Adjournment to Austria

After several false starts, Misha and I finally settled on an August vacation destination: Austria. Israel has been constantly updating travel advisories, routinely adding new countries to either the banned list or the orange/mandatory week of quarantine list. I’m currently off for the next few weeks, but Misha couldn’t afford to work from home upon returning from our holiday. This meant our list of vacation spots was severely limited. We requested the weekend off at the beginning of the summer, and in that time our destinations changed from Hungary (no foreigners allowed), to Belgium and the Czech Republic (added to orange list), to, finally, Austria.

Getting there wasn’t as smooth as we would have hoped. Our first flight to the island of Corfu was delayed nearly two hours due to an aviation workers strike. Our initial layover of 2.5 hours was now down to 45 minutes. After landing, madness ensued as we hustled our way to the first security checkpoint. We were supposed to show our entry permit, but since the airport wifi didn’t work we convinced the guard to let us go ahead and rush to our next flight. Israeli’s also going to Vienna, in typical form, pushed and cut their way through the lines to make no substantial progress but infuriate everyone else around them. After going through customs, we had to check back in with the airline, then go through another security checkpoint, our fellow Israeli travelers driving us crazy along the way. All of this only to find out that our next flight hadn’t even started boarding yet. Eye roll and sigh of relief.

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Anyway, on to Austrian wine country! We stayed at an Airbnb in a quiet little town near Krems an der Donau. The first day, we met Kurt Angerer and Simone Hobart, the quirky proprietors of Kurt Angerer wines. They were very friendly and generous with their time, tasting us on a variety of Gruner Veltliners and other popular Austrian varietals. After a quick visit to the vineyard, we had lunch at a pleasant restaurant right on the Danube. In these first 24 hours in Austrian wine country, one thing we kept noticing was the advanced age of everyone around us. In fact, as Simone explained to us, the lack of young people willing to work on the vineyards is a growing problem in Austria. For anyone looking to break into the wine industry in the US but finding the job market oversaturated in California, Austria is calling!

That night, as we returned to our Airbnb, we heard the distinct sound of rock ‘n roll music. We followed our ears, and lo and behold found a wine shop hosting a backyard party with a band performing old jazz and rock songs by musicians like Dave Brubeck, Eric Clapton, and George Michael (including a very entertaining cover of Faith in German). It was a surprising and welcome end to the night.

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Next, it was on to Vienna. We stayed at the Hotel Grand Ferdinand, which we chose for its location and rooftop restaurant. The city is very pretty, seemingly massive and wide open at the same time. This is a common feature in European cities with building codes that impose height limits. Baroque architectural structures appear menacingly heavy, but the abundance of blue sky and green trees eschew the claustrophobia one may encounter in a metropolis like New York City or London. As we wandered the streets, taking in the historical sites of The Hofburg, Karlskirche, the Rathaus, and others, it struck me that Vienna would be a great place to live. The sites were beautiful, the wealth behind their construction striking. However, I think that in order to really appreciate the Viennese culture, one would have to spend an extended amount of time there to see all the museums, concerts, and festivals that the city offers. Needless to say, I would be more than happy with a future posting in Vienna.

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In our four days in the land of Freud and Mozart, we experienced both the brilliant and the bizarre. In the former category were the wines, the ability of chefs to use every part of the animal (see menu above), a multitude of classic cars (featuring those at Schloss Gobelsburg and Herbie the Love Bug shown above as well as a classic car parade that conveniently passed by us at dinner), and COVID-19 gargle tests. These tests, which were invented in Israel (but ironically not used there), are easy to use, free and available at any hotel, and provide quick results provided you turn them in early enough in the day.

In the “bizarre” category fall many of the photos above. There are still plenty of phone booths around the city, a strangely high number of statues featuring men struggling to control their horses, and disquieting sculptures and reliefs of children. Out in the country, we found the city planning the exact opposite of Vienna. While the capitol felt open and free, many of the towns we drove through had narrow streets with buildings that ran on in one long stretch, despite having different colors or even architecture. You can see a bit of what I’m talking about in the photo of Krems an der Donau above. The towns felt tight, with many roads only wide enough for a car to pass through despite allowing two-way traffic. Driving along these roads, particularly when following Simone and her lead foot, was one of the first times I can remember feeling like the speed limits were too high.

We are planning our next trip for early September, but given the state of travel to and from Israel, the destination of that trip may not be determined until the final days before our scheduled departure, if we go anywhere at all. Travel around Europe is cheap, but the current state of the world makes it anything but easy, as we all know.