European Journez

'Eiskaffee' at Demel's in Vienna--after watching marching bands, we attended the 'Erntedankfest' (harvest festival) where sugar beet farmers erected large signs protesting the globalization that caused them to lose their livelihood to the Brazilians due to their lack of child labor laws. Displays of fruits and vegetables mounded and wreathed:cabbages, red and white, eggplant, carrots, onions and peppers; apples, plums, strawberries, blackberries and all sorts of berries we don't have, all in front of booths serving small meals, beer and coffee at long tables on the meadows behind the Hofburg, the imperial palace. Back in the smaller courtyard, the castle was just expelling the guests of a big society wedding. Remarkable, large brimmed hats in every color of the rainbow, Paris coutoure, men in morning coats kissing the hands of ladies shaded by the wide brims of their hats, a bevy of flower girls and flower boys in white dirndls with green aprons, wearing wreaths of daisies in their hair, all for a glamorous, tall blonde bride whose satin gown trailed her for yards and yards and her groom, a blonde gentleman just past his prime. Everyone clapped as they left in a parade of Jaguars and Mercedes' making suitably royal gestures as they went on to a reception at a more private palace.

What a city Vienna is:bright and charming and so grand. Small streets in the old city surround large palaces--the feeling is one of light colors and elegant Jugendstil forms. Tourists everywhere and from everywhere, young and old, a bit tattered from the strain of travel and the warm weather but charging on into every historical corner we can reach.

Today, we took a tour of the Spanish Riding School,(a childhood fantasy of mine) each horse
a marble frieze, alabaster white, or white dappled in every shade of grey.They receive us with grace, like any seasoned artist. Tomorrow we'll watch them perform. Tonight:Mozart and Strauss at the Auersberg Palace. What could be more Viennese?

There is life and joy after and despite of Auschwitz and hurricane Katerina. We are grateful for our good fortune.
Eva

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