The Long & Winding Road......

to Wien (Vienna).  So we started our trip a day early, I am putting this into the trip category because it is just one of those experiences that is just so other-worldy it needs its own space.

So the day before we were planning on leaving and taking our assistant, Patrick, to the airport in Venice, we decided to say goodbye to the Tagliamento River.  The Tagliamento is a really special place and this trip/work is something I will cherish for the rest of my life.  Patrick had the brilliant idea of bringing along our bottle of Prosecco and I had the brilliant idea of getting some Prosciutto to go along with it.  We got to the beach and opened up the bottle and ate our food, it was perfect.  Cheers to the Tagliamento!  Then, we went swimming.

The Tagliamento is glacier fed so it is bloody cold when you jump in.  It quite literally stops my blood pumping.  But you have to dive in or it just doesn't work.  So we did.  We floated down the river a little ways and then I got out to sun bathe.  The boys joined a little later and it was then that the fatal question was asked by Patrick.  Patrick had gone to the car just before swimming to get a corkscrew out of the backseat so he had the car keys.  He asked Jeff after swimming "Hey, I gave you the car keys right?".  Jeff & I looked at each other and said "Seriously?!".  Yeah.  Patrick dove into the water and the keys went down the river.  So the river is about a kilometer from the nearest town and about 5km from the town where our house manager lives.  So the obvious thought was lets find a phone book and call Claudio to get the spare key.  Well no one at the river had a phone book so we walked up hill in our flip flops and soggy clothes to the nearest town of San Giacomo.  San Giacomo is located in the Udine Province of Italy, whereas Pinzano where Claudio lives is located in Pordenone.  Well guess what, the only phone books in San Giacomo were for Udine only.  At this point, my feet are bleeding from the sandals so Jeff & Patrick go for a 5km run to Claudio's house.  I walked back the 1km to the car where I read and swatted mosquitos until they returned.

They promised they would be back before nightfall.  As the sky got darker & darker, I seriously began considering calling the police.  Jeff finally came, after running the 5km back from Claudio's house.  But he was alone.  I thought Jeff lost it and threw Patrick off a cliff. No, Claudio was not home so Jeff left Patrick to wait for Claudio to return while he ran back to me so I would not worry.  Then, we walked the 5km together to Claudio's house.  So in total Jeff ran a 10K and walked an additional 5K after that.  He was pretty proud of himself.  When we returned to Patrick, there was still no sign of Claudio and it was officially night at this point.  Not only were the mosquitos terrible but it was getting cold too.  So we all went to the local bar to ask about having a locksmith come to our car.  Locksmith is not a term they understand nor have in Italy.  So we went back to wait and when we arrived back at Claudio's house, there were people inside talking.  Whew!  Dr. Tockner had come for vacation and had arrived with his family.  So once we were able to get them to come to the door (massive screaming of "Dr. Tockner!"), we were at least indoors again.  We explained everything and Dr. Tockner got Claudio on the phone to bring us the spare key.  We got a ride back to the car and everything was joyous once more.  Of course this is after spending 6 hours waiting.

Now we are in Wien and are having a lot of fun!  We got about 3 hours of sleep before having to take Patrick to the airport and then driving 9 hours but we made it through.  I, of course, slept the entire drive, leaving Jeff to keep himself awake.  Poor guy but I can't help it!  ;)

We have seen all of the sights here: Schloss Schonbrunn, Tiergarten, Hofburg, Schatzkammer, Stephansplatz, and Zentralfriedhof.  The Hofburg family were the rulers during the last thousand years or so, their rule ended after WWI, when their empire fell apart.  But their palaces are amazing!  And the treasury was really cool too.  We tried to go to the cemetery where Beethoven, and the other famous composers of the time are buried but it rained on us so we bee-lined out of there.  Anyway, throughout this BLOG are pics of all the beautiful places we have seen in Wien, enjoy!