When a French woman meets a Viennese man, Photo by Sandro Gonzalez on Unsplash
This article will be short, as short as my stay in Vienna, which lasted only four days.
But as short as it was, it set my mojo on fire.
Context
So here we are for a few days, with my little Ju, in Vienna. We put on our sneakers and our raincoats…
Vienna is a bit of an open-air museum, the buildings are all more beautiful than the others. There is a rather crazy order.
With Ju, I find my childish mood. I want to do antics, to jump, to dance on the wet cobblestones. Ju is one of my friends with whom I feel fully myself. And when I say “myself”, I necessarily mean a big bit of madness.
So I jump, I laugh, I invent, I say anything, and my energy does not dry up.
The meeting
First morning, first monument. The drops shower us copiously as we walk along the Hoffburg Palace.
As we pass in front of the main entrance, a man with a funny outfit approaches us. He wears a red overcoat with golden buttons and a black tricorn. He has a look of pirate or king’s guard.
Yes, he is selling something, obviously! But the way he approaches us is so friendly that we end up stopping and listening to his diatribe.
Classical music concert tickets, that’s what he’s trying to sell us. He is not very tall, he has a nice beard and black laughing eyes. Honestly, he is not the most beautiful man in Vienna (besides, he looks more Italian than Hungarian) but he has a certain charm. And he is funny, and so are we. The jokes are coming from both sides, and what should last only a few seconds takes about ten minutes.
When he starts to sing each of the songs of the program, he is right about us, and we end up buying him tickets for the evening. Without regret.
Before we leave, he gives me his card. If we like the concert, we buy him a drink. If it is not the case, he buys us a drink. In any case, I understand that he wants to see us again.
Music, white wine and date
The music concert is a very nice moment. The fact that one of the violinists looks like Orlando Bloom doesn’t make it any less so…
So I have to send a little message to Valentino. He answers almost within a minute.
We agree to meet the next evening, him, his friend, Ju and me.
After a day walking all over the city, we find refuge in a small bar in the neighborhood with Ju. It’s early when we start drinking the first bottle of white wine (a real delight, mineral, light, dry, to be drunk without moderation).
Valentino tells me that he will be a little late, and we have time to order a second bottle and to almost finish it when he finally appears in the doorway.
He is wearing a hat, and a less theatrical outfit than the day before. His look is a bit streetwise but neat.
What is certain is that he rolled in the perfume. It’s not unpleasant, but he’s overdone it a bit.
He is alone, I ask him, where is his buddy? I would like to avoid that one of us ends up holding the candle.
Enterprising
The evening is very nice, we laugh a lot. I realize that I have not lost too much of my English, and I am more than talkative.
His friend ends up arriving too. He is of a kindness which immediately transpires in his physique.
Valentino is on my left and Will (that’s not his name at all, but sorry, I forgot…) next to Ju.
There is no doubt about Valentino’s intentions, he gives me a series of longing looks, compliments that are just right, and some caresses on my back.
It’s been a long time since someone looked at me like that. He looks almost in love. Under the spell, that’s for sure. We start two conversations in parallel, Ju with Will and I with Val.
He is funny, but I feel even funnier than he does next to him. Every time I make a joke, he’s hilarious. He drinks in every word I say, fascinated.
Then, when the other two look away, he leans in and kisses me. The kiss is a little too slobbery, and it’s not an instantaneous chemistry, yet it’s not unpleasant, and I let myself go to this passionate kiss.
The Valentino machine is on, the discussion continues punctuated by kisses on the neck, fingers sneaking up my bare back and intense kisses.
The Viennese dilemma
I am torn. The evening is coming to an end, it is past midnight. I would like to go dancing, but the Viennese nights are quiet and our two companions do not seem to be night owls.
Valentino doesn’t let go of me, and he proposes us to finish the evening in his apartment. Unfortunately for him, he lives a few train stations away, and we are staying in the center of town.
I know that going to his place means ending the night with him. My will has limits and my excited body is the first one. Except that Vienna for me is not that.
Yes, Vienna is mostly a moment of friendship with Ju. I don’t want to sleep somewhere else than in our Airbnb, I don’t want to steal his company.
Or maybe I don’t feel like Valentino at all?
We leave the bar, we walk through the streets. I try a waltz with Valentino. He is rigid, and I do anything. It’s as if for him it’s an age-old discipline, that you have to respect every step. But for me, the only thing I want is to ride again and again…
I think it is at this moment that my decision is made. Our bodies do not coordinate, my energy does not respond to his. Deep down, I feel that the sex might be disappointing.
Too much expectations?
We walk the two companions, Will to his car, then Valentino to the subway.
He asks me again, insists on knowing if I’m sure I don’t want to come. And he ends up kissing me like crazy before going down the stairs.
Before leaving me, he asks me to write him all night. Uh, kitten, don’t be mad at me, but I sleep at night…
I know I don’t want to see him again, yet I promise to write him the next day so we can meet again. Why promise him, when deep down I know I’ll never see him again?
For fear of hurting him? For fear of missing something strong?
The next day, my desire is confirmed, I am lazy. Yes, he made me feel good, I had the feeling to be an exceptional person at his side. But today, I only want to enjoy Ju, our wanderings through the city. In short, I have no room for Valentino in my journey.
Farewell Valentino
At the beginning of the day, I play a little dead, I don’t answer him. But he deserves better than my cowardice, and I decide to give him all the honesty I can.
“I had a nice time with you yesterday, but I don’t feel like seing you tonight. It is our last night here and I’m not on a loving / sensual mood. Happy to have met you anyway. Hope you find a nice girl soon in Vienna. Have a nice end of weekend.”
I feel sick to my stomach as I send it. Why? I haven’t done anything wrong after all. But with his excess of tenderness, of envy, I am afraid he will react badly.
He quickly replies to my message:
“No worry, I’m glad for that time with you and thank you for last night for the drink and for everything because you make me feel nice and happy.”.
This Viennese meeting could not have ended better. And under his kind words, I leave the mojo reboosted, ready to forget all the little love setbacks of this beginning of the year.