A Jew in Vienna

Before I came to Austria, I looked at the Jewish community. I wondered if a Jew, me, would be comfortable in Vienna. I came with prejudices. My father would not buy a German car. My experience with the German accent was American movies, Nazis and evil. In my mind, I would sometimes flinch, hearing German. So could I, would I, be welcome, happy here?
The answer is yes and no.

Yes, life is good in Vienna. It is easy to get around. Good health care is provided. It is amazingly clean and beautiful!

I long ago gave up the “not buying German products” and I’ve visited Germany a few times. I’m glad to be able to say that I like the German language much more now. I have so many pleasant interactions in German. I think of the lady that I buy flowers from, the delightful German teachers at school and the sounds of life around, counting in games, acquiring vocabulary, using German myself.

Which brings me to Yiddish. I make many connections. I can hear my dad say “noch mal”, again. My mom say inga pathchin, messed up. The word for salmon in German is lachs, pronounced lox.

It is okay to be Jewish here but it isn’t okay to mention it too much. When I occasionally mention a Yiddish word, no one asks how much Yiddish I speak or how I know it or even if I am Jewish, a fair assumption. It simply isn’t talked about, that is the feeling I get.

There are reminders of the Jews that lived here. Squares, about envelope size, are on the streets and on buildings with the names and dates of the people that lived there. Not many people know of them or notice them. In this city of grandeur, they have no grandeur.

There is a memorial in the old Jewish section that I really like. It is a bare library.

I have visited the Jewish Museums and find them sad and troubling. The top floor of the Jewish museum is crowded with Jewish stuff, menorahs, torah covers, that nobody claimed?

In the audio guide it says that the Jewish community was dissolved. That word troubles me, sugar dissolves, people don’t. People were murdered. Berlin uses the word murder in their Jewish museum. Austria doesn’t include, from 1938 onwards as their history, since they were annexed by Germany, Anschluss. My trouble with that, I think a person, country, people don’t heal unless they deal with the past.

Austria is a contradiction in many ways. They had a Jewish Chancellor, Bruno Kreisky, for many years. They also didn’t pay reparations until 1995.

So, is it comfortable to be a Jew in Vienna? For the most part, yes, there are probably no more Nazis here than in California.

Onward, Pjelasic Peninsula and Vela Luka, Korcula

After breakfast, I drove to the Pjelgasic Peninsula, reminds me of Point Reyes, with grape vines.  It felt like home, grapes ripening, stopped at one small winery and tasted.  Checked on the ferry times in Orebic and then drove to Loviste, the end of the peninsula.Pansion Tamaris, swim before dinner, lobster salad at Konoba Barsa.  fresh fish!
Ferry to Korcula, skipped the historic town, still too hot and crowded. Drove the length of the island again. Lunch in Brato, Zlinke restaureant, green pasta with shrimp, ancient building, delicious food and wine. Vela Luka staying with Marita and family in an A/C sobe. Local wine makers and olive oil producers, as well as hosts. Delightful!, First time they took a dog!

Wanted to go to Hvar, but can't from here, with my car. Heading home, a ferry to Split and then hit the highway.

Dubrovnik and around, July 16, 17, 18,

Amazing Coast!  Lunch in Ston, yummy oysters.  Too hot to walk to the old walls.  Arrive in Dubrovnik lovely hotel Kazbek.  A/C, quiet area, great shrimp dinner at the near by yacht club.
Exquisite breakfast, best croissants I've had outside of France. 
Drove to the old city, gorgeous,hot and crowded.  I would love to go back and walk the city walls but not now, when it is over 90. City has charm and friendly too.

 Drove to the hotel areas and looked at the other beaches.  Had a terrible quesadilla, canned vegetables. 
Napped and walked the nearby promenade for an ice cream in the evening.
July 18, spent the day swimming at the hotel.

  Went to dinner in nearby Cavtat with Thersa and Hannah Brits also staying at the hotel.  We picked a nice quiet restaurant by the water, but then the locals set up speakers with loud music, and the evenings water polo game.

Road to Dubrovnik July 15

For my Napa driveway?

Off the ferry in Split, from Vis, headed south. I had one night before my reservations in Dubrovnik. That stretch of coast is spectacular. Drove until I found a small town, the coast is packed with places to stay, but I tried for something simpler,Blace. Lots of families, (South Haven of Croatia) but quiet, low key, calm and beautiful. Rooms were not abundant. 15 euro room, shared porch/terrace with lieutenant colonel, Mercedes and her husband and son, from Bosnia.
Mercedes' English is excellent. she went to Monterey language institute. It's hot! I'm sitting having coffee at 9:30 am and sweating. Good to hang out and good conversations. On to Dubrovnik with their recommendations.

Vis, Croatian Island, Mid Dalmatia coast

Took the 3pm ferry to Vis.  Drove to the other end and back, about 10km.  Dinner at Vista Klub, seaside, yummy lamb.  Found Milna, about 10pm, am overcharged but this place is gorgeous.  I'm sitting on a balcony in the middle of the Adriatic.  My view is two small islands.
First day here, I shopped for food and rested.  Watched Star trek, took an afternoon swim at the rocky beach.  The proprietor, Antonia came by with a plate of salted fish with tomatoes and green peppers, drizzled with olive oil.  Incredibly good! The only thing missing was the wine.
Next day I went to get wine.  First a dip in the sea at the sandy beach.
Pulled into a winery.  Found a table with 4 men and two woman.  One of the men, cute Belgian journalist, offered to translate.  Tried red wine, crno, prosek, port like and a grappa.  Bought the first two for 100 kunas.  The closure is the old bottle cap type.
Then I drove into Komiza, to check on grotto tour, internet cafe and booked a hotel in Dubrovnik.  Finding a hotel at night with a dog in a new city is not always fun.
Stopped in what I thought was a winery but really was a restaurant and asked for both red and white wine.  They looked at me funny.  Took a dip at Razunac beach before heading "home" to Uskok.  It has cooled down tonight.  It is beautiful, sitting by the sea, noisy cicadas, voices carrying from the village but calm.  Being on vacation is great!

Split July 11

Hot! Arrived and couldn't find a hotel. Sunday the tourist office is closed.  After walking around, I stopped at a hostel.  They don't take dogs but Sheva called a friend, Mariani.  I rented an apt for the night for 60 euros, it was supposed to be 50.  It was the laundry that sold me!  I only planned to be gone two weeks and I was running out of clean clothes.  I put the laundry in and fell asleep in a nice A/c apt.  Woke up after 7pm and decided to go for a walk.  There is a wonderful park on a peninsula there. I walked for hours,  much further than I thought.  Reached the Riva, riverfront at 10 pm.  World Cup finals, lots of people out. Pizza and a taxi home.  Charming town, the doge was here!

Zadar and Skradin July 8, 9 10

Drove to Zadar, interesting sea organ, terrible lasagna lunch and a delightful pet shop owner recommended Skradin. (I hope he enjoys his trip to CA  for his niece's wedding in Sacramento!)

I could stay here for a while.  Hot, by a lake, kids, but not too many.  Water is cool, calm, gravelly bottom, quite refreshing.  Blue skies, yachts, swans, ten right in the middle of the lake in front of me.  Boats leave here for the national park. Krka. Thanks to the nice man in the pet shop, I have an amazing room with a/c, and internet for about 20 euros.  There are 3 beds, a stove and refrig and a warm friendly English speaking waiter/host, Denis, the best.

www.visovac.com

In Skradin, you take the boat up the lake and take a walk, much like Plitvice Lake, following a trail.  It was beautiful and less crowded, also only 1.5 km, I think.

July 4th, 5,6 Plitvice Jezero, Croatia

Jen and I don't get moving early and I drive back roads.  It took us 9 hours to get to Plitvice Lakes.  We had an amazing storm along the way.  I pulled off because I couldn't see to drive.  It only lasted about half an hour.  Then windy roads until dark. Driving with no civilization in sight.  It was 9 or 10 before we finally stopped at a "sobe" room.  We were only 10km from the park.
Checked into the Bellevue, one of only 2 hotels, the fancy one wouldn't take a dog.
The park/lakes are beautiful but very controlled.  There are 2 main walks, along wooden pathways, (beware bifocal wearers, the steps are invisible).  Boat loads of people more along the 2 1/2 hour path, took me 3 but I waited until everyone had gone ahead.

The next day Jen left and I took the boat across the lake to the other path.  but I didn't do the walk on that side.  Drove to Pog Island, stopped in Graca for coffee and tried to visit the caves, but couldn't. The woman at the coffee shop gave me a photo taken in the cave. Beautiful picture, warm hospitality and a connection made, without much English.
 Pog is small cute, island town.  Hotel Belvedre, last room was a suite with a huge balcony, 70 euros.  I took it for two nights.  Hung out at the small pool with three Brits.  Pool in the morning, shopping in the afternoon, water shoes, two pair of earrings, blue blouse and pizza.

July 2, 3, Lake Bled

Hot!  Nothing but an air conditioned room will do. 60 euros a night, I love Best Western, coffee in the room, a terrace, yummy bruscheta with artichokes and cheese.
Walked around Lake Bled, 6km.  Went swimming three times along the way fun!

July 1st

Drove to Ljubljana, the town of three bridges, a castle on the hill top.  A great walking town, lively, picturesque.  Didn't get to the library, supposed to be special.  I may have to go back.

Summer 2010

Even though this blog is called Odetoaustria, I post mostly about my trips outside.  So this is more like, my two years at VIS and my adventures.

Jen and I took off from Vienna on June 30th, car packed, Susie Q in the back seat.  We didn't have much of a plan, both of us wanted to see Plitvice Lakes, Croatia and Lake Bled, Slovenia.  Jen had to be in Split, Croatia on July 7th.

Took off about noon, stopped at a Hundertwasser rest stop grill.  George, my GPS system, quit on us and I got lost.  Not a news flash.  We wound up in a spa town called, Rogaška Slatina. Delightful spa town, with disgusting tasting water, heavy on magnesium.  It is supposed to clean you out, we got on the road instead. 

April in Morocco

I'm on a rooftop in Fez. It is about 10 pm. I just finished dinner, pastille de pigeon. It is Tuesday night, we have now been in Morocoo for five days. What I saw of Casblanca was a big, dirty city. We didn't plan to stay there. We arrived at night, had pizza for dinner and left the next morning. We boarded a bus to Essaouira. Four hours in a comfy bus to a sweet, seaside town. Our riad was comfortable and cute, the green room, The people were lovely at Dar Liouba. The town was relaxed souk with old Portuguese battlements.

We discovered thuya, a wood native to the region, from which beautiful items are made. We also discovered argan, a tree from which many things are made. We took an early, 9am. bus to Marakkeh, which broke down at 10 am. We had a lovely two hour roadside wait for a replacement bus. We were next to a field with olive and argan trees. Since we had no schedule, it was not a bad day.


We arrived in Marrakesh in the late afternoon.
Marakkech is intense, too intense for me. It is also very dirty and crowded, with mopeds and cars in the medina. We paid a visit to "the square" and it is a site to behold. We had ice cream for dinner. The next day we visited Majorelle Gardens that Yves St. Laurent and someone redid, a number of years ago. Lunched in the new city and bought English language books and beautiful jewelry. Dinner in the riad was a disappointment food wise, but picturesque and peaceful. Riad Nabila was wonderful but the location was too far away from the center.

We boarded a train this morning and spent seven hours traveling to Fez. I'm glad we got to see this much of the country. The ride from Rabat to Fez is beautiful. Checked into another beautiful riad,enormous room with a great view from the roof. I've fallen in love with Fez already, much cleaner and feels more comfortable. Less hassles,(not all gone)on the streets. Guides are offical and taxis are metered. The streets are too narrow for motor vehicles. Really it is the air that has captured me, the mountains are around us, there are vistas everywhere. Tonight as I sit here with a sweater it is quiet. The call to prayer at seven was amazing. It had power. I later learned there are over 300 mosques here. The city glows behind me.