Monday, October 3, 2011

Monday: Last Day In Vienna

I fly home tomorrow morning.

If things go well, about 18 hours after I get on the plane in Vienna, I'll be in my living room in Oklahoma, wondering what the hell happened and what strange land I've stumbled upon...where did the weeks go, and how come nobody here speaks German, and why is everybody so fucking fat?!?

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B has to work today and tomorrow and had a lot of studying to do prior to the gig, so yesterday was a quiet Sunday. We did venture out once, driving the car up into the vineyards for a glass of Sturm at the little Heuriger we like so much. And was the hilltop crowded! It was a perfect day, mid-70s, very pleasant out.

Our last full day together for a couple of months.

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This morning we were up early, had breakfast, then a mad dash. B had to meet her colleagues in town, then after a bit of work they were off on a bus to Lower Austria on an agricultural tour she's helping to interpret.

The bus ride and subway ride was kind of subdued, but that's how it always is on our last few hours together. We must have done this hello-goodbye thing 35 or more times by now and it never gets any easier. Somehow luck has been with us for more than eight years and we always see each other again, thanks to all that petroleum they keep sucking out of the ground and turning into jet fuel.

A kiss goodbye on the sidewalk in front of the hotel / meeting place, then she was off to work and I was wandering back to the subway and home to pack my bags.

With luck, the next time I come here it'll be to live, for good.

And if that turns out to be the case, this will be the last-ever entry in the Bicontinental Bastard blog.

Thanks for following along.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It was an undiluted pleasure to read your take on my neck of the woods.

Talking of which: Today bright sunshine, bucolic hills and huge farmhouses (our poooor impoverished farmers...!), but this time I saw them from the inside as part of this assignment, magnificent view of the mountains, trees heavy with apples, sweet farmhouse cats - it would have been a perfect day if I'd been able to spend it with you instead!!

I wish you an uneventful, boring trip to OK - thank you so much for many wonderful weeks. Wir sind gut, wir zwei, nicht wahr?

B