From a five-star loft, neatly tucked under a comforter in a
heated room, I write this exhausted and exhaustive blog detailing the affairs of my multi-time-zoned day.
After a nice morning with Turkish Airlines (voted Europe’s
favorite airline a few years running, for good reason – a three-course meal and
over 300 movie options on-board a 2-hour flight? I wish they’d bus my ORD-LGA
route…), I arrived in the magical land of the Ostereich to visit the city of
Wien. Angelika picked me up and we bussed back to the middle of the city and
ended up on a spontaneous walking tour. I champed through major sites and
streets with all of my luggage in tow, looking so like the touristy tourist
that I am.
Vienna is this magical place where every building is
prettier than the last. Laid out in circular districted sections like Paris, the
city is known for being clean, beautiful and filled with delectable desserts -
I can’t think of any better combination.
My friend Sydney and I have the privilege of staying in my
aunt’s partner’s friend’s daughter’s former apartment which is now used as a
family guesthouse or rental unit. The place is an urban wanderer’s dream come
true, and our host Christine put cookies in the kitchen. As aforementioned,
desserts, even the packaged cookies, are certifiably awesome here.
Already in one afternoon, Wien is weird, too. There was the
moment I entered a peaceful and majestic plaza, to be told that’s where Austrians
had welcomed Hitler to take over the nation 65 years ago. On the flipside, I
spent an hour at Sabbath services in a famous domed synagogue with a quartet
complementing a traditional cantor and a rabbi’s sermon entirely in German. I’m
always up to explore a new Jewish community – and in this case, it required a
passport and interrogation from a Mossad-like security guard just to enter.
Tension and spirituality equally course through Stadttempel.
After, Angelika and I snapped some photos outside Hotel
Stefanie in the second district, on our way to a traditional dinner with
Christine, her daughter, her boyfriend, and Sydney. Quite the motley crew, we
were all chatty and energetic. After two bottles of wine, avocado-sunflower
oil-potato salad, two whole fish (teeth included), mint-cheesy perogies, a
schnitzel and a tapfel, we rallied for three shared desserts.
By the end of the
meal, we were exhausted, so full and didn’t want to talk anymore at all maybe
ever again. We took the U-Bahn home, which seems to not require tickets and is
the world’s fanciest subway for a major city. If I were homeless, I’d live on
the U4. We exited at Kettenbruckengasse, our home for the weekend.
Sydney and I are now watching a documentary on Columbian
roofie drugs and combining our knowledge of English, German and Spanish to
understand it. This show follows an Austrian comedy variety show that might
have been funny if we were from here.
Tomorrow, we’re going to look at palaces and desserts and
take many, many pictures of both.
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