Innocents Abroad: Episode 1 - Greetings from Austria

Well, we got here. Long flight to Paris, but I did really well. It was too dark in the plane to read so I watched four movies - kept me nicely distracted. I thought DeGaulle was okay - just really long. Vienna airport was also long, and our luggage didn't make it from Paris. The guy, George, who drove us from Vienna to Siegendorf, works for Hotwell as a driver and regards speed limits as just an amusing sign on the side of the road. The speed limit sign is lit up in lights on a circular sign, and it's quite disconcerting to see "100" in red lights. George never went under 100; it's like he regards it as a required minimum speed. The only way to get through it is to just close your eyes. He made it here in 40 minutes.
The guest house, Sigma, here in Siegendorf is nice. Furnished in a pale wood Danish modern style. The beds are like two twin mattresses enclosed in a large wooden box, close to the floor. The mattress has a kind of knit fitted sheet but no top sheet. There is a kind of fake down thing enclosed in a duvet cover. Strange but comfortable enough.
We saw one of the strangest things we've ever seen yesterday. Today, May 1, is like the most important holiday of the year in Europe. So in Klingenbach (1 mile away, where Hotwell is and where we'll probably live) the two principal political parties of Austria performed a ceremony. First, the Christian Democrats (the blacks, right of center) erected their pole, a 60-70 foot tree that has all the bark stripped off except for a small puff of branches at the top where an Austrian flag is attached). They use a winch and some poles with a horseshoe-shaped hook on the end to lift it up to a standing position. Then a young man shimmies halfway up and attaches a symbol of their party. During all this representatives of the party are passing out wine and beer, and it is considered rude not to drink. During all this a band composed of about 25-30 people, mostly young people from the village, is playing what I would call oom-pah-pah music. They're wearing crimson uniforms.
Then the whole shebang moves two blocks up the street where the Social Democrats (the reds, left of center) repeat the whole exercise. But because they're more liberal, they don't use a winch. They have about 30 guys with poles and ropes muscle it up. A team of young girls sell red roses (party emblem) for a euro each. And of course more drinking. So after standing out in the wind and the cold (wearing my winter coat), everyone adjourns to the nearby bar and keeps drinking.
I swear, every event in Austria requires drinking. I've had more wine in the last two days than in the last 3 years! I've been asking for dry white wine from this area, and it's quite good. Bob's been drinking everything - wine, beer and more beer. My favorite drink is something called Almdudler; it's a lemon-flavored ginger ale drink.
Klingenbach and Siegendorf are quite picturesque, very pretty. There are apartment buildings, but it looks like most people live in what I would cal one-story row houses. Some of them are centuries old, and I was told it's impossible to buy one. They keep them in the family and pass them down, some for generations. There are some new ones though.
The people I've met from Hotwell are primarily Croatian. The co-founders of Hotwell are Vanya, Kreso and Mijo. Kreso loves to talk and has told us stories about the founding of the company, being caught in Iraq, being bombed by NATO in Croatia and primarily Serbia. He introduced us to the former mayor of Klingenbach, a short little 80-ish man who received a certificate of appreciation from the German government for his assistance to so many refugees who escaped the Communists back in the day.
At the May pole ceremony, there were several short, stout, older people, who one and all glared at me and some at Bob, too. I've gotten those looks quite a bit so I suspect America is not too popular over here with some people, especially the older ones. After World War II Austria was occupied by the Americans and the Russians (the Russians in this area) so they may not have fond memories of the U.S.
Remember the song, "Oklahoma" where it talks about the wind coming from the plains? Well, it does here - in spades! It is so windy I can't believe it. If it did this in Houston, people would be talking about tropical storm force winds!
Next installment soon!