Chapter 129: Viennerschnitzel

nerd blog post #145

Steve and I met smoothly on Monday afternoon. He had been waiting in the Vienna airport for a couple of hours before I rolled in from London. Everything about Monday went seamlessly, which was nice. We took a bus to the train station in Vienna and then a train to St. Pölten, which is a town 60 kms away, and home to Steve´s great Tante Gerthe. Steve has a big family so tracing his family tree would take too long, but I met a lot of his extended family during our five nights in St. P.

Bah. So much has happened I don´t know where to start! Well, Tante Gerthe is a wonderful lady with a lot of wartime stories and even more spunk. Though she never managed to remember my name (but did think I looked Italian), she was one of the loveliest hostesses I have had. Steve and I stayed in our own apartment, right above hers, and enjoyed our mornings with her, eating breakie and looking at old photos and maps and hearing bits of her life. She is an interesting woman. She also took us on a tour of St.P our first evening and, though small, it´s a beautiful town. She knows the whole history, and we saw how most of it had been destroyed during the war.

Throughout our time in St.P, we had a few family members stop by to meet us, the first being TG´s daughter-in-law who insisted we call her sons to hang with them in Vienna. This is what my family calls a forced friendship, and I was worried her sons may have their own lives and not want to give up their day to us. But everything about every Austrian I have met so far is hospitable, and before we called the sons, they called us. And so, on Tuesday, we met Günther and Martin (TG´s grown-up grandsons) in Vienna and they showed us around a very nice section of the city we would have otherwise missed. They also took us on a ferris wheel, which was a lot of fun, and from up there they showed us the best spots to go! So after saying goodbye, Steve and I walked to the centre and saw the beautiful cathedral and parliament buildings, national library, townhall, etc. It´s a really nice city, walkable, clean and the peeps are very friendly.

We went back to Vienna the next day, this time to visit friends of Steve´s parents who live in the suburbs. They welcomed us warmly with apfelstrüdel and cafe and we had a great afternoon visit. They lived in Canada for five years in the late seventies, and it was at a house party of theirs that Steve´s parents first met. Neat. They also have a natural swimming pool-pond that I fell in love with and will build one day (with your help, dad and Ion, thunks). They made some good suggestions about what other places to see in Vienna, and so when we headed back downtown, we went to the Twelve Apostles Keller, which is a wine cellar and is my new fave thing. Weinkellers are these awesome little underground joints that have a great atmosphere, good wine, authentic cuisine, and sometimes live music! We had a great time. I also tried a most delicious drink called Sturm, which is basically grape cider: wine before it´s quite wine but after it´s juice. So it´s very sweet and delicious. Sturm4life.

We headed to Vienna a third time on Thursday, this time with no commitments to meet other people, so really with our own agenda, which was nice. We went to the Modern Art Museum, which was interesting, and then walked to another nice church, and then to a different weinkeller, and then another, and walked and walked... Vienna is a great place.

The next day, TG's son and d-i-l came over and took the four of us to Melk, a little town not too far from St.P that has a famous monastery. It was built in the Baroque era and is covered in gold! It houses the most ornate church I have ever entered and a library that looked too beautiful to be real. We took a German tour (I forgot to say that there was a loooot of German going on in St.P) but TG bought Steve and I an English guidebook, so that helped. Then we went to a restaurant for dindins, and the whoooooole family was there. Four generations of peeps, children running around, babies being passed around the table, and lot´s of delicious food.

Which brings me to an important announcement:

Do not order wiennerschniztel with saurkraut.

I was the laughing stock of the dinner because of this kooky kombination. And I still don´t know why.

We went to the family´s factory after dindins and had a neato tour, and then tea and dessert at a second cousin´s, and then went home. It was a great, though tiring, day!

We travelled to Innsbruck on Satruday, which is where I am now. I had a fabulous time in Vienna, and hope I see those people again. Steve and I are already talking about ending the trip in Austria, though we´ll see how things pan out. It is wonderful having him here. I can´t explain it any better that that.

With love,
Hincks.