Vienna

VIENNA -- John Smith slept here. Or somewhere near this Nanticoke River town, where the wind twists through vast marshes and gulls wail overhead. Never mind that the great Chesapeake Bay explorer's visit was short, or that it occurred 400 years ago. Vienna is banking on the lore of Smith's voyage to bring tourists into this sleepy Eastern Shore hamlet a mile off U.S. 50. The town is planning to build a John Smith discovery center along the Nanticoke, an...

VIENNA, Austria -- The company that perfected the two-minute burger and fries is turning its attention to the four-hour cup of coffee.In Vienna, where dallying in coffeehouses is as central to the culture as waltzes or wieners, the last thing you might expect to see on your demitasse would be golden arches. But McDonald's is experimenting here with a concept called McCafe.Austrians apparently love McDonald's for its burgers; their country has more than 120 of the company's restaurants. For coffee, cake and conversation, however, the Viennese have long preferred the more leisurely pace of the city's hundreds of traditional cafes, where patrons such as Freud, Trotsky and Hitler all learned to nurse a cup while reading, writing or talking.

VIENNA -- IT'S A grand view from Mayor Russ Brinsfield's home on Water Street in this old Dorchester County farming and fishing village.The breeze-ruffled Nanticoke River gleams in the spring sun, and looking east across the tidal river to the Wicomico County shore, marsh and forest stretch for miles upstream and down.It's a good place to live, agree the people Brinsfield has asked here to discuss the future of Vienna. It's a 15-minute drive from jobs in Salisbury and Cambridge, 45 minutes from the beach, an hour and a half from Annapolis.

I am interested in taking an English-language cooking course of one or two weeks' duration in Vienna. Although I am a caterer, the course need not be on a professional level.The closest thing that could be found is a program run by Herzerl Tours in New York, which offers a one-week Taste of Vienna package. It includes four half-day sessions at the Am Judenplatz cooking school in Vienna.Class participants will prepare a Viennese meal each day and eat the foods they prepare. Last year's dishes included Viennese-style veal scallops, beef goulash and apple strudel.

Suzann Barthold doesn't know how her choir at Prince of Peace Presbyterian Church in Crofton got an invitation from the Vienna Tourist Board to perform in that city's International Advent Sing, but she and its members were more than happy to accept.They are leaving Wednesday for Austria, where they will join more than 1,000 singers from the United States and Europe to perform at churches and concert halls throughout the city during the first weekend of Advent.The choir will perform a program of American folk hymns, spirituals and contemporary hymns at a senior center, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna Community Church and Vienna's city hall, said Barthold, the choir director, who spent part of the summer in Vienna making arrangements for the group.

Austria is putting 1,000 candles on its birthday cake this year, and Western Maryland College is celebrating with a party on this side of the Atlantic.This year's German-American Day Friday will be devoted to Austria, the second-largest German-speaking nation, said Mohamed Esa, assistant professor of foreign languages.Most of the celebration is free and open to the public. "Osterreich -- 1,000 Jahre" (Austria -- 1,000 Years) will feature an Austrian musician, an Austrian diplomat and WMC professors.

LONDON -- Nazi loot.To Mark Poltimore of the auction house Christie's, the words were as dark and chilling as the rooms he explored 10 years ago inside the 14th century Mauerbach monastery outside Vienna.Spread across wooden racks and propped up against walls were art objects plundered from primarily Jewish middle-class homes in Austria before and during World War II and left at the monastery for decades."You look at these amazing objects and you wonder, 'What happened to the owners?' " Poltimore said.

Ljuba Welitsch,83, a Bulgarian-born soprano renowned for her interpretation of Richard Strauss' "Salome," died Sept. 1 in Vienna.Born Ljuba Velickova, Welitsch rose to stardom in her debut, a special performance of "Salome" to celebrate Strauss' 80th birthday at the Vienna State Opera.Welitsch won praise for performing the title roles of "Aida" and "Tosca," and Tatyana in "Eugene Onegin." She also gained fame for her interpretation of Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni."Lelooska,63, a master carver and storyteller who dedicated much of his life to the preservation of Northwest American Indian culture, died Thursday in Ariel, Wash.

In the southeastern fringe of the city and extending into Baltimore County is Graceland Park, a little-known gem of a small community where houses, fences, yards, trees, bushes and streets are meticulously tended.Although in the shadow of one of the city's most industrialized areas, the community has a decidedly pastoral feel. Like some county neighborhoods, there are some sections of Graceland Park that do not have sidewalks. And, because it sprawls into the county, some homes actually sit across the line, with living rooms in the county and kitchens in the city, or vice versa.

VIENNA - About 4,500 rockfish were released into the Nanticoke River yesterday by Delmarva Power's fish hatchery.The average length of the fish, which were tagged for identification and tracking, was 6 to 8 inches, said Matt Likovich of Delmarva Power.The fish, which were taken from a pond at the power company's plant in Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore, were part of a study by Maryland fisheries officials of winter mortality rates. About 8,500 fish were put into the pond last fall, and the 4,500 that survived were released yesterday.

TV soap opera 'Guiding Light' shoots final scenes The cast and crew of "Guiding Light" - U.S. television's longest-running soap opera - have finished shooting their final scenes in a northern New Jersey town. Afterward, they gathered at Peapack Reformed Church for a service to remember the show. The church has served as the site for weddings and funerals in "Guiding Light's" fictional town of Springfield. The Rev. Kathryn Henry recalled that the show's title referred to a lamp put in a church window by the fictional Rev. Rutledge to welcome parishioners seeking guidance.

VIENNA - Officials in this tiny Nanticoke River town have given up elaborate plans for annexing 400 acres and allowing enough homes to double the population of 280. Instead, Maryland's open-space program plans to spend $4.6 million to buy two-thirds of that land to preserve it as a "green belt." The purchase, to go before the state Board of Public Works for approval next week, would still give Vienna the chance to allow moderate growth on a separate 100-acre property if the owner wants to develop the site under the town's strict design standards, said Mayor Russ Brinsfield.

VIENNA -- For Mayor Russell Brinsfield and Chief Sewell Fitzhugh, the event yesterday was more than a celebration of the history of this little village along the Nanticoke River. If things go as the pair plans, the daylong commemoration of Capt. John Smith's 1,500-mile trek around the bay in 1608 could be a first step toward making Vienna a tourist stop along the National Park Service's first water trail. "We're looking for ways to make the town a destination," Brinsfield said. "We don't want our town turning into some huge tourist thing, but we're testing the waters to see what's possible in terms of some sort of historical and environmental center, something that would include a Native American heritage center.

On a recent flight, a new digital camera was stolen from its box in my checked baggage ... with the box resealed and tucked in another suitcase. The airline claims it's not responsible. What recourse do I have? Although each airline limits its responsibility in its "contract of carriage" -- essentially the contract it makes with everyone who buys a ticket -- you can still try to recover the value of your camera. Checked bags are handled by airline baggage personnel and Transportation Security Administration screeners.

VIENNA -- John Smith slept here. Or somewhere near this Nanticoke River town, where the wind twists through vast marshes and gulls wail overhead. Never mind that the great Chesapeake Bay explorer's visit was short, or that it occurred 400 years ago. Vienna is banking on the lore of Smith's voyage to bring tourists into this sleepy Eastern Shore hamlet a mile off U.S. 50. The town is planning to build a John Smith discovery center along the Nanticoke, an...

Chris Botti Contemporary jazz artist Chris Botti, known for his romantic sound and trumpet improvisations, performs at Wolf Trap on Wednesday. Botti won a Grammy this year for the song "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" from the album To Love Again. The show is at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Wolf Trap's Filene Center, 1551 Trap Road in Vienna, Va. Tickets are $22 or $40. Call 410-481-6500 or 800-955-5566, or visit wolf-trap.org.

VIENNA -- Natascha Kampusch is a sad, withdrawn-looking young woman, a lifetime apart from the ruddy-cheeked, open-faced 10-year-old who disappeared eight years ago. She weighs less than 100 pounds, and police who interviewed her shortly after she escaped from her kidnapper earlier this week described her as having a pallor that comes from a lack of natural light. Kampusch's reappearance brought joy to her parents, who gave a tearful interview on television, and has transfixed Austria.

Even 400 years later, the Nanticoke River still welcomes waterborne visitors with unspoiled marshy and forested vistas very much like those that greeted the bold English sea captain who charted the Chesapeake Bay. Just north of Vienna, the modernity of the Route 50 bridge, gritty power plant and soaring utility lines quickly give way to lush aprons of sea grasses, pinky white hibiscus, purple pickerel weed and wild rice. These natural breadbaskets of the native peoples John Smith encountered along his route buffer thick stands of red maple, green ash and black gum. The trees are not so tall as those of Capt.

MOZART WAS NOT A NATURE lover. On all his youthful travels by horse-drawn coach throughout Europe as a prodigy, he rarely commented on the landscape that he passed through in letters to family and friends. He loved cosmopolitan cities such as Paris, London and Vienna. Yet the closest I felt to Mozart on a recent trip to Austria came in a bucolic setting, the Monchsberg, a forested ridge above his hometown of Salzburg. I had spent the previous day and a half wandering around churches, cemeteries, a mansion and a fortress, all with connections to the composer.

VIENNA -- As Mayor Russell Brinsfield sees it, his tiny hometown on the banks of the Nanticoke River has two choices -- cookie-cutter McMansions on 20-acre lots or a carefully planned addition that reflects Vienna's rural character and history. Either way, as development surges all across Maryland's Eastern Shore, Brinsfield does not believe that standing still is an option for his 280 constituents. He figures developers will inevitably take over the grain fields outside the town, which celebrates its 300th anniversary this weekend.