dangling keys.

lately, suddenly, vienna's gotten really fucking cool. or partly that i've just gotten used to the fact that you are an ocean away, and so is the city i know by heart. but there's too much of excitement here to overlook it, too. promising, enticing.

friday was critical mass, only a year old here but still getting big and flanked by cops on motorcycles and full of contagious laughter and yells. slapping hands of bemused motorists, grinning at our own missteps. and it ended on a sloping park by some grandiose old buildings, tables of beer and bikes leaning up on trees and i climbed to sit on the wall with evi and tom and watch the tallbike jousting from above, then back down to shiver in the damp grass and drum along on our knees during the fire show. home alone then out till approaching dawn to fling ourselves into the beats and the lights between pulsing walls. you know.

so many nodding smiles.

the next day i biked to bratislava - 3 hours of farmland and riverbanks and bumpy trails, the border guards laughing and waving me on - for a night of bike tricksters, full houses, wine festivals, underground bars, and six people jampackcrammed into a hatchback. strange rolled pancakes, with poppyseeds. bruised hipbones from sleeping on the floor. sweet eyes and tequila breath (gold, with cinnamon and orange).

we had no words in common so instead we just winked and looked away.

a plaque commemorating the first witch burned at the stake in slovakia. a big wandering tour of the city. vain searches for vegan food on sunday.

i left with a good taste in my mouth.

(something about biking home from class or from shows, tearing up these smooth now-familiar paths, wanting to ride fast and forever. or maybe it's this big beautiful punk houses and the way people here seem actually eager to meet each other, to create things, instead of standing back and apart and making sure to wear the right clothes.)

all i know is, all these invitations have me reeling. this is what i want.