This is Tina and Caroline and an enormous black dog. Tina is Alex’s mom, Alex being my (now) ukulele playing neighbor. Caroline is their high school exchange student from Maine. Yesterday, Tina put the Americans in her car and off we went to the Toplitzsee. The Toplitzsee is the legendary home of a buried Nazi …
I travel a bit heavier than I used to. When I fly to Austria I usually have one bag that’s full of books, only. That takes up a significant amount of my luggage allotment. I don’t carry a lot of other stuff, I have a decent winter wardrobe in Austria and it’s not like you …
Sound of Music, alternative version. Instead of belting out Climb Every Mountain, the Reverend Mother says, “Christ almighty, what took you so long? Now go change out of that silly dirndl, give the guitar to the orphans, and get down to the chapel, it’s almost time for Vespers!” Maria follows the instructions exactly and spends …
Back in January when we went to visit our friends in Germany, we asked them what we should bring from Austria. The answer? Mozartkugeln. Mozartkugeln (literally, Mozart Balls) are an Austrian national treat, a chocolate covered bomb of nougat, marzipan, and in most cases, pistachio marzipan too. They’re delish. Here’s the deal, though. We weren’t …
I go to lots of churches but there’s never anyone in there when I’m poking around. I’m a sucker for iconography and medieval painting and crazy gothic interiors. Beautiful old churches – some of them so old as to have Roman foundations – are all over the place in Austria. This morning the church in …
I was rescued from the sadness of a Seder free spring by the woman who answered my mail to the synagogue in Graz. “Yes, there’s an event you can go to, you just need to email the synagogue, but why don’t you come to our house?” she asked. How could I refuse such a kind …