Month: May 2003

Got up at 5:50am…voluntarily.It was so I could catch the 7:15 to Budapest. My folks get up early anyway (don’t know where they get it from), and we had a
little breakfast at McDonald’s before I took the tram to Sudbahnhof. Got to Keleti, walked all the way to Ferenciek tere, stopping at all the antique stores
along the way and then the map stores near the museum, but nothing worth bothering with. Headed out for Esceri, and though it was Saturday morning, was a bit
disappointed in the stuff on offer…the machine gun guy wasn’t even there! Only found a couple of theotokos (which I had promised David I’d get him for
Christmas), none of which were impressive, and all of which were expensive, even after haggling on the one I thought about getting. But I did manage to get
something which I think he’ll like. 🙂

While wandering around, I was approached by a group of women from Vienna who were on a bachelorette trip. They asked me to pick from a list on the back of the
bride-to-be’s t-shirt (which was in Hungarian) and to perform that task, so I said why not. I ended up painting her toenails alternate colors while singing
“Maedchen oder Weibchen” (the songh was my choice). They\re supposed to send pics to me when they get back to Vienna.

Went back into town, but all my other book and map stores closed at 2pm, so I just wandered and ate ice cream. When I passed in front of the Opera House, I
realized that what I thought (when I was working in Buedapest) was Cyrillic writing on the front was actually Greek, and the two plaques were labels naming two
of the Muses, Erato and Terpsichore.

Took the train back to Vienna, and made it back to the hotel just in time to get cleaned up and over to the concert at the Musikverein. Nicholas Harnoncourt is
now my favorite conductor. And I wish I had a twentieth of Thomas Hampson’s ability. Absolutely incredible.

Think I’ll start a dangerous precedent and go to sleep early two nights running.

I love travelling with my parents…the hotels are much nicer. 😉

Breakfast at the Imperial is always special, even without the Imperial Torte.

While getting into the car with Kurt and Erica, noticed the sign for tomorrow’s concert at the Musickverien: Nikolaus Haroncourt conducting, Thomas Hamson
singing. Walked over to the kassa, and we were able to get three outstanding seats.

Today was Otto Wagner day for us. First we drove out to the Wienerwald and went to the Ernst Fuchs House, built by Wagner in 1888. Fuchs (one of the founders of
the Fantastic Realism School) saved it from destruction and has made it a private museum. Very nifty stuff, and after the tour, while my mom was buying a print,
Herr Fuchs showed up! My dad and he had a long discussion on biblical themes and the Shroud of Turin, and then he signed my mom’s print. Very neat.

Next we drove through Penzing (sorry, Kathy, I forgot the name of the restaurant) and up to the Vienna Metnal Hospital. No, it was not to drop me off. Wagner
(no relation to Richard) designed the church on the grounds there, an incredible Art Noveau structure that is currently being completely rennovated in time for
its centennar in 2007. We then strolled on the grounds (very peaceful) and smelled the elderberry blossoms, which Kurt’s mother used to dip in batter and fry.

?Finally we went to Ottakring and ate at Gr
?nspan, a biergarten run by one of the former owners of the Drei Hussaren. We were met by a former colleage of Kurt’s who had met my folks a trip or three ago.

Will be crashing early tonight, since my train for Budapest leaves at 7 tomorrow morning, and last night I was up to my old tricks of not gettin gto sleep until
3. 🙁

Found out in the morning that they have 100BaseT ports in the desk-doh!

The Lanesborough is a wonderful hotel. Fabulous breakfast of toast, tomato juice (it’s ok…tomatos are bad, but I think of this as made from tomato
blood), orange juice, fresh fruit, bacon, poached eggs, and terrific tea.

Flew to Vienna, crashed for a couple of hours, then went war walking…found a couple of hot spots, which my dad and I used to send his letter to the Financial
Times complaing about inaccuracies in an article about Michelin’s C3M manufacturing process. I’ll use them to post later tonight.

Had dinner at the Stierereck (Styrian Corner) with my folks and their friends friends, Kurt and Erica Fischer. Wonderful company, wonderful meal. Seven courses
over 4 hours is just about right. 😉 They have our time here all mapped out except for Saturday, so I hope to go to Budapest then.

Slept til 9:30 Wed. got cleaned up and checked out, and met Syl by the Gaiety Theater (seats 1100 (which is closer to 800 than 2000…I should have bet), but
seems much more intimate than the Cullen). Had more coffees and more wanderings, trying to remember where the Neptune print shop was. Had lunch at an Asian
fusion place called Mao’s, right across the street from where she learned music. As we were getting ready to leave, I noticed the sign for Neptunes right next
to the music building. Serendipity reigns supreme.

?Found a nifty ehtnographic map of Europe for ten punt (~13 Euro, ~$15). Wandered around some more, collected my bags, then went back to Syl and Jeff’s to work
on getting her Cli
? to sync; found the problem right off: no computer to sync with. Ripped a copy of Syl singing “I know that my redeemer liveth”, then went to the local net cafe
to upload it; unfortunately, they didn’t have it set up to let me connect my laptop directly, so will have to wait until I get to Vienna.

They dropped me off at the airport coach stop, and because of the weather and traffic did not get to the airport until about 40 minutes before my flight.
Luckily, their security procedures are a little more sane, and my timing (for the first time in a loooooong time) was spot on: made the flight with no worries.
Finished “Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf” on the flight, then started working on Magic Flute.

Good timing continued on landing: got my big bag and boarded the Gatwick Express just before it left, where I started typing up these notes. Got to Victoria and
was in a taxi in less than 90 seconds. Realized that we’d be going right by my folks’ hotel, so got the driver to stop there, left my bags at reception, and
continued on to the Churchill, where I met up with Mithcell, Mikhaila, Dora, and Craig. Had a wonderful time, as I always do with Mirchell and his friends, and
we all lamented the fact David could not be there with us. Chatted with Dora about her husbands diplomatic career and my potential one,
Mikhaila/Mikaila/Michelle is going to check if the British Library is on the bank holiday next Monday when I return, and Craig chided me for not sounding Texan
enough, so I pitied his California upbrining. Mitchell gifted me a Partagas Serie D #4 Special Edition which I enjoyed immensely, and a Cohiba No. 4 “for
breakfast”.

Got back to the Lanesborough a bit after midnite, greeted my folks, but found out that my bags had not yet made it up. I came downstairs to fetch them, and
decided to get some hot milk to help the benadryl and my tiredness to get me to sleep (I always seem to have a very rough 2nd night when I go west to east). I
just finished my hot milk and if they had wireless I’d post this right now, but it’ll just have to wait until tomorrow (no wireless??? what a dump! 😉 )

Joe Rawley was kind enough to take me to Intergalactic on his lunch hour. Interminable time to check in…over an hour. 45 minutes on the tarmac. Fun. At least
this time, as opposed to the SJD trip, the AC worked…and no “chicken or fish!” 😉

What’s worse than a baby crying on a plane? Two babies crying on a plane. Tag-team screaming against my cold and me. We were soundly defeated. Maybe got a
couple of hours sleep on the nine-hour fleet. At least I got to finally see Star Trek: Nemesis.

Arrive an hour late (take-off delay plus weather re-routings). Luckily, I didn’t cut try to cut it fine on the flight to Dublin, so had time to drop off my big
bag at luggage storage and just take my overnight bag (and laptop, of course) with me. Arrive in Dublin, cold and rainy, around 11:30. Take a taxi to the hotel,
call Syl, and coordinate meeting at 3. I crash.

Syl arrives, looking gorgeous as ever. We wander all over central Dublin, getting coffees and chatting. We go make it over to their flat, where I finally get
to meet Jeff. I wish it had been on a night when they had a concert, but they had a series last week (which Syl missed preparing for her brother’s wedding…and
missed seeing Moire by a day!). Jeff was zonked, so Syl and I went and grabbed dinner at a very nifty Indian place called Jaipur in Dalkey, just southeast of
town. Before dinner, though, I had my first full pint of Guiness (when in Rome…).

We came back into town (after I badgered her into getting gas, since her tank is perpetually empty), and went to their local pub, John Fallons. The pubs in the
Temple Bar area are all themed, high-priced, aimed at tourists affairs. This was a true local pub. Syl knew everyone, and everyone knew her…their version of
Bibas’. We had a few more pints sitting next to a guy named John, who brings in his own glass and orange juice to mix with the vodka. Great craic (Gaelic for fun
times).