The weekend report.

Due to my very heroic outing on the bike on Friday,  we were spared having to head to the Naschmarkt on Saturday.
Typically though,  I forget one or two items and have to make a second trip to the grocery store on the Saturday anyway,  but at least it's just a short walk down the street.   It would be heaps simpler if there was the slightest chance of finding a store open on a Sunday.  I read somewhere that the closest one is in Hungary.  I'm not sure how accurate that is,  but it's probably not that much of a stretch.
I know there will be some moaning and groaning,  but there will be no pictures for this entry.
Sorry,  had a brief chance there on Sunday morning,  but the moment passed.
We decided this week to go to the Anna Kirche, which is on a little side street off of Kärtner Straße.
Oh and by the way,  if you haven't learnt how to read all these funny letters I put in by now,  then that's just too bad.  If I have to look up the html code for double "s"  (this symbol, ß)  then you can bloody well figure out how to say it....
Hey,  how tricky would it be if we were living in Moscow?
Then I could really mess with you.

боже мой!


You can go to that link and read all about Anna Kirche,  but what it won't tell you there, is that this past Sunday's service was in Latin.....with a smidgen of German thrown in for good measure.
This is actually a good thing,  since with the Latin Program,  you get well....a program.  Now,  I never took Latin,  but I can follow along,  and my travelling companion has had the thrill of attending Latin masses as a kid,  so we never got too lost at any given time.
So think of it.   There's reading,  singing,  standing up, sitting down.   All that physical and mental exercise for a measly €5,00 in the collections basket.
There were no candles to light,  so I dodged that bullet.
(Hey,  that can add up to an extra €3,00!!)

Speaking of which,  I've noticed that a lot of these church going types are flippin' cheap!  Even at the concert last week there were people timidly sliding coins into the collection.
Honestly!!

  I swear one of these fine Sunday mornings I'm just going to bellow out,  "C'mon you tight wads!  Loosen the purse strings!"   Of course I guess I'd have to say it in German,  and maybe I'd want to be sitting close to the back....and maybe by myself....'cause if I wasn't,  I soon would be.



I might need to reconsider that plan.


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Not sure if you've checked the weather today for Vienna,  but if I could use the "Caretaking vernacular",  it's been the shits.
It has been either raining,  or raining hard all flippin' day long.   That wouldn't be too much of a consideration except that I was sent on a mission to try and get tickets to see the Wiener Sänger Knaben, since somebody was trying to order tickets online,  but apparently they needed to send them to our "hotel room".
Um...hello?   We live here?

So I just figured I'd show up at the address they gave on the website,  since they included office hours and everything,  cash in hand,  and buy two tickets.
Didn't happen.   Thankfully I wore my sou'wester,   so I managed to stay dry while I was outside their door hanging on the buzzer.

Bastards.

Decided I didn't want to do that any more,  so to save the trip from being a total waste,  I figured I'd get back on the subway and head over to the train station to check out the connection to the airport.  This particular station has been under construction for a couple years now,  so it's a bit of a disaster,  which is why I wanted to do a little re con ahead of time.  We now have our tickets for the S7 train to the airport,  which means walking 30 meters from our front door,  getting on the subway and then switching to the train at the Landstraße Wien/Mitte station.

All this for a mere €7,20.

This is a bit of a difference from taking the CAT,  which is the City Airport Train,  which leaves from the same station,  but takes a different track,  saves you fifteen minutes,  but cost an additional €12,  more or less.  Oh...plus you also have to pay for the subway,  whereas with the other train it's all included....
Turns out the CAT (and I hear it's quite nice)  was a scheme that was thought up by the folks at the airport,  so they tend to push it a lot.   They don't really want the tourists to know about the regular train....
(can I say "Bastards" again?)

Thanks to some knowledgeable folks over on the Vienna Expats forum,  I was able to get the straight goods.
Overall it does mean we have to walk just a tad more than if we were taking a cab all the way there, since train stations tend to be kinda huge,  but I'm sure it'll smell heaps better.


I will mention further details as to the reason for the airport trip in due time.

 





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