Day 244: Easter Sunday; tourists
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
244 — Easter Sunday; tourists
02-April-1972
(Sonntag–Sun.)
TRANSCRIPT
Easter Sunday. Day of relaxation.
Went to Wiener Choir Boys [Vienna Boys’ Choir].
Extremely nice, except for the influx of tourists. A
sign of spring in Vienna. The crows leave and
tourists come. At mass, met an American who was
traveling around; really good attitude and
intelligent. Had a good discussion. Also met a fairly
nice girl from Germany. It ended up that a whole
group of us went on a walking tour of the area. Very
nice, relaxing, good company, good conversation.
Things were going really well; even had an invitation
to spend some time in Germany. Thus, made plans to
meet at the opera. Obviously, something went wrong
because we never met. I was sure that she wasn’t
going to stand me up—we’ve must have gotten the
times, or something else, wrong. Well, that’s life.
Anyway, the opera—Magic
Flute. Extremely enjoyable.
REFLECTIONS
Easter
Sunday. Yay, I’m
finally back in church and enjoying the Vienna Boys’
Choir at mass (sorry about the dyslexia). If you are
traveling and go to a tourist spot, say to hear the
Vienna Boys’ Choir perform a mass in church, you
should expect there to be a lot of noise and movement
from the tourists. It’s still nice to enjoy this.
I imagine Vienna has a lot of crows during the winter
and that they are replaced by lots of tourists in the
spring and summer. Is this some kind of hidden
meaning?
Walking
tours. Look at
me—Mr. American, cosmopolitan, world-traveler,
Viennese transplant and expert tour guide of
Vienna—meeting a few people, and going with them on a
walking tour. I’m not certain if I suggested it. More
likely, we just started walking around. The entire
center of old Vienna (Hofburg, St. Stephansplatz,
Staatsoper, parks, History and Art museums,
Parliament, Burgtheater, Staatsoper, Kärtnerstrasse)
is such a wonderful place to walk around. I wonder if
it’s the same, 36 years later.
A
German girl and European hospitality.
Desperate
for female companionship—remember, I’m a 22-year-old
male—I meet a nice German girl and join them on this
walking tour of the inner city. My German-language
skills must be ok. I get invited to visit her in
Germany—another example of European
hospitality. This
friendliness happened many times during this year.
Another example—on one of my ski trips, a doctor on
the ski lift invites me to stay over if I ever visit
his city. This is most likely a you-can-sleep-on-the-couch-if-you-are-ever-visiting-my-city
invitation.
Could we do that in today’s world? Trust a total
stranger? Probably not. Sad.
What
did the German girl look like? It is
interesting to note that if I don’t have a photo of a
person, and they weren’t a close acquaintance, then I
have no idea today of what they looked like. It’s
just too hard to remember casual acquaintances that
far back. Wouldn’t it be nice to go back in time and
see these people? In lieu of a time machine, take
lots of pictures throughout your life. That’s my
advice.
Magic
at the opera. My attempt
to rendezvous with my new friend at the opera that
night didn’t materialize. Thankfully, Mozart’s
Magic
Flute is there
to be enjoyed. It would have been more enjoyable with
a companion to talk to.
John
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