Demographics

“I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.”

Simone de Beauvoir

I wake up with a slight hangover.

It is early, and Shell wants to go for a run before it gets too hot.

Bad Füssing is perfect for running. Flat and one continuous park. The streets are tree-lined. Every block has a park.

We finish our run and grab a coffee at a local bakery. As we drink, bike after bike arrives to collect their morning bread and pastry. All have one thing in common: age.

Bad Füssing is a spa country, and I suppose it attracts a specific demographic. Everyone is over 60. Yet they all seem active and vital—cycling, walking, and out and about.

“Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death.”

Herman Melville

We head home, and a bag of fresh-baked rolls is waiting for us in the foyer. At home in the fridge, ham, cheese, and local cured rohschinken. Jams, cream cheese, and some coffee making facilities. All tucked away with a dishwasher in our kitchenette.

After breakfast, we lay about and read. The Pies are playing and I keep an eye on the game.

We have no plans today. Laying around reading seems like a good idea.

I finish Despair, and the Pies lose by a point.

I refuse to let the loss impact a stunning day.

Despair is beautifully written. Hermann has the same pathetic tragedy about him as Humbert. Nabokov is as much about prose as he is story, and his sad, pitiful protagonists are so good to read.

Next from Nabokov is Pnin.

We walk to the nearby bakery for a light lunch. Shell eats around all the tomatoes of the pizza slice.

Back home, Shell takes a nap, and I read.

We start to plan the last week of our holiday, and it gets a bit mundane. We end up taking a few more days in Bad Füssing. Buy some time before we make the weighty decision of Germany, Austria, or the Czech.

“Possible is more a matter of attitude,
A matter of decision, to choose
Among the impossible possibilities,
When one sound opportunity
Becomes a possible solution.”

Dejan Stojanovic

Comfortable with the decision to postpone the decision, it is time for some wine. We start with the left over Grand Cru from the night before.

I am mindful of the short drive to Landgasthof Resch Schönburg for dinner, so I moderate my drinking. The idea of fewer glasses does not appeal. The same amount of glasses, smaller pours.

With the Eichberg Grand Cru finished, I drop down a gear, Pinot Gris. It is not a Grand Cru, and I can already feel the sidelong glances from Shell.

Landgasthof Resch has a great outdoor space and excellent food. We share a soup to start, and Shell orders the zander and baby potatoes for main. I go with the roast pork with bread dumplings.

The beer flows, and the meal is first rate.

Home for some gelato before reading as the afternoon sun sets.

“A beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn.”

Claude Debussy