Vienna Waits For Y’all

Vienna Waits For Y’all

From Living In Beauty by Carmen and Jim Beaubeaux

December 19, 2025 · 15 min

About this episode

Carmen and Jim share their experiences from a three-month sabbatical, including a memorable trip to Vienna for their 50th wedding anniversary.

Happy Holidays to all! and thank you for waiting for us. We’ve just returned from a three month European‑style sabbatical. We feel rested, restored, and just smug enough to pretend this was all part of a carefully executed life plan. In truth, our “surprise” 50th Wedding Anniversary trip to Vienna, Austria was launched by Beauty & The Beast, a bathroom faucet, and Billy Joel. One stormy afternoon while playing Five Crowns, Billy Joel crooned Vienna through the Bose. Carmen tenderly took my hand and flashed "the look" – eyebrow arched, sideways smile, the one that makes me wonder if she's Elvis' secret love child. This look has ended arguments, redirected life plans, and once caused me to apologize for something I hadn’t done yet. She said... "No more bloody knuckles for you. Let's do something crazy for our 50th wedding anniversary. In early Spring, we'll limp slowly up the coast to Vinnie's. His new place has secure Airstream storage. Then I grab our backpacks and call Uber, while you hand over the keys and that *gosh-darned Fix-It list. Thirty minutes later we're at the Sacramento airport heading toward our plane. Vinnie and Vienna! Whadda ya say?" She’d clearly been rehearsing…

People in this episode

Hosts: Carmen Beaubeaux, Jim Beaubeaux

Topics covered

  • travel
  • anniversary
  • celebration
  • personal stories
  • music
  • relationships

Keywords

  • Vienna
  • 50th anniversary
  • Billy Joel
  • travel
  • sabbatical
  • relationships
  • celebration

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Bose

Books & works: Beauty & The Beast

Places: Vienna, Sacramento airport, Vinnie's

More episodes of Living In Beauty

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Living In Beauty podcast page.