Back in Vienna (28)

Photos: Highlights have been Monument Valley and Lake Powell

Back. In a not air-conditioned apartment in hot Vienna, but with the lavish abundance of usual property. The first drum full laundry is already suspended, the first things stowed. This is obviously the vitality and agility following five to six hours sleeping phase after 29 hours watch phase. Or is it only duty?

For almost 20 years I have been waiting on this journey and that it is now to end, probably represents the biggest disappointment. This was my dream destination and I know no other that now seamlessly could take this place.

Otherwise it has - all in all - not disappointed me. I tried to deduct all the mythical elevations of the media and the movies although the images still remain in the head. After all, our destination was just the heart of the global film industry - landscapes which have been filmed this artfully juggled by professionals. At the Grand Canyon it was indeed the case that the mere nature given the glorified images could no longer withstand.

Many sights have left deep impressions even we have not expected anything special. Lake Powell or our drive from Grand Canyon to Page were not on the list of those sights that should make the trip unique. A simple dip in the Pacific Ocean at sunset and the fight against the waves or the walk up to Telegraph Hill in San Francisco are experiences which were not on the agenda of the travel agencies, but were highlights indeed.

But above all the big difference was that this was a holiday of full of experiences. The past 18 years brought holidays of rest where the days distinguished above all by the buffet dinner and the change to the next book. They are no longer maturities in the memory.

This time I'm not recovered, possibly even more tired than before, but full of impressions and experiences. I've read in previous vacations, this time I've lived more myself and I take from this very much more with me.

For the children an unforgettable holiday will be present all their life, while it is difficult in almost all earlier vacations for them to remember the location and to call at least a few images in memory. This time we will have the problem to correctly assign the wealth of incongruence in memory because it is a Panopticon impressions available. Not everything was nice, not everything was good and not all held our demands but we have seen a piece of America. We learned something.