Vienna

When I studied here in the early to mid 90s, the only American food chain around was McDonald’s. This past week I spotted a T.G.I. Friday’s, Burger King, and I even drank a few (Austrian) beers at the Champions bar in the Marriott, which horrified my Vienna guide, who asked, “How did you know?”

I’d been tipped off by an American living in Vienna (he works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) who suggested I might find the NCAA tourney televised via ESPN. The young bar manager, a dead ringer for actor Jonah Hill, was kind enough to switch one of the flat screens to the Georgetown-NC State game—everyone else was watching Cologne versus Hannover. And when the Hoyas lost by a basket, I had to explain to the manager how rare it is for my team to have such an early exit (he’ll never know!).