My idea of window shopping.

And I just realised I reset the "date stamp"  function on that camera.  Not sure I really like that feature, but I'll try it out for a few days.

I came across this cabinet shop this afternoon on a brief bike trip.   The place was closed,  but then again it's Monday.    Seems the "rule" most anywhere in Europe is that,  if you've had to suffer the indignation of being open on Saturday,  then you stay closed on Monday.
It's been working for barbershops for years actually,   and it's not that big a deal,  unless you're some idiot who has just moved from some place like say Canada,  and figures places are simply open during normal business hours.

Took a few fruitless trips over a couple Monday's back in the Netherlands to figure that one out.  My learning curve is well,  not really much of a curve I'm afraid.

Saturday found us window shopping down on Kärtner Straße,  which is basically a huge walkway in the centre of town with nothing but shops.

This is pretty much my idea of torture.  I was rather envious of one shopper I sat down next to,  since she had figured out a way to tolerate the situation.
I think it takes a certain amount of practise to hold onto one's cane and catch forty winks at the same time.

In spite of the airlines not doing a whole lot of business over the weekend,  it seemed Stephansplatz was pretty much packed. 
That is to say, at least on my "crowd-o-meter" it was registering somewhere between "moderately annoyed"  and "get the hell outta here".    If it ever gets to "head will explode",  I'm afraid I'm done for.


Speaking of that whole "pain in the Ash"  situation,  I had mentioned that we'd be going to a concert on Saturday night.  Turns out that the reason we lucked into these tickets was that some customers were supposed to come down from Denmark and well,  we all know how those stories go.
I've since heard a couple other strange tales of travel exploits,  like waiting in line for three hours to get a train ticket,  or one individual who was stuck in Prague,  and rented a car and drove back to England.   Wowsers!   I have to find out more about that particular story,  since when we were in England and I drove out to their place in Shropshire,  this person said how she would never ever consider driving "on the continent".   It's possible there may have been others who were a part of that business trip,  and somebody got roped into driving.  I'm sure I'll hear other snippets in due time.

I'm just as happy we get to stay put.

In other good news,  my travelling companion has told me she now doesn't need to head to Switzerland later in the week,  since they've decided to have their meeting (the "Ops review") on the phone.  It doesn't quite have the effectiveness of being able to look someone in the eye,  but they decided that it would simply have to do.


As far as the little concert was concerned,  it was just fine.  My travelling companion quite enjoyed herself.  Personally I could have done without the "dancing" part,  but that's just me.  Why anyone would think it's OK for some guy to get trussed up in a pair of tights and prance around on stage is simply beyond me.    Thankfully that was only part of the show,  and the rest was a mixed bag of some of the catchy tunes from the seventeen hundreds.   I'd refer you to the pop charts from say 1791,  but I wouldn't want you to end up like that nice lady in the picture above.
Hey,  the tickets were free,  so I need to shut-up already.


Plus,  the venue wasn't too shabby...

Oh,  and what did I say about schnitzel futures?   I'm pretty sure this guy.....

...was sent out with the big sign on his back trying to plug all those frozen schnitzels.

Makes sense,  right? 

Actually,  it's more like I just had to stick that picture in there,  since I just thought it was so goofy.  I'm not really up on the latest marketing techniques,  but  do you think they actually convince people to go to this restaurant?

Sure looks like it would be a real classy joint.



On Sunday.....we didn't go to Church!   What you say?   Yes....it's true.

In light of the fact that Vienna was hosting a Marathon on Sunday,  we formed a committee and decided to give the Church outing a pass.
Turns out the runners were going right by here on Mariahilfer Straße,  so that was kinda neat.  The numbers around this event are kind of mind boggling,  since there were something like 32,000 people running,  and that's in spite of a couple thousand not being able to attend because the Volcano effect.
I have to say,  first to of all,  to look down Mariahilfer across the Gürtel and see this huge swarm of runners is impressive enough,  but then there's also the fact that there was every size,  shape and age of human specimen.   We saw one guy,   I swear he was in his nineties.....and he wasn't that far behind!   And no,  I didn't get a picture.   Turns out batteries need to be charged up once in a while.

Hey,  it happens.