Part II

I landed in Vienna on 10/5/19 ( using the European date notation , always made more sense to me ) . I stayed with friends near the Innere Stadt . While Vienna is chock full of fantastic architecture , the dynamism of the old Habsburg Empire is captured in the staid strength that the buildings exude from inside the Ringstrasse . The Ringstrasse , literally the Ring Road , encircles the Innere Stadt . I was lucky to stay a ten minute walk from a complex of palaces and museums , and the beautiful Burrgarten . I could spend the rest of my time here explaining how this gorgeous park came to be … not going to do it . I found the tram very easily and headed Southwest to the Schonnbrunn Palace . I was simply awestruck by the vastness of it . There is something incredibly life-affirming for me to traverse a completely foreign city ; alone at that . It is also very nice to speak to complete strangers who are experiencing what you , yourself are seeing – and to relate to each other what you are seeing for the first time .

I had been sitting on a bench pondering the history that had taken place here , having just walked the whole grounds in 45 minutes . I young man from Sweden sat down next to me ; we must’ve had the same look on our faces because we couldn’t stop grinning . He was 32 and had been dying to see Vienna since he was quite young . I shared the same . We chatted on about our lives and bid each other good day – it began to rain . I really don’t know what it is that Europe has against me , but it rained virtually the entire 4 weeks of my trip in 2017 . I haled a taxi , no walking to the tram stop in the pouring rain . My driver was a very nice gentleman of Egyptian descent . He asked where I was from , in turn , and I quietly responded ” the US ” . He smiled and said ( you guessed it ) ” Trump ” ! He turned to see the blank expression on my face and apologized . I told him that must of us are not happy with him and he replied that it was more a punchline than a name now . We both laughed . He was a Economics student when he left Cairo , traveled between Europe and the US . He said that Vienna was the best place to live . I couldn’t have agreed more ; a nice city with warm people . Only the day before , over coffee , I had a wonderful conversation about music with a young law clerk . He plays the cello and the bass ; we talked for all of his lunch hour about Jazz and Blues . In the end we exchanged e-mails and he invited me to see him play at a concert in the Hofburg Palace . I will be back in Wien on the 1st of July and he plays on the 2nd … maybe it will work out .

As I stood in the doorway of my friend’s apartment , there on Weidenerstrasse , the clouds started to break and I considered another short walk later before dinner with Ivan , my host . It was difficult for me to journal ( and still is ) and articulate what it’s like to be away from the noise of life in the US . I don’t mean that in a derogatory way , and it is certainly not directed at anyone . I am really not on vacation , because I have to keep digging and researching for the book I’m in the process of writing . I am enjoying the step-by-step/breath-by-breath aspect that has been afforded me . I took one last walk ; to Belvedere Palace ( pictured above ) and really got lost there . Letting my eyes crawl over every square foot of that Baroque beauty . The photo above is from Lower Belvedere , the ” backyard ” of the Palace . In this vast garden , it is not very difficult to see why these places were havens from the everyday lives of the emperors and empresses . Even with a multutude of visitors , I was able to sit and find solace and peace . Birds filled the garden with an aural tapestry of sound . The Palace also houses the largest collection of Klimt paintings .

On my walk back through the neighborhood surrounding Ivan and Neva’s apartment , the mood captured me and I sat on an old stone wall an watched the sunset settle slowly behind a church . I though about the history of Wien and about my history ; the rises and falls , and the triumphs and failings … maybe we aren’t that different . The following day , the 12th of May ( my sister’s Birthday ) I will be leaving for Bratislava and Slovensko … the home in my heart .