Tiergarten

This afternoon, I went back to the zoo. (We took the clan there on the one dry day of their visit.) I bought a Jahres Karte (year pass). The cashier guessed my birth year to make me 6 years older than I am. I realize I didn't put a lot of effort into my appearance today, but OUCH! He did apologize when I corrected him. Ah, well, it was a nice sunny day and I was ready to sketch.

I enjoyed watching one of the giraffes chasing the Somali Schwarzkopfschaf (black-headed sheep) around their shared pen. The elephants gobbled their carrots to the delight of the families watching feeding time.

I spent a lot of time watching/sketching the Helmskasuar (Australian Cassoway) which looks quite prehistoric to me. Sorry about the fence getting in the way. When I started sketching, he moved slowly at the back of the cage, nibbling on weeds. When I got out the camera, he started dashing about pausing just long enough for me to think I could focus the camera and then he'd run again.

I got to watch the Mähnen Robbe (S. American sea lion) show. The biggest seemed to delight in splashing the kids in the front row and kissing the trainer/feeder. My favorite was this one, though. She made a big enough splash when she landed.

click to enlarge

Next time I'm going to remember to walk up the hill to visit the wolves.

Home Improvement Fun

As many of you know, I am not exactly handy or at least I really don't care to try. However, Vienna may have changed that for me. That is if Menards or Home Depot will follow my suggestions. We have been haunted since our arrival by the squeakiest bathroom door imaginable. Now we have been in our apartment since February 13 so one would think we would have addressed the issue before now. Please see first sentence if you need an explanation why we did not. But the sun came out yesterday and we were feeling adventurous.

We set out looking for a computer printer (cheap) and WD-40 or some other lubricant. In the past we had avoided asking for lubricant because I have had experiences in the past with something lost in the translation. My fear was being given directions to some shop in the red light district. Fortunately, we found Obi (be still Star Wars fans), Vienna's version of the home improvement box store. As we all know, there is nothing that cannot be fixed with either WD-40 or duct tape. That partially holds true here. The lubricant was pretty much in the first display we came upon. I didn't see duct tape however.

What truly set the store apart and from which our American superduper home improvement stores could learn were the extra features. Greeting us as we entered the store was a bakery/smoked meats kiosk. Sure, upon entering, Menards does have the 8-pack of Pringles, 5-lbs. bag of Combos, 3 gallon jar of mixed nuts, and gallon o' beef jerky. The Obi kiosk seemed to actually cater to someone shopping for a group smaller than the Donner party. But, wait, that is not all. As we were checking out, there was a cafe selling hot lunches and featuring (roughly translated): "Nurturing beer, amazing red and white wines by the glass, or refreshing Prosecco." The Menards in St. Paul occupied that very same spot with the cellophane encased mega-nacho and sort of cheese spread case.

I am not sure Heather was all that impressed but I began planning our return to buy the materials to construct a deck on our third story apartment.

Addendum: the door doesn't squeak any longer, we did not find a printer, and I got some schnitzel.

Die Sippe

Meine Sippe, or clan, + 1 arrived in last Saturday (March 16) in Vienna. My brother brought his two daughters and one of their friends for a week tour. What a sight for Heather and I to see faces from home emerge from customs. Now my brother and I have always given each other grief for our dashing good looks but his look was a little different this time. I knew something was wrong. Or, maybe it was the crying girl behind him. It turns out that the four of them made it safely and timely through multiple connections from Minneapolis (my brother went crazy with booking on the Internet and attempted his own version of around the world in 80 days). However, only one piece of luggage made the connections with them. A delay in wardrobe arrival is devastating to a 15-year old girl. Fortunately, I had one of those rare moments where my better judgment took hold and I didn’t tell them of my relief that we would actually be able to walk around the apartment without the luggage. Long story short, one more bag arrived Monday night and the others on Tuesday morning. I don’t know who was more put out, the girls having to share clothes or my big brother having to be dressed by his little brother. Man, I should have offered to braid his hair.

Up until the clan arrived, we had been experiencing absolutely lovely weather. The morning they were to arrive the winds picked up and it got really cold. For the remainder of the week, it either rained or snowed non-stop. I am trying to figure out when I turned into the elderly and began muttering about how inappropriately teenagers dress for the weather. Fortunately, my wife was nearby to punch me in the arm and tell me to shut up.


All of this being said, it was truly a delight to see Austria and Germany through their eyes. I forget about my time as a wide-eyed 17-year old and the little or big things that caught me by surprise. What do you mean the waitress doesn’t understand me when I clearly enunciated my order of “pop”? Or, the mind-boggling variety of shot glasses one can buy at a Munich souvenir shop? Or, the Viennese ability to hit the hole on an escalator or subway in a way that puts the Vikings’ running backs to shame. Or, that a balding guy with a European accent is cute while a balding uncle is gross. The list goes on.

Bernt (the "cute" tour guide), Curt and Tyke remove a tree from the road

Being the serious intellectuals, Heather and I wanted my family to experience the real Austria and Germany. Not stereotypes. So, we brought them to Salzburg and Munich. The girls scoffed at the Sound of Music tour but could sing the songs associated with each movie landmark I pointed out. And, what 15-year old shouldn’t experience at least one beer hall (or three). The girls really were impressive throughout all of this. In Salzburg we took the salt mine tour and they really picked up a lot. They were truly sobered by the intense tour of Dachau concentration camp. It put into perspective for them the little inconveniences such as delayed luggage. I was proud of them.

the clan tours a salt mine, in protective clothing

the best pretzel we've tasted (Thanks, Cassie!)

waiting for the train back to Vienna

Yesterday morning they departed for the airport around 5 a.m. We have yet to hear from them if they made it safely. I don’t fear that their luggage gets lost again as much as I suspect that their luggage will be the first ever considered to exceed airline weight limits due to an inordinate amount of Mozart embossed candy.

(This collaborative post was written by ElectricYoak, photos by Auntly H.)

die Nachbarschaft

the neighborhood

At last, a little tour of our neighborhood.

A view of our block (our building on the far right, the bakery on the far left):
There are a lot of mosaics on buildings in Vienna. One of these days, I'll set out with my camera and photograph as many as I can find and post a collection for you.

Our home (our apt. is the two windows on the right, third from the bottom):
Here is the bakery that used to give Curt free pastries. We need to get him back on the appropriate schedule.

Here's the pedestrian passage we take to get to the bigger grocery store (especially while Billa was closed for expansion/renovation) and to the bank that has an outdoor ATM.

The grocery store:

A nice Heuriger. I enjoyed Emmentaler Brot here. Curt did not enjoy his bologna salad as much.

Back home, the view from our living room. I don't know how I managed to catch it with nice light, but nearly empty. The playground is usually packed with children and their parents.

And, because we've received some requests for pictures of us, here's Curt at the Gloriette, with Schloss Schonbrunn in the background. (Please forgive my lack of umlauts, etc. I haven't found the symbols through blogger, yet.)

Legitimate

As the previous post noted, we spent a great weekend in Prague and then a few days hosting my buddy Scott here in Vienna. While in Prague, I shot my previous few weeks of proper diet and jogging to hell in only a few short days. Half-liter beers for less than a couple of bucks seem to trump exercise any day of the week. The conversion rate to burn the calories of a ten-inch wurst and 1.5 liters of beer also appears to be 28 miles of walking.

But I digress. After only one short month, I had my first class last night. It seems as though it will be interesting but I did have to chuckle. Despite the class being taught in English and 400 exchange students at the school, the teacher was rather surprised the class was comprised almost totally of foreign students. With two hours of class after 30 days in country under my belt, I’m not one to rest on my laurels. I will attempt another class on Saturday. This schedule could get grueling. But I can now say I’m a student without completely laughing. Legitimacy: Phase 1.

Legitimacy: Phase 2. Our other big adventure today was the end of our black market cable. The cable company sent an employee to turn off our cable after we had previously “made a deal” with someone else. In all honesty (interesting choice of words on my part), we did not believe that the other guy would ever return to turn the cable back on. So, we agreed to have our cable kept on by paying a small fee and agreeing to the monthly charge. The shroud of guilt has been lifted off and I can hold my head up high again.

And the ability to hold my head up high is considerably easier with today’s haircut. A haircut in a foreign country is always a bit of adventure. The vocabulary is easy enough but descriptions can still lose something in translation. It is hard enough changing barbers in the U.S. The dread I experience in Austria when a barber is holding an electric clipper menacingly above my head and commandingly rather than questioningly stating: KURZ!! (short), is enough to make me consider the Allan Ginsberg look. Alas, it turned out okay and the woman cutting my hair was wonderful. However, she did not brush the hair when she was done and Heather could not stop chuckling with my initial wind tunnel look.

The other big adventure was preparing for the arrival of my brother and three teenage girls. Small apartment and six people. We needed to figure out bedding so Heather and I shopped strategically. Three exercise mats for the girls’ beds, two huge pillows to complement what we already have, and two very large wine glasses for me to adjust to hosting teenage girls. This may be just the wine talking but we really can’t wait for them to visit.

Reise

Journey

We met our friend Scott (who lives in Moscow) in Prague for a long weekend. On Thursday we took the train from the Sudbanhof in Vienna.

Curt finished this biography of Mao which means his suitcase will be
a few pounds lighter on our trip home.

We toured the city until Sunday, enjoying Czech beer and heavy food. We found a couple of Czech fast food places for breakfasts where we got some outstanding pastries. Naturally, we took in the architectural sites as well as visiting the Mucha Museum. Here are a few photos of the city:

from the Charles Bridge

at the Old Jewish Cemetery

The Cathedral of Tyn

and at night

Scott returned to Vienna with us on Sunday and we've been showing him around our town a bit. I'll post a tour for you soon....

Achtung!

I suppose it's cheating to use vocabulary I've know since 1991, thanks to U2, but it fits.

I was messing around this morning, checking emails from home, etc. and it occurred to me that I didn't see the last couple of episodes of Studio 60 before their "hiatus." So, I went the NBC website and watched the update clips of those two. I got interested enough to figure I'd watch an episode before Curt gets up. I got a notice on my screen that said, "the clip you selected is not available in your location," and then it played a Ziplock bag commercial. Twice.

I haven't tried any other networks, but I suspect they have similar ways of knowing where you are. So, if you're headed overseas for a while, plan on cutting yourself free of American TV. It's really not such a bad thing.

P.S. I started taking photos of the neighborhood for your online tour yesterday, but it was late afternoon and the light wasn't the best. I will try again today as it looks like clear skies for a second day in a row!

Berichtigung

I think that means "correction."

It turns out that my 1961 German-English Dictionary led me astray on my first vocabulary post, so I make no guarantees on this one. Be warned, my lessons may be the worst way to learn German.

I have been told, on good authority, that what was replaced in our kitchen was a "Wasser-hahn." Apparently, I should have looked up "water tap," a more British term rather than the American "faucet." I think Curt might have liked it better, though, if we'd had a Zapf-hahn installed, as that is a beer tap.