Twice in one year, but they have been flirting with us. After my near rapturous post on May 26, the scent faded again. Then it would appear and disappear. Just Monday, a friend commented that it was a wonderful year for roses, and I said, rather sadly, “But not for the linden trees.”
This morning I was taking my usual walk in the park and was overwhelmed with the scent. They’re back in full force, and I am basking in the fragrance.
A little later this year than last, which I think is a good thing. I caught a faint whiff this morning and by this evening they were as noticeable as ever. Ah, May!
After a few days in Baden with a friend, I got back to Vienna Friday evening. A good bit of Saturday was taken up with the usual household tasks, but yesterday evening I went to hear a bluegrass group I’ve known (about) for a long time at a wine bar in Grinzing. Yes, you read that correctly — bluegrass in Grinzing. A friend of mine from West Virginia and I go whenever we can and always leave feeling restored. The band itself has four regular members: one Austrian, one Slovak, one Czech, and, now, one Dutch. Constructive globalization in action. 🙂
As for today, this is the last day the ice-skating rink in front of the Rathaus is open. (Actually it offers two levels — so probably one of the few places you can skate uphill and then down again — and paths through the park so “rinks,” plural, seems more appropriate.) Given that not only the forsythia is out but also the flowering trees, it is probably a good thing that today is that last day.
I hadn’t been yet this season so I went down at 10 a.m. just as they were opening and stayed for about an hour. After that, it got so full(!) it wasn’t as much fun anymore. The photos I took show the general flowering of everything as well as the statues that have been accommodated. Now I feel I need to go down once the rinks have been removed and see who those gentlemen are.
Now I slowly have to get back into a work state of mind. Luckily, I have most of the afternoon to do that. And I’ve had a lovely time so — as the old tenant says in the Gwyneth Paltrow “Emma” — mustn’t grumble.
Two days ago I caught a whiff of a sweet fragrance as we set out on our morning dog walk. Yesterday it was clear it was the linden blossoms of one particular tree that gets a lot of sun. Today it reminded to let you know — it must be June, the linden trees are out.
This morning we had our first frost. It seems a bit late this year and was most welcome for that crisp feeling. One notices something has changed. Maylo, in any case, was moving quite a bit more quickly than he has been!
It seemed like a good idea to get in a couple more stretches of the Rundumadum hiking trail before we go into lockdown again tomorrow (even though we will still be allowed to walk outside with close friends for purposes of physical and psychological recreation) so off we went.
The weather was suitable for November, as you can see on the photos–a gray, slightly melancholy day–and it was a good day for walking. This is a mood I love in Vienna, like a physical expression of the melancholy underlying the lighter side of life here. It’s not all waltzing and champagne, or concerts and cakes, especially not in the middle of a pandemic.
The Wiener Linien (public transit authorities in Vienna) rather fell down on the job today as they did last time, at least as far as the busses went. We arrived punctually at Süßenbrunn train station to catch the bus that was to take us to the starting point of our first stretch. It never came. On the other end, we arrived at the bus stop with about five minutes to spare and waited almost 15 minutes. That one never came either. What with walking from Süßenbrunn to Bettelheimstraße and then from Erbpostgasse to Stammersdorf, I estimate we covered 10 km today, about 1.5 more than intended. Thank goodness for good shoes!
Like the last few stretches, these were flat, with small ponds. (The swimming pond for Gerasdorf bei Wien looked especially inviting–or would in summer.) There are still signs of agriculture, including some vineyards :-), and we saw quite a few horses, yet there was also a lot of building going on, the cranes quite visible on the horizon. Given my tendency to pessimism, I did wonder how much longer there would be any fields left. All the more reason, I suppose, to enjoy them while one can.
The next stretch went along the Marchfeldkanal (canal) for a long stretch. We enjoyed the crows and magpies and got into an interesting discussion on the–as any student of German knows–often senseless gender assignment of different creatures or objects. Magpies and crows are feminine (“die Elster” and “die Krähe”) while bird as a generic term is masculine (“der Vogel”). Larger birds of prey like the eagle are, apparently, more typically male, a point my (male) hiking companion seemed to take greater exception to than I did.
As we got closer to Brünner Straße (the road to Brunn or Brno in the Czech Republic), the landscape changed slightly. It became more wooded and slightly, but only very slightly, hillier. The bus stop was opposite a rather garish industrial structure in the middle of what was otherwise fields and woods, closed, of course, on Sunday. Given that the bus did not arrive and the next one was scheduled for an hour later, we were happy that there was a nice little path running along the road that took us to the tram in Stammersdorf.
Today is almost like the November days I remember from 30 years ago — gray, damp, chilly. It isn’t raining, but the pavements are damp with condensation; it isn’t that cold in temperature (about 4°C), but it is a penetrating chill. The air, as always on these days, is a bit acrid because the cloud cover holds in all the exhaust. And it may be a bit warmer than back then. Certainly it is somewhat brighter as the buildings are for the most part cleaner and this year’s spectacular foliage, in yellow and gold, is not yet completely gone.
ecbinvienna 