Vienna

Reaching Vienna, where I lived several years ago and where the Ottomans besieged the city in both 1529 and 1683, feels like crossing some sort of threshold.

I revisited the Ring and Naschmarkt food market, which is still on a par with the Borough, and met with friends and their growing families. In the Prückl cafe this morning I was able to take time to catch up on news in Die Presse and to briefly contemplate the language I will use and the edge of Europe we will soon traverse.

Traditional Mongolian script originated from Sogdian letters of Aramaic origin, used until 1941 in Mongolia when an adapted cyrillic alphabet was adopted; still under the MPR (Mongolian People's Republic was formed 1924)and which is still used after the democratic revolution of 1990.

Tonight we board a train for Berlin and the East will grow closer still than in the Naschmarkt.