same smell

As going to the core of French quarter, at first I felt quite a similar smell to Hong Kong. It's a little bit strange feeling, 'cause there were so few hints that inspired me to remind Hong Kong here, except for its hot and humid weather.

Jackson square is not just like Kowloon park, and walking down Bourbon street didn't make me the same feeling as walking around Nathan road.

It is not deja vu, but still I felt the same smell here with Hong Kong.

The smell itself around streets is just like a mixture of flavors of several cuisines. In case of Hong Kong, it's among Cantonese and the other Chinese cuisines. In here, it's maybe among Cajun and Creole dishes.

Here was New Orleans, again, USA

waltz and a cup of hard cider

On the evening of the new year's eve of the Millennium year, I and my friend were in the classic city hall of Wien. In front of the main building, there were two big temporary stages for a countdown event. At the shake of the evening, these two stages were filled with people who were made up in classic costumes. As Johan Strauss II's "An der Shönen, blauen Donau" was played by the orchestra (of course, all of us could easily expect this), people in the stages began to waltz. The two huge screens set in the facade of the hall captured every single people waltzing happily in the stages. Then, I realized that the large audience around us began to waltz with their girls, husbands, wives, grandmothers, relatives, or even people standing just next to them.
The great waltz world on the last day of 1999.
In order to celebrate this, I and my friend bought cups of hard cider from a stall there, though I didn't or don't usually drink. Every stall used a special cup for the celebrated Millennium year, which I slightly remember had a logo "Millennium Wien" on its side. Unfortunately, I lost my cup without notice.
The cider was a little bit strong for me, but that taste and waltzing made me happily say hello to the year of 2000.
Here was Wien, Austria.

burritos, salsa and chips in salzburg

Walking up to a new residential area in Stadt Salzburg, which we might say a "new town" area, I and my friend hardly met anyone on streets. All shops and stores were closed because of a new year holiday. The sky was deep gray having plenty of snow, though it was still around noon. The snow would come on later, when we went across the Salzach river. Until we finally found a line of headlights of cars going to an old town area, a silent town and cold made us a little bit scary.
In an old town, there were tons of tourists that walked around not only the beautiful heritages listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also in a few restaurants that opened in a holiday in order to get a less-competitive bonanza. That's a reason why we went in a franchise Mexican restaurant and ordered chicken burritos, salsa and chips as parts of our lunch in Salzburg.
Here was Salzburg, Austria

in a train, from wien to stadt salzburg

I was in a train from Wien to Salzburg at the very first day in the newly Millennium year, almost seven years ago. I was with my friend, and chose to get on an empty compartment, which had two long seats for four people, in an Inter-City train at Wien. I slightly remember that it was almost three hour trip, and by the first an hour passed, we were only two in the compartment.
I forgot the name of the stop, where an elderly man came in our room. He firstly gave a glimpse into the room, and then said to us in German (maybe) if he could come in. We, of course, said "no problem", So, he just came in with a huge smile.
After the man sitting on an opposite seat to me, I realized that his clothes were coated with dust, and his smell was just like a dried straw. He just laughed, and said something in German, which I and my friend couldn't understand totally. We just inclined our heads. Then, he began to speak a broken German-English, though we hardly listen to. Finally, He began to sing a song.
At that time, I didn't know the name of the song, but felt that I surely used to listen to the melody someone sang somewhere.
Later, I found it was Stevie Wonder's "Music Of My Mind".
Here was in a train, from Wien to Salzburg, Austria.