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Vienna

Introduction Instead of a chronological account of our time in Vienna I'm going to organize this by themes, in the hope that it will be more interesting and more useful (should anyone happen to find this blog). We landed at the Vienna airport Friday morning, and flew back out Monday evening, so we had nearly four full days to enjoy. I had only been here for a one-day business trip a year ago; Anja auditioned for some artists' agencies a number of years ago, but was only here for a day or two, and mostly concerned with singing, not with sightseeing. Our previous impressions were thus very limited. Our hotel, the Hotel-Pension Shermin Apartments proved an excellent choice. The room was modern, clean and relatively spacious, and most important – extremely quiet. The personnel was friendly and helpful. It's located only a five-minute walk from the subway station Karlsplatz, and directly next to a tram stop. Before our trip we ordered a Vienna Card for each of us online....

Don't Be a Fafner Developer! I'm going to talk about a type of developer you should not want to be - a Fafner developer. What do I mean with this expression? First, I need to digress. Fafner is a character in Wagner's massive 4-opera "Ring of the Nibelungs" cycle. He and his brother build the gods' castle Valhalla. In payment they receive a vast treasure (the Rhinegold), which includes a magic helmet (the Tarnhelm) and a ring of power (the basic idea should be clear to you if you've ever read the Lord of the Rings). Fafner kills his brother, takes the treasure off to the woods, uses the Tarnhelm to turn himself into a dragon, and settles down on top of his hoard. Much time passes. Finally a hero emerges who is brave enough to take on Fafner (Siegfried). The evil dwarf Mime tries to warn Fafner of the approaching danger. Fafner's response? "Ich lieg und besitz…lass mich schlafen" (I lie here and possess…let me sleep). Of course we know what h...

Puglia

This was an amazing vacation. For us terra incognita, in our many Italian vacations we'd never gone farther south than Tuscany. How can I tell about this in a way that's not boring for the majority? I kept daily notes while there, I think I'll use them as a basis and tell the story day by day, making a new post for each day. This may also spawn some extra posts, for example about driving in southern Italy. Background For those not familiar with Italian geography, Puglia is the region in the extreme southeast of the country, the heel of the boot. The terrain is mostly flat, save for the last southern extension of the Appenines running down the middle of the region, the Murgia. It's bordered on the east by the Adriatic Sea; Albania is only about 60 miles away. It's a dry region, but not a desert. Along the coast vegetables are produced, and (as in much of Italy) olive trees and grapes seem to be growing everywhere. It's not a famous wine-growing region, but there...

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