Day 1 of 14: Arrival In Vienna & A Snowy Hike

Arrived in snowy Vienna.

No problems with the flights. OKC to Washington DC, DC to Vienna.

It's about 8.5 hours DC to Vienna. About an hour into the flight, I popped a couple of Halcyon, and that was it: Slumberland, Daddy-O! Didn't get the first drink, the meal, the second drink, breakfast, nothing. Woke up about 90 minutes before the plane landed, my head full of dreams.

Snowy in Vienna and the traffic was relatively light. B drove me to her parents' house, where I had coffee and cake and conversation. Then back to her place for a hearty brunch---homemade sauerkraut paprika soup, garlic bread with anchovy butter, hot tea.

She's in the living room watching skiing, which the Austrians are apeshit for. Me, less apeshit about it, thought I'd take this opportunity to show you how I do my flying thing.


















This is a backpack and a briefcase, and they contain everything I need for two weeks. I DO NOT and WILL NOT CHECK LUGGAGE. If I can't carry it on the plane, I'm carrying TOO MUCH.

Clothes go in the backpack. Clothes are squishy, and so with the compression straps on the pack you can cinch everything down into the smallest possible shape. This pack fits easily into the smallest overhead bin.

The briefcase contains all the ancillary stuff. I keep it under the seat in front of me on the plane.

Here's the contents of the briefcase. From left to right, top row:

Mobile phone, mobile phone manual, car charger, reading glasses, sun glasses, toiletries, water bottle.

Second row: MP3 player, spare earbuds, 3 X 5 cards, deoderant.

Third row: USB cord for camera / mobile phone / Zoom H2, spare batteries, media cards, Zoom H2 audio recorder, miniature tripod, electric clippers, bag of beef jerky.

Fourth row: card reader, vitamins / minerals / medicine, fanny pack, notebooks.

Traveling light is the only way to fly.

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LATER:

I took a little nap after brunch. Then we took a walk.

B lives very near the vineyards which lie to the north of Vienna. Walk a few blocks and you're on the Beethovengang, a very quiet residential street. On your left, a small creek. On your right, big houses. Eventually the houses give way to vineyards and you find yourself climbing ever higher. If you keep going you're a couple of hundred feet up and can see Vienna and the Danube below you. The pic below isn't THAT scene, but gives a general idea of the lay of the land:

















You can adopt grapevines in the name of someone special to you. This is to preserve the wine culture of this area, an effort to keep the vineyards from vanishing only to be replaced by obnoxious hilltop mansions. Below, a few bipartisan examples of grapevine sponsorship:














The Pope, Joey Rats, was also represented grapevine-wise. And in one vineyard, the Pope's vine was right next door to that of Georg Gänswein, a handsome priest who is the Pope's secretary---and reputed by some (especially my girlfriend) to be Joey Rats' BOYFRIEND.

I thought: How romantic. Side by side, they can suck each others' grapes throughout eternity.

Our walk ended at Fidelio, the neighboorhood restaurant where we had soup and wine...