Lunch at Neusiedler See

What a delightful Sunday! After going to Christ Church and reading the gospel and saying hello to people from 10 or 20 years ago, my host and I drove out to Neusiedler See (in Burgenland near the Hungarian border) for lunch. We watched people sailing and swimming while we waited for our lunch. Just as we ordered dessert, the clouds (and lightning) that had been building up let loose and the boats and swimmers made a mad dash to the shore. It didn't look as though it was going to last for any time and we were right. I wish I had a way of transferring my photos to my laptop with me, I think I have some nice pictures of our lunch place. This evening is going to be spent packing for my trip to England tomorrow. From what I can tell the temperature is going to be at least 10°F cooler, which won't bother me at all.

Random Thoughts on Vienna

The picture on the right is of me, my daughter and my hostess. It was taken at the March Felderhof, a restaurant that was a favorite for special occasions. They put the flag of your country on the table and because my SIL is from Colombia, we got two flags. The restaurant is located in the middle of farming country that is known for its asparagus. The annual Asparagus Festival had ended, but last week they were celebrating mushrooms. There's a really good mushroom here called Eierschwammerl that the menu translated as chantrell. My salad had some warm mushroom that had been sauted on it and it was yummy. I've had Eireschwammerl in different ways this week and they are as good as I remembered.

Now that my time in Vienna is drawing to a close, I thought I'd reflect a bit on this lovely place and what it has meant. Yesterday afternoon my hostess and I went to a picnic thrown by her former section at the IAEA. It's been 20 years since I worked there (and in a completely different part of the Agency), so none of the faces were familiar, but the landscape was. I listened to people talk about how compartmentalized everything is and how people defend their turf. Really none of that is any different than when I was there, except perhaps in scale. It's hard for me to tell. I do remember my first year and how shocked I was that you were expected to stay in your own little area and never, ever, try to do something that wasn't immediately your charge. One of the Director General's assistants told me that's just the way things were.

Well after a few years I got a wonderful gift. A woman scientist from Finland came to work in another section (in fact she was the section head). We knew each other from meetings on environmental radioactivity and I was so delighted to have a colleague. During her stay, Chernobyl happened and her section was to collect data from around the world. She called me and asked if I would do it since I was the only person she knew who understood computers. Well if that didn't cause a flap. The men who worked in her section were very upset, because an "outsider" was doing what they thought they should do. When my friend asked if they could do it they said "no", but that wasn't the point. My friend replied "you're just a bunch of babies." I really missed her when she left after just two years. She was getting close to retirement as was her husband, so returning home was necessary. The interesting thing about this story was that Hans Blix, who was the Director General at the time, completely supported our work, so all the carping stopped.

Last Sunday I attended Christ Church, my church home during the time I was here. Of course there is a new chaplain—I was doing my intern year there when he was selected. I heard the news that The Rev.d Canon Jeremy Peake, the chaplain for most of my time in Vienna, had died the week before. Jeremey was so energetic and full of life, that I was quite shocked by the news. I had planned on calling him when I go to the UK next week. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

I did get to say hello to some of the old timers and that was nice. The chaplain asked me to give the blessing at the end of the service. He was going on vacation, so he won't be there tomorrow. The Assistant Chaplain, who will celebrate, was still studying for Holy Orders when I was last here. She's a lovely woman. She came to Vienna from Canada as a dancer, married an Austrian and for years taught dance here. I've been asked to read the gospel and help distribute the elements. That will be a nice way to end my stay.

Vienna, The Albertina

In the 1980s all the Albertina Museum had were wonderful drawings and etchings.  The new museum is really worth visiting.  They were recently given (on loan)  a large collection of impressionists and some modern works (Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Miro, Picasso, Kandinsky, Chagall, et al.) and a room of Paul Klee's work from the Carl Djerassi Collection, so now they have a permanent collection well-worth seeing. The Klees are in Austria, if I remember correctly, as sort of an offer of forgiveness by Djerassi, who was driven out by the Nazis.  Professor Djerassi, a chemist, helped develop the oral contraceptive (thank you!) and, not only has been given many awards, he writes "science-in-fiction" including plays.

My hostess and I viewed the museum today and then we had a delightful lunch in a bar-restaurant attached to the museum.  I really enjoyed the impressionists and post-impressionists, but some of the more modern pieces— well I think I need more education to understand what it is I'm looking at.  One artist seemed to just layer as much paint as possible onto the canvass.  The colors weren't even interesting, just muddy.  Oh well.

When I think of all the times, I've called my little Isabelle a foodie, and realize it's really the pot calling the kettle black.   Nearly everything I'm writing is about on this trip includes my eating and drinking experiences.

Birthday Party

Here's the whole party, with SIL taking the picture.  The sun had just begun to go down.  We ate schnitzel, and roast pork and fried veggies and drank lots of white and red house wine. It was also fun to catch up with people I hadn't seen in ten years. In just a short while after the first picture was taken it started to rain, a few people left, but mostly we went inside and continued.  The rain didn't last long and when we left the air was cooler.  The only down side was I got what I think was a wasp bite on my ankle.  It's a lot better today.

My birthday dinner was at a wonderful heuriger (wine garden) called Fuhrgassl Huber in Neustift am Walde (a district in Vienna).  The vineyards stretched behind the garden up a hillside, the flowers in the garden were everywhere and well taken care of.  My friends who hosted my stay are the two in the middle of the picture.  We spread liptauer, garlic cheese spread and gorgonzola on bread and rolls and drank wine mixed with soda water while waiting for the rest of the guests to show up.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.  You can get the whole scene that way.

Vienna Opera

My daughter and I enjoyed a glass of sekt (bubbly) before the opera. (The wine was my son-in-law's).  This area was filled with people at the intermission.  Monkey goes everywhere with daughter and SIL (who took the picture).  In fact, Monkey has his own Flickr pages and a web site called Casa de Monkey.

In Vienna

I've been here in Vienna for almost a week and finally have wi-fi access for my computer.  It's not that I couldn't go out to an internet cafe, but that I was too lazy to do so.  My hosts had a wireless router, but it wasn't connected and we were much too busy to hook it up.

My daughter and son-in-law and I went to the opera to see the Magic Flute on Saturday evening and it was a real treat.  Even if you can't get a ticket, you can watch the whole thing on a big-screen outside the opera house.  People bring folding chairs and sit outside.  Of course we've been having a lot of rain.  I imagine some of them got drenched.  This whole thing is quite a change from the 80s when I lived here.  They also have the libretto on small screens for each seat.  It's really nice to be able to follow the whole thing in English.  The staging was wonderful and the voices quite good.  The Staatsoper is still a magical place with its incredible chandeliers and opulence.

More to follow

Seventy in Wien

Grandmère Mimi set me reminiscing this morning with her post Lessons Life Taught Me.  It's all about wisdom of growing older and I'm getting ready to celebrate my 70th at the end of June.  Since I celebrated my 50th and 60th in Vienna, I decided a few years back that I would celebrate my 70th there as well.  Many of the people I know are no longer there, but I do have a few friends I want to see and there are new people to meet at the Anglican Church there where I attended when I worked for the UN and where I spent eight months while in seminary as an intern.

 

My daughter and son-in-law are coming so that will be fun.  We will see The Magic Flute at the Opera House and share some meals with friends and show daughter's husband some of the sights. My daughter lived with me there for about a year.  She worked (mainly for free) at the English Theatre.  At the time she was a theatre major and had finished two years of college.  It was a wonderful time of bonding for the two of us.  She also met many people and has kept in touch with some them over the years and some live in the US near enough for her to still get together with then.  

One Mother's Day there she told me to stay in my bedroom.  My daughter was cooking in the kitchen and I assumed a nice breakfast was being prepared.  It turned out that  three  young musician friends of hers from Australia had come over to our apartment to play me a private concert (and eat breakfast.)  The Dvorak string trio they played brought tears to my eyes.  We had other magical moments around music and travel together and I am so grateful for that time together that allowed our mother-daughter relationship to flourish.

After Vienna I'm going to England for my first meeting of the Society of Ordained Scientists and with a Britrail pass go see some cathedral cities before heading home.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special. (From Mimi's post above)