"...Life is wonderful but very dangerous. If you have the courage to live it, it's marvelous!" -- Lionel Barrymore in "Grand Hotel (1932)"

 

While we are indeed on what most folks would deem a Grand Adventure (and I agree on some levels), It is also Just Another Day every day. We're just doing it someplace else. Small details make a bigger life and those small details are pretty much the same no matter where you are. Languages, food smells, daily sounds and vehicle types are different, but we all basically call the elevator (the above photo by our apartment) or just open a door or walk down the stairs and there we are -- Doing Shit. Retired, working, going to school or whatever, we go out and Do Shit. Because we have to, want to or are otherwise compelled. The Aufzug Kommt -- the elevator shows up and we get on.

The past few days have been unintentionally busy, mostly because of our decision to actually live here awhile instead of plopping down in a hotel for a few days. The weather has been hot (for here -- 95 degrees) and we're without a/c and we manage just fine. I go out to retrieve groceries and whatnot but closing windows and shades and just turning on the fan is way more comfortable than opening the window and hoping for a decent breeze like we might do back in Texas. There are also no window screens here, so bees and other bugs (thankfully no mosquitoes) fly in randomly if the windows are open. And it gets freaking noisy out there, with dumpster dumpers, sirens, bitchy neighbors and the other come-alongs in any urban environment. It might be glorious and historic Vienna, but it's also Just Another Big City.

We live across a freeway from a major stadium -- not the biggest in the city but one that tonight hosted a pretty important soccer match between a local team and one from Istanbul. Americans don't understand how all this works, since there's nothing really comparable in the US. I coached the game for a decade and was reasonably connected but I still don't fully appreciate it. Police set up a security area around the stadium, including our park and parking lots, told folks to move their cars and then towed the rest. A couple hundred police showed up before the game with helmets, sidearms and vehicles to haul away anyone who got in the way. I'd say a thousand Turkish fans flowed through the park, beating drums and singing team songs while police watched and helicopters swirled overhead. The match began and Denise and I went over to the park for our evening smoke to watch the polizei walk through periodically to look for anything suspicious but then the match ended and y'know what?

It apparently just ended. That's it. We're sitting here (windows now open because it's nice out) and we don't hear anything. It's like the game evaporated. Back to work tomorrow. Aufzug kommt.

I had a long hike yesterday, riding the Metro up to Karlsplatz to get a few things, then walking much of the way back (by choice). I stopped to get some actual decent footwear because all this walking doesn't match well with flipflops. I knew this going in but, well, I'm one to put things off more often than maybe I should. That problem now addressed, we were also overdue for groceries and -- have I mentioned how great it is to be able to cook here?

Christ. It has taken me a month but I have finally figured out most of the mysteries of this kitchen just as the weather is supposed to cool down this weekend and maybe I can get a few things done. In a culinary sense I mean. While a lot of folks would be going out to eat (as we clearly have), just staying home and cooking is its own reward in a different city where everyone smells each other's dishes. Every day someone sautes some onions in this complex and I'm wondering who and why and I want to go find them but, well, this complex is Soviet-like in its anonymity.

 Small things. There is a man who lives in the apartment by the elevator with his tiny dog. I mean the kinda tiny dog that should be used for bait to catch a Real Dog. I hear this little yappyass thing when he takes it out to take a shit because it barks at flies and oxygen. When we go to the elevator, this man's shoes are parked outside the door. He clearly carefully removes them before going into his apartment. But the other day I noted two pairs of shoes by the door -- one pair smaller than his normal one. I wanted to ring the bell and demand to know just what the hell is going on in there? With you. And your shitty little dog. None of my damn business of course and I of course wouldn't do that. But when you live someplace a little longer, you notice stuff. I hope all the schuses were happy.

We're about to enter our last month here and the change in tourist seasons will allow us to begin exploring more of some of the, well, tourist areas. We're also in a time of year when the weather will actually begin cooling off and I saw evidence of that at the Ludwig yesterday. Ludwig is a local chain that's a combination of Bed, Bath and Beyond, Home Depot's appliance section and the furniture part of Dillard's. Just like stores in the Pacific Northwest, it starts almost throwing summer shit out the door in mid-August. I saw a bistro set marked down from $200 to $60 yesterday. That kinda thing. But the weather usually DOES change that much in the coming month. I get it. We'll see.

We'll never be complete locals while we're on this adventure but we can get closer than most. Most days it's just routine. But inside I can savor the shit out of it.

Aufzug kommt indeed. For all of us. You can get on board or not.