TRAVELOGUE: AUSTRIA -- Book I

FOREWORD

"Austria Reports" are my impressions of the various aspects and faces of Austria. As originally conceived, "Austria Reports" is what I called my personal journal-travelogue that I recorded for my family and friends an e-pals as I became reacquainted with the land of my birth during a month-long "grand-tour" of Austria that my husband Bill and I took in May of 1993. Because of the enthusiastic reception and general interest in things Austrian, and flattering comments, that my e-pals, family and friends have bestowed on my original travel reports, the project "Austria Reports" has since morphed into a schema where "all things Austrian" are open for discussion.

As originally planned, our trip had the semi-secret agenda of showing off my beautiful homeland to my habitually skeptic, cynic husband.  As it was, to my joyful amazement, Bill was instantly smitten with Austria.  And, the love affair has endured.  To this day, he has remained an almost uncritical aficionado of everything that is Austrian. Uncharacteristically, he appreciated and admired and generally was impressed by all that saw and experienced in Austria.

For me, too, the trip was an eye-opening wondrous experience that has inspired me to learn all I can about that extraordinarily beautiful, small neutral land with the historic (generally undervalued) super-power past.  

A Few Overall Travel Comments For Those Familiar With Austria: 
We toured Austria in a generally clockwise fashion, starting from the Vienna airport going south toward Graz and ended by spending the final three days in Vienna.  Our intended purpose was to have a relaxing vacation and to see and experience as much of the real Austria as we could comfortably do in a month.  We had no pre-set plans other than to go where we pleased. Purposely, we stayed away from friends and relatives (none knew that we were in Austria), so that we could come and go as we wished and would have no obligations to be in a particular place at any particular time. Because the country was beautiful, the weather generally wonderful, the language and culture familiar, and our mood carefree, we had a magically memorable vacation, and we saw far more of Austria than the usual tourist sees. In fact, I suspect that we saw more of Austria than most Austrians ever see.  

Our accommodations were always very pleasant and, on the whole, very reasonably priced.  Schloss Weikersdorf was the most expensive by far, but worth it.  We also stayed in places that cost as little as $30 a night (for two) including breakfast! That was in St. Sebastian, just outside of Mariazell; I will tell you about it.  On average, our accommodations ran between $50 to $60 a night (for two), always including breakfast.  Everywhere we stayed, it was nice and neat and comfortable.  Often our accommodations were extraordinarily nice.  I will try to rate them for you. Our way of finding accommodations was either to drive around until we saw a "Zimmer Frei" sign on a place that looked inviting, or else we went to the town's "information" center (all towns have them). A blue "i" sign always marks the town’s information center. Usually there are also road signs directing you to the town’s “information “ center.  Where we did not already find an inviting “Zimmer Frei” place on our own by cruising the town, we got a list of available accommodations from the information center and then picked one from the list.  Generally, we stayed in a picked location more than one night and took day tours of the surrounding area.  Our longest stay was in Altaussee in the region known as Salzkammergut. We spent 6 days there, because we loved it there so!

My Hope For This Blog

My hope for this blog is that it will provide me the occasion I need to finish the travelogue of our trip that I started so long ago but then shoved aside. I shall share my knowledge and impressions about Austria in these reports and hopefully inspire some grand conversations. To set the mood, I'll start by posting, as one long continuous post for easy reading, entitled “Book I”, the initial chapters of the travelogue that I had composed years ago. Hopefully, it will inspire reader comments and conversation, and we can then take it from there.

Erika W. Senter.
April, 2014

CHAPTER I

IT'S SO GREEN

The story begins in the late afternoon on a sunny and warm April day, actually before we entered Austria:

I was already in a state of high excitement after our 12 hour flight from Los Angeles, during which the night had lasted only 2 hours, and waiting for the plane to be cleaned in the sterile, dream-like, silver and glass airport of Munich added to my sense of non-reality, to the feeling of magic.  Even so, I couldn't stop my heart from beating just a little faster yet when the lilting Viennese voice over the loudspeaker announced that the flight on to Vienna was ready for reboarding.  The pleasant female voice rolled with that suddenly remembered, comforting slight touch of sing-song. I had almost forgotten that German could sound so warm and rounded.  It was the sound of home. 

We were, at last, on the final leg of our trip back to "meiner alten Heimat" Austria. It may have been my imagination, but the minute we stepped back onto the cheerful grey and red plane, I noticed the warmer, friendlier, more relaxed atmosphere. The cabin was now only about one-third filled; most passengers of the direct Lufthansa/Lauda­air flight from LA had apparently decided to get off in Munich.  The crew had changed, and the young stewardess who showed us back to our seat greeted us with a friendly "GruessGott." The steward who offered to help me with my bag spoke, too, in that familiar slightly nasal tone that is so unmistakably Austrian. (Ever noticed that Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't speak with what is typically recognized as a "German" accent?  He has that "Austrian" sound that I'm talking about.)  No question about it, I was home even before we actually crossed into Austria! 

In the next four weeks, Bill and I would hear "Gruess Gott" repeated to us many hundred times over.  Since the plane was comfortably empty, I decided to sit behind Bill this time, rather than beside him, so we could both see out the window during the forty minute flight to Vienna. The steward offered me headphones and choice of magazines and newspapers. I chose the "Wiener Kurier" and thanked him, but I was much too excited to read. Already, everything was so familiar. As if by magic, in the last few short moments, the years since I left Austria last had melted away.  I plugged in the headphones and the lovely sounds of a Viennese waltz surrounded me.  I was in heaven.

After takeoff, we were offered a glass of white wine (and/or a fruit drink) and a tray of appetizing- looking hors d'oeuvres. I couldn't swallow a thing. Instead, I pressed my nose against the airplane window. Below us were the snow-capped Alps, and beyond it an expanse of green trees and meadows.  I swear, it looked just like the opening scenes of "Sound of Music."  There were also scores of toy villages with their red roofs and church steeples, and dozens of lakes, and there were little cars moving along white roads. And I could clearly make out an Auto­bahn.  Being used tofighting my way through dense Southern California traffic, I was amazed to see how few cars there were on Austrian roads.  Mainly, though, I couldn't believe how incred­ibly GREEN everything was.  Bill, too, said several times, "Look how green everything is!"

Afterall, we were approaching Vienna. The broad silver band which was clearly visible below was undoubt­edly the "blue Danube." 

CHAPTER II

"WIENER SCHLAMPEREI" UND HERR SCHNEIDER

It was almost 7:00 PM and the sun was beginning to set when we landed. To avoid the crunch of the crowd, we waited for everyone to get off the plane ahead of us. We had a car reserved at the airport and a room waiting for us at Schloss Weikersdorf in Baden. So we were in no particular hurry. But, by the time we retrieved our luggage, there was almost no one around anymore. The janitors who were sweeping up said "Gruess Gott". I had never been to the Vienna airport before; nevertheless, it seemed somehow familiar. The marble-like black-and-white squared floor, the big flower pots along the wall, the souvenir shops, the restaurants, the barber shops, even the supermarket, all of it had a homey intimate look to it, somehow not at all like an "international" airport.

Then, two uniformed commandos with machine guns came walking toward us. With sudden shock, I realized why the airport looked so familiar! Scenes, that had so horrified all the world, of a blood-splashed checkerboard floor offset against festively decorated Christmas trees in the corner, that countless television news reports showed over and over again in the aftermath of the terrorist raid at the Vienna airport a few years earlier, came rushing back.  With a comforting feeling of security, I noticed that commandos with pointed machine guns were guarding the doors.  Absolutely nothing about these commandos reminded me of an operetta.

But it all had a certain Daliesque quality to it. Behind the machine guns, through the glass doors, a large spray of cheerful yellow and orange tulips was visible in the square in front of the airport.  To me, the contradiction was somehow harmoniously Austrian, or Viennese, to be more precise.  It was a graphic illustration of the famous Viennese perspective:  "The situation is hopeless but not serious."

The officials scarcely glanced at our passports as they waved us by. Customs, too, waved us through without looking at our luggage.  They were busy chatting.  Typical Wiener Schlamperei! (meaning that spirit of laid-back, seemingly lackadaisical, cluttered disorderliness that is also a Viennese institution).  I guess we didn't look like spies or terrorists, despite the London Fog trenchcoat I wore. 

Because, this was Austria, home of the coffeehouse, we thought it appropriate to stop first for einen kleinen Kaffee at the airport "Vienna-Cafe" -- not quite the coffeehouse experience we had expected from Vienna; however, it was a least as pleasant as a satisfying cup of coffee at Starbucks, and we were in Vienna; where one need be rushed, or so the story goes.

When eventually we got to the Eurocar booth to pick up our reserved car, no one was around.  There was, though, an envelope in the rack behind the desk with our name on it.  The Avis agent in the next booth told us that "Herr Schneider" had gone to get something to eat and would be right back. "Diese Wiener!"  Surely, one couldn't run LAX like that!  It was a good ten minutes before Herr Schneider finally appeared.  He was laid back and spoke flawless American English (a skill he could not possibly have acquired if he spent all his time immersed in relaxed Wiener Schlamperei). He gave us keys to a '93 VW Polo, an up-grade from the Fiat "Panda" we had reserved.  We also got (gratis) a huge road map of Austria together with Herr Schneider's personally drawn directions on how to get to Baden.  As he said "Aufwiedersehen," Herr Schneider confided that normal closing time had been 20 minutes earlier but that he had waited for us. I remembered then that, per our reservations, we were to pick up the car by 7:30 PM.  I felt truly ashamed of my secret negative thoughts.  Herr Schneider had been remarkably patient and kind.  No one would have waited for us at LAX! 

The Vienna airport is, of course, not in Vienna at all. (After all, it would have been a crime to destroy any part of that glorious, ancient city to make room for an airport!)  The airport is located in the community of Schwechat, which is about 12 miles south of Vienna, close to the lovely resort town of "Baden bei Wien" (Baden for short), our first destination. 

It was dark when we finally got to our car. I consulted the map Herr Schneider had drawn. It consisted entirely of two arrows; one arrow pointing upward marked "Wien," and another pointing downward indicating "Graz."  Herr Schneider had proclaimed further particulars superfluous.

Baden was off the freeway that led to Graz.  The only way out of the rental car parking lot was via the freeway on-ramp.