We arranged to meet up with Doris, a family friend, during one of our last days in Vienna. We had two conflicting goals: we wanted to visit a "heuriger," or wine tavern, before we left, but we also wanted to go out to dinner with Doris, and we weren't entirely certain that a place that sold roast pork by the kilogram and wine by the litre would have the right ambience.
Alas, we thought, the heurigen of the Grinzing wine district, which came so highly recommended by my dad, would have to wait another day. So we asked Doris to recommend a nice place to eat. Her response immediately endeared her to me: "Have you heard of the 'heuriger'?" (Later, she would endear herself to Jenn by helping guilt me into taking dance lessons in Seattle. Given Doris's background, I should have seen that coming.)
We spent the better part of the day enjoying a leisurely walk through the mountains near Vienna, visiting Leopoldsberg and Josefsberg for amazing views of the area. With Doris's knowledge of the transit system, we were finally the sweat-free people in the parking lot atop the hill, snickering at the saps that were hiking all the way up. Oddly enough, we visited a church in the area and, with Doris as interpreter, learned that the parish priest's order had its main school located only a stone's throw from Jenn's first-year residence, on Westmount Avenue in Waterloo.
For dinner, Doris recommended the heuriger where she and her family had celebrated her 75th birthday, noting, en route, that the heurigen of Grinzing have since been spoiled by too many tourists--sorry, Dad!
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