The Ships of Yule

My "fleet of forty sail" that goes "from Babylon to Rome" (with the most delicate of curtsies to my mother, who introduced Bliss Carman to me at an early age) has carried me to Vienna, a city about which I knew nearly nothing prior to moving here in January 2007. This will be a collection of observations about life here, descriptions of our frequent short trips to neighbouring cities/villages, and purely whimsical non-sequiturs--as LK says, I'll be "shifting without a clutch" just as I often do in conversation. Hey, keeps people on their toes. Pay attention! as another friend often said, "follow the bouncing ball of my consciousness!"

William Bliss Carman wrote the poem "The Ships of Yule" in 1909--further info here:
http://www.lac-bac.ca/canvers-bin/entry?entry_nbr=1205&l=0&page_rows=10&clctn_nbr=1

Living in Vienna is a joy, a challenge, and a culture shock. Today is Allerheiligen, All Saints' Day. As it is a religious (Catholic) holiday, everything is closed. For once we weren't wakened by the trucks outside our window delivering clothing and shoes--now, seasonal scarves and boots--to the large clothing store across the street. The sun is bouncing into our small flat from the vibrant yellow "house" (apartment building) across the street. It's cool, crisp, and perfectly autumnal. We are enjoying the day doing very little except read and drink coffee. Luxury! Even the noisy public markets by our place are quiet today.

Last night we went out to dinner at the Gasthaus Grünauer in the 7th. It's a small, crowded, noisy Beisl with fantastic Wiener food. (No, not food made of hoghoof and horsehock sausages, you cretin!)
Digression: I love the word Vienna; abhor the city's name for itself and its adjectival form: Wien and Wiener. Doesn't "Vienna" and "Viennese" sound so much better?

Second Digression: horse meat. There are several little "Imbiss" sprinkled around the city, in fact a few on each corner, it seems (snack bars, little cafes with stand-up tables outside where you buy a beer and sausage and consume right there, sometimes with actual tables inside). I was drinking a beer after work one day on my way home and contemplating life in general when I noticed a sign with a pretty picture of a prancing black horse. I thought--that's weird--I didn't see any other indication of this Imbiss being a "Sportswetten", or sports/racing betting bar. Hm. Then I realized it wasn't--it was an advertisement for their "real" horse meat of a very high quality, served proudly here. Barf. My friend Flicka, meet my pal plate. Not to say that in a starvation situation I would turn up my nose, but as CK always says when we are debating a minor splurge, "The war's over". He usually pulls that one when I'm doing my best to salvage slightly softening vegetables and contemplating soup. He'd rather watch yesterday's purchases rot on the counter as he tops them up with today's. But lack of fridge space, European daily food shopping, and Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Billa, which doesn't make me feel so good, are digressions for another day.

Third Digression: I mentioned the district, the 7th, when referring to the restaurant we went to last night. Why does this matter? Because we live in the 10th, a terribly unfashionable "ethnic" and "working class" district. I love it. But where you live in this city is very important. Whenever I have a new class of students, the first question they ask of me during introductions is: where do you live? As we walked down Hermanngasse last night, CK told me that a colleague had told him about a study done of prejudice and area here: 2 resumes were sent to 100 local companies with exactly the same credentials. The only difference was the postal code. One resume gave an address in the 10th or 11th, one gave an address in one of the stylish districts. Of the responses, there were 3 companies that responded to the "workers" district applicant and 21 interviews offered to the person from a "better" district. Same companies--nearly identical resumes--clear bias.
Fourth Digression: I think I'm starting to assimilate into the Austrian mindset. Yesterday I commented on the "good air". This is a uniquely European idea, I think. Yes, cities that get a lot of smog and pollution might comment that it's a particularly smoggy day, or, that air in the wilderness has a wonderful smell, but there is an obsession here about the "air". In fact, at the Technical Museum last month, I was looking at an exhibit about the city planning here, how the wide avenues were designed to facilitate the wind blowing through the city to remove the "bad air". Commendable indeed for a city whose inhabitants think nothing of pissing on the sidewalk, against walls, between parked cars while chitchatting with their friends, and spitting loud gobs of phlegm on the street at will. SO--the plague--caused by bad air? Let's take a closer look at some public habits, non? The city has a perpetual smell of urine.
Shoot me the moment you hear me say that sleeping with an open window causes colds. Last I checked, it was viruses. Or, if not given to violence, feel free to put together a fund to return me to Canada forthwith. If that's a word.