Sometimes while traveling, one can experience a simple delight that can transform the experience.

While we had a delightful and problem-free time in Vienna as traveling wives, we took a longer bike ride to the outskirts of the city. This, in my experience, means ‘tone down the gay and be chill.’ ¹

We are about to cut over from the bike lane to the off-road path along the river, when we noticed a cafe called Prindl Cafe. We immediately gravitate towards it, as “Prindle Pond” was the name of the venue of our wedding the previous week. (Prindle Pond is a camp in central Massachusetts).

Of course, we go inside. My mind is full of toning down the gay and chilling, but my wife, bubbling and outgoing and desiring to befriend everyone, goes right up to the bartender and tries to explain how we got married at a camp with the same name as his cafe.

He grows quiet and has a stern expression; he does not smile at the coincidence of the name and does not congratulate us. I grab the elbow of my wife’s sleeve and prepare to take a step backwards.

As fate would have it, the man has no issue with gay marriage, but does not speak English. We try to explain in horribly broken German (though – I am still uneasy), but fortunately his English-speaking daughter comes to our rescue and translates.

Immediately, his face brightens. He claps his hands together. He runs to the pastry display and grabs us two croissants, two chocolate croissants, and a delicious apple something (which provided us a wonderful pre-airport snack the next day). He does not stop beaming the entire time we drink our beers. We stayed too long that we did not make it to the island before dark, but it was all so worth it. We had not felt uncomfortable in Vienna, but this was the peak of comfort, acceptance, and even joy from someone met on our travels.

Though this was a delightful interaction and a lovely cafe/pub, I am sad to share that I was nervous about someone’s reaction toward my relationship and my marriage. This is something I have dealt with the most in my own cities and American travel (that is, more than in Europe), but how disappointing that I almost turned away from sharing my story with a kind and gentle-hearted man, who did not flinch, double-take or have any reaction other than absolute delight at our story, just because I did not know how he might react.

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1. I lived in Columbus, OH for three years. It was a very open city, I was in a very accepting and progressive graduate program. I came out while living in Columbus. But half a step outside the I-270 loop, the gay-hating Christians appeared in full shaming force. (Note: the emphasis is on the geographical area, and I will point out that the Christian communities inside the city were, in my experience, kind and open and loving towards the Columbus LGBT community... in fact, issues inside the city stemmed primarily from yo-pro-bros asking to see us make out… but that’s another novel).