Ah, Vienna. Here's what I learned - we don't get to choose the time in which we live. We can only choose how we live within it. I'm an American. I'm responsible to the world for living with it, within it. Like the knight Antonius Bloch in Bergman's film The Seventh Seal, even if Death always wins, no sonofabitch will stop me from the redemptive acts I choose to do.
I have loved The Seventh Seal ever since seeing it as an adolescent in the early '60's (it felt very cool and grown-up to visit the art house theaters and hang out at coffee houses.
Bloch was a tragic hero, fending off Death by playing him almost to a standstill in chess.
I, however, was (and I suppose I am still) an absolute washout as a chess-player -- I could never game out the effects of different moves, as even thinking one or two moves beyond the immediate situation was beyond me. Also, I don't enjoy board games, so couldn't be bothered.
But I loved the movie. Thanks for referencing it, and giving me an excuse for thinking about those days.
All the real bars in Vienna are in the 6th, 7th and 2nd districts. Maybe the 1st district still had some life in it in the 1990s but the center of gravity has shifted, partly due to tourism but probably more due to foreign oligarchs buying up apartments they rarely visit.
Ah, Vienna. Here's what I learned - we don't get to choose the time in which we live. We can only choose how we live within it. I'm an American. I'm responsible to the world for living with it, within it. Like the knight Antonius Bloch in Bergman's film The Seventh Seal, even if Death always wins, no sonofabitch will stop me from the redemptive acts I choose to do.
I have loved The Seventh Seal ever since seeing it as an adolescent in the early '60's (it felt very cool and grown-up to visit the art house theaters and hang out at coffee houses.
Bloch was a tragic hero, fending off Death by playing him almost to a standstill in chess.
I, however, was (and I suppose I am still) an absolute washout as a chess-player -- I could never game out the effects of different moves, as even thinking one or two moves beyond the immediate situation was beyond me. Also, I don't enjoy board games, so couldn't be bothered.
But I loved the movie. Thanks for referencing it, and giving me an excuse for thinking about those days.
Alive and well in The Lost City.
Indeed! The empire is dead, yet somehow it's still there.
All the real bars in Vienna are in the 6th, 7th and 2nd districts. Maybe the 1st district still had some life in it in the 1990s but the center of gravity has shifted, partly due to tourism but probably more due to foreign oligarchs buying up apartments they rarely visit.