ecbinvienna

No matter how crowded it may be on Mariahilfer Straße, there were still lots of people making the most of this unseasonably warm weather in the Vienna Woods. You can see why, I think.

My birthday present from dear friends and more or less everything a song recital should be–a coherent program, with encores that complemented it beautifully, excellent teamwork between (the very handsome and accomplished) singer and (less handsome but even more accomplished) pianist, an eager audience, and some drama, too. Rounded off by dinner at the Café Imperial, it was a simply wonderful evening.

https://konzerthaus.at/m/programm/000000e9-000cd39d

BTW I love the fact that a Viennese audience recognizes and appreciates the artistry of the accompanist–granted, one of their own in spite of his last name (Deutsch)–as much as the more obvious artistry of the singer.

I finally made it to the new Mariahilfer Straße with pedestrian zone. The implementation process was the worst kind of political mess, but it looks as if the fuss was worth it.

A holiday in Austria and slightly brighter weather than the last week or two. (It’s all relative!) What better way to spend it than on a walk in the Vienna Woods–and afterwards the new Woody Allen film at one of Vienna’s several cinemas that show films in the original language?

It’s a perfect November Sunday in Vienna–gentle blue sky, temperatures just above freezing, but “es zieht” (there’s a draft). It was only a year or two ago that I learned the difference between “it’s windy” and “es zieht”. If you say it’s windy, that implies that you can see the effects of the wind. Tree branches are tossed, paper is blown about, and so on. When “es zieht” you feel the wind (and, boy, does it go right through you), but you don’t see it. Before I came to Vienna, I had never heard of having a draft outdoors, but now I know one when I see–sorry, feel–one.

Dunkin’ Donuts has finally made it to Vienna. Yesterday they opened a store on Mariahilfer Straße. Apparently, there was already a line when they opened at 7 a.m, and at its peak the waiting time was two hours!

The other bit of news that caught my eye was that 6% of Viennese apartments still have their WCs outside on the shared hall. It’s not so bad when you’re young and healthy. My first year in Vienna I lived in such a flat. It’s not so great as one’s bladder capacity starts to fail or when one has stomach flu. (Ick!)

(I hope everyone realizes that these are two *unrelated* news items!)

I *thought* everything was late this year. Last year I posted a photo of these trees with more gold and fewer leaves on October 12th!

It was amazing how many people were out and about at seven o’clock this morning. The last few weeks my morning walks with Mylo were fairly solitary, and dark, and chilly, for that matter. Yesterday we set the clocks back, and suddenly everyone has come alive again. The Viennese, especially the ones in my generation, tend to be pretty early risers. Now they are back in form.