Monday’s Austria Scoop ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #AWriterInVienna #PCers

Hi Everyone!

Yes, I’m horribly late but this is a week that is rare for me. I actually have people here from the US and that makes me excited. Yeah, sure, they’re actually here for a meeting in regards to my husband’s job but along the way, I’ve become good friends to many of them. And for that I’ll be forever thankful.

But to be honest, this past week in Austria has been boring. And I’m not saying that just because there was nothing to do but more in relation to what was going on. This is one of the few weeks where there isn’t a festival of some sort and that’s because school started on Tuesday.

However, the days have been cooler and I’ve slowly got back to where I even wanted to do things. Like long walks. So, on Sunday we finally got to walk through city center and all around the old part of Vienna. This is one of my favorite things to do as the streets are narrow and you’re never quite sure what you might find.

Another thing that we noticed during this long walk was that the leaves from certain trees were falling off. Many were on the ground and we’re wondering just how the trees are going to fare for the winter since they are dropping them way too early. I’m pretty sure it was because of the massive heatwaves we’ve been having for much of July and August. Now, that’s changed but it’s much too late to reverse the damage to the trees.

Leaves at Resselpark

Leaves around the Brahms statue

We also noticed a wonderful display at Resselpark in Karlsplatz. It didn’t take long for my eyes to tear up as I walked through gazing with wide-eyed wonder as I lived a second time something very important. The world has changed greatly since I was born but one of the greatest changes came when I was in my early thirties because the world as I had known it was suddenly gone.

Communism's Fall

Pictures from the Fall of Communism in Europe Exhibit

My husband had direct exposure to some of the events as he ended up stuck in Germany for 6 weeks as they, mean Russia, tried to decide the route it was going to take. And that’s a lot of what the exhibit was about. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the events leading up to the end of Communist Europe. It was a stressful yet exciting time as we negotiated just who was going to end up with nuclear weapons, who was going to rule the now free states and how Europe was going to look afterwards.

Informative Exhibit about the Fall of Communism in Europe

I can say, I think they turned out pretty good. For that I am grateful as I am allowed to cross borders easily and see places it quickly. My husband was in Europe during that time and he definitely likes this place much better than before. We both didn't realize until seeing the pictures just how much had gone on while we were young. It all came to a head when the Berlin Wall came down but had been stewing for many years prior. 

Hope you enjoyed this little look into Austria and beyond. See you all next week!

Lynn 

Monday’s Austria Scoop ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #AWriterInVienna #PCers

Lower Belvedere Garden During a Rain Shower

Hi Everyone!

Hope you’re having a great day today. Yeah, I know, I should have warned you about not being here the last two weeks but the fact is I think I’ll be taking off most Julys and Augusts in the future. This is for a variety of reasons, one of which is the heatwaves that seem to be part of the weather landscape right now. And frankly, it’s not going to change but that’s for another day and another blog.

We have come through two scathing hot weeks that I felt I wasn’t going to survive. We even did a staycation this past weekend only because we couldn’t find somewhere cooler to travel to and rented a car so we could go see the Perseids late last week. It was a nice little Mercedes and I didn’t even ask to drive it once. The DH even commented that I must not be feeling well since I’ve always driven the cars we’ve rented over here. Hey, they’ve been great cars by and large…so why not?

Anyway, he was correct in assessing my well-being as I was not reacting great to the heat and high humidity. It was easier for me to crawl into bed with a good book than it was to sit at the computer to do anything. I was that miserable. I thought it was me just being a whiney butt only to find out many people were feeling the same effects. At least that made me feel not so bad but it did point out my inadequacies as far as getting words on the page.  

The one thing I am sad to note is that Europe is going to have to change its attitudes about summer heat and air conditioning. Most nights when we were out on walks, we’d find people surrounding the many fountains just to get a cool breeze because it was cooler than their homes. Most places in Europe do not have A/C and that includes the new places being built. We were lucky as it was put in after we took the flat. This also includes hotels. So if you’re booking a European vacation, remember to ask about A/C and plan accordingly. The summers are getting hotter here and the very young as well as the very old do not tolerate it well. So things have to change.

My writing habits will start getting better this week now that I’m functioning but I still need to add more. This week’s inspiration came in spades as we went to a place called Grossmugl and did part of their Star Walk. You can find out more about them here and here and even here. It was one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been. However, getting there was a little exciting.

We had rented the car earlier in the day but didn’t leave until just about 11 pm as we wanted to get the best views possible. Vienna actually dims a lot of their lights past that time and we thought maybe the visibility would be great somewhere in the city but no such luck. So we decided to get out of town where there were no lights. Turns out that was the least of our worries. While the directions were clear, the road signs weren’t and we found ourselves going about 5-10 miles out of our way just to find a turn around.

Once we got on the right track again, I noted to the DH that he needed to slow down so I could see the signs. Sure enough, he had to back up in the middle of the road as it was easier than turning around. Finally, we’re on the right road and got to an intersection where I felt we needed to turn left and was supported by the hard copy map. Not good enough, he wanted to see it on GPS. Turns out I do know my directions and off we went.

Since by this time, it was sometime after 1 am, we stealthy went through town as we expected to see some signage indicating the start of the Star Walk. Fie on us for thinking it would be that easy! But at least this time, we found an easy turn around spot. I was looking for stars and when I read the description again, it jumped out that the stars were actually on the ground. Finally, we found the pub where it started and sure enough, there were stars on the asphalt. So we started to follow the stars.

Now, for whatever reason, it hadn’t sunk in that this walk was actually through private farm property for much of it. As we follow the stars to where the pavement ended and the country lane began, we wondered just what we got ourselves into. We’re slinking around houses and found ourselves in a tree tunnel that is very reminiscent of the ones you’d see in a horror flick. Yeah, you know where my mind went as we could hear others somewhere on the walk, lots of rustling in the underbrush and every little distinct noise. It was so eerie in spots that Pup Harry didn’t like it either.

We walk up a small rise and I comment that I wonder where it will end when suddenly we pop out of the tunnel. All we could say was ‘Wow’ as our gaze was pulled to the sky. I have never seen the Milky Way as much as I did that night. It was an experience to remember. We stayed about 20 minutes just standing and watching the sky. We saw about 20 meteors during that time and were very jazzed. The DH didn’t want to sit down as he was really afraid that he’d fall asleep.

When it was time to go, we backtracked through the scary tunnel, past the farm house that suddenly had barking dogs to our car. Vienna had seemed so far away when we were out in the field but once we got into the car and took off, we discovered it was only about 40 minutes from our flat. Needless to say, we slept in the next day as it was around 3 am when we got to our place and had a very lazy Friday.

Sorry that I didn’t take any pictures…I can’t believe I didn’t…the picture is from Lower Belvedere taken during one of the rain showers last year. Hope you enjoyed this little look into Austria and beyond. See you all next week!

Lynn