Herta is a wonderful woman, with a sharp wit and fierce appetite for life. In Vienna they say that unless your family is of Slavic origin, you're not really Viennese. Herta's last name is Pawlik, a name of good Eastern European descent.

Herta grew up in Nazi-occupied Vienna. When the Allied forces divided the city into four quarters (as seen in the film "The Third Man"), she was still a teenager. In 1949 she left for London.

In summer Herta spends almost every day in the Kongreßbad, a huge outdoor baths with a surrounding park. "I need the sun," she says.