Into the madness.

See,  today is the first business day that it's been really comfortably warm,  with the outside temperature on my trusty thermometer edging slightly north of 20°C.   I had this fleeting urge to hop on the bike and maybe pedal my way down to the Naschmarkt or wherever,  but realised that as it was approaching noon time,  the car traffic would be a little heavy.   Little did I realise that there was scarcely room on the side walk either.   I'd ask the rhetorical question,  "Where do they all come from?",  but judging by the amount of Slovak,  (or maybe Czech,  I'm not sure)  and Hungarian I overheard,  I think I have a fairly good idea.    Maybe there needs to be a tad more Sunday shopping?  Mind you,  I don't think that would make a difference.  It's just flippin' crowded.
Apparently the city hall types are still talking of making Mariahilfer Straße into a "Fußgänger Zone".
Maybe that would help*.
See,  in case you forgot,  in the last city elections,  the Green Party got just a wee bit stronger,  so now there is a  "Vice-Mayor" who just happens to be the leader of the Green Party.

 So nice that they all get along.

 At least I suppose they do.  I sort of gloss over some of the political goings on,  and that has nothing to do with the language.  I tend to gloss over the political goings on back home too.  That is of course,  unless it's something really repugnant like the big mess of a waterfront project in Burlington.
Believe it or not if you go to google,  which will conjure up just about any site on the planet,  and type in "Burlington waterfront mess",  it will take you to the appropriate story.

That's kinda sad.

Anyway,  where was I?

 So after my trek down to the bakery,  jostling my way through the crowd,  I decided to remain here and bake another banana bread instead.
'Cause that makes sense,  right?
I actually had this idea I'd do that yesterday,  but I find that whole baking thing to be a solitary activity.  Best to stay away from the critical eyes of you know who.

Besides, yesterday we actually went out!

Try not to pass out.   It was nice weather all weekend,  although the only activity of note on Saturday was Travelling Companion's visit to the "Friseur"  just down the street from us.   The appointment was for 9:00 a.m.  and she didn't get back until almost 11:30 a.m.   If it wasn't for the fact that it's a five minute walk down the street I almost would have sent out a search party.
Something to do with the Hairdresser Lady's assistant having to take off six months due to stress?
Huh?
Hey,  maybe there's a whole dynamic going on there that I'm not quite aware of,  but the whole notion is a bit foreign to me.  I've heard of Caretakers having "stress"  and thought that was a load of hooey as well,  so maybe I'm just insensitive.
I'm going in tomorrow for a little "shear terror" of my own,  so I'll be sure and ask what that was all about.  Trust me.

I'll try not to make a face.


Yesterday morning  there was a motion on the floor to head down to St. Augustine's Church,  but we sort of dawdled just a tad too much,  and figured we'd head to the Schatzkammer instead.
Turns out,  since we were walking right past the Church anyway,  we were in time for Communion,   and to listen to the organ player do his usual grand exit at the end of the service.
The congregation always gives this guy a round of applause at the end of his grand finale,  which he certainly deserves,  but to me it always seems some what out of place?   Mind you,  I'm certainly not the "go to"  guy when it comes to Church decorum.   Well,  except perhaps for the notion that your bleating little children should be left outside.  Other than that I have no opinion.

So what about this "treasury"?    Basically,  it's one huge walk in vault,  as can be seen by the serious steel door at the entrance,  complete with the big wheelie thing on the front.   Kind of like this one...

Just an example folks.

Looks like they don't want anyone going in there after hours.   There was no flash allowed,  so some (most of?)  my pictures are a little shaky,  but even if by some strange reason using a flash had been OK,  everything is in glass cases for the most part anyway.
I'm not going to bore you with too many pictures,  and if it weren't for the fact that I had bought a yearly pass last year,  I think I would have been a tad annoyed for having gone.

That last one is a big rug they'd throw over a guy if he was getting crowned.   Something like that.

 OK so,  we were able to hang in there for the whole place,  even though my hips were starting to hurt and Travelling Companion's knees were on fire,  and we listened to just about all the entries on the little talking box thingamajig,   which I highly recommend,  by the way.
Now let me tell you why I would have been slightly annoyed.  See,  it's one thing for an artist or architect or whoever to come up with some really cool painting, sculpture or building.  It makes no matter where the inspiration comes from.
All of these artefacts however,  were created with the view of showing oneself as being just about the best thing known to man.   "Holy" in fact. 
So think of this now.   Here's a lump of gold,  a bunch of precious stones,  now make me a crown.   Oh,  and if don't do a good job,  I'll have you killed.   Now there's inspiration for ya!

See,  if you go into the Smithsonian for example,  you might see a collection of things that have been created for the betterment of mankind.   All of these things were simply created to show how much a certain class of people were better than the rest of mankind.
I suppose that if I had been born into nobility right around that time I could have mustered up the wherewithal to be a pompous assed jerk too,  but that's besides the point. 

Don't get me wrong.   These are all very cool things,  but at some point about two thirds of the way through,  I began to think,  "Weren't the people in the middle ages living in abject poverty?"  Hmmmm.
I think it was also right around that point that one precious artefact started to look like the next.

My hips,  and the painful look on Travelling Companion's face were telling me it was time to leave.



So I guess that was a "once in a lifetime".



I think the banana bread is calling me.



 Have a fine March Break.



*at this point in time I'm no longer willing to help you with your German.  Sorry.
See "google translate"....



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