Day 005: Coffee and call girls
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
5 — Coffee and call girls
07-August-1971
(Sat.)
TRANSCRIPT
I still can’t get over how helpful and friendly
everyone is. When you ask a question, they are
extremely courteous and patient. Not like the
too-frequented American cold shoulder.
Beautiful weather for last 3 days.
After paying 20s (20 Austrian shillings) for a cup of
coffee, I will not walk into just anyplace. Look for
cheaper places.
Akademiestrasse – cafes for students.
I have found out (from Herr Arthur S.) that I had my
coffee in the Hotel Statler, which, unknown to me, is
one of the exclusive hotels right in back of the
State Opera. Many upper-class go here, and nobility
also, after the opera.
I always knew that I had a taste for the “better way
of life,” but this was ridiculous. And all I wanted
was a cup of coffee for breakfast. No wonder no one
believed me.
On weekends, the student restaurants are usually
closed. It is hard to find cheaper places to eat.
Finally, I stopped off at a “hot dog” stand. I sat
down on a bench, next to a very pretty girl, and
after I finished eating:
On
Frustration.
The following conversation occurred after the above:
• Me: “Sind sie Österich student?”
• Her: “Ja, … …” [Words I did not understand.]
• Me: Shaking my head, not understanding. “Wo, in
Wien Universität?”
• Her: “Nein.” … … … [Words I did not understand.]
Feeling frustrated, I sat awhile.
Not knowing how to say, or what I was hearing.
Smiling, we departed.
Began to practice the guitar.
Who says there are language barriers? The student
hostel consists of each room looking out into the
center courtyard. While I was practicing, a
conversation began to develop among the different
people in the different rooms (windows). It was
multi-lingual and very amusing. Once I yelled out,
“Parlez-vous Francais?” and when somebody answered, I
didn’t know what to say.
Later that night, I went to a diner to get coffee.
While I was sitting, a man asked me how I learned
German…it developed into a conversation. He was a
middle-aged gentleman named Arthur, who was an artist
working for CBS as a promotional manager. He lived in
Paris and New York for a while, before going to
Vienna. He was extremely friendly and answered many
of my questions. He pointed out some cheaper places
to eat and buy things.
When I asked him why so many “mädchen” were
“bra-less,” he said, maybe “I” was seeing these type
of girls. We went just a block out of the way from
Kärtnerstrasse. Then this really good-looking girl
(woman) came and asked him something. We kept on
walking and there were several others around. I found
out that “streetwalking” was legal in Austria, and
was considered a business. When I told him that I was
surprised at how good-looking they were, he said that
was an “expensive district.”
We had a couple of more drinks and called it a night.
If I ever had any questions, he asked me to call.
REFLECTIONS
Everyone's
friendly. Here it is
Day 005 and I’m still raving about the friendliness
of everyone I meet. Again, perhaps it’s just trying
to speak the native language. I keep saying that the
native language is German, but I’m certain that
Austria and the Viennese may have some variations or
dialects. I’ll try to research that. I don’t know why
I’m so hard on the Americans, who, I think are
generally very friendly. Maybe, it’s just being
young.
A
cup of coffee. So, how
much was that coffee for 20 Austrian shillings? If I
remember correctly, it’s probably about one dollar.
Now, don’t compare that to Starbucks. This was 36
years ago, in Austria, way before any Starbucks
existed.
Needless to say, having a cup of coffee at the
exclusive Hotel Statler would be expensive for that
time. Then, I meet “Herr” (Mr.) Arthur S. who let me
in on the Statler/coffee scoop. It was the weekend.
How
to pick up a German-speaking girl.
What’s next? I may as well practice my German by
trying to meet the pretty girl mentioned in my
literary narrative called “On Frustration.” I asked
her if she was an Austrian student from the
University of Vienna. In response, I only understood
two words—“yes” and “no.” Good going, John. The
ellipses represent her speaking and my not
understanding. How am I going to meet anyone like
that? To be frank, I wasn’t a big lady’s man in
college. I was always working, as I remember. Later
in life, as a young professional, I was similarly
also very poor at picking girls up that spoke
perfectly fine English here in the USA.
At least I got to eat a hot dog. Probably a wurst.
Guitar
pickin'. I return
to the hostel and start practicing guitar. Beginner
classical guitar (you know, nylon strings that you
pluck). That past year, my senior year, I took
totally-beginner classical guitar lessons as one of
my courses, which I enjoyed. I wasn’t that good and
didn’t plan on getting much better. Why did I bring
this big, lunky guitar—a very nice one, Giannini—to
Europe? Now, I’m thinking that material objects, such
as guitars, cars, clothes, cell phones, and iPods are
extremely important to young people. Is that profound
or what? Has anyone else ever mentioned this? Why
didn’t I see this at the time? Well, I was young. At
any rate, there I am playing. I did like practicing
though.
Courtyard
banter, "I don't understand you." I remember
this next event even today. The student hostel was
like a large square with a center courtyard. And on
this early evening, students start speaking out of
the windows to each other in a variety of languages.
Very European, I guess. It was fun and interesting to
hear the lingual-chatter, none of which I could
understand. And, of course, I had to be the joker and
yell out in French. And, of course
secundo, I didn’t
understand the response and didn’t answer. I bet it
was a beautiful French girl, the kind you dream about
and immediately fall in love with. You know, I love
accents. All men and women love accents. They just
melt you—when coming from the opposite sex, most
often.
Mr.
S. Later, I
meet a man named Arthur at a coffee place. I start
the conversation in German, and thank goodness he
knows English. That’s the only time I can get my
questions answered. As I mentioned, he is a
promotional manager for CBS Records. UPDATE: See Day
258 for a surprise.
Girls,
bra-less infatuation. Before you
know it, I’m speaking of girls and, in my adolescent
fervor, immediately focus on bra-less girls (a
repeating theme). Obviously, it was big at the time.
Obviously, I am infatuated with…err…them, err…the
social phenomenon. I think I mention elsewhere in
this journal that I have no idea why this is
occurring. At my U.S. college, I don’t think anyone
was going bra-less, except us guys. Ok, Montclair
State Teacher’s College wasn’t Columbia or Berkeley,
but it “was”
the late
60’s.
Obviously, Arthur has my number and hints that I
(moi,
as Miss
Piggy reminds us) may be the one “see”-king such
girls. Well!
Call
girls. On the way
back home, I get a tour of places to eat and buy
things at reasonable prices. Oh, and of call girls.
No, I didn’t do anything. I was a “poor” student,
remember? I don’t remember if I was tempted but my
wallet always keeps me in line, regardless. I do
think it’s cool that it was legal and not such a big
deal. So European. So worldly. So bad.
Photo of the day:
Scan of my journal
John
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