A Visit To Hainburg

The hot and sticky trend ended last night with enough rain and wind to stop the outdoor opening festivities of the Life Ball, which we were watching on TV at home by that time. Bill Clinton sat there looking interested, or perhaps wondering where he misplaced his cigar, and Whoopi Goldberg did a pretty good job all costumed up in a scene from Wagner's Siegfried. She spoke her part rather than sing it, but no disrespect---she did all right.

Today we decided to visit the easternmost town in Austria, Hainburg an der Donau (Hainburg on the Danube.) It's a town of about 5000 people, known for having one of the most intact fortifications in Europe, with 3 gates, 15 towers, and 2.5 miles of high rock walls. There's also the ruins of an old castle high atop a hill on the outskirts of town, overlooking the Danube. Great views from up there---see the pics below.

It was cooler today than the past few days, with very overcast skies and moderate wind. Had to wear a jacket during much of our hike, especially when we got to the top of the castle where the wind was Oklahoma-strong outside the walls. Inside, not so bad.

Click on the pics if you want to enlarge them.

Enlarge this pic and you'll see a tunnel in the distance, part of a walking path to some old ruins.

 A house in Hainburg, the sign on which (roughly translated) says:

"This house is mine, yet not mine. The one before me thought it was his but then I got it.

After my death it will be like that again."

See the castle on the hill? We drove up as close as we could get, then hiked the rest.

Hainburg as seen from the castle. Invisible in the distance: Vienna.

Inside the castle courtyard. Outside these walls and to the left, we could see Bratislava, Slovakia.

Another view inside the walls. Through the door, Hainburg.

Cruising along on the way home, we came upon this very old church and its graveyard.

#1 coolest grave in the cemetery? The Fux family plot. Insert your own joke here.

Life Ball

There's a big party called the Life Ball. It's an AIDS awareness thing. They've been holding it here in Vienna since 1993. This year Bill Clinton showed up. 

The ball is a formal event. Tuxes and evening dresses. But there's also a fun freakazoid element of costumed folks who strut around and enjoy posing for the camera. This year's theme was Seeds Of Solidarity so all folks were wearing nature-centric stuff.

In a day or two if you do a search of Vimeo or YouTube you'll probably see some great footage of the thing. I'll share some shots with you, below. Click on any pic to enlarge it. But before we get to the costumed folks, here's something we saw on our way through the Volksgarten:

Tangled up in blue. A couple at the Volksgarten.

A woman in the Volksgarten learning about Vienna.

Ketchup and mustard.

Goldfinger? Gold everything!

I like this old Citroen truck.

Write your own caption.

A merry man from Sherwood Forest.

Meat watching meat. Caption written by B.

Before...

...after.

Your assignment: write a short story based on the people in this pic.

Went Swimming. Then Drinking.

About noon we headed here:

This is the Badegrund. It's an old gravel quarry that's been filled with water and is used as a nice getaway from the city hustle and bustle (and these days, the heat.) B.'s parents have a tiny plot of land here on which they've parked a trailer. During the summer months, the family comes here to cool off with a nice swim.

We arrived to find B.'s parents, her sister, and a family friend already there, in their swimsuits. Took a couple of swims, had nice snacks to gnosh on, had interesting talks. The family helped me with my German, which I appreciate. B tried to read her newspaper but we kept interrupting, me asking how to say something in German and her family asking how to say something in English. She should have told us to buy a fucking dictionary.

We stayed about five hours. Even though it wasn't as hot and stifling as yesterday was, it was still pretty hot.The water felt good.
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We dropped the family friend off at the subway station on our way home, then drove up into the vineyards behind the house to a Heuriger. Had a great view of Vienna in the light of the setting sun, and the breeze on top of the hill was fantastic---cooler than lower down, and no mosquitoes!

We had a glass of half white wine, half mineral water, and ate this:

A nice hard bread with three interesting spreads.

A leisurely day. Tomorrow evening: into the center of town to watch a big parade of gay folks, all dressed up in wild costumes. Stay tuned.