Wien

Well, as you can see, I have made it to Österreich. I'm in my friend Bill's apartment near the Taborstraße underground station, in what he calls his "sun room" -- a spacious lofty room with a curved wall of windows at the corner of the building. Here's the view:

Not too shoddy! The only downside is, Bill and his husband David moved here in January and none of their stuff has arrived. So the only things in the sunroom are a lamp and WiFi router (on the floor) and a big sofa, which is where I'm sleeping. The whole space has a very repossessed look, kind of like Demi Moore's apartment at the end of "St. Elmo's Fire," when the creditors have come and hauled away her furniture. Several of the other rooms in Bill's place have nothing in them at all. Thank God for the sofa.

Bill's husband isn't here either -- he's back in New York working for a few months. That's partly why I wanted to come and visit poor Bill, who is utterly by himself. He doesn't know anyone here and doesn't speak German. He seems fine with it but I felt he could use some company, and since I have the time, why not?

I haven't seen Bill in 15 years, but he was present when Dave and I got Civil Unioned in New Jersey and he hung out with us quite a bit back in the brief time we lived there. In fact, he helped me get my job with Gannett after I was laid off by The New York Times Co. (Never mind that I was not a huge fan of Gannett -- he did warn me.) I've known Bill since the '90s, when we were both active in the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA).

So, anyway, we haven't really done much yet. We went out for dinner last night to a neighborhood place where I had salad with a piece of fish on it -- better than I'm making it sound -- and then took a walk afterwards to the Stephansplatz just so I could orient myself.

The statue above is Johann Nestroy, a singer/actor/playwright who is renowned in Austria. According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), he wrote a play called "Einen Jux will er sich machen," which Google translates as "He Wants to Have Some Fun." It served as the source material for Thornton Wilder's "The Matchmaker," which in turn eventually became "Hello, Dolly!" So there's some Austrian theatre trivia for you, in case it comes up in your next pub quiz.

A Communist flyer posted near our restaurant last night

My flight here was mostly uneventful. At Heathrow, in the waiting area, I sat across from three 30-ish young adults who seemed to be flying together with a chaperone. One of them, a woman, was having a tearful meltdown, saying she "wanted to go home to Mum." The chaperone kept trying to convince her she would have fun, blah blah blah, and eventually they did head off together for some airplane. Hopefully the poor woman's mood improved, or that's going to be a long trip.

There is lots of graffiti here. Some of it is quite amazing, and some of it not so much. I could make myself crazy trying to photograph it all!

This phrase, according to Google, translates to: "Women in the resistance."

Today we're headed to the park adjacent to Bill's flat, and possibly along the nearby canal. The park features a couple of towering Nazi-era fortress-like structures made of concrete, apparently so massive that tearing them down isn't an option -- Bill tells me one has been turned into an aquarium! Should be interesting to see.

Note to self: Buy coffee, milk and sugar. Bill, bless his heart, is a tea-drinker, and yours truly needs his java in the morning.