Day 40 Graz, Austria

Organ in the Grazer Dom

Still in Graz, drinking a beer and enjoying the warm evening weather at an outdoor cafe along the Herrenstrasse, I made the acquaintance of a professor of music and an organist from Linz, Austria. After considerable small talk, he said, "I'm doing a concert at the Grazer Dom. You should stop by." The Dom, a 15th century gothic cathedral, has a massive pipe organ. Here was a chance to hear what one of these behmoths actually sounded like. I was a little put off though by the entrance price of ten Euro. "No Senior discount?" I asked. "No, it's double for seniors because it's double the pleasure," the ticket seller joked. The cathedral was filling up with somberly dressed gray haired folks. I sensed the same crowd that attended mass. I was in my shorts and feeling out of place, but thought, "What the heck," and plopped down my ten Euro. Our backs were to the organ which sits on a balcony covering the back of the cathedral. Promptly at eight, without introduction, Herr Dr. Wolfgang Kreuzhuber, with a sudden burst, filled the cathedral with the roar of the organ - the prelude to some recognizable church music - this might be interesting. But quickly transitioned to a piece or two by Shumann, I didn't like; a couple pieces by Bach, I didn't like either; concluding with some improvised pieces of his own creation, which I really didn't like. Ending promptly at nine, to the trained ears of the others, it was a phenomenal performance as they were still clapping as I exited the cathedral.

Day 39 Graz, Austria

Glockenspiel

At the Graz City Museum there's a compelling exhibit of Steiermark artists during the Nazi reign showing how their art morphed into the propoganda machinery of the Third Reich as Graz became a showcase for the Nazi ideology. Just above, on the second floor, is a 1989 exhibit of photographs and quotes from prominant exiled Jews who returned after the war and spoke of the meaning and significance of their Jewish/German identities as survivors of the holocaust. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sunk the passenger ship Lusitania carrying 1,959 passengers, killing 1,198. Responsibility for the attack is still being debated. A German movie on TV last night implicated Churchill in his attempt to wrangle the Americans into the war. Juxtapose these images with the Glockenspiel near the center of town where two carved figures at 11 am, 3 pm, and 6 pm dance to the sound of the Glockenspiel - Graz, a beautiful city with a conflicted and troubling history that continues to fester although often nicely packaged in kitsch.

Day 38 Graz, Austria

Schlossberg Bell Tower

The 2.5 hour train ride from Vienna to Graz winds through the Alps, over deeply carved ravines, through pitch black tunnels, around quaint mountain villages. A bachelor party had the entire car in stitches although I couldn't understand a word they were saying - they were speaking the Austrian dialect. The party, as I've become an expert on, involves giving the groom a coin - preferrably a Euro - who gives you a cigar or a small gift in return. No kisses - that's what the brides give out. In Graz, I headed for the town center and just happened upon the Schlossberg tunnel system built inside the Schlossberg to serve as an air raid shelter for up to 40,000 during WWII. From within the tunnel system I took the lift to the top of the Schlossberg, which purportedly was the strongest Renaissance fortification of all time. This didn't stop Napolean from capturing the city and the fortress in 1809 and razing all but the bell tower to the ground. None of this is as important though as Thal, a small town outside of Graz, and the birthplace of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Day 37 Frankfurt to Vienna

On the flight to Vienna, I discussed the state of our economy with a gentleman who works for a medical intruments company in Tucson. He also found it ironic that the Germans with their spending cuts are having our lunch when it comes to stimulating economic growth. He also told me that he and his firm rely heavily on Skype to conference in and wherever possible select hotels that offer free wifi. Maybe if enough firms do the same, these larger hotel chains will get the picture and drop their wifi fees. In Cologne, Debra, Rachel, and I stayed at a Sheraton Hotel, which not only charged 15 Euro to access their internet but charged that for each computer. If the three of us had wished to use our computers to check emails, it would have cost us 45 Euro. It's odd that it's the expensive hotels that get away with these usury rates. The Sheraton also charged for breakfast and marked up their exchange rate 17% and not to be undone in unfriendliness they turned off the water for three hours just as Debra was soaping her hair. When I complained, the clerk said, "There are notices in the elevator." Contrast this to the Excelsior Hotel I stayed, next to the Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt: half the price, breakfast and wifi included, and my room was quiet to boot.

Day 36 Frankfurt

Ward, Inge, Dave, and Me

They hadn't changed. Well, maybe a bit. The little hair that Dave had was gray. Inge, though, looked the same. And Ward, with a full head of grayless hair (what's with that?) looked almost thirty years younger. It had been 35 years. Dave, Ward, and I taught Engish at Berlitz in Frankfurt. Yet our memories were still fresh of those insouciant times so long ago. We laughed at our numerous follies, chided each other on the epic novels we have yet to write, and commissurated on our aging aches and pains. Dave and Inge live in the same apartment. Inge retired from flying with Lufthansa, Dave writes and sings Irish ballads, but mostly the two spend their retirement hiking mountains, running marathons, and traveling the world. Ward joined us later in the evening and the four of us hardly missed a beat from where we had left off 35 years ago as the jokes started flying. Dave's joke, with his heavy Irish brogue, about the Irish version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire took the prize. It's too long to repeat here and who could possibly tell it like a true Irishman.

Day 35 Cologne

Cologne Cathedral

Smiles and hugs as Debra, Rachel, and I reunited. The press conference they produced for EA was exhausting but successful. Rachel and I climbed to the top of the Cologne Dome while Debra waited below nursing a sprained ankle. Like other cathedrals, it’s a work in progress, pieces decaying and falling off. Like ants crawling around on the scaffolding, workers methodically replace and repair the crumbling parts. Left to its own, how long would it take for the Cathedral to come down? Many cathedrals in Europe have far more art, but no cathedral is so staggering in size. Incomprehensible how a cathedral this size built over several centuries could have come together as a single masterpiece. The allies understood this flattening the city of Cologne while leaving the Cathedral untouched. The Nazis took advantage of this diplomatic delicacy and built their headquarters beneath the Cathedral where they discovered ancient Roman ruins. We were a half hour too late to take the tour of the ruins.

Day 34 Vienna to Cologne

As I leave Vienna for Cologne, I ponder how Mercer Consulting rated Vienna number one in quality of living. Certainly they weren't considering the needs of the roving anthropologist who insists that everything be centrally located; train station, hotels, old town, from whence to explore the city's environs. Vienna falls far short of these criteria. There are four major train stations: Westbahnhof, Sudbahnhof, Meidling, and Simmering. None is near the center of town and each an important arrival/departure point depending on where you're coming from and where you want to go, which poses a problem on deciding where to stay when your future travel plans are uncertain. To be sure, Vienna is a beautiful city steaming with cultural opportunities; concerts, theater, art galleries, museums, and historical sites, but would I rate it above San Francisco (ranked 37 ) - never. San Francisco is the second ranked US city after Honolulu (ranked 35). Can they be serious? I can only suspect that it must have been Vienna's Mercer office who conducted the survey and after that drew cities out of a hat. For the complete list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_quality_of_living.

Germany on the Move

The Austrian Arrow to Cologne had very good in-flight service, fresh salad and a glass of wine, along with a newspaper of your choice. I chose Die Zeit and read an article on how the German economy is growing as fast as China’s (7.8% vs. 8.0%) compared with the US projected growth rate of 2.4%. The article quotes Paul Krugman as praising Germany’s financial crisis management. I had to read that two, three, times to make sure I got it right – Paul Krugman praising Germany's conservative economic management, huh? Yep, that’s right.