Wandering the City Trails E-Book

Z.J. Galos

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Motion & Thought
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 176

Beschreibung

Age is only a number, known humorously, but handicaps at an advanced age are painful. Luckily, after successful operations on my hip joints, I was able to detect the joys of walking again. Have I walked during my student years with a friend across Vienna, we enjoyed the summer days at the 'Alte Donau'-baths. Later, when I met my girlfriend, we enjoyed walking in the Viennese Woods near the suburb of Sievering. Back to Vienna from South Africa, where I've spent most of my adult working life, I had followed the advice from a local physician to take up Nordic Walking as a sport and therapy once I had healed from my two operations. A new life awaited me: Experiencing the extent of the Viennese Woods, fields, and a heath, besides the extent of a world city from many different vistas. I also listened to my inner voice causing many flashes of remembrances during my extensive walks.

Leseprobe

Contents

PROLOG

Tonic for Virility

Michaela

Simchi’s Stir

First Walks in Baden, near Vienna.

Evening Walk

Walks around Klosterneuburg ctd.

A CHOPIN TOUCH FOR YOU

Moods

The Shadow Man

Dream Ritual

Wienerberg 1

I Love the Way You’re Braided

Wienerberg 2

Pearl Morning

Johann Grünberger-Weg

EXPLORE

Kahlenberg

Kahlenbergerdorf

Leopoldsberg

2. Hermannskogel

3. Hameau

4. Jubiläumswarte

4 a. Ottakring

5. Bisamberg

The Shadow

TACTILE

Death

6 Zugberg – Maurer Wald

7 Laaer Berg

8 Sofienalpe

Rendezvous

GROOVE

9. Prater

Late Love

10. Franz-Karl-Effenberg City Trail

Love at 80+

Sylvester

Blues in Orbit

Wintry Vineyards

LESVOS

New Year’s Day I

New Year’s Day

A Pre-spring Walk

recovered

Love in the Times of Covid 19

Ghislaine and Bori.

GROOVE

PROLOG

When in 1970, my friends took my wife and me in their cars, loaded with our ten suitcases, to Trieste, we were looking forward to a trip on a big ship. When I had a first view at the big steamer, I did not think I would ever return to Europe for quite a while. However, Jo-Ann and I would visit Vienna, where her parents lived, a few times during our fourty year stay in South Africa. A trip on a steamship to the Southern Continent of Africa was in itself an adventure, and we loved it.

When we eventually returned from our adventurous life to settle down in Vienna again, beginnings were not that easy for us. Besides, I had planned a different life once, but fate, with its unforeseen circumstances, had other happenings in store for us.

Age is only a number, known humorously, but handicaps of an advanced age are painful. Luckily, after successful operations on my hip-joints, I was to detect the joys of walking again. Have I walked during my student years with a friend across Vienna, enjoying with Fritz the summer days at the ‘Alte Donau’ baths, where we met friends, I later walked with my exciting girlfriend in the Viennese Woods, near the suburb of Sievering. I had never thought of revisiting the picturesque suburbs of Vienna, definitely not with a program of extensive city walks, I was at that time ignorant about.

During a rehabilitation cure at the spa city of Baden near Vienna, I was recommended by the local physician to take up Nordic Walking. “It will be a good therapy for your situation,” she said. The therapist, herself an enthusiastic Nordic Walker, inspired me and our mixed group of ten walkers, who all were seeking a complete recovery for joint problems. After some initial walking exercises in the nearby ‘Rosarium’ and public park, I was convinced that these rhythmic exercises would certainly be beneficial, not only for my recovery from the operations, but also for strengthening my legs, as it placed an emphasis on exercising them thoroughly at a pace that suited me. It became clear to me that I had to work on the technique of Nordic Walking. I had to fall into a good rhythm of moving my legs and adjust my breathing, besides I had to move my arms alternatively opposite to my legs and use them to move the walking sticks beyond my buttocks. An important feature, I observed many walkers not entirely doing that correctly. But also through observation one learns to improve one’s own technique, besides through self-awareness and concentration.

However, our therapist and Nordic Walker participant, explained to us on our outings the principles of successful walking and slowly we experienced more fun with the much more faster way of getting around. I changed my attitude toward this sport, as it also improved the posture of my spine; I walked straighter and felt the improvement right away. Up to then I have not understood the benefits of this sport and wondered what the use of two walking sticks would be, as I observed people slouching along. Perhaps I saw bad examples of walkers with walking sticks for reasons of safety and not determined Nordic Walkers. But it also meant, as one had been explained the basic technique, to learn and adapt the right technique that suited one personally, to enjoy the full benefits of Nordic Walking.

New horizons opened since I had adapted this sport to my outings. I opted the walkways through central Baden and arrived at the city’s main park, the Stadtpark. The trails from the apex of the park took me along wooded areas to various villages around the city. I enjoyed most of all nature’s quaint environment, its greens pleasant to my eyes, besides I refreshed my knowledge of trees, plants and flowers, and got to grips with geography. Well, I thought, as I walked up the hill visiting the Beethoven memorial, what a joy to have my feet and legs in good order again, having no pain any longer, and being able to follow the trails famous personalities had walked on before me.

Since I had been operated and recovered fully, I have been given a new life, a life I cherish and wish to use to the fullest. Walking has not only the benefits of an achievement of having covered a distance between two or more remote places, but also to get away from a daily repetitive boredom, and also to breathe in the fresh air at woods and fields.

A friend of mine took me to the Viennese Town Hall, where he wished to gather more detailed information about a farewell speech of the retiring mayor of Vienna, Dr. Häupl, and also about the inauguration of the new mayor, Dr. Ludwig. At this occasion I came across information about Viennese City Walks, recommended by the Dpt. Of Parks. I received two sheets of paper with proposed trails indicating that on proven completion I would receive a silver and gold Wanderers pin. This was a challenge for a just started Nordic Walker, who had waited for such one. I began preparations and started off on a wonderful tour around the peripheries of Vienna I did not know yet entirely: The Rund um Wien, AKA Rund-uma-dum-Wien, walking challenge had just begun for me.

These ten to fifteen trails brought me again closer to nature and to landscapes, which were not only at a short distance to my domicile, but also further away, and their starting points to be reached by the excellent network of public transport. I observed the variety of colourful life at suburban Vienna, adjoining the green belt of the Viennese Woods, but also the grandiose heath at Perchtoldsdorf. Vienna, the extensive and famous European city, with its unique setting in midst a lush green belt between hills and heath, woods and mountains. Indeed just great!

I have been instantly transformed into a nature lover in the wholesome fresh air of tall grown beech-woods, the interesting plant growth of the open heath, with its gentle undulations of green hills, the mixed wooded trails around Stammersdorf, its hills and its historic wine cellars.

I have to emphasize that this is not a book about trails, which are explained in directory books available at the Rathaus in Vienna (The City Hall), but also at various bookshops, but a mature man’s discovery of the joys of walking, who has been surprised by the well-organized network of marked trails that will give anybody a lasting experience of nature and beauty.

Having great fun on the proposed trails around a world city, I also listened to the reactions of my inner world, having an enriched experience with flashes of remembrances that came to me while I was walking the proposed trails.

*

Tonic for Virility

How did you get hooked on

walking – should I say Nordic

Walking? My friend exclaimed.

Indeed, I said: There’s a difference

but to such details later.

For me it was clear that I had

to exercise

as I had been recreated with

prosthesis to my hip joints

a rehabilitation program had

recommended this to me.

At first I tried city spaces and

benefits of this exercise began

to dawn on me.

Becoming daring I changed the

routes and looked at the maps

of Vienna and also at all its

surrounding areas.

At the City Hall of Vienna

a friendly woman handed me

two papers for walking trails

for successful walkers to earn

the golden badge of the city.

Walking the peripheries of Vienna

a great way to see the extensions

of a world city and enjoy the

prescribed exercises.

The challenge I took on immediately

has paid off with many hours of steady

walking through woods and fields

while my eyes could take a rest on

varied hues of green.

The body slowly exercised for any

repeat challenges that definitely

would still to come.

Exorbitant.

Exhilarating.

Having walked for hours during

Austria’s peaking summer and

arrive invigorated

albeit tired

back home again.

The drug of Nordic Walking had

hooked me on this specific

athletic exercising

a super tonic for virility

indeed.

Michaela

I remember when I studied in Vienna at the Technical University. I had sealed myself off to the outside world in my student domicile, close by the subway station Burggasse-Stadthalle. The one roomed flat had been comfortable and quiet to study at that time, in the fifties. However, if Fritz, a fun-loving friend, did not turn up in the early hours of the morning, I would probably never had any time off for studying. “Come on”, he would call out from the corner of Herbststrasse, where my windows faced to, “let’s go to the nightclub, hurry, they’ll close up in an hour’s time”. I shut my window and took a jacket, then locked my flat and hurried through the passage of the so called Bassena-flats (Washbasin only on the passage), down the stairs and out the main entrance door of the complex.

Fritz knew how to celebrate an early morning at a jazz club, when the atmosphere, swathed in cigar-smoke was relaxed, with a few paying customers canoodling their women for a bottle of champagne. Fritz had a free entry pass for us both. After we had coffee and flirted with some women, we left again. It was midsummer and the night was young. “Let’s walk to the Alte Donau”, he suggested. His eyes gleamed. “But I have nothing with me”. I replied. He laughed. “No problem, I’ll organize everything”. I felt looked after by Fritz, who seemed to me street wise and well connected. After two hours of walking down Praterstrasse, he paused. “It’s early morning, let’s have coffee here”. He pointed to a sleazy joint where neon lights indicated that it was open for business. As we entered a treacly-sweetish air greeted us. The dim lights and red-velvet-atmosphere were drowned in a cloud of acrid cigarette smoke. We sat down in a corner. A voluptuous barmaid came and took our orders. She smelled of a sweet perfume that reminded me of the time at a nearby secondary school. Our class used to visit Dianabad, a public bath, regularly. Whenever we passed the women’s section, as we went for a swim and shower, we experienced a similar scent. Fritz ordered two coffees.

In the center part of the room some sleek men played billiard. Their shiny combed back hair shimmered like lacquer below the low task light. As soon as they finished their game, one of them donned his slim fit jacket, took a young prostitute by her arm and guided her to the entrance, where a cab waited. “He takes her to her customer”, Fritz commented. “I see”, I replied having my first experience with such a milieu, Fritz seemed to know about. The buxom waitress appeared spreading her sweet perfume. “It’s closing time”, she said. I paid for the coffees, glad to get out of this joint. We carried on our two hourly walk and finished at the public bath, where Fritz would meet his sister and her girlfriend. I felt tired and after some words and a bit of polite conversation, Fritz apologized to meet some friends for a card game. I stretched out on the towels the girls had provided and fell asleep.

When I woke, Fritz appeared, a broad smile on his face. “I’ve won at cards”, he beamed. “That’s great, so what next?” I queried. “Put your shirt on”, he said “we’ll have something decent to eat”. I dressed and joined him as he hurried to the nearby restaurant. “You need to eat, so you can study better”, he quipped and ordered two Wiener Schnitzel with potato salad and two beers. We dug into the food and it tasted delicious. “Thanks Fritz”, I said “I’ll make it up to you, when I can”. He smiled in a way like someone who knew how to survive. I often wondered how he managed, but he wouldn’t tell me.

I had exams coming up after summer and I still had to finish a project for one of the design departments at the university, so I got cracking right away. Fritz had disappeared the same way he suddenly appeared, unpredictably. I had made good progress and in August, when I finished my work, I set off for a holiday at my parent’s home in Burgenland. I met my friends and we went to the Dance café to meet some of the local girls. I had no steady girlfriend yet, but hoped to meet someone special in Vienna, as a friend promised to introduce me to a special girl. In autumn I had to attend university lectures again and fortunately passed the two exams I had been swatting for.

Late November I met a friend who played guitar and was favoured by young girls from the secondary school, who were keen to skate on the popular skating rink near the Heumarkt. “Come with me!” he hollered. I went with him and we met a few teens, he introduced me to. Then this ritual of fetching them, talking about our interests and at times sit at a nearby café, became a Saturday afternoon’s past time. However, one Saturday I saw this attractive girl at the skating rink. I went close to the fence to watch her skating. She chatted to a friend who skated with her and I waited patiently until she passed where I stood. As she came past, I caught her eye and felt as if she had grabbed my heart. Wow! Impressive! My friend noticed and smiled. “You like her?” I observed her continued as she skated her rounds on the oval ice rink and waited impatiently until she came past me. This time she skated closer to the fence and our eyes met for a few seconds again. I was fascinated by her racy look that promised a temperamental character. “Yes”’, I could say nothing else. “You have been shot by Amor’s arrow”, he laughed “I will introduce her to you”. I was astonished. “Do you know her?” He smiled again. “Of course, I know her and the whole group of these sweet girls”. I did not notice that I pressed my face close to the fence and would not let her out of my sight as she skated along with her girlfriend on the oval course. The people moved anticlockwise and I had myself positioned suitably, so that I could see her already from a distance when she came along towards me. Every time she skated closer to the fence and smiled back at me. I waved at her and couldn’t wait for her skating hour to be finished.

Finally she emerged with my friend’s girlfriend and Ekke introduced us. ‘This is my friend Jolly. Meet Mischi and Ulli. I shook hands, but did not let Michaela’s hand go. We stood there for a while gazing into each other’s eyes. It was obvious that we were destined to meet and fall in love. My heart jumped high and I wanted Michaela to sense my feelings. These Saturday afternoons became a fixed date with Mischi, as she was called by everybody. So, I would not even think of going anywhere else. After a few times of meeting her I invited her for coffee. We became friends and slowly love began to bloom in our hearts. We got on like a house on fire and went together to all parties from my friends and the circle around Mischi invited us together as well.

Mischi had to finish her final year at secondary school and I had to study for my last year at university. We met often and fell in love, mad about kissing each other, so one thing lead to another and we started petting. Love was wonderful, especially as she became my Muse and a partner in debating with another friend, who did not take a liking to her. Mischi was too bright for him. Hah! I was proud of her debating skills. Well, during springtime, Mischi and I went on Sundays to the Viennese Woods for a walk and when we found a spot where we could be intimate, we enjoyed discovering our bodies reacting to each other sensually. These tete-a-tete’s went on until summer, when we finished our schooling and Mischi, being eighteen years of age agreed with me to make physical love for the first time. At Ulli and Ekke’s party we had finally a bed to ourselves. Perhaps for the first time it was not as pleasurable to her, being still a virgin, but nethertheless we sealed our bond of love.

I cannot forget Mischi and her sensual emotions when we were together in our physical embraces. The expression of her lips and her smile when we aimed to satisfy each other. Being an underfed student, she often invited me to her home, where her mom cooked for us baked calf liver to go with cold potato salad. Mh, it tasted so great, I still can taste it when I close my eyes. Now then, after so many years of absence, it must be by now fifty years, I still think about it when I walk the Viennese Woods, especially when I see a young couple hugging and kissing. I still would like to hug and kiss her too. How must it feel after all these years and after all our experiences, which we were enriched with? It must be great to find that out again. We still have time, but not much any longer. Would we fall in love again? Yes, it would be a mature love experience, but one not to be missed. I’m sure about that.

As I had found her after so many years on the Internet, I was pleased to meet her for tea and toast. She has many lectures and readings to absolve, does not have time to write any more. But perhaps she had understood my longing for her. In early summer she will come to Vienna again and when we’ll go for a walk in the Viennese Woods, as we both wished for. This tradition has left deep engravings in our hearts and we both seem to be keen of keeping these alive.

*

Simchi’s Stir

Moving thru’ fields

And nearby woods

Escaping from the

Locked-in myself:

Living behind 24 tight

Squares

I’ve observed you for

Days on end – Simchi –

White and poppy-red

Cloud white for yearning

Light blue for the sea

Green for a reunion

Cerise for the feelings

Of the heart

Like spring flowers

When I met you

45 years flown by.

Colours we both liked

Have painted the

Autumn leaves bright.

In midst of my sort of

Imprisoned existence

Blue and white banners

Of our publications

Fly above our set beings.

Your dark-brown eyes

Look still through me

And stir the wings

Of my soul.

First Walks in Baden, near Vienna.

At the window

Down below this second floor in the Rehab-Centre, a natural garden runs along the frontage of the accommodation block, where the patients of the clinic have been given their single bedrooms. I’m glad that I hear faint birdsong, warbles of the happiest flock. On the opposite side of the road, behind a rose garden, the dense leafed chestnut tree alley runs parallel to the bedroom wing. Behind the trees some houses of the local residents can be seen in sections, with white painted walls contrasting to the lush vegetation. Soft green acacias, yellow-green lime trees, their grading of colour depends on the density of their leaves. These greens take you in. You get hooked on gazing at it. My eyes experience not only great visual pleasure, but my mind is lost in the density of their shrouded dresses, and perhaps I’m thinking of a beautiful woman I once loved.