the way around it looking for the front.

By this time, we really were knackered, and so we decided to leave off on the Rick Steves Vienna City Walk and instead take the Rick Steves Ringstrasse Tram tour, so we could sit down. Rick is one of the world's most popular travel writers, and, unfortunately for us, the other 3,000,000,000 tourists in Vienna all had the same idea. Rick starts the tour by saying "try to get a comfortable seat on the right-hand side". We were lucky to get standing-room only at the front of the car. 

We rode for one stop and got off. Not so restful. We crossed the street and picked up the tram going the opposite direction. Surprise, the trams on the non-Rick-Steves-tour really are uncrowded and charming. By now it was 5:00 pm and we were both hungry. I hadn't made reservations for dinner, so I pulled up Google Maps and went looking for something to eat.

We ended up at SchnitzelWirt on Neubaugasse with more than 15 different schnitzel dishes. (I've always loved Wiener schnitzel, since I first had it when I was 10; at least once I got over my initial disappointment that it wasn't like the Wienerschnitzel I was used to at home.)  The restaurant was rated 4.5 with over 7,000 reviews, so I was really looking forward to it.

The restaurant was outside the old-city ring road, and we really felt like we were leaving the tourists behind and entering a real neighborhood where the average Viennese citizen lived. There was also a lot more graffiti, unlike downtown. Kathy ordered the vegetarian plate, while I had the turkey Cordon Bleu.

The Austrian "mixed salad" was delicious, (I forgot to take the picture before we started eating), but the schnitzel itself wasn't as good as I remembered. Perhaps that was just because we were so tired. The portions were huge and I took half of my schnitzel back to the hotel and put it in the refrigerator. I'll give it another chance after breakfast.

Walking back to the hotel, we stopped for some gelato (now about 1.50E a scoop, and as delicious as I remember). Along the walk we couldn't help but comment on all of the flower shops, here in the urban center. 

When we got back to our hotel, we tried to stay up until 8:00 pm, but fell into bed at 7:30. I woke up at 3am and finished this entry. It's now 6am and Kathy's still sleeping, thank the Lord. I might lay back down for an hour or two.

It's Back to Europe this Fall

 I'm supposed to be sitting at my desk, writing lessons and exercises to teach students how to program in C++. Instead, I'm dreaming about Europe, spending hours looking at restaurant menus, Googling for excursions, and reading travel blogs.

Here are the countries we plan to visit in Fall '23. I'm taking time off from school, and we'll have almost a month: from September 18th to October 16th.

Days 8-9: I’m pretty tired now. Think I’ll go home.

Our last day in Moab dawned overcast and windy. It looked like it was going to snow. We packed up the car and stopped at the Jailhouse Cafe for breakfast.

This cafe was build in the old county jail, (or so it says on the back of the menu), and features really great, thick bacon. Of the four places we ate in Moab, only one was disappointing (the Moab Diner).

Our plan for today was to drive to Monument Valley, in Arizona, drive through the valley, and sleep in Kayenta, Arizona, where Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn was stationed. As soon as we left Moab, the weather got worse. It was snowing at times, and really windy. But, it was warm in our car, and the blowing snow outside lent atmosphere to the audio book we were listening to, Dead Bones, a book about the Donner party starving to death in the snow.

When we got near Monument Valley, we noticed several cars pulled over to the side of the road, with the passengers standing right in the middle of the highway taking videos. To avoid running them over, we pulled off into a turnout, with a sign that said Forest Gump Hill.

We watched as a Japanese couple took turns taking videos and pictures running down the center line of the road. Several other cars also stopped and did the same thing. Finally, Kathy and I figured, “Why not?”, and took our own picture. We’re still trying to figure out what that was all about.

When we actually got to Monument Valley we were disappointed. It was so windy that the dust made the landscape look like one of those sand storms in The Mummy. (Full disclosure: I didn’t want to get out of the car to take a picture, so I just Googled “Arizona Dust Storm”, and used this picture from Forbes.)

We checked our weather app and it showed the wind would die down in the morning, so we decided to press on to Kayenta, and to come back in the morning. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Kayenta and ate dinner in the restaurant (Navajo tacos for Kathy and a sheepherder’s sandwich on fry bread for me. It was pretty good, but I forgot the pictures.)

One thing I’ve noticed is that the Wi-fi in the more upscale hotels we visited (Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn) is always unsecured, which makes me nervous. The mom-and-pop motels seemed to have a better setup.

In the morning, we got up early (breakfast at 6:00 am) planning to visit the park and then swing back afterwards, shower, and check out at 11:00 am. Kathy must have had a premonition, though, because she insisted we pack up the car when we left, in the event we wanted to spend more time in the park.

As it turns out, she was right (as usual). We got on the highway to go back to the park, which is about 20 miles from Kayenta. After about 45 minutes, we hadn’t yet reached the park and hadn’t seen any road signs for Monument Valley. We pulled over. I couldn’t get any service on my phone, but Kathy’s connected, and showed that we had taken the wrong road, and were on our way to Colorado.

We retraced out steps back to Kayenta, turned onto the right road (163 instead of 160), and got to the park around 9:00 AM. The park is run by the Navajo Nation, not the state or National parks service. Our guidebook said that tickets were $20 per car, but since the pandemic they have started charging $8 per person, which saved us four dollars.

You are allowed to drive the 17-mile Valley Drive on an occasionally rough dirt-and-gravel road in your own car. You cannot get out and hike, and RVs and motorcycles are not permitted. If you want to go off the main road, you have to hire a guide, of which there are many.

There are plenty of pull offs along the way, where you can get out and snap a picture or two. At John Ford point, there is a trailer with food. We lined up with several others for fresh Navajo fry bread with sugar and cinnamon, while we sat in some chairs and looked out over the valley.

The Valley Drive goes right down among the mesas and buttes. This is Rain God Mesa.

Near the end of the drive, there is a high overlook at Code Talkers Point, where you can look north over the valley.

We didn’t finish the drive until nearly noon. Since we still had our hotel keys in our pockets, Kathy called the hotel to let them know we’d drop the keys off when we came back through town.

Rather than driving straight home, we decided to stop half-way at Lake Havasu City. Driving through the afternoon, we finished our audio book and started a new Jack Reacher story. (Since I check these out from the library, the only ones that are ever available are the less popular titles).

We reached Lake Havasu around 6:30 pm and checked into the London Bridge Holiday Inn. We were both knackered, but we pulled together our last reservoirs and walked across the bridge and snapped a few pictures.

It’s Spring Break here and so every hotel room in town is full. In hindsight, perhaps we should have stayed in Siegelman, where we stopped at the Road Kill Cafe for dinner, instead. 

Walking back over the bridge, we got a picture of one last sunset. Today, we’ll be back home!