Aug 2/3, 2005
We went for an early walk in the Chicago Botanic Gardens with Maria, figuring that the rest of the day (and short night) would be spent sitting. This was wise and good, but not enough to counteract the hours in the plane. Gyuszi took us to the airport – three hours early as requested. After we each checked one bag and went through security, we still had hours to wait. Out came the Scrabble game, and to this day (starting from early childhood), I am by far the weaker player. Fun, nevertheless. We met a few fellow travelers, identifiable by the brown Gohagan bag with the bright lime green tag, and were somewhat surprised at how few of us were actually traveling together. We boarded and to our dismay were unable to trade seats with anyone, and so sat one behind the other, instead of side by side. Taking Zsuzsa’s advice, we set our watches forward seven hours, and immediately after dinner we pretended to sleep. On occasion, the pretense became reality for short times, until a full-body twitch jerked us awake. Lufthansa 747s in economy class do not have seats that recline more than an inch, so we were sitting the whole way. We had a full breakfast (sometime in the middle of the night as our stomachs thought). After arriving in Frankfurt, we went through passport check and security to transfer to our flight to Vienna.
In Vienna, we were taken by bus to classy hotel to fill the time before embarking on the boat. To start our own sight-seeing, and to stay awake, we went walking – baggage still on the bus, and thus without camera – through the Stadtpark, on the Ring, by the Opera, and to Reisnerstrasse 9, the one-time home of my “Kemami” (Godmother), Ellie Petertil, where my family lived during late World War II, in early 1945. Reisnerstrasse is uphill from the main streets, and Zsuzsa recalled that the only source of water was the fire hydrant on the corner at the bottom, and she, aged 12, carried two full buckets up to the house daily, probably ruining her shoulders for life. Vienna is full of memories for her, and I found it a privilege to share in them. We finally walked back to the hotel to wait, along with many of our fellow passengers, accompanied by the snores of those who were able to get comfortable enough to sleep.
We
embarked after 4:00 pm, found that our room had been upgraded (up one deck),
unpacked our waiting suitcases, and determined to live the life of cruising
luxury. At 7:30 we were introduced to the captain and crew for cocktails
followed by a huge dinner (but no Wienerschnitzel!) at 8:00. We collapsed into
bed in relief immediately thereafter.