Vienna Waits for You.

My 13 readers have all but left.  My blog is in tatters. For over 2 years I have never missed a day of blogging until now.  I was on a ship and the internet costs were crazy.  Much like the Oscars or the Olympics during the war years, I had to sign off.   But I have now gone back and plugged in what I can. So if you like have a wee gaze back.

Now I am back and more confused than ever.  What am I blogging for? What is this blog about?  If you answer "Myself" and "Me" respectively I guess you would be right, but I say "Ouch.  Truth hurts.

Had a FANTASTIC trip with my friend Ellie through the Mediterranean and over the Alps ending in Vienna before heading home.    I saw so many incredible places.  Travel is more important to me than I previously thought.  It awakens me, I guess.

That having been said, coming back to New York awakens me too.  As if having a trial separation with a city I was married to, I realize I want to renew my vows.   The feeling of being back here is wonderful.  I love the buildings, the taxis, the steam, the bodegas and of course my apartment and my roommate and my step cat and dog.  

To be able to have breakfast in Vienna and go to sleep in New York is to be alive and fortunate. 

Even more so, to have totally enjoyed a trip and also be completely happy to be home is bliss. 

Ash Friday

Our flight from Vienna to New York went via Dublin.  This would not be an issue normally but the airport shut due to Iceland's volcanic ash.  This along with the produce vendors losing their shirts because they were not able to get their wares to Europe, their biggest customer, shows that we all indeed share this planet. ("No, Iceland that is YOUR volcanic ash, we will have nothing to do with it.  Freedom Ash!")

Anyway, it was not looking good to fly out of Ireland, but the airport did reopen the day before.  Being stranded in Europe is NOT the worst thing I could think of, however. 

Two hours were added to the flying time as the plane had to go around the ash. Who ever heard of such a thing?  But who ever heard of a mega-ton metal contraption being able to fly through the air.  Man and nature continue to astound.

We landed safely in New York at 10:30pm having had breakfast that morning in Vienna.  I thought of my secret historical crush, John Adams who tooks months to get to Paris and overshot it by boat and landed in Spain only to have to take a donkey 1000 miles with his young son. It took days.  Drag.

Food - Vienna

Besides museums and palaces Vienna is food. Especially pastry.  I know I may get killed for this but it seems to me Vienna has two savory dishes if you don't get into the goulash debate and those are Tafelspitz which is not as enticing in English as it is "boiled beef." BUT it has all these cool condiments like applesauce with FRESH horseradish and chive cream and this INCREDIBLE pureed spinach which is usually saved for the beginning and end of one's live when teeth are not present, but it HAS to be savored now. I loved it. The best Tafelspitz I had was at HUTH, this wonderful modern restaurant in District 1 was wünderbar.

The other savory dish is of course, Wienderschnitzel.  We ate it at the best place for it, Figlmüller. This place is as fun to eat at as it is to say.  I loved it. And it is served with this wonderful potato salad with lamb's lettuce and pumpkin seed oil.

That having been said, I would not choose pounded veal breaded and fried as my national dish.  I just wouldn't. I would go for a wurst or some incredible pasta thing or healthy fish stew.  This from a guy with a haggis/fish and chips background.

But the pastries...

I have always wanted to write a film titled "Cafe Society" and this would be the place to film it.  They have loads of 200 year old cafes where you can just sit and drink gorgeous coffee and gorge on Sachertorte.  That is life in Vienna and no one thinks less of you with Schlag all over your mouth. 

We ate at Demel, Cafe Scharzenberg (ask for the sublime and funny Andreas), Sacher (You just gotta), Landtmann (effin' schön) and the wonderful cafe in the Kunsthistorische Museum.  Sadly Vienna is not short of Starbucks like every other place on the planet.

Aida is a chain bakery that is lovely and the pink motif works.

Kultur, Wien

 My travelling companion Ellie asked me a really unfair question, "Would you rather live in Venice and Vienna?"  Much like "Would you rather sleep with Betty or Wilma?" -both have so much to recommend them, but I had to say Vienna.  As much as I LOVE Venice, I though Vienna was this incredibly cultured place that was so present-day vibrant and Venice is really a lovely jewel-box.  Plus I would just be an Alps away from the Grand Canal where I would weekend with Gunther and...   Oops sliding into a fantasy world again. 

Vienna looks like a city that has cleaned up since WWII, but can't hide that it was heavily bombed. (Much like I was in the 90's!)  Yet, it possesses charm, elegance and edge.  I loved it all.

Oh and the other answer is Wilma, but really probably Barney.

Venice, Italy

I have been to Venice many times. In fact I could really say I lived here for a while in the 80's. But I have never approached by ship.  Venice never ceases to amaze. It is a magical place like no other in the world.  I know this has been said by others more eloquently, but no matter, it is a place of history, magic, beauty and romance. And tourists and pigeons.

The view as we entered from the ship.  As if Marco Polo were on Holland-America and just finished his breakfast on the Lido deck.

This is how packages are delivered, Venetian-style

Split, Croatia

This wins the total pleasant surprise award for the trip.  LOVED Split and would go back.  Beautiful place and Diocletian's Palace rocks.

Croatian Riviera. Ellie standing and me sitting on a bollard.  No comments please.

Albania!!

Okay raise your hands.  Who among you has had a lifelong obession to go to Albania. Remember that country that you weren't allowed to even look at when you were toting your "Let's Go Europe" book in your backpack along the Adriatic?

Well, here I was fatter, greyer and on a cruise ship docking at this mysterious country.  We were in the town of Sarande.  Sad to say this town had not a lot going for it.  It looked like the whole place was designed by one Eastern block architect in the 1980's.  The WHOLE place done in one tacky Butterick pattern. 

I guess Albania has a lot of catch up to hook the tourist trade, but if it plays its cards right and listens to me, it could be the next Croatia.

The one sort of relic thing in town: (I will translate for you: "Culture Monument".)

Sarande, Albania's version of the Spanish Steps:

The real Spanish Steps across the street in Rome, Italy

Messina, Sicily, Italy

Here I am in Sicily. My first time.  I first of this place not through "Godfather" movies or anything bad, but by a rhyme our Scottish grandmother taught us:

The big foot of Italy 
Kicked wee Sicily
Out into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea

A geography lesson sold as a poem. Good way to get your kids to eat their vegetables.

Noon clocktower show in center of town. The lion comes out and ROARS! The kids loved it, as did I.

This little girl was fascinated by the clock show. I was fascinated by her. But not in a creepy way.

Capri

I first heard of this island when my dad bought a car named after it. Of course we pronounced it "Kah-PREE."  Now I am all snobby and Euro and pronounce it "KAH-pree."

Roma

I was here at Christmas and saw my good pal David.  What good fortune to be able to see him again so soon. And in a city that never disappoints (unless you actually live here and need any plumbing, electrical or governments services)

Corsica, France

At Christmas I was in Paris and went to Napoleon's tomb.  Very grand.  I surely do not have a Napoleon complex (many others, but at 6"3" not this one) but here we were in Corsica, where the wee man was born.  All I need is to go to Elba where he actually died to complete the set.

Towel Animal

I wish I photographed all my towel sea creatures that the ships' cabin stewards create and leave in your room every evening.  A blog in itself!  I travel the world via ship and photograph animals made out of hand towels!  Will someone fund this?

The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Seville, Spain

Bingo!

WE played BINGO today.

In my mind you play BINGO when you are very young at camp with your family or when you are very old on a cruise ship.  Wow, I am no longer at camp with my family...

A Canadian woman in line behind me to buy cards said “Are you from California?”   I was thinking, “Tan? Surfer’s body? How does she know?”  I asked and she said she could tell from my accent!!!  I set her straight that I have no accent.  And this from a oot and aboot Canadian.  I have never been pegged by my accent before. Probably because I never had one before.

Sadly, I did not get to shout out in my strong Californian voice, “BINGO!”

Ole, Oh Lay!

Saw this amazing group at the show tonight. “Ole, Ole.”  The were the cruise ship version of the “Gypsy Kings.”  A Spanish outfit who played flamenco guitar.  It was everything you want in this kind of performance on a cruise ship: vapors-inducing sexiness that you don’t tell your 67 year old spouse about.  The men looked like Fabio with their long hair and lithe, romance novel cover bodies and the woman, well, she stopped and gyrated in Spanish costume enough to have the men in need of respirators or cigarettes or both.  It was entertaining.

Oh my God. Ventriloquist tomorrow.

The Promenade Deck

My favorite place to be on this ship is the promenade deck. This is the see and be seen place aboard, I suppose, but that is not why I like it so much. It is the one deck where you can walk fully around the ship outside. This is where people promenade or exericise. It is also where those gorgeous wooden deck chairs are laid out to bundle up and read or stare out at the ocean.

I think I love it most of all because it feels timeless. There is little I see on this deck that could not have been there 100 years ago. I feel part of big ships, my mother crossing the Atlantic on the old Queen Mary to the United States for the first time and part of the ocean and thus the world.

There is something about walking and taking in the ocean air and smiling at someone that just makes me feel so at peace.

NY SEA!!!

I want this blog to be about New York and life in it, and not about me. (My 13 readers do a “coulda fooled me” spit take.)

And now that I am not in New York, this is getting harder.  My tie-in for today is, when we did the lifeboat drill I got talking to a gentleman behind me.  He and his wife will be on this ship for 3 weeks and then 2 weeks in Europe and then take the Queen Mary 2 back to New York City to stay with their son for 5 days. Where does he live?   

Around the corner from me!

Sailing

Sailing on the Atlantic Ocean heading away from New York and the new world towards old York and the old world.  Won't actually hit the old York, but will be in Portugal in a few days.

Not sure what I will do on this blog for this time.  Not interested in keeping a diary/journal.  Have not taken many photos and they take long to upload at $10,000/minute.

Will think of something. Stay tuned.

Leaving NYC

It isn't quite like this, but Man.  Hat. In. is once again "disembarking" New York to set sail to far off places for the sole purpose of loving New York upon return. 

It won't have quite like the romance of the above photo as it involves Ft. Lauderdale, but it will be a fantastic voyage. Less wood paneling, but also less rocky thanks to stabilizers. (Can one buy those for personal use?)

Stay tuned.  Be well, NYC!