The Blue (ha!) Danube

You know, everyone has an opinion. I get that part. But, man, oh man did I walk into it today.

Nicholai and I took a four-mile walk this morning along the Danube canal, which winds through the city. Talk about beautiful. The architecture of the buildings on either side was stunning as were the gardens. As for the Danube, well it"s anything but blue.

After the walk and after spending two hours with a man named Wolfgang, his girlfriend Sofie and their dog Daiquiri at a cafe called Don's (named after Don Corleone from the Godfather movie ... identified by a large, painted picture of Corleone on the front of the building), we walked to the metro station to head home. But before getting on the metro, I stopped at one of Vienna's famous sausage stands to get a wurstel (scharf ... i.e., spicy). The vendor asked where I was from and if I lived in Wien. I said yes and somehow we got to talking about the Danube. I think maybe he'd asked me how I like Vienna. At any rate, I explained that we'd just come from a nice walk along the Danube. His reply: Ah, yes, the blue Danube. That's when I should have just walked away. But, alas, I didn't.
"We'll, it's not really blue," I said. "It's more like green."

The rest of the conversation wilted after that and he ended it with: "Yes, but we don't have oil in our water."

(pause)

What could I say. One-upped by the sausage man.

Alison
13 May 2010
10:58 p.m.