Baden, Bright and Beautiful

Finally, the sweet whispers of Spring on the breeze.  Or is it the screaming of my Arizona Wildcat fan  during March Madness?  It's both, but all good with me.  Yesterday brought an opportunity to venture out of Vienna to explore Baden, a spa town located about 25 miles away.

Too much history, especially when written by this amateur, can make for boring reading-but stay with me for a moment.  Since 869, through various invasions and even a devastating fire, Baden has stayed true to its origin:  thermae, spa, healing waters.  "Everyone" made their way to Baden since the Romans, from Hapsburgs to Beethoven, Strauss and the Soviets.  The town is walkable, through neoclassic architecture, cobbled pedestrian streets, lush parks with views to the vineyards, an outdoor market and of course the spas and casino (one of the largest in Europe).  To get there is an easy ride on the local train (Lokalbahn Wien-Baden) hop on in front of the Vienna Opera.  It runs every 15 minutes.

Welcome Spring.  Great to meet you Baden.  Go Cats!

Dubai. Again.

I wish I could say I was one of those hearty souls who thrives in Winter, making the most of grey days, preparing meals with hearty root vegetables and warding off the bitter cold with grace.    In fact, I spend much of the season whining about the wind blowing through our poorly insulated windows, itching dry skin, and gaining the winter 15.  Perhaps this crap attitude is why we decided to spend the February ski break in Dubai, yet again.

Dubai is our adventure into the warmth, a re-charging of the batteries.  Mike and I get to thaw out, lounge by the pool, and enjoy happy hour, while our boy sets off to meet new friends and play beach soccer for a week.  We might as well just say goodbye at the entrance to the resort and meet him in the airport at week's end.  This year, he left with the names and email addresses of kids from all over Europe.  I listened to one conversation where he was invited to Paris to play......"and bring your parents along, too."  

We stayed at the luxurious Madinat Jumeirah Al Qasr, on the Persian Gulf, in the shadow of Burj al Arab.  The accommodation and service is exceptional.  My photo obsession meant more vacation pictures of the Burj than the family.

Dubai is Las Vegas-hold the sin, a melting pot, where east mingles with west, a city of obvious haves and hidden have nots, as well as a place that is still carefully and quickly constructing its identity.  Most importantly, it is a place where we can tell old man winter to "shove it", for a week, every February.

Having a Ball

Ball season is in full swing in Vienna.  It is also referred to as "Vienna's Glorious Ball Season" on one of the tourism websites.  There are hundreds of events to choose from - including these tantalizing opportunities:  The Vienna Coffee House Owner's Ball, The Ball of Legal Professionals and BonBon Ball.  In fact, tonight is the famous Vienna Opera Ball, where red carpet entrances are covered like the Oscars and year after year a skeevy eighty-something mall millionaire pays "starlets" hundreds of thousands of dollars to be his date.  Last year his victim was none other than "happy to take the money, honey" Kim Kardashian.  This year, he will have George Clooney-ex Elisabetta Canalis on his arm along with his 24 year old Playboy model wife.

Kim Earning Her Salary (Web Photo)

On a more sedate note, we just attended our second annual Staff Association Ball hosted by dear husband's employer.  The evening was very elegant.  There was a program of excellent entertainment, philanthropy, and the presentation of debutantes who waltzed beautifully with their escorts.  Following the formal program, it was a huge party with separate stations for eating and drinking, along with dancing in the rooms of Vienna's Imperial Palace, the Hofburg.  When in Vienna.....

2015

2014

Please, Mr. Postman

I've been known to rant about the absurdities of living in Vienna to friends and strangers alike.  This is not shocking to anyone who knows me.  I'm going to generalize here:  people in Austria relish making the obviously simple task into a difficult, if not damn near impossible, task.  Just follow expats posting on the internet about living in Vienna and trying to get something accomplished, from banking to housing to registering their educational degree.

Side note:  You read that last part right, Austrians are really into "titles".  For example, If you have a Masters Degree, you can use the title Mag. (Magister) in front of your name.  Officially, you must go through some kind of process to get your degree registered with the government.  I think I am just going to start using Hag. in front of my name and let them wonder what it means.

Living in Vienna means you frequently deal with the party of "NO"- I don't mean the USA Democrats or Republicans (depending on your politics).  The attitude of "Yes, we can!" or "Si se puedes!" does not translate.

That being said, last week I experienced something so amazing in its simplicity and ease, I nearly jumped for joy.  At the Post Office.

Note:  Closed on Saturdays

In the past, the Austrian Post and I have not been friends.  Customs is fanatical, searching (yes, opening) packages looking for something to tax.  Oh, say, like a vintage (used) luxury item purchased at a charity auction and mailed to Vienna, only to be taxed by customs as if it were brand new.  Fighting City Hall is not worth the effort, so one must pay Mag. Tax Man to get the goods out of jail.

For that reason, I don't purchase many items that require shipping, just in case I break some rule and have to pay.  However, the time comes when ordering something from Amazon is critical to one's very existence.  I missed the delivery, took my slip to the Post for pick-up and encountered this:  Automated Package Pick-up.

Hag. Johnson, Your Package is Available for Pick Up

Here is the long and short of it:  stand in front of a bank of cabinets with your package slip, scan the barcode at the computer (directions available in English), sign your name on the touch screen and Holy Strauss! somewhere along the bank of happy yellow cabinets a door pops open and your package is ready for the taking.  When you close the door, the next person can use the system.

Note the Different Sized Cabinets and Sunny Color!

So Easy, Even an English Speaking ExPat Can Do It!!

This can only mean one thing.  When living here frustrates the hell out of me,  Amazon to the rescue.

If You Get Lost.....

Over the Holiday, I was absorbed in another click through time waster of great importance on  Architectural Digest and remembered I wanted to write you about Mies van der Rohe.

AD's list of Landmark Buildings Then & Now includes the Seagram Building, completed in 1958 by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.  Located at 375 Park Ave. New York, New York, the building was Mies' first US skyscraper construction and stands today as iconic "international style" architectural modernism.

Photo From AD Link with Credit

So, it is really good to know that if you get lost between the moon and New York City, you'll end up in Brno and fall in love.  Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic and home to another Mies van der Rohe architectural achievement.  The UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site at Villa Tugendhat.  A friend and I booked our tour and visited in November.

Fritz and Grete Tugendhat, both from Jewish German industrialist families, commissioned the house from van der Rohe in 1928.  Grete admired the architect's early work in Germany and the "less is more" functionalism of his design aesthetic.

Mies employed novel residential construction techniques and technologies, including steel structural framing, forced air heating-cooling and an electric window lift system.  Mies designed (and/or co-designed) the furniture.  The Brno and Barcelona chairs are both recognizable and desirable today.  Finishing details from around the world were installed-a curved dining room wall of Macassar ebony, Italian travertine, a Morocan onyx paneled wall and other rare hardwoods from Southeast Asia.   Villa Tugendhat was completed in 1930 and the family lived there until the rumblings of war in 1938.  The family fled and left the home in the care of a trusted friend who turned it over to the Gestapo.  Some friend.

During WWII the Nazis damaged and dismantled the Villa and its furnishings and the post war years resulted in even more damage when the Russians housed a calvary unit in the house.  The Villa was used as a dance school and a pediatric medical facility in the 1950s and 1960s.   It became a registered landmark in 1963.  Plans for restoration were thwarted by the Czech Communists throughout the 1970s, but Gerte Tugendhat visited twice in the late 1960s to speak about the Villa's construction and her communications with van der Rohe during that process.  Two major restoration efforts took place in the 1980s and 1990s, saving the structure and contributing to its recognition as a UNESCO site in 2001.  The first sentence in the UNESCO listing says it all:

"The Tugendhat Villa is a masterpiece of the Modern Movement in architecture."

To visit is to marvel-not only in the beauty of the building, but its lot position overlooking Brno, as well as the furnishings and finishes.  All of which is the result of a significant restoration that took place between 2010-2012.  One incredible story from the restoration was the discovery and reinstallation of the curved Macassar dining room wall panels.  Removed by the Nazis in 1940, the panels were rediscovered in a Brno university canteen in 2010 by an art historian.  They had been hiding in plain sight for 70 years.  As had the onyx wall, it had been covered by a brick facade and left unscathed.

 In scouting the internet for information, I found The Glass House by Simon Mawer.  It is fiction that borrows from the story of Villa Tugendhat.  The video link is Simon Mawer discussing the inspiration for his book.

While this novel is on my reading list, the truth of Villa Tugendhat is a story worth knowing.

There's Something About Prague

I may have mentioned before that you don't need to twist my arm to get me to the Czech Republic.

Trust me when I say it was a no brainer decision to spend our Christmas in Prague.

Yes, we live in Vienna and it is a beautiful city.  In comparison, Prague's beauty glows.  This particular place draws you in and wraps you in a warm hug with a big smile.  Then it serves up a large hunk of street ham, with a side of potatoes and cabbage, washed down with hot red wine, topped off with this addicting warm, rolled, cinnamon sugar pastry named Trdelnik.  Then you get another hug and a smile.  Leaving is never easy.

So we celebrated Christmas Day with the throngs of joyful visitors from around the world at the Market in the Old Square.  The Nutcracker at Prague's National Theater was enchanting from the nose bleed cheap seats.  Our holiday celebrations have officially become traditional in their non-tradition.  Should you decide to skip your Christmas tradition and embrace the non-traditional, go to Prague.  The city waits with its warm hug.  We will be there too.

Bless Us, Every One.  May Your New Year be Filled with an Abundance of Joyful Moments.

The Family Johnson