Day 354: In Vienna, last day, 1320s
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Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
354 — In Vienna, last day, 1320s
21-Jul-1972
(Fri.)
TRANSCRIPT
Farewell Vienna - The Hofburg
WIEN – VIENNA
Got to Wien early.
Saw Frau Pollak and will stay a short while. Took a
bath. First time felt refreshed in a long time.
Received a whole section of mail. Looked through all
of it. Quite a few late answers. Lenny even sent me a
tape.
A surprise: Mom sent me a check for $100. Would be a
big help. Now can possibly stay a while in Paris and
London.
Bigger surprise: The check is a personal money order.
The only possible way to get it cashed takes between
two to three weeks. Crap. There go all of my plans.
Embassy doesn’t help either.
With my remaining $50-$60 I had two possibilities. To
go to Paris and spend a few days. Or buy a few gifts
and spend less time. Necessities: Too much luggage.
Thus had to mail two more packages. Did it at the
last minute. But finally got everything in order.
Still cost quite a bit—325s.
Also bought gifts for a lot of the family and
relatives. Had to buy pretty cheap ones and couldn’t
buy them for everyone.
Result: have 240s left. Will leave for Paris
tomorrow. Will stay in Paris anywhere from two hours
to maybe a day or two. Will have to see if I can meet
Anjali—the main reason I am going. Otherwise, with
this little money, I probably would have gone
straight home.
Sort of discouraged because of lack of money.
Actually, I shouldn’t be because the extra money was
extra, unexpected money. It would have made things
perfect. But that’s life.
Sort of ironic—my transportation with the plane
included both Paris and London, free. But now, I
still can’t take advantage of seeing either one.
Maybe Paris, a little. Crap.
Long, hot, and breezy day.
REFLECTIONS
Parental
advisory. I use
the naughty word “crap” twice in today’s posting.
Back
in Vienna. I’m back
in Vienna. Thankfully, especially to those around me,
I take a bath. The tension builds. What is going to
happen with the rest of my trip?
Wonderful people. Frau
Pollak, my hausfrau, is very helpful, as always. She
has been a great help and person during my stay in
Wien. So many people in Vienna and in my travels have
been really great, so helpful, and showed kindness to
a total stranger. There is no way to thank them all.
My best friend, Lenny, has sent me a tape from the
U.S. I’ll have to listen to it back home.
My
mom to the rescue. As I open
mail, I find $100 from my mother. That’s
‘moms’
for you.
They may not have a lot of money but they never
hesitate to help their children. Unfortunately, I
cannot cash the personal money order, leading to
frustration. I was hoping that it would extend my
stay—I mention Paris AND London. ???
Airfare
ticket to Paris and London. I didn’t
realize that I had changed my airplane ticket home to
include both Paris and London—stop-overs for FREE.
Now that was a great airline—Pan Am. I don’t think
they do these things anymore, do they?
Luggage
& gifts. I’m
already packed but I have too much stuff and send an
additional two packages back home. Here is a picture
of the famous Viennese “petite point” purse that I
bought my mom. Two very small petite point purses
cost 70s. I wonder what they cost today?
Viennese petite point purse for my
mother
Expenses. In Munich
(see below), I spent a total of $20-$30 for
everything, including gifts and the train ticket to
Innsbruck. In Innsbruck, I change $20 (452s) and
spent $20, including miscellaneous gifts and the
train ticket to Vienna. I am left with 122s (Austrian
schillings). I change MY LAST $60 (1200s) and now
have a grand total of 1320s. By the end of the day in
Vienna, I have spent 325s for mailing, 655s for
gifts, and 100s for transportation and food, leaving
me with a total of 240s for the remainder of my
entire European adventure—Paris and London—??? I’ll
post the last couple of days of my financial ledger.
NOTE: I just confirmed on the Internet that in July
1972, the exchange rate was 5 francs = $1 US.
240
Austrian schillings
=
50 French francs
=
approx. $10 US
to
see Paris
Some parting photos of Vienna:
Farewell Vienna – Burgtheater
Farewell Vienna – Parliament
Farewell Vienna – Ringstrasse
Farewell
Vienna – Parks
Farewell Vienna – National Library Reading
Room
Farewell
Vienna – University of Vienna
Farewell
Vienna – Staatsoper
Farewell
Vienna – Schönbrunn
Farewell
Vienna – Schönbrunn gardens
Farewell
Vienna – Art & History Museums
Farewell
Vienna – Mozart
Farewell
Vienna – Votivkirche
Farewell Vienna – Rathaus
Farewell Vienna – Belvedere Palace
Farewell Vienna - Prater
Farewell
Vienna – Musical life
Farewell
Vienna – the people
Farewell Vienna - Wickenburggasse, my Viennese
home
Farewell Vienna - Great skiing and friends
Farewell Vienna - Wonderful friends and
memories
Farewell Vienna - Great teachers, classes, and
friends
John
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