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Another late start to a great afternoon / evening.
Near B's house is a shoe store, the old fashioned kind with an actual cobbler running the place. If you look in the window at night you can see a little video he's set up for your viewing pleasure, detailing the history of this shop and his expertise in making shoes any self-respecting pimp would be proud to wear, like those pictured here.
Actually, only some of the shoes are this garish. Others are quite beautiful and, as you can imagine, pretty expensive. You can get eel, sharkskin, all kinds of exotic stuff.
We took the tram through town to the Naschmarkt. It was another gray and rainy day but the Christmas lights are out and the reflection of all the lights on the wet concrete was pleasant to a photographer's eye.
Here's the entrance to Kaseland, which is the place to buy cheese in Vienna. (The name means "cheese land.") The proprietor is a friendly guy who speaks good English and after we spent a bit of $$$ at his place, he treated me to a wedge of a cheese I'd had my eye on but ended up not buying. It's a cheddar mixed with so much sage it's actually green. I haven't tasted it yet but like all the cheese they sell at Kaseland, I imagine it's good stuff.
There's a tiny Indian restaurant in the Naschmarkt. Been there fifteen years, the proprietor told us, but oddly enough we'd never tried it. However B, with her constant stream of info about interesting stuff to see and do in Vienna, heard about the place so we sought it out. We were the only customers in the place when we got there. There's a counter where maybe six people can sit, and another corner where B and I sat so we could look out the window. A very cozy place but the food was fantastic.
Above is a pic of our first course; I had an excellent shrimp soup. Notice the beer: Kingfisher. You can take the Bicontiental Bastard out of Oklahoma, but evidenly you can't take Oklahoma out of the Bicontiental Bastard (or Vienna.) The town of Kingfisher, OK might be proud to serve this fine Indian beer in any of its restaurants. Good luck finding soup this good there, though.
Done eating, we strolled through the Naschmarkt and picked up a few items for later. Then we took a stroll nearby to the
Karlskirche, where they've set up another of the ubiqutous Christmas markets. Same as yesterday in Grafenegg: there was stuff to wear, decorations for the tree, glasswork, woodwork, etc. One thing different was a stall where they were selling beautiful leather journals, most of them embossed with Chinese characters or animals, etc. It really was great leatherwork but I resisted the tempation to buy another fancy journal to add to the others I've already spent too much money on and not enough time filling with my stupid scribbling. There comes a time when you just have to grab a pen and start filling up some blank paper and it doesn't have to be expensive paper, or bound in handcrafted leather.
And, of course, there was yet another Punsch stand. Notice the bizarre juxtaposition of a liquor-sellin' place right in front of one of Vienna's most beautiful churches. Well, I say bizarre. Bizarre for the backwater that is Oklahoma, maybe, but perfectly natural for a civilized city. But can any of my Okie friends imagine such a thing, buying good hooch and drinking it in front of a church?!
We saw something really special here. There was a woman dressed like an angel, with huge white wings. There was a large globe about fifteen feet high and when the music started, she slowly climbed a ladder leading to the top of the globe. There was a smoke machine spitting out smoke, which added to the scene. Her huge wings moved around a lot because there was a 10 MPH wind blowing. Eventually she got to the top of the globe and there she did a very slow kind of angelic dance.
I videotaped the dance but unfortunately I have no editing software here so you'll just have to imagine it. But it really was something different, something artistic, and a real sight to see.
Then came the really fun part of the evening. B's friend Vivian has a friend, an anthropologist, who grew up on a farm in rural Austria. Her brother (you following this?) now has the farm. Every three months this dude schlepps a bunch of freshly processed meat into Vienna, bringing his meat scales, his cash register, the whole thing, to her apartment where friends are invited to come eat, drink, talk, and BUY MEAT.
We met Vivan and her husband Peter at the tram stop then walked to the apartment. It's in an old 1890-era building about five stories high. Peter and I walked up four flights to the apartment while the ladies took the microscopic elevator up (we beat them).
This apartment was very interesting, and typical of the few like this I've seen here. High ceilings, parquet wood floors (REAL wood, and thick!) and, in the case of this place, roomy. About 120 square meters, the lady told me. By no means was it a luxury place...it showed its age and wasn't crammed full of modern expensive appliances, but it was cozy and kind of, uh, funky. And, because she's been living there since the 80's, her rent was only about 600 Euros (about $900), which is nothing for a place like that.
The place was crammed with people when we showed up. Long hairs, intellectuals, artistic types. There were a couple of locally famous actors there, too, and we enjoyed talking with them. My German being pretty shitty, I mostly listened and sipped on my beer but there were enough English speakers there to keep me involved.
People waiting to grab their meat
We ended up with about 8 pounds of sausage, beef, liver dumplings, and bacon.
Their meat can't be beat, but it screams "Eat me!"
It's only my third full day in Vienna. Five more weeks of adventure. Thanks to my sweetheart B for showing me this side of her wonderful city.
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