XI. Zurückdenken

It's been a little more than a week since I left Vienna, and already it seems like some sort of dream. This is, in most ways, unfortunate. I don't want to forget my trip: I don't want to forget how to get around on Viennese public transit (trams are the best way to see the city, but subways are far quicker), or how to order food in German (use "bitte" frequently), or my science teacher (who found Viennese dialect incomprehensible, but spoke it fluently when inebriated!). But such is life. My spring of 2009 in Vienna is quite over, and I will never be able to relive it. The best I can hope for is that when—not if—I return, I shall have a similarly great experience. That's partly why I wrote this gol-durned web-log, to begin with; I want to remember what I thought the first time around. In the meantime, this journal with gather metaphorical internet-dust until I return. Rest assured I shall start it up again the next time I visit Vienna. But for now: Tchüß papa!

X. "Allons-y!"

Roses in the Volksgarten; I took this photo yesterday.

Well, today's my last full day in Vienna (for now). As before the beginning of the term, it's not really registered in my mind yet. I've been here ten weeks, and only now am I getting some sense of what life's like here. I have resolved that I must return, preferably sooner than later.

For the curious, I have taken some pictures. (Yes, I know they're on Facebook, but anyone should be able to view them. For the record, I loathe Facebook precisely because it is so convenient.) Here are the albums, from throughout the term:
Wienerreise (Vienna)
Egészségünkre! (Budapest)
Greetings from Czechia (Brno)
"Döner macht schöner!" (Vienna)
Praga mater urbium (Prague)
The Heart of Mitteleuropa (Prague)
No Polish Jokes, Please (Krakow)
Ich werde wandern (Vienna, Salzburg)
Last Waltz in Vienna

Today I plan to make it all the way around the Ring, and then, for dinner, Schnitzel King. It really is a fine restaurant...

IX. Spargelzeit

Here in lovely Vienna it is the height of asparagus season, and it is a gustatory delight to take part in it. After a service with the Anglicans, we went over to Café Prückel again; their Spargelcremesuppe is outstanding (and the Eiskaffee very good as well). It is now beyond question that Prückel is my favorite café in the city; if I could live anywhere here, I think it would have to be somewhere on the western side of the Third District (Landstraße), within a short walk of Christ Church, Stadtpark, and the café. And it seems that side of the Ring gets more sunlight, anyway; over on Schottenring it's too shady, at least in the afternoon. (There is one thing over there that grabs my attention every time I pass it, though: the Kleinbahn shop. If I ever have the money and an empty basement, I am going to have a miniature railroad in it, by gum.)

Freud walked around the Ring every day, it is said. There are certainly worse places to walk. I didn't quite make it all the way around today, but I did a respectable two-thirds, from Prückel around and up to the U4 stop at Schottenring. (You can see my route on that map, there.) It's getting so that I could actually see myself living in Vienna; I'm entirely uncertain how I'll be able to leave so soon.