If you love history, Vienna is one the cities in Europe you wouldn't want to miss because it is so rich in history. You name any profession, any specific subject, Vienna has a museum for that. When I was working at the Lab, we developed the PL/I compiler for the S/38, predecessor of AS/400, now called i-Series. We had two assignees from Vienna because the IBM Lab there already developed the PL/I compiler for another system, the 8100. One of them was a bachelor and the other had kids. That was the first time I knew that Vienna's native is crazy about classical music. He was in my team and his very first question was where he could buy or rent a good piano for his kids. Perhaps in the deal with IBM Toronto Lab, cost of musical lesson and quality piano rental for the kids was included because he didn't care much about cost. Now I understand it much better why he was so 'crazy' about music. They are all like that :-). You would also understand if you know that waltz was invented in Vienna.
I am not that keen in learning or knowing about history but one interesting observation was about churches in Swiss and Austria, neighbouring countries. Cecilia and I checked a couple famous churches in Zurich and they looked bare because they had become Protestant churches. Yes, Zwingli was a native of Zurich. You go to churches in Vienna and they would still look 'catholic' :-). If you are Christians I am sure you know what I mean. You go to a Catholic Mass and if the homily or preaching is boring, there are so many other things that you could enjoy :-). The stained glasses, the sculptures and the statues, the painted ceilings, the hundreds of 'dust catchers', oops ornaments. Now you know why Catholics like to go to Mass :-).
May 15, Wednesday, was our second day in Vienna. After taking the free shower, feeling so happy, I prepared breakfast. We brought the instant-coffee, Nestle's three-in-one, from Toronto and this also lasted till we were in Salzburg. I cooked fried rice a la Vienna, left-over rice from dinner the day before with egg and sausages. BTW, Austrian sausages are delicious. Cecilia joined me or woke up as soon as breakfast was ready :-). Don't tell me she is smart. With the Indonesian style or rice breakfast, our energy for the day was enough to do the city tour ourselves, hopping from trains and buses to trams, vice-versa. At around lunch time, having spotted a Chinese restaurant near our campground, we decided we would treat ourselves with oriental dishes a la Vienna before our siesta. The cost of that buffet luncheon was not that bad. Including beer and tips, it cost only 18 Euros for both of us. "The food?," you asked. It was heavenly, compared to my 'Indomie goreng' or instant fried noodle we brought from Toronto.
We had a small surprise when we came back in the evening after a whole day sight-seeing. There was another small tent at one side of the campground. When we arrived and I was ready to prepare for supper, an oriental looking lad approached us. He introduced himself as 'Tony' and asked whether there was kitchen facility. I said I didn't know, it didn't seem so because the guy at the reception office didn't tell us about it. I told him that if he needed to warm-up food or did small cooking he could use my stove. He told me he was going to cook pasta. I said, I was going to prepare dinner and will share some with him. So we chatted while Cecilia and I cooked. He was a student at U. of Victoria in B.C. and was touring Europe. When he told us his itinerary, we thought he was a millionaire or a relative of Korean President Kim Dae Yung. He planned to travel Europe for 70 days! He explained to us however, that he was using the cheapest fare one can tour Europe, a student bus package fare to some number of countries, I believe less than 200 Euros. He had just finished his under-graduate study at U. Vic. and will be returning to Seoul, Korea. If we admired his guts, looking at how young we were and knowing that I just retired, he also became our fans. Knowing we had two children, this Korean boy dared asking if any of them is a girl :-). Indeed, I and him exchanged a few jokes with me making fun of his politicians. I forgot to tell you that as soon as he learned we are Canadians, he moved his tent next to us, only a feet or two apart :-).
We woke up quite early the next day because we wanted to secure the free bike that visitor to Vienna could get. They were scattered in some number of places inside the inner (old) city. After making some effort, we were fortunate to get two bikes in perfect condition, one had a pink colour and the other blue. They perfectly matched our cycling outfits. I didn't know how many people in Vienna that saw us on that day bought Nokia cell-phones. Yes, at the back of the bike, covering the whole rear-wheel on both sides, was a big advertisement of Nokia. After about an hour cycling and checking whether it was worth it to visit Sigmund Freud's museum (pricey :-)), we took a break in Sigmund Freud's Park near Votivkirche. Lo and behold, we saw Tony approaching us from a distance. He probably didn't believe that we do not have any daughter :-). He was amazed seeing us, either he couldn't believe that we were being employed by Nokia or he didn't understand how we could get matching bikes and outfits. :-) Till the next episode where I will share with you the experience of a lifetime when we camped in Salzburg.