Vienna, Bitte

"If you start to take Vienna- take Vienna." -Napoleon Bonaparte

Vienna was... music, bike rides, laughter, Klimpt, cake, beer, mystery, goose-chases, Spiderman.

Raindrops On Roses...

In honor of Austria´s musical claim-to-fame, "The Sound of Music," I will give you a few of my favorite things about Vienna...

1. Seeing a Vermeer at the Art-Historical Museum. There is just something about his paintings that grab my attention with such wonder.

2. Aida Cafes... Cute chain in Vienna that started in the 50s, thus its interior features lots of baby pink color and retro-diner furniture. Plus they have real good torte.

3. Riding bikes for 1 Euro around the city... Did that yesterday and had a ball.

4. Falafel stands by the bus/tram stops... Mmm. Yogurt, onion, falafel. And only 2.90 Euro. Can´t beat that when one is on a budget.

5. Old German movies. I saw one the other day at this run down little theatre. It was so old fashioned-- the plot involved a dashing opera singer who switches identities with a wise-cracking sidekick character, and falls in love with a "modern" gal in the process.

Taking the night train to Berlin tonight... That is sure to be an experience.

Vienna, the City of Paradoxes

Vienna has been odd.
Last night I went to McDonalds for dinner, and today I had a coffee at Starbucks. I guess our whole group, after hitting the one month mark of our trip, has been craving a little taste of the US, a little taste of home... So home tastes like Chicken McNuggets, I suppose.
But Austria is delightful, minus the global chains that feature golden arches and green mermaids. Tonight I will be going to the symphony for the second time this week. It is what I like to call a spiritual experience. It is a taste of how beautiful heaven will be. The wonderful paradox of the symphony is that it is both a communal and personal experience.
We paid for the standing room, 6 Euros, so I was in the very back with a perfect view of my fellow standers. Each person was listening so intently to the Wagner and the Strauss pieces, as if they were being told the greatest of all secrets. I felt so connected to my fellow human beings because we were all there for this one beautiful purpose: Just to listen.
Still, I could close my eyes, and the people around me would all disappear... It was only me and the music. And my mind was free to conjur up any images I liked-- from sing-songy birds and spring brought on by fluttering flutes, to an epic battle between good and evil, as drums and symbols thundered and clashed away.
Reader, I will leave you with a little food for thought: "We must listen to Beethoven or we will destroy ourselves." Leonard Bernstein said this, and it does not have to be Beethoven specifically (Tonight, for me, its Mozart). It is any music that transcends the ordinary and points to beauty and to eternity... Chew on that.