I´m sitting in the wilds of Waidhofen – that place of John Irving fame when he set free the bears from the Vienna zoo. 
And so in a weird way that North American writer brings me to my recent stay in Toronto with two of the Schubis, attending an education research meeting usually held in USA, but I guess needs must. We had an AirBnB on the 32ndfloor or was it the 33rd – forgive me but I got really dizzy up there on the balcony. No, I didn´t want the bed that touched the window down to the floor. Heavens, I´d feel like flying on waking. (I wonder if this height wobble is linked to aging. Mum would get dizzy the higher she went.)
View from our rooms
We were in that skyscraper area where people walked to and fro along endless corridors that had me lost not just for words sometimes. I was sure they all carried coffee mugs not for the coffee but to keep their hands warm.
Our host had a broad smile and a jingle in his walk, and was really cool with his tips and directions, making us feel at home straight away even though we had to juggle our comings and goings around a single door key. Talk about harmony and coordination!
Lobster and noodles
Downstairs was a restaurant with a waitress who had the most beautiful teeth and I had to tell her. We got talking and she told me that she was also an actress and had a small part in Margaret Atwood´s Handmaid´s Tale. So, never take teeth for granted; there is always a story, and we also had some glorious food.
C&N Tower
We managed to get in some hard-core sightseeing – the Schubis are good at that – but when it came to the C&N Tower I opted to wait downstairs while the other two went to the top. Two of us even caught a performance of the Vienna Boys’ Choir and their well-deserved standing ovations. It was such a treat to see how natural the boys were, a far cry from the Teflon-coated performance kids one sees on TV shows.
I will surely try and catch them again once back in Vienna. And then it was over and we were on our way home with a flash of memories from our stay.
Next time there´ll be a story about some strange creatures, so until then, as ever, onwards!
