"He doesn't even KNOW what calories ARE! He has that wonderful metabolism and me, I LOOK at food and I get FAT! But here he is trying to give advice on dieting and eating and he doesn't even know what he's TALKING about!"

Yea…compared with Vienna, there were almost no American tourists in Slovenia or Croatia. I didn't realize how much I was enjoying their absence until I got to overhear this lovely conversation while I was trying to enjoy my Sachertorte this afternoon. I was sitting in this really fancy, really delicious bakery, Demel while I was overhearing this woman.. And 'overhear' is the wrong word, the 60 or so woman was, extremely rudely, yelling this conversation to her table. It was so incredibly inappropriate that it was funny, but also disgusting. As a fellow American tourist I have to work so much harder to make a good name for myself among people I meet thanks to women like this one.

 

Vienna is the most beautiful city I have ever been to. I only get to spend 2 days here, but I can tell that I would have a great time for at least another week. There's just so much to see! And all of it is beautiful. I don't usually think much about Austria in my every day life, and so I had forgotten that this has been a very wealthy country for a very long time. And not just wealthy, also very concerned with aesthetics. Rich, image-conscious people have been building huge mansions here for thousands of years! And shopping in expensive shops. And going to the opera and theater. Oh, and eating decadent desserts. Seriously it's probably a good thing I'm only spending 2 days here, because I could eat indefinitely, and have been. I think there's a line in Eat, Pray, Love about having a relationship with your food, and I'm SO understanding that right now. I have been enjoying some of the other decadences though. I went to the opera yesterday!! I'd never been to an opera before, and it was about as comical as I thought it would be, but also kind of beautiful. Everyone was super dressed up, except for me who showed up in ripped jeans…, and was there to listen to these elegant opera singers perform La Boheme reeeeeally passionately. So beautiful, but also funny to think that a few thousand wealthy, sophisticated people are gathered in a theater to listen to a couple singers wail.

Anyway, I guess I should soak up as much sophistication as I can, because I'm headed to Oktoberfest tomorrow, and I'm just guessing it won't be quite as elegant.