i'm sad to say...

Vienna did not strike me as I thought it would. I expected the city to fill me with poetry, to capacity and overflowing – this the city of Mozart, of such immense tradition and culture, of art and opera. But it did not. Walking the city I felt very little at all. The streets were so very wide, everything so distantly spaced that I felt like I was walking through a museum, staring at old buildings as if they were artifacts behind velvet rope or glass casing. The city felt, to me, very inaccessible – so grand and opulent, so regal and out of reach – so much so that I tried not to cough for fear of disturbing something nestled in a divine equilibrium.

Which is not to say there was a shortage of activity – our two days in Vienna were amazing, and packed to the brim. I saw wonderful exhibits of Bruegel and Arcimboldo at the Kuntshistoriches Museum. I learned about the Empress Elisabeth – she who found comfort only in the shadows, and so became the shadow. I walked the Naschmarket and tried all sorts of food and wine, and marveled at the strong Turkish influence on the city – then pushed my way through the throngs at the flea-market. I watched Ariadne auf Naxos from the standing room only section at the Vienna state opera house, and closed my eyes every few minutes just to hear. I wandered into an anti-EU demonstration. I walked for miles without aching.

Everything was there to make me fall utterly, completely, irretrievably head-over-heels in love with the place - but still the city did not speak to me.

And so Vienna… Wien – we had fun, and you are a lovely city with so much to offer, but I don’t think it will work out between us.

It’s not you, Vienna – it’s me.


Vienna soundtrack – The Rolling Stones