Taking care of a family estate is a job bigger than you have time for, no matter how much you have.

Huge gratitude to great friends & kind strangers in Vienna.




M’s Grandfather passed away in early January – over 100 years old. He had 2 flats in a building downtown that his family built. Last week M. & I flew out to attend his memorial, clean his flat, close out legal affairs & handle the rest of his estate. We were in Vienna for 6 days (not including travel). I thought I might go on a tour or see a museum. Nope.
We:
- Got the legal affairs sorted
- Separated the contents of his flat into: Keep & Stay
- Checked the other flat for old heirlooms
- Photographed & Sorted through hundreds of books, original prints, drawings & paintings, and a stamp collection in the flat
- Checked in at the bank
- Attended a funeral & memorial service
- Visited another archive of G’s stuff 80 miles away
- Had the furniture evaluated (many of the antiques G had seemed to be gone)
- Packaged and shipped 2 big packages
- Got almost all of the hundreds of pounds of archival art (prints, books, stuff stuff stuff) passed to a gallery
- Got all our stuff packed up (plus a few bits & bobs – a German feather bed!!)
It was a LOT. We could not have done it without the tireless help of Helmut & Briggi & their family and KunstWidder gallery.
We could have done so much more. And it seems clear that if we had more time it would be filled full. The lesson seems to be: Time Box things, or they will grow and grow and grow.
Not everything was toil: we had really lovely times with old friends. We got to see both W & C, and U & L.
Everyone has been so incredibly warm and lovely. Helmut & Briggi welcomed us as family, and invited us to 2 home meals, plus fed us at every opportunity. W & C took us out for awesome pizza and traditional Vienna coffee house food. We had 2 visits with U & L and one of the better meals of the trip.
Even the folks we have professional relationships with were incredibly warm & kind. So many business people gave us their time & expertise without reservation.
Love ya Vienna, I hope to come again soon.
I look forward to x
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