February 12, 2017

"Donald Trump is to appoint a Sound of Music-obsessed concert pianist as the new ambassador to Austria."

"Really, I've seen it like 75 times," said Patrick Park. "I know every single word and song by heart. I've always wanted to live in the Von Trapp house."
'I'm flying to Vienna to check out the embassy, and then I'm going to Salzburg to see if the Von Trapp house is for rent,' he said. 'And then I'm going to learn to like schnitzel and sachertorte.'

38 comments:

Original Mike said...

"I've always wanted to live in the Von Trapp house."

Trump is Hitler, so I'm sure Park will get his wish.

Earnest Prole said...

Fabulous! Who says Trump isn't gay-friendly?

Anonymous said...

There are two "von Trapp" houses. The one that Captain Ritter (Knight) von Trapp, lived in at Traunstrasse 34, 5026 Salzburg. And also the ones used in the movie which are a composite of several locations... including Schloss Leopoldskron, Salzburg,

PS: it's small v von, used by Germano-Austrian nobility, not V

LYNNDH said...

He find out that the Austrians are not as in love with Von Trapp as he is. Did you know that the Baron was a WWI U-Boat commander, with a good "kill" record?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I'll bet Trump is so provincial that he didn't even check if Park spoke Austrian before making the appointment.

LYNNDH said...

Ok, will correct it to von Trapp.

Marc in Eugene said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Marc in Eugene said...

I'm dealing with this by remembering that it's the Daily Fail, and by presuming that Mr Park was speaking jocularly (Heavens knows I'd be happy if a president named me to be ambassador at Vienna) and has already been at Salzburg many times on account of those other Salzburg 'attractions'.

Anonymous said...

He looks like he already never met a schnitzel, he didn't like.

Schnitzel, is a thin, pounded cut of meat, veal, mutton, chicken, beef, turkey, reindeer, or pork.

The French call them escalopes.

The one he better like is Wiener Schnitzel. He'll see a lot in Wien.

My choice would be Figlmüller Wollzeile

https://www.figlmueller.at/de/figlmueller-wollzeile.html

Anonymous said...

The Baron was not a Baron (Freiherr), but rather a Ritter, e.g. a Knight...

Alex said...

It would have been interesting to be in Vienna c. 1780s to witness Mozart in his prime.

campy said...

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye.

tcrosse said...

G'day mate. Put another shrimp on the barbie.

TA said...

Schitzel's pretty good. Their version of chicken fried steak.

Big Mike said...

Anyone who doesn't like sachertorte is to be pitied for a lack of taste buds. Incidentally I always thought it was two words: sacher torte. However a quick google shows it spelled both ways, as one word or two.

If you're going to live in Salzburg you have to plan to eat nockerl, a soufflé dessert that looks huge but is mostly air.

Anonymous said...

If you're going to live in Salzburg you have to plan to eat nockerl, a soufflé dessert that looks huge but is mostly air.

He's going to live in Vienna, so the local desert of choice would be Kaiserschmarrn. Shredded pancakes and the other ingredients are added, including: nuts, cherries, plums, apple jam, or small pieces of apple, or caramelized raisins and slivered almonds., served with jam (Plum, Cherry, Apple, etc), then dusted with powdered sugar.



Anonymous said...

Big Mike said...
Anyone who doesn't like sachertorte is to be pitied for a lack of taste buds.


I find it dry

Ambrose said...

Does he at least speak Austrian?

tcrosse said...

Linzertorte, that's the stuff. Lots of Viennoiserie from which to choose.

BJM said...

I find it dry

Depends where it's made, I've had some that could be used as desiccants, others overly fudgey...however when it's just right. Yum. However my fav sweet is Palatschinken.

I'm a big fan of kasekrainer, best at a late night wurststand.


Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

What? not Arnold Schwartzenegger?

Hey, he can sent whoever he wants. Just repeal the Afraudable Care Act.

Big Mike said...

@Drill SGT, if he's thinking of renting the von Trapp house, he's going to have to eat nockerl. You don't have to tout Vienna (Wien) to me. I've had extended stays there twice. I love the Volksoper, I love the museums, I've seen the Lipizzaners, and I love the classical music and the pastries.

Ken B said...

This is a nice subtle example of narrative peddling. The sub-text is that Trump thought a guy who likes the Sound of Music knows about Austria.

Michael K said...

"Did you know that the Baron was a WWI U-Boat commander, with a good "kill" record?"

Yes, he was quite successful.

On 17 April 1915, Trapp took command of SM U-5 and conducted nine combat patrols. While in command of SM U-5 he sank two enemy warships:

the French armored cruiser Léon Gambetta at 39°30′N 18°15′E on 27 April 1915, 25 kilometres (13 nautical miles; 16 miles) south of Cape Santa Maria di Leuca,
the Italian submarine Nereide at 42°23′N 16°16′E on 5 August 1915, 250 metres (270 yd) off Pelagosa (Palagruža) Island.[8]
He also captured the Greek steamer Cefalonia off Durazzo on 29 August 1915.


I've been to the von Trapp house in Vermont, also.

I love the Volksoper,

I attended the statsoper and we dressed for the occasion. Everybody else in the opera house was in jeans and sweat shirts

Sebastian said...

"It would have been interesting to be in Vienna c. 1780s to witness Mozart in his prime." Summer of 1788. World has gone downhill since.

Cooke said...

Random comments:

Sachretorte was invented before baking powder--its leaven comes from whipped egg whites which will not rise with too much heavy liquid on them, so the balance of chocolate has to be carefully calculated if the cake isn't to be too heavy or dry.

Salzburg aristocrats still, all these years later, can't stand the upstart pushy governess.

The current Count Arco is a direct descendant (I believe) of the count who on the archbishop's orders kicked Mozart down the stairs in Salzburg.

bgates said...

American progressives must be very puzzled by The Sound of Music, since it features Nazis, nuns, and a nuclear family headed by a veteran, yet the latter two are not on the same side as the former.

Sebastian said...

"The sub-text is that Trump thought a guy who likes the Sound of Music knows about Austria." By contrast with O, who appointed Caroline Kennedy ambassador to Japan; at least she knew sushi.

traditionalguy said...

This guy has possibilities.

He can play requests at the Embassy Bar. But Trump probably wants a cut on the tip jar.

And he can hide a small AWACs worth of electronic gear on his body when he visits Russia.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

There is a long and rich history of bizarre ambassadorial appointments. This one, even if true, probably wouldn't make the top 500 of the worst.

Anonymous said...

O had some real turkey's as ambassador appointments. Hungary, Argentinia, Norway, Japan and China come to mind

SukieTawdry said...

Well, he certainly is enthusiastic, I'll give him that.

I'm a big musical theater fan, but The Sound of Music is not my cup of schnapps.

Deirdre Mundy said...

I'd imagine 99% of the his job will be attending concerts, so... This is perfect!

I, too, would love to be Ambassador to Austria. (except apparently it helps for Ambassadors to be wealthy, because they do a lot of the entertaining out of their own pockets?)

I imagine this is actually a decent pick, especially since he's an industrialist and we're talking bilateral trade deals.

Austria makes some great wine, chocolate and mustard, all available at your local Aldi!

Paco Wové said...

"apparently it helps for Ambassadors to be wealthy"

Those ambassador posts aren't cheap; Obama's last ambassador to Austria paid something like $475,000 for the privilege.

Wilbur said...

Over thirty years ago I took the first Mrs. Wilbur to see a local amateur production of the Sound of Music, with which she was unfamiliar. She had fled Cuba with her family in 1961 to our small city in central Illinois which is where we eventually met.

She watched with rapt interest until the end, when tears streamed down her cheeks. She found much of the plot, especially the forced flight from Austria so familiar to her own life history that it dredged up so much of the pain she had suffered years earlier.

Big Mike said...

I attended the statsoper and we dressed for the occasion. Everybody else in the opera house was in jeans and sweat shirts.

@Michael K, please say you're shitting me! That means I dressed better for the Volksoper than your fellow attendees dressed for the Statsoper. Insane.

Oso Negro said...

Greetings from Vienna! Where today's news has the smart set shaking their heads. I am thinking of taking the day off tomorrow and setting up a table on Stephansplatz next to the Iranians to see if I can find native Austrians who can sing even ONE of the tunes from The Sound of Music. If nothing else, it should demoralize the Iranians.

SF said...

My favorite recent Sound of Music-related story -- I play at the local Irish trad / maritime music session. Until just recently it met every week at the local "Steinhaus". One week the German club came out of their meeting in the back room and requested we play "Edelweiss".

So the German club asked the Irish musicians to play a fake Austrian folk song. Only in America, eh?

(We pulled it off admirably, all things considered...)