Vienna

8 April 2007

I thought that when I went to Austria, I was just going to Salzburg, but H had other ideas and packed me off to Vienna on my second day to meet with some Powerfrauen. I’d not been to Vienna before, nor had I ever travelled on the Austrian railway, so travelling across the country for the first time in a comfy first class carriage may well have spoiled me for life (excuse me, are these grapes peeled?). On the way from Salzburg to Vienna I shared a compartment with a youngish businessman and further along the route an older man joined us and proceeded to doze and snore lightly on and off. Beautiful scenery whizzed by outside the window and I read bits and pieces from my free copy of the Salzburger Nachrichten. I learned that there’s a tunnel being built somewhere and it’s gone over budget and Elton John had a big birthday party. But I don’t think the two are connected.

I’ve run this site on my own for the past six and a half years, but with the arrival of Hubert’s enormous new project, which sees him taking a boat down the Danube to meet and give concerts with local artists, a new web team are making a fancy schmancy site specifically for the tour. This tour site will sit on the same domain and be what you see first, with the site I’ve been running remaining on the domain as the one stop shop for everything else you could want to know about Hubert’s career and projects thus far. I’ll be updating the “artist site” as necessary, but from now on my main job will be “web editor” for the tour site.

I went to Vienna in order to meet with three ladies who are involved with the project: Heidi and Mena who are running the project management and Julia who has been writing copy and will be helping Heidi and Mena. I had only previously communicated with these three via email, but knew what Heidi looked like, so wasn’t worried about finding her at Wien Westbahnhof. And either Heidi knew what I looked like too, or she simply thought it safest to wave at the person with pastiest complexion to leave the train.

Mena took me to Spa, where we picked up lunch for everybody and waited while the guy at the deli counter put together our rolls with a decidedly Mediterranean approach to speed of service. Back at Heidi’s flat my first introduction to her dog Mitzi was as she bolted out and down the stairs when Heidi opened the door to let us in. With some persuasion Mitzi was fetched back to the flat and the door shut firmly behind her.

We gnawed on our rolls and talked about the new site (you’ve gotta love a meeting that’s called “Sarah says”). Jobs were assigned, problems ironed out and we generally bonded in a way that you can’t quite manage just via email. After we were done with work Heidi asked me if there I was anything I wanted to see before I got back on the train. As the Tibet Kultur Restaurant was just down the road, I asked if we could go there. I know the owner, Tseten Zöchbauer, but again only via email. Unfortunately she wasn’t in when we went there, but it was great to finally see a place that I’d only previously read/written about and seen on the TV. I left a note for Tseten and bought a pretty scarf in the shop attached to the restaurant. If you’re ever in Vienna, do go to the restaurant at 9. Währinger Gürtel and experience a bit of Tibet in Austria.

It was time for me to head back to the station and Heidi and I walked down a few streets to get to her car. Mitzi meanwhile did her best to exert her independence every two yards, stopping to smell whatever looked most disgusting on the pavement, turning down streets when we wanted to go straight ahead and wrapping her lead around our legs.

At the station my train was waiting at the platform, due to leave in just a few minutes. Heidi and Mitzi escorted me right to the train and Heidi opened the door to the carriage for me. We stood for a moment on the platform saying our goodbyes, but the door got tired of waiting and started to close just as I was about to get on. Evidently a seasoned pro when it comes to trains, Heidi stabbed the button again and kung fu kicked the door open once more. The lady has style.