What interested The Idiot’s audience in Vienna after he spoke for thirty minutes about his adventurous 20-year walk around the Mediterranean Sea that he vividly described in The Idiot and the Odyssey trilogy of travel narratives?
Forget walking or the Mediterranean. The crowd was transfixed by a brief mention that The Idiot had been befriended by iconic American conductor Leonard Bernstein while studying at Stanford-in-Austria in 1968.
The Idiot, then 19-years old, in Vienna in 1968. (Photo: Eric Almquist)
The Idiot with conductor Leonard Bernstein, then 50-years-old, in Vienna in 1968. (Photo: Eric Almquist)
Leonard Bernstein is seemingly bemused by The Idiot’s take on whatever political or social matter they were discussing at the time. (Photo: Eric Almquist)
The Idiot thinks Leonard Bernstein would get a kick out of the use of Gustav Klimt’s painting “The Kiss” in an ad for the Belvedere Museum.
Leonard Bernstein, who died in 1990 at 72, wouldn’t have a clue what this tourist is doing with his back turned to Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” at the Belvedere Museum.
Leonard Bernstein wouldn’t be impressed that The Idiot tried to brighten a Marc Chagall painting at the Albertina Museum with a multicolored Boston sweatshirt.
The Idiot thinks Leonard Bernstein would be impressed that many monuments in Vienna (this is Richard Strauss, who composed Der Rosenkavalier) have been cleaned since 1968 (when everything in the city seemed to be gray or black).
Leonard Bernstein would be amused that The Idiot pursued his academic interest in Homer (seen here at the Albertina Museum in Vienna) by walking around the Mediterranean Sea.
The Idiot is certain that Leonard Bernstein would agree that the Danube River flowing through Vienna was never very blue.
Leonard Bernstein, probably still wearing a cape, would enjoy having a now-forbidden smoke during a walk in the gardens at the Belvedere Museum.
The Idiot would love to hear Leonard Bernstein’s take on this sculpture in a Vienna city park.
Leonard Bernstein would be impressed that many monuments in Vienna (this is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) have been cleaned since 1968 (when everything in the city seemed to be gray or black).
The Idiot thinks that Leonard Bernstein would be pleased that the Albertina Modern museum was created in 2020.
Leonard Bernstein would be impressed that many monuments in Vienna (this is Karlskirche) have been cleaned since 1968 (when everything in the city seemed to be gray or black).
The Idiot knows Leonard Bernstein would love this MAGA cap at the Belvedere 21 Museum.
Leonard Bernstein would be impressed that many monuments in Vienna (this is Stephansdom) have been cleaned since 1968 (when everything in the city seemed to be gray or black).
We may never know what Leonard Bernstein would think about The Idiot lighting a candle in his memory at Stephansdom (Saint Stephen’s Cathedral) in Vienna this evening.
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