Report about Vienna, distributed by email 3 October 2000

Hi Ellen,

When I arrived in Budapest by train from Vienna, I decided to continue on to Szeged in Southern Hungary, since I had not planned on going there after you leave and I didn't want to spend the additional time in Budapest.

The weather gives me the feeling that fall is coming. The mornings are cool and I take my jacket. Some days I use a long sleeve shirt and others a short sleeve, and then in the evening use my jacket. The problem is that many places I go inside are too hot and I sweat around the neck and chest. One day was a little cooler than the others and I wore a long sleeve t-shirt under my shirt, but removed it as the day warmed up. This was the only day it tried to rain, and it only sprinkled a little bit. All in all, the weather would have been excellent for bicycling.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will catch a train for Budapest and prepare for your arrival, get Craig's mailing address for the absentee ballot [Ron's absentee ballot for the US election on 7 Nov is supposed to reach me by post today or tomorrow, but if it doesn't come in time for me to take it with me, friends will check our mail and forward it to Budapest -- Ellen], buy tickets for us and our bikes for Prague, and try to stock up the icebox for your arrival. Besides tea and lemons, what would you like?

After what I thought were high prices in Vienna, it was a relief to get to Szeged and find a nice room with a shower, icebox, and TV with CNN for 10 dollars (wow...there is no key for the dollar sign on this keyboard. Now that should be something of interest in this time of globalization when we think the dollar reigns supreme). Across the street I got some fruit, cheese, water, crackers, and sliced salami, all for less than two dollars. Now I can sit in the park and read while I have a picnic.

Obviously, I have been putting off writing about Vienna. What can I say. It is a big, expensive city with many many very large ornate buildings. As I indicated in my last message, I tried to find things that were uniquely Austrian and observed only a few things: They are too busy to watch sunsets since the best, and perhaps only decent place to watch them (the Summer Palace), besides going up in one of their newer, more modern tall buildings, they close before sunset. We had a wonderful banquet in the city hall building, which was really very fancy. I am sure our tax-payers back home would not approve even the maintenance on such a building, especially with a banquet hall competing with the major hotels. I could not get a slice of lemon for my tea, and the lemon on the buffet tables was carved for decoration, but was all attached, so that I had to physically tear off a piece. Ned could not get decaf coffee.

On their key board at the Internet Cafe, (full of tourists), when you right click you get instructions in German. Also my menu bar was in German. On the next to last day they closed the U2 metro we were using, posting signs in German that were no help to me at all. I have always known that Americans and the French had big egos; now I can add the Austrians to the list. This is an international city with a huge tourist industry, and where I, (with my limited use of English, let alone talk about my absence of any skills in any other language), can not complain, but if I were a person from Asia or South America, or even from Romania, I could complain that their public transportation system provided no help in the international language of English.

The President of the University in his speech used the word "firms" in place of corporations or businesses. Because of the frequent use of the term, I feel it was intentional and wonder why?

In our first hotel we were locked in our room because someone else locked the bathroom we had to pass through to exit (another story). In our second hotel, you needed a key to get out of the front door in the evenings and at night. In case of fire, grab your keys first!

They had an excellent transportation system in the downtown area, including an underground network and an above ground system of trams and buses. There was a circular pattern around the center that was very effective for walking and/or using the transportation system.

The University building was immense and all of the meeting's programs were held in the building, along with all other kinds of events, classes, student activities etc. What else can I say. If you have a meeting in Vienna, you will enjoy visiting the city. If you don't have a meeting there, well...write me and I may suggest a few other places for you to consider for a vacation.

Now I am off to Budapest to await your arrival and to start part two of this year's adventure. I really enjoyed traveling with Ned. Our styles did not conflict, with the exception of him wanting a more formal and upscale dinner lasting far too long and I wanting to be on the streets at dusk and early evenings. I think he is ready to try Asia, but he might not think so. Having a good friend to travel with was one of the best parts of this trip. However, there are some different advantages to traveling with a wife, and I look forward to your arrival and our bike adventure.

Love,

Ron

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