This is Bill's photo - of Lachie and of Vienna. He went into the hills above Vienna with Lachie one evening on a drinks invitation from Lachie's Institute friends. I stayed back in our Airbnb as I chose to do a course.
I didn't get the course time clear. I had a clash and tried to sleaze my way out of the course like a slippery eel after I registered. I didn't tell Bill, I didn't get a time flat in plenty of time but then knew I wanted to do it. The course is all about having you be known and be in demand for your commitment in the world. My commitment is to have futures for young people, that were not otherwise going to happen, happen with ease (miracles); that all people are connected to Mother Earth newly and every aspect of their lives are fulfilled; that Climate Restoration is part of the school curriculum; that young people connect with nature like never before, they learn about restoring CO2 levels to pre-industrial levels, how to cut down their emissions and are leaders of the solution for Climate Restoration using their creativity.
Bill was forgiving and I promise not to do sleazy and unprepared times again. Bill is always super organised on these things. For future course times I promise to be super organised too.
Here are some of the people Bill and Lachie met with. Lachie in the middle.
When they finished wining and dining, they walked back down the hill. The sun was setting. He got a good shot of the Danube River.
You can see another smaller river on the left of it. It is actually man-made. It is important in Vienna as when the Danube River floods it is an overflow, very good work.
From https://www.leekuanyewworldcityprize.gov.sg/resources/features/vienna-at-crossroads/:
Creating a New Danube and Danube Island
To this end, Vienna embarked on a massive development programme in 1972 to create a bypass channel parallel to the Danube River, which would contain water that would otherwise flood the city.
Named the ‘New Danube’, this channel took nearly 20 years to build and the resulting landfill was used to create Danube Island, a 21-kilometre long island between the New and ‘Old’ Danube. “It changed the city,” Kling declared of the impact of the New Danube and Danube Island. Previously, Vienna could only grow on areas away from the river to avoid flooding; today, the city can expand right along the riverside. “Vienna now has the chance to have a waterfront,” remarked Kling.
The calm shores of the New Danube offer residents a space for swimming, barbeques and other fun activities. Parts of Danube Island are linked to the city centre via bridges and a subway line, making it highly accessible and a popular recreational spot. “There are multiple uses of this island, and it’s very well-received by the public,” noted Kling, who adds that there is even a floating high school located on two conjoined ships moored by the island. The island also hosts the Danube Island Festival, Europe’s biggest annual open air music festival, which first began in 1983 and now draws some 2.5 million people.
Kling also observed that “nature is coming back” at more remote sections of Danube Island, where there are wildlife habitats that can be reached via bicycle paths. Above all, the island and channel have performed their designed roles as flood protection systems. “Over the last 30 years we have not faced flooding in Vienna,” said Kling. “There was flooding upstream and downstream but never in Vienna, and we are confident that this will continue.”"
If I show the first photo again (below), the tower in this picture is significant, because it is an indicator for how Vienna is a clean city.
The tower is a waste incinerator for the city - but it is a piece of art as well! This is it up close when we visited a few days later.
It is designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the Austrian of the Kawakawa toilets fame, who lived much of his life in New Zealand.
[From www.visitingvienna.com: "Municipal incinerator plants rarely enter lists of top architectural highlights. Ah, but this is Vienna and they do things differently here. Consider, for example, the Spittelau incinerator with its remarkable design by none other than Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
If you saw the photo, you’d probably assume some kind of contemporary art museum. But this is one of Vienna’s municipal waste incinerators, producing energy for around 50,000 Viennese households (and heating and warm water for 60,000).
The facility itself first went up in the late 1960s, but needed extensive repairs after a fire broke out in 1987.
That seemed an opportune moment to make something more of the incinerator, and the authorities eventually persuaded Hundertwasser to redesign the chimney and façade. All changes were completed by the early 1990s.
The Spittelau incinerator now ranks as one of Vienna’s most striking landmarks, with the huge golden ball on its chimney an integral part of the cityscape. But it’s when you get up close that Hundertwasser’s architecture reveals its true majesty.
The styling, shapes, and colours echo the typical Hundertwasser approach you might know from the Hundertwasserhaus and Kunst Haus Wien, two of Vienna’s major tourist attractions."
Below the old plant pre-1987 and the new plant post-1992.
Some photos I took.
Vienna being such a clean city reminds me of Julia Andrews singing 'The Hills Are Alive' in the Sound of Music.
The Viennese people did not like The Sound of Music when it first came out, and still don't because of the film's inaccuracies. This for sister Joanna who reads this blog and the SoM is her favourite film.
There are about 15 inaccuracies, here are some of them.
In the movie, they "hike" to Switzerland, which is about 300 kilometres from Salzburg. Switzerland is played by Mount Untersberg, which is approximately 5 kilometres south of Salzburg′s city centre.
Many people from abroad think that "Edelweiß" is an Austrian folk song or even the national anthem. It is not. In fact, it was composed by Oscar Hammerstein and is as well known in Austria as the rest of the movie (not at all).
The so-called "Ländler" folk dance that Maria and Kapitän von Trapp perform in the movie does exist. However, it is done completely differently in Austria.
The real Maria was never a nun. She wasn′t a novice, either. She was more or less an "internee" in the most basic level of monastic admission, just evaluating whether or not life as a nun would be suitable for her. Maria's foster parents raised the girl as a socialist without much religious affiliation. Later on, Maria became increasingly religious during her studies to become a teacher.
Plummer, who played Captain Von trapp discussed his distaste towards The Sound of Music, which he simply called "the film" or "The Sound of Mucus" in his 2008 autobiography titled Despite Myself. Plummer recalled how he wasn't happy with the 1965 film, other than working with Andrews. "I was a bit bored with the character," he said. Plummer also compared the studio's attempt to make the von Trapp patriarch interesting to "flogging a dead horse," stating that the subject matter just wasn't his "cup of tea." When he acted in the festival scene he was drunk.
My course the night Bill and Lachie went into the Viennese hills went till midnight. I mucked up when this course was with my diary. I was like a slippery eel and I wondered if I could go to Lachie's wining and dining on the hill, and do the course. I knew I had to do the first day or I could not do the course at all. I had not given Bill the dates either. I did not get the dates clear and be a demand for this course. I got I love the chaos of mucking up the diary and not telling Bill, then trying to defend myself. In the end, I came clean. I mucked up my diary again and I wanted to participate in the year-long course.
I wanted to participate because the Inquiry Explorations program intends to have participants develop into people who know themselves as capable of fulfilling on a commitment to the world. They also become a demand for their commitment. So I went back to my autobiography. Where was I a slippery eel, and didn't tell people what was happening? and I got into trouble? This was the work we did on the course. It was 1973. I went to a friend's house just before exams and knew I should have stayed home and studied but I didn't. I went and had a fun day at my friend's.
The next step was to look at my smartness around this. I was smart. I did what I wanted and I didn't get into trouble. I had once ended up in hospital after falling off a horse. When this happened I lost my badminton dream to play for NZ and I also thought I was broken. My friends visited me in hospital. I stopped playing badminton competitively and took up new interests. I realized friends were important to me.
So this was smart thinking to a 15 year old!
And now to look at it in 2024. There is more possible in smartness. I could have been straight with my Dad. I could have been more responsible around my commitments (passing School Certificate it was in those days ). I could have put more effort than I did. I could weigh up things more thoroughly and look at horse riding and risks of falling off and affecting my badminton playing. I could have appreciated hospitals more and how to treat people who looked after me. I can get diary sorted. I don't have to keep thinking how it could have been better. It happened and move on. I am lucky and privileged to have had the life I had and be able to look for miracles everyday.
The course is also about listening. Are listening and speaking equally as important? I know I don't do these equally? Nor did I know listening to context at a deeper level makes a real difference.
I discovered 'complaining' newly. Complaining to myself about whether I am too fat is a complaint. Looking for miracles everyday rather than complaining is the new mantra. I now put my finger on my nose when I complain about myself and others. I am also up for listening newly, and playing in the conversation rather than listening for significance and complaining.
We also did some work on 2025 and beyond. Here is mine. My commitment /vision for the world is futures that were not going to happen (miracles) for everyone, especially miracles around Self and Climate Restoration for all. All people are profoundly connected to each other and Mother Earth. All fulfilled in every aspect of their lives!
The idea is to play around with it. And anything that is not is a mistake easily corrected. See the girl in the collage putting her finger on her nose (I am stopping complaining) Mother Earth in the background. Love and connectedness for all. If everyone else is fulfilled I am too.
Many days Bill finds a cafe to work in and we work there for a few hours. Caffe Konditorei Monarchie became a favourite. It looked like an old peoples' cafe and it was great.
Some days we tram to another cafe to meet up with Lachie. Trams in Vienna are the best. They come frequently and are so comfortable.
Jonas Reindl is one of Lachie's favourites.
We go for a walk. When my Mum and I did the river trip from Budapest to Amsterdam together some years ago I took a picture of Mum. At the top of the photo it says Vienna. I try and find that same building. I want to get a photo of me in the same position for the blog. Hopefully it is not raining this time.
This could be it? But a bit like Goldilocks and the three bears - this is not quite right. It is too big.
This is St Stephens cathedral.
This is not gothic enough! It is the City Town hall.
This is too small. (The smallest house in Vienna).
Then I find out from a friend in New Zealand (Michelle), it is not in Vienna at all! It is in Munich. I will look for it when we go there.
We head to Jewish Square.
[From Wikipedia]: "Judenplatz (German, 'Jewish Square') is a town square in Vienna's Innere Stadt that was the center of Jewish life and the Viennese Jewish Community in the Middle Ages. It exemplifies the long and eventful history of the city and the Jewish community focused on this place. Archaeological excavations of the medieval synagogue are viewable underground by way of the museum on the square,
Two sculptural works, a carved relief and several inscribed texts are located around the square that all have subject matter relating to Jewish history. One of these sculptures is a statue of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. The other is a memorial to Austrian Holocaust Victims, a project based on an idea of Simon Wiesenthal and unveiled in 2000 - in commemoration of more than 65,000 Austrian Jews who were killed by the Nazis between 1938 and 1945.
Engraved on the plinth on the two sides and back of the memorial are all the names of those places where Austrian Jews were murdered during Nazi rule. (It is very sad.) Created by British artist Rachel Whiteread, the memorial is a reinforced concrete cube resembling a library with its volumes turned inside out. "This monument shouldn't be beautiful, It must hurt."
We didn't go to the museum. Next time Lachie gets a posting to Vienna we could do that. The museum is behind the memorial.
I think so much history is in this square and it reminds me of " Toku toa, he toa rangatira", which is at the top of this blog.
"My bravery is inherited from the chiefs who have gone before me on Aotearoa."
The square is lovely and while it has history, it also has an aliveness.
At the southern end there is a brighter monument - the Lessing Monument. The German poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing created by Siegfried Charoux (1896-1967).
In the afternoon we go on the tram to Krieau to have a late lunch and a wander. Bill has researched there are trots on near the park there. We have lunch in an entrepreneur university.
And a close up. When you touched this steel it was super hot.
Student hostels.
Then we head to the trots. It is in a light industrial and residential area. I liked their planting - raised bases around the trees and more plants.
We see some horses warming up
Bill picks up a programme. It is the Austrian Trotting Derby day.
We go into the stand.
Lachie is learning German on his phone.
Looks like there is a kiwi connection.
Here are the drivers lining up for interviewing before the big race.
The youngies get ready for a race first.
They give the youngies the full noise - interviews and winner's circle etc
They were giving out free hats. It was super hot. Either Lachie is hot or races aren't his thing or the sun was in his eyes (or all of the above - great hat!)
We didn't stay for the big race. Kiwi's Starry Eyes came 5th. Bill looked it up later.
We head to Burgviertel for Lachie's Institute talk - introduced by Hannes Werthner. This is part of Lachie's wrap up for his fellowship. The only thing I remember Hannes saying is that he is amazed he is not making money in a non-academic world with his so many talents. The building is old and Vienna-like I think.
There were ~20 there, but I didfn't get them in this photo.
And it is streamed with some online. It is called the Digital Humanism Salon: Capital and the Computer. It is about the relation between capital and computers.
He opens and uses slides.
"In the next half hour, I seek to impress three points upon you:
The computer is another version of Marx’s machine
Capital mystifies the distinction between human and machine
The contemporary hysteria of A.(G.)I. should be treated by attending closely to these two points.
More generally, this talk will present the basis of a relation between the two structures that thread these points together, capital and the computer. Each of these logical structures has an intimate and important relationship to an actual practice, history, and politics. Actually existing capitalism is the analogue of capital, and the material manifestations of electronic computing in the 20th and 21st century are the equivalent analogue of the computer. By thinking in structural terms, that is, according to logical entities which map to historical forms and cultures, but which are not strictly reducible to them, I propose we can understand the entangled nature of computing and capitalism more thoroughly."
And then 30 more minutes! You can see it here
https://caiml.org/dighum/announcements/digital-humanism-salon-capital-and-the-computer-by-lachlan-kermode-2024-06-24/
I liked the questions at the end. I didn't understand them but Lachie was very skilled at knowing what they were asking and retating them and answering them articulately. Wow!
The next day I do our washing. I feel quite proud of myself as I navigated how to get there and the machines. There is no staff managing the laundromat. It was very clean and there is no-one else around. I think about not telling anyone I paid 3x as I tried to work it out. Though Bill will see what I did from the credit card.
What happened was I couldn't work the first machine (I read the wrong number machine) and for the second machine I didn't think it was working so I paid again. There were notices to say call for help. I try and phone but no good.
I phone them again the next day. Both times there is no reply and I leave a message.
I had to do a thing from my Wisdom course. It is a tip. Give it up, you don't want it anyway. And another tip - What if communication was the answer. On the third day I email the company.
"To whom it may concern/ Andrea:
I have not heard from you. Please can you let me know when you have refunded the extra money.
Even an email to say you will and by when and the amount please or if you are not going to why?
I am travelling and I write about this in my blog. I will write about what happened. In the blog I will either say you are a company with integrity and repay or you won’t.
I also want to say I saw no notices that if I make a mistake I lose my money!
Anyway you will do what you will do and I would like to put either way in my travel blog what you choose to do.
If I don’t hear from you I will say they don’t respond to when you ask for assistance even though they have an assistance number.
Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you .
Warm regards, Robin Kermode."
I don't hold out much hope to get my money back.
Today we will look at a museum and have a wander to see where we can watch a big game tonight in Vienna on a public screen. Austria is playing The Netherlands in the European Championships 2024 tonight.
Lachie will meet us then after he has completed his online German course. He speaks Italian, and Brown offered him a 6 week intensive course to learn German and so every weekday he is going online for five hours.
On the start of our wander to the museum of art we see that we can get to see the game at Rathausplatz. They hold big public events here.
"The Rathaus is the seat of the City Council of Vienna. It was the most expensive of all the monumental buildings that were erected at the end of the nineteenth century along the newly created Ringstraße. The Rathaus was built between 1872 and 1883 after a neo-Gothic design by Friedrich von Schmidt."
We head to the Museum of Art History.
"The Kunsthistorisches Museum (lit."Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museumin Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal dome. The term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It is the largest art museum in the country and one of the most important museums worldwide."
The main entrance is art itself.
There were five paintings that caught my eye.
[From Wikipedia:] The Fight Between Carnival and Lent was painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1559. It is a panorama of contemporary life in the Southern Netherlands.
I didn't get who these two were?
Then the fourth. [From Wikipedia:] "Tower of Babel was the subject of three paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
The paintings depict the construction of the Tower of Babel, which, according to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, was built by a unified, monolingual humanity as a mark of their achievement and to prevent them from scattering: "Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:4).
The Vienna version has a group in the foreground, with the main figure presumably Nimrod, who was believed to have ordered the construction of the tower, although the Bible does not actually say this. In Vienna the tower rises at the edge of a large city, but the Rotterdam tower is in open countryside."
And the fifth. [From Wikipedia:] "The Hunters in the Snow (Dutch: Jagers in de Sneeuw), also known as The Return of the Hunters, is a 1565 oil-on-wood painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Northern Renaissance work is one of a series of works, five of which still survive, that depict different times of the year. . This scene is set in the depths of winter during December/January.
The painting shows a wintry scene in which three hunters are returning from an expedition accompanied by their dogs. By appearances the outing was not successful; the hunters appear to trudge wearily, and the dogs appear downtrodden and miserable. One man carries the "meager corpse of a fox" illustrating the paucity of the hunt. In front of the hunters in the snow are the footprints of a rabbit or hare—which has escaped or been missed by the hunters. The overall visual impression is one of a calm, cold, overcast day; the colors are muted whites and grays, the trees are bare of leaves, and wood smoke hangs in the air. Several adults and a child prepare food (preparing to singe a pig) at an inn with an outside fire. Of interest are the jagged mountain peaks which do not exist in Belgium or Holland.
The painting prominently depicts crows sitting in the denuded trees and a magpie flies in the upper centre of the scene. Bruegel sometimes uses these two species of birds to indicate an ill-omen as in Dutch culture magpies are associated with the Devil.
The landscape itself is a flat-bottomed valley (a river meanders through it) with jagged peaks visible on the far side. A watermill is seen with its wheel frozen stiff. In the distance, figures ice skate, play Ice Hockey (before it became an organized sport), Kolf, and play eisstock ("ice-stick", similar to curling) on a frozen lake; they are rendered as silhouettes."
Both Bill and I thought after our visit we could have done more reading beforehand before going to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Incredible detailed paintings of how people lived in 1500's. My insight was I thought with no social media and internet, painters were so highly thought of and must have spent many hours on these paintings and it is great they did to get a glimpse of what life was like.
Then to the football at the Rathausplatz.
I go closer as I can't see over the tall guys. Austria supporters sing the national anthem. I keep an eye on Bill and Lachie.
Half time 1/1, we go to another spot at the side.
In the 2nd half Austria score again. They win 2/1. Super fun to watch the Austrian supporters.
After the football we get something to eat on the way home. Lachie orders.
Next morning Bill and I go on a city bike tour led by Ute (pronounced You Tag).
This is one of our stops. The principal residence and workplace of the president. This is situated in the Leopoldine Wing in the Hofburg Imperial Palace, which is located in the Innere Stadt of Vienna. (inner City)
This is one of our stops. The principal residence and workplace of the president According to our guide an ex president married his niece in 1600's and built a wing of this building for her.
[From Wikipedia:] The name translates as "Castle of the Court", which denotes its origins when initially constructed during the Middle Ages. Initially planned in the 13th century as the seat of the Dukes of Austria, the palace expanded over the centuries, as they became increasingly powerful. From 1438 to 1583, and again from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the Habsburg kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and thereafter until 1918 the seat of the Emperors of Austria. Since then, the palace has continued in its role as the seat of the head of state and is today used by the Austrian Federal President."
It was quite a lot to take in. Napoleon won one war and had a statue. Dynasty families fighting. So much history and so much art. I found this in Berittanica which seemed the best sum up .
"Vienna is among the least spoiled of the great old western European capitals. Its central core, the Innere Stadt, is easily manageable by foot and public transportation. In a city renowned for its architecture, many of Vienna’s urban prospects remain basically those devised over several centuries by imperial gardeners and architects. The skyline is still dominated by the spire of St. Stephen’s Cathedral and by the giant Ferris wheel in the city’s chief park, the Prater. The city suffered heavy damage in the last months of World War II, and much rebuilding was done after the war. Nevertheless, the character of Vienna as a whole remains much the same as in the years before 1914."
[From Wikipedia:] "Modern Vienna has undergone several historical incarnations. From 1558 to 1918 it was an imperial city—until 1806 the seat of the Holy Roman Empire and then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918 it became the capital of the truncated, landlocked central European country that emerged from World War I as a republic. From 1938 to 1945 Austria was a part of Adolf Hitler’s “Greater” Germany, and Vienna became “Greater” Vienna, reflecting the Nazi revision of the city limits. In the decade following World War II, Austria was occupied by British, French, American, and Soviet forces, and Vienna was divided into five zones, including an international zone, covering the Innere Stadt (“Inner City”). In 1955 the State Treaty, by which the country regained independence, was signed with the four occupying powers, and Vienna became once again the capital of a sovereign Austria."
So many iconic buildings. Ute also suggested not going to tourist places for strudel. The tourist places are over-priced and the strudel is not good.
Napoleon. Ute says he was honoured gloriously yet he only won one battle..
St Stephens Cathedral. [From Vienna Now and Forever]: "St. Stephen’s Cathedral is not only Austria’s most important Gothic building. The Steffl, as it is affectionately known in Vienna, is much more than that. It is a landmark, a symbol of identity and synonymous with the reconstruction of the Republic after the Second World War. Construction of St. Stephen’s Cathedral began in the 12th century and its interior changed repeatedly over the centuries until it was finally given its current Baroque appearance. The tallest of its four towers is the south tower at 136 meters. The tower room, from which there is a gigantic view across Vienna, is reached via 343 steps. A total of 13 bells hang here. However, the best known of them, the Pummerin, hangs in the 68 meter-tall north tower. It is the second-biggest free-swinging chimed church bell in Europe. On the roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral, colorful roof tiles were laid to create the Royal and Imperial double-headed eagle and the coat of arms of the city of Vienna. St. Stephen's Cathedral also attained a particular reputation due to Vienna's most famous sweet treat: It soars above the brand logo on the pink-red packaging of the Manner Schnitten slices."
The Natural History Museum.
Another square - I forgot the name.
On bike trips you always get time to chat to people, it's always interesting. Sarah is from LA. Her husband is at a conference in Vienna, and she has taken the time off work. She had visited New Zealand, and loved Waiheke.
This is sustainable housing to rent. Many more rent than own.
Meet Melissa. She teaches 5yr olds at Gems American Academy in Qatar. I loved talking to her about teaching and travelling. A holiday treat. Her hair takes 3 people 3 hours to braid.
I don't know this girl. I took this because Lachie and Chiara have a Vespa like this in Providence in the States.
Then we head to a talk at the Institute of Human Sciences (Lachie's work place for the last 3 months). Lachie is not speaking this time, it is a visiting Professor, we are all listening.
After the talk we have delicious food. Lachie said it is like the lunch he has here every day.
We meet Holly Case, the History Professor at Brown who put Lachie's name forward for the Fellowship and is always looking out for him. I got the photo timing wrong for him.
As we leave, I spot some interesting books on a display inviting fellows to read.
We get back to our AirBn'b and discover our laptops have been stolen.
Bill put the key in the lock box for the first time. Someone must have been watching or knew the number. They took our two laptops, plugs and a disc drive of mine. What I most care about is the drive which has all extra folders related to Climate Restoration, and being a Rotoroa Island Educator and old photos. (I had downloaded them off the cloud to allow for more storage.) Everything else is in the cloud. I kept telling myself "Give it up, I didn't want it anyway."
The AirBn'B owners are very good to us, and happily, have another one we can go to. We pack our bags and move. The new one is good.
The next day we go looking for lap tops to buy. But we decide we will wait till London before buying new ones as they may be more compatible.
Lachie goes to spin classes and is super fit. He invites me to come as a guest.. This is us on the tram before the class.
There were 20 in the class. Lachie comes 2nd, I come 12th. I didn't know we were being placed. I am super happy to just be doing it. Here we are on the tram after.
We spend the next morning at Wien Museum.
[From Vienna Now and Forever]: "The reopened Wien Museum is a completely renovated and expanded building that documents the fascinating history of Vienna from early times to the present day. This ultra-modern museum has retained many of its original features. The building on Vienna’s Karlsplatz was originally designed by the famous architect Oswald Haerdtl, a former employee of Josef Hoffmann, and opened in 1959. However, it was bursting at the seams and in need of renovation."
This was a display showing how Vienna had changed in population and size since 1400's.
Flooding was a big issue as I mentioned at the beginning.
Vienna has been a powerful city through much of history.
I hear back from Green Clean. They have given me a refund for my bonzoe (muck up). I'm happy to tell people good things about them.
On our last night in Vienna, we go to the English speaking theatre that Lachie has recommended to us. They have a show called Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of). It is based on the Pride and Prejudice story but told through the eyes of the servants - and all the parts are played by a cast of just 5 brilliant women. It is part story, part musical, part comedy. It was funny and so engaging. It was what we all needed.
Bill and I had a bite to eat in an alleyway restaurant on the way, which was lovely.
After the show we say goodbye to Lachie, we are leaving tomorrow morning early. He is also leaving Vienna, but a couple of days later.
I hope Lachie does another Fellowship here. We both concluded Vienna is a peaceful, relaxed and historic city. It was so much fun and we have loved it. We both hope to come back.
