Caffe Florian, Venice

me with (unseeable) bell town in background

While in Venice, we partook in the Venetian cafe culture at the Caffe Florian on Piazza San Marco. Although a bit more than what we should have paid for a glass of wine (8 euro) and sandwich (12 euro), the cafe is one of the oldest coffee houses in the city (serving overpriced sandwiches since 1720) and was a great cultural experience, albeit one I only need to do once in a lifetime. We chose Caffe Florain for 1) name recognition (thanks, Rick Steves) and 2) for its live music. All of the cafes on St. Mark's Square have live bands in the evening, but Caffe Florian's band had a little something special. Perhaps it was the woman violinist? The accordion player?

Callie enjoying the music

Knowing that Venice caters to tourists almost as a natural process of the city's functions (it's hard to imagine Venice without tourists, actually), makes me rethink, in a way, my overall enjoyment of the city. It definitely felt too-good-to-be-true at times: like Disney World. Like there was no real life in the city, and no real inhabitants. Just pretty buildings and canals. Like we were visiting a museum for an extended weekend. And like we really mattered to the wait staff, hotel staff, etc., etc. as long as we could pay up in the end.

Venice, I have decided, beautiful though it is, is not for the faint of pocketbook. Three days was perfect. Anymore time spent there (and not in the company of some rich billionaire) would be too much for the average young traveler/twenty-something/recent college graduate/me.

Here is a video clip of the musicians at the Caffe Florian (a rendition of Oh, Susanna! for your listening pleasure):

They later played an extensive musical theater repertoire - after some drunk Russians left, who were celebrating a birthday and requesting Russian songs for over an hour. Fiddler on the Roof, CATS and Hello Dolly were discernible. I now wish I had saved my memory card space and camera battery for the rendition of "Memories" (where Miss Grizabella dies - yes, I have CATS memorized)...but this, for what it'w worth, is good enough. The cafe staff did not get upset, unlike the staff at La Scala, who abhor even the sight of a digital camera. That, however, is another story.

Venezia: Leg One of Italia

Venice, known to some as the Floating City, the City of Water, Queen of the Adriatic, and the former seat of the Venetian Republic, was an important stop on my Easter tour of Italy for a number of reasons:

1. I've always wanted to go to Venice.

2. There is a night train leaving from Amstetten to Venice often (more than once a week) - one of the few international trains that makes a stop in Amstetten! The others I know about go to Budapest and Hamburg.

3. Not only an important part of Italian history and tourism, the city of Venice is important part of Austrian history as well, having been bought off Napoleon by the Habsburgs circa 1797... 

4. Venetian masks have intrigued me for some time. Also, what Grand Tour of Europe is complete without a stopover in Venice?

Callie in front of canal

Other Italian destinations included: Genoa and the Cinque Terre. In Genoa, we met up with our Lawrence buddy Sarah and made our way down to the Cinque Terre (five villages on the Italian Riviera...also a national park) to enjoy some hiking and sunshine and great food!

Our B&B: founded in 1288!!!

But, I will try my best to keep to Venice for this post. While in Venice, we took it easy - leisurely breakfasts in the morning at our amazing (and Rick Steves recommended) B & B; long walks around the lagoon and through the winding streets of Venice; indulging in aperitivi at overpriced canal-side bars...

The Grand Canal 

On Monday, we visited the Palazzo Ducale (doge's palace), former home to il doge, i.e. the duke of Venice - the last being Ludovico Manin, abdicated in 1797. The palazzo is amazing, a great 14th century structure with facades facing the lagoon and St. Mark's Square. AND, if you go exactly at noon, the line is six times shorter than at any other time of day (presumably because this is when all the tourists decide to take their lunch breaks). Admission is  14 euro, but considering the size of the place and all of the restoration work they have to do, it's worth it, in my opinion.

Callie pointing to a map of Venice

Here are some photos of St. Mark's Square:

And even gondolas in the lagoon!

Very romantic.







Considering one of Venice's most famous sons is Casanova, it's no wonder there's a certain "romance" to the city...this may not bode well for honeymooning couples, however...and we saw quite a few! It seems Venice is the "it" place to honeymoon?


And here are pictures of the Palazzo:

the Bridge of Sighs - unfortunately under repair

columns in the palazzo

facade of palazzo

 

 A funny story about the palazzo/ducal prison: Casanova, imprisoned for licentiousness or some such other offense, purportedly escaped the prison by digging a hole through the ceiling...with a file. He then escaped to Paris.

Perhaps the ducal prison didn't have the security of Alcatraz. But it does have the Bridge of Sighs!

photo in piazza of Doge's palace

Tuesday and Wednesday we took it easy, visiting St. Mark's Basilica (Chiesa d'Oro) and the Frari church (which has painitngs by Titian - most famously the Assumption - placed in their original, appropriate spots in the church/sanctum). We also went shopping, and looked at all the beautiful Murano glass jewlery - and other things - and realized how incredibly expensive Venice really is (having previously been warned). Great for a few days, but living here and not being a millionaire would be impossible!

Another interesting fact: the tap water in Venice is superb, mostly because it is sourced directly from run-off from the Alps. Neat, eh?

ceiling in Doge's palace

view from the Bridge of Sighs

Other fun things we did in Venice:

1. Visit mask and costume shops

2. Drool in the windows of all of the pastry shops getting ready for Easter

3. Get "lost" in the narrow, winding streets of Venice (we were never actually lost)

4. Take the Vaparetto all the way down the Grand Canal instead of paying for a gondola ride

 

5. Have REAL Bellinis at Hotel Metropole (and fooling the bartender into thinking we were guests at the hotel)

Click here or here for more information on our sojourn in Venice :)

Naturbad Amstetten: a Review of the Pool and Brainstorming Session

A few weeks ago, I discovered Amstetten's public swimming pool.

Not thinking much of swimming in a pool...especially since these sorts of things are hit or miss...I had actually known about the pool since November, but decided not to go. I was afraid it would be dozens of screaming children running around scantily clad and under light (if sometimes nonexistent) supervision by parents and/or babysitters.

Nevertheless, I decided to check it out. Spurred into a new fitness kick, I thought I would take up swimming again after a LONG hiatus (by "long" I'm talking a couple of years). And I was pleasantly surprised - at first - by the lack of screaming children, the sauna/steam room/whirlpool/restaurant areas...and the fact that there are massages available as well (for an added fee). At the slick price of €3.50 for an hour and a half, or €7 for four hours, this is possibly the best thing to do in Amstetten,

There are other, free things to do in Amstetten, such as going to church or going for a walk. Depending on your tastes, attitude and cash flow, I can recommend certain enjoyable activities: grocery shopping, drinking and going to the CCA (City Center Amstetten, i.e. the mall)...going for a gelato at the Cafe Excel, loitering in front of the ATOLL skate park/Jugendzentrum, and going to a musical and/or theatrical evening at the Pölz Halle...and now, I think I've covered each and every activity to partake in in Amstetten.

The Best American Short Stories of 2010

I recently finished a book I purchased in the O'Hare airport waiting for my plane to arrive as I prepared to return to Austria from Christmas at home.

Well, I have been reading other things in between. In my defense, I would like to say it took me so long to finish the collection because I wanted to savor each story - I didn't want to gorge myself of these stories and then have nothing left!

As a writer, I most identify with the short story form. I find novel writing tedious...a bit too much of a commitment. I never think of enough to say, and I like the impact a good short story can make. The brevity, the irony, and the element of surprise. Call me old-fashioned. Maybe I should have been born in the 19th century when O. Henry was running around making it big?

But, no. I hate 19th century literature. I mean, Dickens, for example. The guy didn't know when to shut up! Who gives a damn about the lace curtains? The wedding cake rotting on Miss Havisham's boudoir table? Answer: No one. Or Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter - yawn! Stop. Moralizing. Every. Single. Character. Who are you, anyway, to presuppose your morality onto anyone else? Like you're so perfect. Or Melville? Moby Dick? Aside from being the punchline to some teenager's joke, what merit does it have in today's world? Whaling is evil, not whales.

Anyway, onto the CONTEMPORARY writing, of which I am very fond! These stories, it must be said, were also hit or miss. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with publishers of literary journals 100% of the time, and, well, Richard Russo (editor) did a pretty good job, but I still have a few bones to pick.

First, what I loved:

Safari - Jennifer Egan

Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go - Danielle Evans

Delicate Edible Birds - Lauren Groff

Painted Ocean, Painted Ship - Rebecca Makkai

Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events - Kevin Moffet

All Boy - Lori Ostlund

The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach - Karen Russell

The Netherlands Lives with Water - Jim Shepard

And what I hated:

Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched - Steve Almond

The Cousins - Charles Baxter

The Laugh - Tea Obreht

The ones I loved relied on irony, twisting expectations, relationships, the beauty of a double entendre, and had fabulous characters I could relate to. They were each quite different in style and setting, but to me the style and setting matter little, as long as they are relevant to the content, well done and well researched (if the setting is historical), or well thought-out (if the setting is sci-fi or fantasy). I noticed quite a number of stories this year were set in the near future and had some sort of global warming hypothesis...sort of scary, since we're living it (or our children will live it) and pretty cool at the same time.

The ones I hated, I'll admit, maybe I didn't get. But they were either god-awful boring, had a stupid ending or just plain didn't make sense. I think Charles Baxter get into anthologies like these just because he's Charles Baxter. But I may be wrong.

The rest were more or less average, unmemorable or otherwise OK - nothing to report.

Memoiren eines mittelmäßigen Schülers

A book loaned to me by one of the teachers at the HAK, Memoiren eines mittelmäßigen Schülers (tr: Memoirs of an Average Student), is a semi-autobiographical and historical journey by German writer Alexander Spoerl.

I enjoyed the book very much. The style is easy to get into. The writing is simple and informative - almost conversational. The story begins as Jakob van Tast waits in the hospital for his son to be born. The time is late 40's or early 50's. Jakob, with nothing else to do, returns to his own childhood within the narrative. This story takes us from a little boy behaving badly to a young man (uninterested, not finding his niche) desiring to be free of school, to a young man working as an apprentice in Berlin, to a young man drafted into Hitler's army. Later, through each of these adventures, and frames of mind, we come to recognize the whole man who has formed from these fragments of persona. At the end, Jakob not only discovers the birth of his daughter (an ironic view of men and their perception of their offspring as an extension of themselves?) but reunites with (i.e. sees) an old teacher of his from the Gymnasium, who has completely forgotten who he is. Only "average" students are rarely remembered by teachers, sorry to say. We remember the excellent ones and the terrible ones - with behavior problems - most of all, especially after 20, 30 or 40 years...

I loved the irony. I loved the honesty. I loved that Spoerl made no bones about Hitler, the Third Reich and all that bullshit in 1950, no less, right after the war! Jakob falls in love with a Jewish girl, has an affair with the wife of an officer while in the army...things that make for a juicy story. And yet, that's not the point. Jakob's growth as a human being is of importance, not the juicy details of plot, but his existential qualities. It reminded me of Camus. Without all of that freaky-weird imagery.

Grüß Gott

At the six month mark in Austria, I am still a bit shy about something...saying "Grüß Gott" to people in the neighborhood.


Now, some of you might be thinking, "Huh? Why's that? Aren't you supposed to say hello to people when you see them?" or, "LOLZ! Austrians really say 'Greet God' to one another? We-eird!" or maybe even, "Mom always said, 'Don't talk to strangers!'"


My shyness basically stems from all the times I say hello to someone who a) snorts with indignation, or b) has to calm their dog down so it doesn't maul me while I am walking my favorite path around Amstetten. I often find the situation goes in one of these directions:


Me: Look! Another person. OK, this is easy. Just say "Grüß Gott" when they get close enough.
(walking)
(walking...person is 3-4 meters away...)
Me: Grüß Gott!
Person: Grüß Gott.


Or:


Me: Look! Another person. OK, this is easy. Just say "Grüß Gott" when they get close enough.
(walking)
(walking...person is 3-4 meters away...)
Me: Grüß Gott!
Person: (eyebrow lift and/or sneer)


Or:


Me: Look! Another person. OK, this is easy. Just say "Grüß Gott" when they get close enough.
(walking)
(walking...notice dog not attached to leash. Their dog?)
(walking...person and dog are 3-4 meters away...)
Me: (staring into dog's eyes thinking, You are sooooooo cute! Forget to say "Grüß Gott.")
Person: What a rude girl. She did not even say hello!


Or, what happened yesterday:


Me: Look! Another person. OK, this is easy. Just say "Grüß Gott" when they get close enough.

(walking)

(walking...notice dog not attached to leash. Their dog?)

(walking...person and dog are 3-4 meters away...)

Dog: Strange person! Probably foreign. I will jump at her and freak her out! Arf arf! Growl! GRRRRRRRR!

Me: EEP! (look at person)

Person: Hör auf, du Freche! 

(translation: Stop it, sassy! I assumed referring to the dog...)

And yet, I persist...Grüß Gott or die!

Famous Austrians II: Franz Klammer

Franz Klamemer at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck

Austria is known for its skiing - and its skiers. One of the most famous is Franz Klammer (or, as one of my students called him, "Hans" Klammer...even if they are Austrian, it doesn't mean they worship the skiing world) ;)

Klammer grew up in Mooswald, Carinthia, which is uncommon for an Austrian skier (most grow up in Salzburg or Tyrol where the "real" mountains are) and won gold in 1976 in Innsbruck, skiing down hill 1/3 of a second faster than some other guy. He participated in the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo as well, where he did not do so hot. He later had a career as a touring car racer. In certain ways, he shares a likeness to American Olympic skier Bode Miller. Aside from the skiing and car racing, however, this is not exactly complimentary...

Some consider him the reason Austrian skiing is known worldwide. He is currently a TV sports commentator, not an uncommon career path for many a sports legend.