memories to spark emotion

last night i was catching up on my list of blogs along with some reading from matador reading where i came across a movie called before sunrise, set entirely in vienna. (also check out the sequal before sunset which takes place nine years later in paris)  before the page was fully loaded i was redirecting myself to youtube checking to see if i could find the film in the youtubesque part 1 of ... segments format.  the ten part movie was found with no issue, and my evening was set. besides to romantic nature of meeting someone on a train, falling in love, and setting out to rendezvous months later, i found myself looking in the background landscape instead of the main characters. i was fixated on the staatsoper, straßenbahn, hofburg, jewish quarter, michaelerplatz, prater, and i was quickly transported back a year and a half to my time spent walking around those very streets.

when the new couple first set off from the westbahnhof in "before sunrise", they were walking across the canal only to ask two quick witted, dry humored men, who moonlighted as thespians, (all this sounds way to austrian right?) what they should do in vienna for the day. they asked why they would only spend one day in vienna? i wonder the same for anyone planning a trip to the capital, but i ask why only three or four days, why only a week or a month even? i even ask myself why would i only spent four months in a city that clearly involved a much longer segment of time to truly enjoy and understand. you must enjoy vienna at a viennese pace, one of leisure, of pleasure, of culture, and of many many cafes. there is now rush in vienna, which is what makes it so viennese.  there is a scene when the camera visits a favorite cafe of mine, pausing momentarily on each individual couple, listening in on the conversation. to me it could not be more perfect, each group enjoying their time together over a morning coffee.  there was one couple from new york complaining about the service, stating "if this were new york the waiter would be out of a job." that statement sums up vienna more than any i have ever heard. the new yorker is right...for new york. for vienna though, he could not have been more wrong.  i wonder, as a traveler, who are we to criticise another people for their "way" of life.  to me that was a beautiful highlight of viennese culture that i never expected i would have enjoyed. i forced me to slow up a bit and enjoy the moment, the atmosphere, the aroma, the taste, and the company of whomever i was with.

i was also thinking how some may ask how a mere photograph of a random alley way or a movie clip of two people drinking a beer with a yellow label can take you back somewhere.  it does not have to be the exact photo or a drink you have sipped to bring forth a wave of emotions that cause you to be momentarily paralyzed from toe to finger in goosebumps. no, it can just be a sense of euphoria that was triggered by a lasting memory.  that alley, though different, can place you in the heart of a memory where you picture the baroque details of every building while feeling the cool air mixed with the first warm spring sun on a viennese march day and how that yellow label can cause your taste buds to experience a refreshing rush of crisp ottakring beer that was freshly poured after a warm day exploring your city. i guess it is along the idea that it only takes a spark to ignite a match, that the emotion to follow, accompanied by a closing of one's eyes can place you back to anywhere you wish to be.