Luring la Vida Loca
From the outside it didn’t look like much – I desperately searched the door for some indication of Latin America. Nothing. Not knowing what to expect, I ventured through the door: Colour! Motion! A delicious sense of raucous enjoyment so seldom sensed in this city swept over me. The event was held at the OKAZ [...]
Gate Crasher: Im Kinsky a rear window on art
Entering the grand carriage way of the Palais Kinsky, into the Stiegenhaus past the gauntlet of magnificent Baroque statuary up the grand stairway, I was stunned, as is often the case in Vienna, by the surrounding opulence. These palaces have that effect – the kind of red carpeted, marbled luxury that makes you conscious of [...]
Toasting the Diplomat Musicians
Ambassador John McGregor’s exquisite piano playing echoes in my mind as we pass the Karlskirche to the French Embassy on Schwarzenbergplatz. We’ve just been to the annual “Ambassadors in Concert” at the Musikverein and, as we stroll along, my friend and I hotly debate the varied skills of diplomats and friends on the programme, among [...]
Posing with the Big Boys
“Isn’t it funny how people who can afford to pay always manage to get into these things for free?” said a man turning to my date for the evening, the thick smugness dripping from his smile like double cream. I smirked uncomfortably to myself: Gate crashing was a financial necessity to me, but as my [...]
Failing at Sailing
For a start, I thought I was pretty cool to be competing at all in a sporting event like this. The fact that I knew nothing at all about the sport, made me, well, badass. My friend Elisabeth, on the other hand, was a pro and had convinced me to accompany her on a regatta. [...]
Trying My Luck at Wiener Models
Why weren’t my parties like this? I felt an arm on my shoulder. “You looked bored-I am in the kitchen,” whispered a husky voice. Turning around, I caught a glimpse of two enormous chestnut eyes, before their statuesque owner straightened up and flounced off. I tore my eyes away from her wiggling butt to a [...]
Inviting Secret Conversation
I am pretty good at being an outsider. If my life were a movie, I’d be pigeonholed into roles of perpetual foreigners begging those “Where are you from?” questions, answered with just a slight hint of a (fill in the blank) accent. Come to think of it, maybe my life is a movie. There is [...]
London Calling
Where do you go if you want good-looking girls in Vienna? Well, if you wanted to make the best of what there was on offer, what would you do for an evening? Passage? Platzhirsch? Scotch? Box? Grelle Forelle? Club Couture? There are hundreds of clubs. Ten years ago when I was first here, there was [...]
The Gate Crasher: My Very Own VIP
“Are you here for the VIP party?” asked the lady behind the Garderobe at Planter’s, a 1st District lounge bar, padded to perfection in brown leather and dark wood. Well, now I am, I thought to myself. “I’ll just join my friends inside.” I smiled. Once a gate crasher… A friend of mine had raved [...]
