Auf Wiedersehen Vienna!

Our last day with Marina was Wednesday. She’s a physics teacher with three classes – one at the 12-year-old range, one at the 14-year-old range, and the final at 16 years old. The school where she works is called Gymnasium in the town of Zwettl. For the first two classes, all three of us sat up front and talked about what life was like in America. The 12-year-old group, which had about 20 students, was the most active and talkative. They all understood English pretty well, and were able to answer our questions effectively. The 14-year-old group, about 17 students, wasn’t that enthusiastic, which I thought was a fairly typical teenage response. They didn’t really have any questions for us, so we asked them what they liked to do, the kind of music they liked, if they played video games, etc. They didn’t say much, and I tried to remember what it was like back in junior high. Most of the time we just wanted to sit there, pass notes, and not have to participate.

For the third class, though, Marina put Cai to work. He gave a beginning lecture on quantum physics and the kind of research he does. There were 24 students in that class, and they seemed pretty focused on what Cai was saying. They didn’t ask any questions at the end, though, so Marina and I asked a couple instead. It was fun watching Cai teach, as he did that at WPI for a few years. Marina videotaped the lecture so we might be able to get a copy for anyone interested in learning about quantum physics. J

The school was pretty big in comparison to my single-floor high school, and we got a tour of the library from one of the English language teachers. They had a number of classics, like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby, plenty of Shakespeare of course, and a spattering of Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Twain. And of course, we noticed more religious icons - each classroom had a crucifix hanging on the wall. To be fair, they also had a picture of the Austrian president, Heinz Fischer.

For lunch we decided to hit McDonald’s, as Marina was curious as to how similar the food there was to the American version. Cai and I each got the Big Mac meal, and it really was just like back home. It figures the one burger I actually liked came from a fast food joint! 

Once school was done we drove to Gmünd where there was a nature trail that had all kinds of cool rock formations. We came across a huge picnic table, that was even a bit too big for Cai, and then a tiny picnic table that he could have crushed under his shoes. 

It looked like it might rain, so we decided to go for lunch. Once the clouds dissipated a bit we wandered around the quaint downtown. There was one church we entered that was originally built in the 1200s (that was a popular time period for Austria it seems!). The architecture was stunning, and I felt like we were back in the Middle Ages.

We said good-bye to Marina and caught the train back to Vienna to complete our public transportation cycle. The ride through the Austrian countryside was beautiful, and reminded me of some of the lush green landscapes in New England. We had dinner at the Asia House down the street from our hotel, and then crashed for the night. On Thursday, Cai had an all-day meeting with some of the physicists from the conference, so I was on my own. I went inside St. Stephen’s where there was a film crew shooting what looked like a documentary piece on the church. Then outside in the pedestrian zone I bought a few souvenirs for myself and my family.

After that I went in search of a Jesuit Church that Cai had been to with other people before I arrived. I had bought a decent street map of the city before we left, and the church was only one Metro stop away from Stephensplatz. But coming out of the station, I couldn’t tell which way to walk first. Many of the roads in Vienna veer off in jagged directions, and you can’t always see the street signs at first. So what should’ve been a five-minute walk took me over half an hour. There were also several churches within one block, and I had to check out every one to see if the sign said anything about a Jesuit church. But I finally found it and went inside.

Cai was right – it was one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen. St. Stephen’s was impressive, but it was fairly dark and gloomy. The Jesuit Church was blinding, and had a number of stunning paintings on the ceiling. One was a picture of a dome that I didn’t realize at first was a painting. There was an orchestra practicing in front of the altar, so I sat there for a bit, listened to the music, and admired my surroundings. It was lovely.

Back at the hotel, I met up with Cai and we walked to a kebab place (they were everywhere in Vienna) for dinner. That night I was taking a red-eye flight back home, so I packed up my stuff and we watched shows on my laptop until I had to leave. The funny thing is, I gave myself two hours before my flight and only needed maybe 15 minutes. When I walked into the airport at 10:30 p.m. it was literally empty. I found an information sign that told me what number desk to go to for Aeroflot, and there were just two women sitting at the check-in counter. It was REALLY eerie! I don’t think I’ve ever been to an airport, no matter what time of day, that was as much of a ghost town as this one was. Although I did come across this nice picture of Charlie Hunnam, which was very comforting. :)

I found my gate right away just to make sure I knew where it was, and saw that there was no line for security either. That’s when I discovered there was nothing beyond the gate except a bathroom and a vending machine. Not far from the gate was also this set of booths where people could smoke inside the airport, which I thought looked like an exhibit or something (hey kids, check out a time when people smoked!). 

So I sat in the only open eatery there (the Johann Café) and waited until 20 minutes before my flight took off to go through security. I would guess there were about 30-40 people on the flight, so I got to lie down in my row and sleep for most of the 2 ½ hour flight to Moscow. There I had an eight-hour layover.

But the airport was old news by now, and I was an expert navigator through the International Terminal. There was a long hallway where people were sleeping on blankets and yoga mats, and a few of the closed restaurants had booths outside of them where people had set up camp. I discovered later on there was a hotel attached to the terminal where, for 50 euros, you could book six hours to hang out in a comfortable room. But I was fine catching a few ZZZs in the Burger King, which was one of the few places open where I could eat and charge my phone at the same time. As it got closer to my flight time, I found a spot on the floor next to outlets, plugged in my laptop, and worked on my book for three hours.

I was so engrossed in my book I almost didn’t notice they were announcing the boarding for my flight. I gathered up my things and rushed to the gate, only to be led to a bus on the tarmac to drive to the plane five minutes away. We all stood on the bus and waited for them to do, well, I have no idea what they were doing to the plane. We ended up leaving 20 minutes late whatever it was. And after finding my seat, I slowly realized I was surrounded by high school students. Several of them were wearing sweatshirts that said “Pilibos Class 2016.” I looked up the school when I got home and discovered it’s an Armenian school in Los Angeles.

The kids slept most of the time, but when they first got on the plane it was kind of chaotic, as they tried to sit next to their friends and negotiate deals with other students. Then as we descended, one student thought we were over Arizona and kept talking about things from that state. The other girls around her assured her we were over California, and I was privy to an enlightening half hour conversation of the differences between the two states.

Overall it was your average 12-hour flight, and it took three hours from the time I landed at LAX to go through customs, get my bag, take a shuttle to our car in long-term parking, and make it home. Cai was supposed to come in a couple hours after me, but he missed his connecting flight in Frankfurt and had to stay in Germany for the night. Thankfully the same-time flight came in on Saturday, and I picked him up from the airport with no problems. We’re still not back to our regular late-night sleep schedule, but it might be a good thing to be awake for more daytime hours. All in all, it was a wonderful trip in an amazing country.

The Next Three Days in Vienna

We started with the typical Sunday in a religious town – closed businesses. There was one brunch place we found open called Schӧne Perle, which we went to again on Monday, since that was a religious holiday. After brunch on Sunday, we took public transportation to Kahlenberg, which is one of the highest points in the city. I have to say, the public transportation in Vienna was excellent. You bought one ticket you could use for the Metro, bus or train. And it was on the honor system – you didn’t have to go through a turnstile or anything. It was pretty efficient.

So we made it up the huge hill, only to discover the city was covered in fog. But one of the physicists from Cai’s conference told him about a trail we could take to reach a restaurant literally nestled in the hillside next to a vineyard. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any kind of hiking, and even though this was all downhill, the incline was probably the steepest I’ve ever walked. But we made it to the place called Mayer am Nussberg. We tried a little bit of everything on their menu, including the local wine which was delicious. And at this level, the fog began to clear and we finally got some great views of Vienna.

 

 

After lunch, we climbed down the rest of the way and took the bus and then the Metro back to the hotel. Thankfully we struck up a conversation at the station with the man sitting next to us about a sign in German we couldn’t read. He asked where we were going and when we told him, he said we were waiting for the wrong train! We caught the right train and waved our thank you to him across the track. 

 

That night we went to St. Stephens for pictures, and then met Cai’s friend, Marina, and her father, Klaus. They lived in Massachusetts for a couple years when Cai was in high school, and it had been 15 years since they had seen each other. We ate at an American restaurant called Sparky’s, which was filled with the most kitsch I’ve ever seen in a restaurant! Once again, the cheeseburger I got wasn’t that good, but the fries were fine. After dinner, when we were out walking, we did come across a section of the cobblestone that was fairly faded and had a plaque in front of it. Marina said the bricks were preserved from the 1200s, so we proceeded to "take a walk through history." :) Then we went our separate ways until Monday.

Following brunch the next day, we walked to Au Garten only a few blocks from the restaurant. It was a very pretty park, with a huge old bomb shelter sticking out in the middle of it. 

Then we checked out of the hotel and Marina picked us up to drive to her home in Groβschӧnau. We stopped for ice cream on the way, and I ordered the only thing I could understand on the menu – a banana split. 

We got to Marina’s place within a couple of hours and wandered around the grounds. Her apartment is the renovated part of an old castle, originally built in the 1500s. I felt like we were walking around in a fairy tale, crossing over little stone bridges, passing through heavy metal doors and wrought iron gates, standing in a courtyard abandoned by time, looking down a huge well, looking up at tower walls and windows. I could’ve taken my laptop anywhere, sat down, and not gotten up for hours while writing new stories about each room and piece of landscape we saw. It was incredible, and almost, dare I say, magical. Marina also told us that artists have set up shop in certain rooms in the tower in the past, and we found lots of remnants of newer things among the old.

That night we drank wine and ate the meat and cheese spread we had bought at the market. Marina found a yearbook from 2000 and she and Cai looked through it, bringing them back to high school all over again. It’s so funny – my friends and I have done that countless times, and Cai has had to sit there and listen to us drone on about old stories he wasn’t there for. This was the first time, in our 11-year relationship, that I’ve seen him do this. Marina apologized for me being out of the loop, and I told her I was happy that he was finally able to go through this kind of reminiscing.

On Tuesday, Marina left to pick up her daughters, Mariella, 8, and Annika, 11, while Cai cooked scrambled eggs and schinkenspeck (it’s like soft bacon). The girls spent most of the time in their room - Annika was learning English, so we spoke to her a little about things like favorite color, favorite food, etc. Mariella was a bit shy because she didn’t know much English yet. But we did find out why most people we met spoke English – everyone learns English in school, so it’s pretty common for people to be bilingual when they graduate high school. That night, Cai and Marina cooked a pasta dish with some of the leftover meat and cheese, and we continued with the wine theme from the previous night. She then showed us her heliograph table that she built with weights. 

As a hobby she creates these wonderful spiral pictures, and Cai and I even made our own picture together. He moved one of the legs one way and I moved the second leg a different way and we created this pattern:

It was pretty cool, because you could try to move the legs in the same motion to recreate a pattern, and you’d still get something different. It was a fun experiment in chaos theory. Cai even tried a couple tweaks to the table’s design to see what else they could draw. It was a fun end to the evening.