Time in Vienna

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Back when I was planning this trip to Europe in April, I had planned to spend atleast a month in Vienna. I had this great plan to somehow find a job, or a way to make money while I was there. This was all before my plans to spend two weeks in Russia came into being, and then once I made plans to coach baseball in France for two weeks the month in Vienna had been widdled down to under two weeks. This threw me off a bit, and for the first few days in Vienna I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I felt very out of place; what am I doing here? I had dinner with Ed Bergman, a friend of Bill Schweke who was a co-worker/boss at CFED, the nonprofit where I was working in Durham. It was nice to dine with an American, to eat good food and to relax a bit.
Most of my days in Vienna were spent wandering the city, seeing museums and parks, and going to see performances from the Impulstanz Dance Festival. I was staying in Tommy’s hostel room, and because guests were only technically supposed to stay for a few days there, I made a point to get out of the hostel every morning before the office opened and to not return until after the office was closed for the day. This was not the most genuine way to handle things, but I found it absurd that Tommy was already paying for a room and was expected to pay again to have visitors.
I also performed in one performance piece in the festival, it was not performed in a theater or anything, it was simply a piece performed for one of the choreography classes; I met the choreographer one evening, he needed one more dancer and asked me if I would like to dance. Sure, I said. One thing I learned at this festival is that the term ‘Contemporary Dance’ encompasses many types of performance; many of the performances in the festival were far from what most people would categorize as ‘dance.’ It was really a fascinating festival, and really interesting to see this big huge festival that was hosting such experimental and challenging pieces of work.

Oh--and it rained every day except for one while I was there. Apparently it was hot and sunny and beautiful before I arrived. This is another reason I spent many long hours sipping coffee and searching the internet. And of course the day I left Vienna it was also beautiful and hot and sunny.

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Photos

Volkstheater
This is one of the main theaters for the Impulstanz dance festival.

Tommy
Tommy decided to shave his beard into a mustache. I know he will be thrilled when he finds out I put this pic on the blog.

Vienna Woods
This is the Vienna Woods, just outside of the city where the alps end and turn into foothills.

Ruins
Vienna Woods, inside some ruins