Vienna. DAYS 1 and 2

DAY 1

Ok

You cant get there from here

And

Life is like a box of chocolates (TY forrest gump)

So no, you cannot buy a train ticket from Tata to Vienna

First you must go to Gyor or Tatabanya

Then you leave your train and go to the INTERNATIONAL ticket office

(which we do not have in Tata)

And buy your ticket there

Never mind that the train to gyor continues on to Vienna after only a five minute stop

And you don’t have time to buy a ticket and get back on the same train

And will have to wait an hour or two

And no you cant buy international tickets on the web

Has to be done in person

(Or I guess thru a travel agency)

So WTH

I am on vacation

don’t have to be anywhere really

Well

I told the guy in Vienna I would arrive around noon

And it is 2 and I am still in gyor

About 90 min from Vienna

But WTH

And the train takes me to Vienna

I arrive at the Suedbahnhof,

Not the Westbahnhof

So have to take streetcar to the Wbhf

I find Mariahilferstrasse

but I don’t find Millergasse

Like it was on the map on the internet

(stupid printer failed me at home, could not bring documents with me

Just my handwritten notes)

And finally ask a couple out for a stroll

Oh I went the wrong way on Mariahilferstrasse

Back he way I came

ok yes, now I am ok

Here is Millergasse

Yes here is Nr. 32

Here is bell for suite #10

B u tttttttttttttt…..

Strange name on door.. Hofer,, Nor Erzmann

And…

No one answers

P U N T go to KFC around the corner on main drag

No wireless

Go to McDonalds across the street

Yes wireless

Send message to guy I’m supposed to be renting room from

I AM HERE WHERE ARE YOU

Cool heels wait go back and ring doorbell

Still no answer

Ok now what

Go to Westbahnhof find info office

Ask Say, any recommendations on an inexpensive place to stay

--Well, there’s this place about 8 blocks away

And I go there

And by golly I get a room for the night

32 euro $43

And it works fine

Very GERMAN tile floor and walls

About 7’ x 12 tile floors and a sink

Power outlet over sink

So I can plug in my CPAP and recharge the PC

I shower, take a brief nap, and then around 7 pm I head out

On foot, waking toward the inner city

Stop at an internet café.. Check stuff..

Not much, keep going

Reach the museum area.. Check out opening time prices .. So on

Keep walking

And now twilight is setting in

And the buildings are starting to glow in the dusk

And gosh they are just magically beautiful

So grand so serene,

And they have bin cleaned up a lot since I last saw them

over 40 years go

What I remember from then was dirt grey grime dark black

And now it is white cream clean golden, whatever it is, it sparkles

LITERALLY

Because not only are they cleaned up, they have had new exterior lighting installed

And now the buildings are not only glowing from the twilight

With the sky deep blue around them

They are glinting from the spotlights

And off in the distance the city hall

Looks like it stepped right out of a disney animation

It is a real Kincaide City

(Or however he spells it)

Not one of his fakeries

This thing just won’t stop

Wedding cake architecture, but far from Stalinist

Late 19th century Hapsburgian

Then suddenly I get really tired

I HAVE to crash

And it is starting to rain

But where is the god dam metro stop

Ah here is the streetcar stop with a map.. Ok yes I see here is the National Theater.. Yes

And then behind it and over two streets.. Ok Herrenstrasse and then the Metro

Ok

But of course the streets change names once you are on them and I get confused

So I finally head toward some traffic.. Ah there is a station

And I buy a 24HR ticket, which I plan to use all the next day

(and actually do, but that is for a later posting)

A N Y W A Y…. I take the metro back to the Westbahnhof

Go into the 5am-12PM grocery store, and buy

a beer and a bar of chocolate, an apple, two bananas

Take them back to my hotel room

(or cubbyhole)

And 20 minutes later I start to feel my legs cramp up from all the walking.

But I am drifting off to sleep.. Thing will just have to work themselves out over night.

………………………………......................................

DAY 2

============

so i get up at 7 and have breakfast. just rolls and marmelade, and coffee with warm milk. it was tasty, and the coffee was good (maybe it was just the warm milk), but it wasnt really enough. So I headed out not too late after 8 am, intending to use well the 24 hour ticket i had bought the previous evening. Off I head to the city center, figuring to emerge from the metro around the Stephansplatz, where I recall the big cathedral was located. Well I do emerge, and there the place is, pretty big building, i would put it a bit larger than the college church, and of course it dwarfs anything around it, and there are people streaming inside, so i figure why not, and almost as soon as i enter the doors the bells start to bong, and these are no chinky little clinkers, let me tell you, these are big boomers, and they keep right on booming and i look at my watch and it is 8: 55, so mass must be starting at 9, and I am puzzled because there is a front section roped off, but it is just ordinary folk up there, families and kids and what have you, not like a VIP section, but i am not going to crash the party without knowing what the party is, so i get a seat kind of close and look at the program, 5th sunday after Easter, routine stuff, and then there are all these flashbulbs going off and i am a bit ticked at the gall of people to be taking photos during the service, but there is this bustling and moving around by people, then there is a cling cling of a small bell and people start to stand up and boy does that organ really fill the place up, huge big full throat of a prelude, sort of french like, not bach or anything, and i can tell he (organists tend to be male) is just vamping it up big and then people are looking back toward the entrance, and no i don´t do things like that i keep looking straight ahead, and in a couple of minutes the procession has reached me, the processional cross, the paschal candle, altar boys, then a whole slew of 8-10 year olds, the boys wearing white shirts and ties, the girls in white dresses with little flower coronets and i say to myself, oh, ok, this is a first communion sunday, and so it was, with all the hymns (except for the last one) being contemporary guitar sing-along stuff, with the words changed to make things rhyme...
glory to god (clap clap)
glory to you (clap clap)
when i am sad (clap clap)
you know what to do .. well, not THAT bad but you get the idea
AAAAAAAANYWAY.......
the nice thing was that i could understand everything
even knew some of the stuff by heart
(including the lyrics of the last hymn, which i remembered from attending church in Germany
back in the 70s)
and could understand every word of the prayers
the sermon
the announcements
what a welcome change from hungary

for a big central cathedral with cardinal and all that this was a remarkably informal friendly service with lots of emphasis on family and kids

well of course it WAS first communion
but even then

little touches i remember..... the cathedral has a conrol booth for video and lighting and sound
very neatly set into an alcove off to the side, up about 18 feet

large monitors show the main altar for those who are seated behind pillars

gothic church, with incongruous baroque altars and paintings scattered around
but hey, their cathedral, they get to choose the furniture

just bread for communion, but at least this is not stick it on your tongue country


well that takes me up to about 11 am. the rest of the day is travel around on metro and streetcar and just soak it in.. off to the other side of the danube where the industrial complex is building sleek new skyscrapers and hotels and conference centers and tech palaces

and thru the residential areas
and as i people watch i see how international this town is
only bout 3-40% speaking german
the rest-- czech, russian, turkish, farsi, who knows what....

in industry city was another church, very modern, i saw several families coming out after mass who seemed to be east indian, i go inside look around, and see that about 30% of the masses scheduled are in English.

I continue my streetcar wanderings, then decide to switch to the metro and take it out to the end station. After a few stops it comes out from the tunnels and runs along an elevated section, which looks like it dates from the late `19th century. Then suddenly we are at a modern station with porthole windows, and i see outside them something that HAS to be HUNDERTWASSER, i mean, nobody else does stuff like this>

But the metro is moving, so i go to the next station, turn around, go back and then go explore. What IS this place ?

Fernwa"rme... Distance Heating.. Some kind of heating plant, which then transfers the heat to buildings/apartment blocks. Hmm. Like the steam tunnels in downtown St. Louis. OK, I understand that.

So it is this combination of whimsical and catchy with serious industrial, i guess. Whatever it is, it is neat. And unmistakably Hundertwasser.

So I continue my stroll. At the Stadtpark I see some beautiful chestnuts in bloom, people just relaxing and enjoying the day.

Eventually i tire out and head back toward the Westbahnhof, this time using the metro. I stop at the McDonalds and check email, and find to my consternation that the guy who was going to rent me a room has responded, but it is too late, i have already booked my room at the pension for 3 nights. So I send a message about later in the week, if that is possible.

Back for a brief nap a the hotel room, then I head out again just to explore, didn't really do that much, went back and looked at the lights and the traffic and the buildings and all, got turned around a couple of times, bought gyro to go, which comes in a box like chinese food, has rice, the gyro meat, onions and lettuce and yoghurt with herbs. Wash it down with a can of beer, I am fine. I am tired. My 24 hr transport card expires at 9:21, it is now 8:50, i make it back to my station at about 9:10, think ... well, i could ride another stop and walk back, no, stupid, i'm tired, i want to go to sleep, and I do. Deeply.