Graz
I am carrying a 20 pound bag up a hilly part of Graz's Old Town, lumbering under the weight and sweating from the 90 degree heat. "Why don't you leave the bag in a cafe somewhere?" Martin (our resident Austrian) asks me.
"Leave it in a cafe?" I am very confused, is he asking me to desert my bag?
"Yeah, they'll look after it for a while."
I find the idea entirely appalling, who leaves bags with strange waitstaff? "Well, it has my computer in it," I say stupidly, at a bit of a loss. I can't imagine leaving my computer anywhere without multiple locks.
He rolls his eyes at me, giving me a 'stupid American' look. "This is *Austria*, it's safe here."
I realize then and there that this statement perfectly describes Graz. It is really safe there, no shady characters, just wholesome sausage-eating, mountain-hiking small-town Austrians. Crime isn't even a part of their consciousness. Luckily I am with 2 other Americans (Joy, and her twin sister Gloria who is visiting from London) who understand my plight. They murmur sympathetically, totally understanding my unwillingness to part with my $2000 gadget. But the Austrian is still looking at me funny. Personally I think I should be looking at *him* funny. Unlike the native Graz-ians I have no obsession with their fellow townie-cum-governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. None at all. Nor do I spend my time running up mountains only to finish an alarmingly big dinner that puts the portions of super-sized McDonalds value meals to shame.
I went to Graz to visit the cool group of people who adopted me in Vienna. I needed a weekend activity (damned if I am going to stay in Bratislava). And I love Austria (I know that I mention this every other journal entry). Austria is beautiful; the train ride through the hills was breathtaking, very Sound of Music; frolic-perfect meadows filled with wildflowers, evergreen trees, chalets. None of this is new to me of course. My parents and I drove around the Austrian countryside for a day while we were staying in Vienna a couple of weeks ago. Still, it always stops me in my tracks...
The boys in the Graz group save Martin spent the weekend hiking in the Alps. This left us free to have a totally girly weekend complete with the ballet and heavy drinking. Don't get me wrong, we hiked up plenty of hills (my calves are killing me) but we took it easy; lingering in churches and at the tops of hills, savoring views and the abandoned castle. We shared our ridiculously sized traditional Austrian dishes. We ate pumpkin seed oil salads and Austrian pastries. We went to the opera house for the Parisian Opera Ballet's performance. We wandered (Graz is perfect for wandering, no real need for awful public transportation). We lingered over daiquiris and mojitos until 3:30 in the morning. We enjoyed the ambiance of Graz, the hospitality of the Austrians (and summarily ignored them whenever Arnold came up in conversation). We drank local wine (which is about the same price of diet coke...) and talked food. Laura and I drunkenly ranked European countries in order of male attractiveness. The heat really wore me down fast, and I was pretty loopy the entire weekend. Joy and Laura were very patient with my melting/obsessive hydration and just as cool as I remembered them. Gloria was sweet in a well traveled southern belle kind of way.
I was sorry to leave Graz, and my new friends. It was more expensive than Slovakia certainly, but less expensive for the US, and it oozed all that damned charm. In retrospect I suppose its good I didn't intern in Graz, I would never sleep. Not that I get very much sleep in this heat, but...
Friends of my mom's are in town today and apparently want to buy me dinner. Probably in exchange for tourist information. They are going to be very disappointed, (as I know nothing of Bratislava) but I am sure as hell not turning down a free meal and the opportunity to be sarcastic (impossible with non-native speakers). Apparently the daughter is graduated from the Academy a year after me. My Mom asked if I know her and I said "of course not, but she'll sure as hell know me." That's not idle boasting, its fucking true. I might have a rather interesting story to recount tomorrow.
"Leave it in a cafe?" I am very confused, is he asking me to desert my bag?
"Yeah, they'll look after it for a while."
I find the idea entirely appalling, who leaves bags with strange waitstaff? "Well, it has my computer in it," I say stupidly, at a bit of a loss. I can't imagine leaving my computer anywhere without multiple locks.
He rolls his eyes at me, giving me a 'stupid American' look. "This is *Austria*, it's safe here."
I realize then and there that this statement perfectly describes Graz. It is really safe there, no shady characters, just wholesome sausage-eating, mountain-hiking small-town Austrians. Crime isn't even a part of their consciousness. Luckily I am with 2 other Americans (Joy, and her twin sister Gloria who is visiting from London) who understand my plight. They murmur sympathetically, totally understanding my unwillingness to part with my $2000 gadget. But the Austrian is still looking at me funny. Personally I think I should be looking at *him* funny. Unlike the native Graz-ians I have no obsession with their fellow townie-cum-governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. None at all. Nor do I spend my time running up mountains only to finish an alarmingly big dinner that puts the portions of super-sized McDonalds value meals to shame.
I went to Graz to visit the cool group of people who adopted me in Vienna. I needed a weekend activity (damned if I am going to stay in Bratislava). And I love Austria (I know that I mention this every other journal entry). Austria is beautiful; the train ride through the hills was breathtaking, very Sound of Music; frolic-perfect meadows filled with wildflowers, evergreen trees, chalets. None of this is new to me of course. My parents and I drove around the Austrian countryside for a day while we were staying in Vienna a couple of weeks ago. Still, it always stops me in my tracks...
The boys in the Graz group save Martin spent the weekend hiking in the Alps. This left us free to have a totally girly weekend complete with the ballet and heavy drinking. Don't get me wrong, we hiked up plenty of hills (my calves are killing me) but we took it easy; lingering in churches and at the tops of hills, savoring views and the abandoned castle. We shared our ridiculously sized traditional Austrian dishes. We ate pumpkin seed oil salads and Austrian pastries. We went to the opera house for the Parisian Opera Ballet's performance. We wandered (Graz is perfect for wandering, no real need for awful public transportation). We lingered over daiquiris and mojitos until 3:30 in the morning. We enjoyed the ambiance of Graz, the hospitality of the Austrians (and summarily ignored them whenever Arnold came up in conversation). We drank local wine (which is about the same price of diet coke...) and talked food. Laura and I drunkenly ranked European countries in order of male attractiveness. The heat really wore me down fast, and I was pretty loopy the entire weekend. Joy and Laura were very patient with my melting/obsessive hydration and just as cool as I remembered them. Gloria was sweet in a well traveled southern belle kind of way.
I was sorry to leave Graz, and my new friends. It was more expensive than Slovakia certainly, but less expensive for the US, and it oozed all that damned charm. In retrospect I suppose its good I didn't intern in Graz, I would never sleep. Not that I get very much sleep in this heat, but...
Friends of my mom's are in town today and apparently want to buy me dinner. Probably in exchange for tourist information. They are going to be very disappointed, (as I know nothing of Bratislava) but I am sure as hell not turning down a free meal and the opportunity to be sarcastic (impossible with non-native speakers). Apparently the daughter is graduated from the Academy a year after me. My Mom asked if I know her and I said "of course not, but she'll sure as hell know me." That's not idle boasting, its fucking true. I might have a rather interesting story to recount tomorrow.