Her Teeth Nearly Flew Out of Her Mouth

Last night we went out to dinner.

If you walk down this street...

...you come to this patio...

...and sit under this canopy of grape vines...

...with these people...

...and eat this.

It was "grill night" at the Brummbaerli restaurant. Needless to say I fell way off the vegetarian wagon; had two pieces of grilled pork, a grilled steak, a baked potato the size of a Zeppelin, a large beer, and finally a schnapps (complements of the house.) B. had something similar. We each took about 1/3 of this home in a doggie bag.

The food was great but the most fun were our tablemates. The patio was crowded so we had to share a table with strangers. The woman was plump, in her early 60s, and the guy was kind of portly with a salt and pepper beard, wearing a multi-pocket vest. He looked rather like a trucker.

It was jabbering in German all the way, with B. occasionally telling me what was said. Here's what I observed / learned:

1) These two could eat. They cleaned their plates (no doggie bags) and drank at least three beers each, along with a mineral water between each beer. Then the schnapps. Then a final beer.

2) Turns out the lady lives down the street from B, over a laundry. Not sure what she does for a living, but she likes to walk dogs on the side. Her dog, and a few "client" dogs.

3) She's the local gossip. She knew who was fucking who, who had trouble with the tax authorities, the history of the street, and all kinds of other stuff. 

The guy and I sat on one side, the women on the opposite side of the table. Every so often I'd look over at the jabbering woman and I was shocked to see her upper dentures moving around, unable to stay locked in place due to the sheer centrifugal force of the spirited, gossipy jibber-jabber. No mere Polident could contain them---I think she needed some JB Weld or some other kind of industrial adhesive.

But we enjoyed these people because they were down to earth, the kind B. says you used to run into in Vienna, before everyone got all pretentious and uppity and bourgeois, like they are now. (Or as my black friends say, "boo-zhee.") The people in B's building would hardly have been so open, had they suffered the indignity of having us sit at their table with them. They're all "professionals" who make it a point to include their titles alongside their names on the mailbox or on their door so you know their importance. With the exception of B's next door neighbors, who are good people (and, not coincidentally, mere high school graduates) the rest of the Yuppizoidal Ooze in the 19th District wouldn't know how to cope with our table mates. Or us either, for that matter.

But man. It was all I could do to keep from running to the local drug store to pick up a tube of denture adhesive for that lady. She could barely keep her teeth in her head.

Walked back to B's. Put the spare food in the fridge. Cracked a cold bottle of white. Watched the first few minutes of Democracy Now! then went to bed.

Slept late.

-----

Hot today---low 90s. No A/C, of course. Went to the Badegrund and went swimming / laid around reading.

I sketched out a compost bin made with bamboo poles. Will try to make it when I get home, or some facsimile thereof. Went by IKEA on the way home to pick up some herring and those great Swedish potato chips they have.

Hit a traffic jam on the way home---stuck there, sweating like hell, until we could exit and figure out a detour. Turns out it got so hot some asphalt on the highway miles ahead had caved in, and the repair work caused the big jam-up.

But! There's a cool front moving in soon, and the highs some days next week won't exceed 70 F.

Watching The Ships Come In

Kind of a lazy day.

This afternoon I took a walk along the Danube (not to be confused with the Danube Canal, which I walked along yesterday.)

There was the usual pedestrian and bicycle activity, and people fishing and sunbathing and sitting on benches overlooking the river. I've walked here before when very little was going on---on the river itself. (There are always bicyclists and joggers and walkers on the path alongside the river, even in winter.) But today there was a fair amount of cruise ship and barge traffic, as well as a few private boats zooming down river.

There were also a couple of large river cruise ships moored along the path. I sat there drinking a beer and writing in my notebook...and to the sound of my fellow beer drinkers jabbering suddenly another ship, the Diana, pulled in.

For a guy who lives in a place where there's no boat traffic to speak of, except for rednecks who tow their boats and jet-skis "to the lake," it's interesting to watch river life. I guess the Diana cruises up and down the river, stopping at certain places so people can get off and ride bikes (provided by the ship) along the river. Indeed, when it pulled in a lot of people started rolling their bikes up the gangplank, and there were probably 150 blue bikes already stacked on the deck.

Click on any pic to enlarge.

I see this old ship every time I'm in Vienna. I'm pretty sure it hasn't moved in years.

Its name means "Devil's Bridge."

Watching the Diana come in.

Mooring in progress. The helmsman was a real pro, getting this big ship docked.

The ghost of Henry Miller (all praise be unto him!) supervises the lowering of the gangplank.

Gangplank lowerfication, Part Two.

Gangplank fully lowerfied.

The Diana and two of her crew at rest along the Danube.

About to cast off again, going upriver.

John X's Solo Abenteuer (Solo Adventure)

We went out last night.

This morning B. had to go to the dentist and could not find her car keys. They'd vanished. She ended up rescheduling her appointment for next month...

My plan was to roam around by myself today. They have different public transportation passes here. Today I used the "24 Hour Card." It costs 5.70 Euro, as opposed to 1.80 Euro if you buy one ticket at a time. The way this card works is, it's good for unlimited bus, streetcar, and subway rides for 24 hours from the time you first use it. (You validate the card when you get on the first vehicle.)

I used this thing to drive all over the fucking place today. I started by going to the other end of town, to B.'s parents' place, to pick up the spare car key her dad had. They were surprised to see me. Me, on the other hand, I was happy to have remembered how to get to their place using public transportation.

Visited with the parents in the back yard, and scored three fresh apples, three hot peppers, and a raspberry (one, singular) from the garden.

Then I took the subway and a couple of trams all over the place. But mostly I walked, snapping pics along the way. Had my backpack with me, and two full containers of water, so I spent almost nothing while roaming around---2 Euro for a slice of pizza and a can of Lipton Ice Tea, and another Euro I threw into a sax player's hat. He was playing jazz under a bridge along the Danube Canal (pic below.)

I left about noon, got home about 6:45. I must have logged 6-10 miles of walking. Got back to find out B. had finally found her car key after hours of searching---she'd worn two different pairs of pants yesterday but forgot about the second pair, the one with the keys still in the pocket from last night's outing. But she was happy I'd schlepped my helpless American ass all the way to Simmering to fetch the spare key. I was the Big Hero.

Walked down to the Mayer heurige to turn in the old wine bottles and buy another couple of bottles of their excellent white. B. made an excellent appetizer for supper, and I made the main course (pics at the end.)

So: here are a few things little Johnny X saw on this warm summer day in Vienna.

Click on any pic to enlargify.

 You're invited to taste their meat.

The Gasometer complex. Now converted to apartments and shopping.

If your kung-fu cannot be strong, your tung-fu should be.

Graffiti on the Danube Canal: "And then Mother Earth will eat us all."

For my paisano John M.---a joint along the Danube Canal.

Tragically hip and relaxed along the Danube Canal.

Uh, not really. But I'll do further research.

Not really sure what she was looking for.

But I was sure she didn't want my help finding it.

Jesus' mommy in a gas mask. Not something you see everyday.

A neat old iron (or steel?) bridge over the Danube Canal.

I saw a guy painting grafitti. He stepped aside for a moment so I could shoot this.

I heard this guy before I saw him. He was playing Brubeck's "Take Five."

I threw a Euro into his hat. He stopped playing a moment to say "Danke."

The acoustics under the bridge were really good. Not to mention the shade.

Zen Man playing his flute on a foot\bike bridge, crossing the Danube Canal.

See Spot. See Spot's asshole.

Lots of dogs and their, uh, you know along the Danube Canal.

The Viennese are very active outdoors.

They enjoy activities such as this...

...and this. I turned these people in to the Polizei for illegal kissing.

Their fine was 500 Euro. 

No, not really. It was only 400.

Believe it or not, this plant designed by famous Austrian artist

Hundertwasser is used to convert burned trash into heat. Enlarge

the pic and check out the cool tower!

When you get home after a long day of hiking and voyeurism, you want something like this waiting for you. B made this excellent appetizer out of fresh tomatoes, basil, and buffalo mozzarella.
I need to make some of this for one of my famous bi-weekly dinner parties.

And this pasta dish is what I made for us tonight.