Austria Sept 15

This morning David gave us a ride to the subway station, on his way to school, and we took the subway to the center of Vienna.

The architecture of Vienna is beautiful, most of the buildings are from the early 1900's, and everything is well maintained. I have done a lot of travelling, and There isn't a country as clean as Austria. When you walk around Vienna there is no garbage or litter anywhere. No graffiti. I think it's part of the Austrian psyche not to litter.

The other nice thing is that most of the important buildings, opera house, concert hall, and museums are all located in the center, and so are easy to reach. Need,ess,y to say every expensive trade name has a store here; nice window shopping.

The weather was partly cloudy and partly cool, and around 20. Very pleasant.

Later in the afternoon we met with one of my aunt's grand-daughter, Claudia, and her husband. Claudia has a striking resemblance to my mother, and is very beautiful. She is a full time artist, and makes puppets, some quite large, for theatre productions. She has just finished making puppets for an adult version of Hansel and Gretel. The nice thing is that everyone speaks English, so Sandy isn't left out. It was a nice afternoon.

Albert was kind enough to pick us up at 5 and we went to a "Heuringer". This translates into "this year's", and refers to the freshly made wine of this season. Vienna is in the middle of the wine district of Austria, and there are vineyards in the outskirts of the city. Wine has been made here since the Roman times. There are dozens of farmers that produce wine. It is a custom that they would signal the arrival of the new crop by hanging pine branches over the front gate of the house, meaning new wine is available. 

The farmer would also provide some meals, and now many have full restaurants. We met Marion and David at a well known Heuringer, at the outskirts of the city. A beautiful old farm house, tables inside and outside, with a vineyard going up the hillside. Lovely setting, and great food. It's the Austrian version of a Munich beergarden, but more civilized; no rowdy crowds, just good food and wine. The portions were large, and I think we have enough leftovers for several meals.

Our visit to Vienna has been fabulous. Albert, Marion, and David are gracious hosts, there house is beautiful, and we had a lot of fun. It couldn't have been better.

Photo 1 the Art Deco entrance to the subway station in the central city

Photo 2 one of the charming buildings we saw

Photo 3 Sonja and I in front of the plague tower. These are in most Austrian towns, to give thanks for the end of the plague

Photo 4 drinks with Claudia and Chrisopher

Photo 5 at the Heuringer