Macedonia & Vienna Travel Log

Part Two: Vienna

I arrived in Vienna and went straight from the airport to the Bundesreal Gymnasium 19, a bilingual school, where I did three readings, two from The Shadow Road, the official launch, and one from Torrie. The students in all three classes were wonderful, attentive listeners, and asked so many good and insightful questions about the books and writing that each session seemed in danger of running over the allotted period. The school also provided a wonderful meal, which I think I'll call elevenses, as it was about then I had it.

After the readings, I was taken to see downtown old Vienna, the area around St. Stephen's Cathedral. The Cathedral is amazing. I'm really too tired at the moment to describe it, but here are a few photos. One, obviously, is not a cathedral evolved over centuries, but an indestructible Second World War Flakturm. And one is a statue of Gutenberg. Without the printing press, we'd be Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork before The Truth, having to engrave everything, right?