Is this a copy?

Vaihingen, den 15. 1. 2008

Our last letter concerned mainly our Vienna experiences at Christmas: Christmas Eve in St. Ruprecht Church and later in the Stephan's Dome, then two Holidays: 25th and 26th, as Christmas is celebrated throughout the German Speaking regions (we don't know about the other European countries). We were surprised at the difference in mood here during Christmas, and strong emphasis on family, much less on presents and shopping than in california. Christmas Days are used for family gatherings, and feasting, similar to our Thanksgiving holidays. On Christmas Eve most families light their Christmas tree, then sing Christmas songs together before exchanging gifts, this seems to be done within the close family grouping. First and second Christmas Days belong to the larger family: alternating whose parents to visit on the first and whom on the second Christmas Day. 

We went to the revolving cafe on top of the Donau Tower  and treated ourselves to the spectecular view of Vienna from above at sunset: and of course, to the traditional Viennese ice kaffee.

The second Holiday was also special: not only did we visit the Freud Museum, but we treated ourselves after wards to a visit to Grinzing. this time the weather was a bit friendlier and we scouted around in Cafes and" Wine cellars".. Thus ended our untraditional  Christmas celebration. We confess, we had to try hard, not to miss family and friends at this special time of year .... So we made many telephone calls bto the States.

We had just recently discovered a back-house internet and telephone shop which was near our subway stop. It seemed to serve foreigners , usually from Balkan and Middle Eastern (Turkish) countries. We were overjoyed to discover that it was open during the Holidays and we could make long talks to family and friends. We must have spoken for a good hour and did not care about the cost; after all this was Christmas! To our great surprise our bill was less than ten Euros...

The following day our apartment had a power outage, gone were light, And heating, And TELEVISION too!! Luckily Brigitta had plenty of candles around, but they dont give out heat.... Richey tried to fix the blown out fuse, replaced one, ventured down to the basement of the building ... to no avail; so we went to bed by 7 o'clock that eve to stay warm! What should we have done in those unfamiliar blacked outsurroundings? 

The next day we could not find a store that carried fuses.... 

But to our joy, in the evening, when Richey fiddled again with the fuse box,  voila... magically the electricity came back on and we had heat, hot water, the refrigeration and above all, our light. Now we had TV for our evening amusement. The next day we had the sniffles ad stayed home to recuperate. 

To our relief Brigitta, our hostess  returned on the 30th from Los Angeles, and when the electricity struck two more times during our last week, at least she took care of the problem and arranged for the necessary repairs. 

Our most unusual and most delightful days in Vienna were yet to come: 

On New Years Eve Viennese go wild: If they don't go to city Hall for the Merry-Making similar to Times Square, they go up on rooftops andproduce their own incredible fireworks: What we in LA must do under strictly controlled conditions, Viennese can do freely from their rooftops whereever and whenever they want during Sylvester night: Brigitta also took us on her rooftop - all bundled up against the bitter cold --- with a bottle of Champaign and glasses in her basket. The firework displays were lighting up the sky everywhere and for hours. And Brigitta had to  assure Richey again and again that no permits were required and the spectacular displays were legal, individually funded and shot off from roof tops and plazas. What about fires, we asked? Oh, there may be one or two, she replied, but so what ....

Despite the cold, it was a magical, clear night: the spectacular, colorful explosions in the sky, the good champaign and of course the wonderful company and surroundings are unforgettable. 

The next morning we had to listen to the yearly TV transmission of the famous Viennese New Year's Concert. We had been sad that it had been impossible and unerschwinglich to hear the concert in person, but the transmission was absolutely first class and we listened enthrolled and with glassy eyes.

Yes, this is what we had come to experience here: music, first class performances, familiar tunes and audiences that were similarly to us, transported into music heaven.

When we thought that nothing could possibly beat such emotional  highlights, Brigitta asked us to accompany her to Grinzing for supper the next night. Little did we know what awaited us there: The elaborate supper buffet sporting all kinds of traditional local rustic food as well as delicacies of all sorts. Brigitta prepared large platters of traditional food for us to taste... We enjoyed the novel experience, and did not mention that we found it to be on the heavy side, excellent with the good glass of Heurigen (new wine). As we were finishing our feast an accordion player wondered in -- singing and playing. When he spied Brigitta he stolled over to our corner table, set down next to her, and played all the old-familiar Viennese tunes for us, singing and playing and alas--- drinking his Heurigen which Brigitta kept ordering for him. We were moved to tears (probably partly due to the wine we were sipping) and tried to hum along with the familiar Viennese tunes and Strauss Waltzes. Did we dance? No, we probably did not trust our legs anymore at that point....

train system-- free?? no control/honor code but everyone buy's yearly'tickets 

We returned to Vaihingen more than a week ago and are pleased to be "home" for a while resting up for our next adventure with family and friends. Cousin Werner, our host, has given Richey to his 80th birthday a wonderful present: a 4 day trip to Weimar, the Goethe town, and Erfurt close by, both are historically and culturally important German towns.Of course we are excited about that tour and are looking forward to it. We will leave at the end of January for 4 days, return to Vaihingen, and leave for Berlin on February 12.