Day 145: Vienna! Frohe Weihnachten—Merry Christmas!
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Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
145 — Vienna! Frohe Weihnachten—Merry Christmas!
25-December-1971
(Sat.)
TRANSCRIPT
Weihnachten!
Spent most of the day with Pavel and Lisa and
Dolores. Very nice day. Christmas meal and some
sightseeing. Lisa and Dolores are very nice and we
have a good time. Pavel’s sister, Lisa, is a
good-looking girl and I seem to be doing pretty well
with her—???
Saw La
Traviata. So far, one of the better
Verdi operas. A premiere. It was a really good
performance and the singers were excellent. The tenor
didn’t sound as well. It was still very enjoyable.
REFLECTIONS
Christmas
market in Vienna. The
opening photo today is a still picture from a
wonderful 360-degree panorama of Christmas in Vienna
by photographer Bernhard Vogl
from his
website dativ.at.
When
you
go to
the picture at the website
here, and
if you have Quicktime (PC or Mac) and a fast
Internet connection, you will be able to scroll
your mouse over the picture to see a full
360-degree panorama. Breathtaking. So nice. I
encourage all of you to visit Bernhard’s website
to see many more wonderful photos and panoramas of
Vienna. I should reference his site more often.
This photo exemplifies the Christmas spirit that
is found in Vienna. (Opening photo: © Bernhard
Vogl; Website: www.dativ.at)
Back to 1971.
[If you remember, Pavel and I are living in the apartment of our hausfrau, Frau Pollack, not too far from the Votivkirche. We have very large, separate rooms. I like these rooms.]
John Casanova? I also appear to be happy to see Pavel’s sister. What’s happening with me lately? It sounds like I’m trying to pick up every good-looking girl. What about Elisabeth and Anjali? I still really like them. No! I never pick up girls. Really. It must be my new confidence, now that I am a world traveler of international fame. I’m just comfortable with people and always like meeting new people. It’s true to this day.
[I think that I actually still like all of the girlfriends that I have had my entire life. I never meet them and have no idea where they are, but I still like them, as good friends, and good memories. I do really like Anjali especially, and Elisabeth.]
I’m glad that Pavel, Lisa, Dolores, and I are enjoying this Viennese Christmas.
La Traviata. This opera by Guiseppe Verdi is one of the most popular operas of all time, a favorite. Tonight's performance provided a great ending to this Christmas day. As always, these Viennese performances are truly enjoyable. I will simply point you to the Wikipedia article for additional reading today. (What we all really want is to listen to audio excerpts.)
Christmas is about families and Christ. We celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas, and we celebrate our families, and especially young children. Although my stepchildren are now grown up, we all celebrated the holiday together yesterday, with a nice Christmas Eve dinner, the opening of presents, and midnight Mass at our church. So, on this special day, I would like to introduce to you my family and my brothers as we grew up.
Meet John’s family. Meet the family. In the photo below, we have my beautiful wife Olga and her sons, Walter and Alex with their girlfriends. Walter and Alex have beautiful girlfriends, Maria and Marianna. My stepsons and their girlfriends (and all their friends) are so good looking. What do they feed these Ukrainians? From L-R: Alex, Marianna, Olga, Maria, and Walter.
Below, you
first see an old photo I found, of my brothers and I
with our mother. I was the oldest, and counting down
came brothers Michael, Steven, Frank, and Dennis. We
are all separated now and don’t get to see each other
often, but each brother is very special, with many
special talents, and their wonderful families as
well. Families often drift apart and ours is no
exception. Hopefully, we'll try to communicate a bit
more. The following photo of Dennis at age 8 rounds
out the 5 boys. Dennis was a great kid, full of
energy and always smiling.
Our mother
Olga, who raised us mostly by herself, died of breast
cancer at an age much too young. That was over 25
years ago; it seems like yesterday. Although I did
not realize it at the time, or express it to her at
the time, I admired our mother greatly. Working
full-time, raising 5 boys, keeping the household, and
paying off a mortgage all by herself were monumental
challenges that she met. I don't see how she did it.
All the more credit to her. As always, you wish that
you could have done more for your parent or parents
when they were alive. It’s good to think of past
loved ones at Christmas and other family holidays.
One day, I hope to have websites that will talk about
people and families.
Next, we can't forget my mother-in-law, Olga's mom,
Hanna. Here she is sandwiched in by Alex and Walter.
Either they are tall, or she is short. Or both. Then,
Olga and her mom.
Let's get back to Alex and Walter and their beautiful
girlfriends. I really like Maria and Marianna, and
all of Alex's and Walter's friends as well. All of
these young people are of good character, good
natured, and good kids. They give generously at
Christmas although we tell them not to. For these
couple of photos, I did not get their permission.
Let's see if they let me keep them up.
We can't forget our dog, Beemer, who as you know,
loves the snow. He's a bit fatter in 2007, just like
his owner (me).
Here is my wife enjoying the beautiful environs of
St. Barth's in the French Caribbean. We were invited
down for a week by our wonderful friends Don and
Yolanda at their beautiful villa. We don't travel
that often and this vacation was a special treat.
Thanks Don and Yolanda.
Now, the old man and Olga.
Finally, when Walter visited his grandparents on
their village farm in Ukraine, he brought back this
picture. Ukrainian piggies.
Merry
Christmas. Whatever
your faith, I wish you all a wonderful, healthy, and
happy holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone.
John
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