A quiet afternoon.

This is for two reasons.   For the last two weekends,  we've been somewhere.  I'm quite content to stay right here on the couch.  The second reason is that we took Dana to the airport this morning for her flight back to Toronto.

The slightly depressing weather we've had for most of the day didn't help either. 

It was a good week.   She was out and about each and every day,  and had a few things she wanted to see that she didn't get around to seeing when she was here last summer.   Mind you,  on that trip the four of them rented a car,  went to Slovenia and then took the train to Prague.   They just didn't see enough of Vienna for her liking.

 The meal at Plachutta was every bit as good as we had hoped.  This was also something that we did the last time she was here,  except for the ever so slight mitigating fact that she was at the time coming down with a cold.  This time around she could actually taste everything.
Makes a big difference.
We arrived there within about a minute of our reservation,  but there was a bit of a mob trying to get in the door.  I was patient,  I just waited,   since I had a suspicion that it was just people trying to get in without reservations.   I think I made ours back on Wednesday or something.   Don't remember.
So I could see our name up at the top of the screen (and they managed to spell it right this time!!)  and after the boss man told the people in front of us that the soonest he could get them in was 9:30 p.m.,  they turned and headed for the door.   That cleared things up considerably.
I felt ever so slightly sorry for them,  but everything you read about this place tells you you need to reserve. 
It ain't rocket science people.


After we left,  we were in no hurry to simply get back on the subway and head home,  so I thought I'd fool around with some night photography at Stephansplatz.   I might have mentioned that there's basically zero tolerance here in Wienerland when it comes to any alcomohol in your blood if you're at the wheel,  and in spite of being less than enthusiastic about public transportation, it's certainly useful if you want a couple drinks with your meal.

Just one more picture of that church.

Didn't need any of these "services"

I'm never quite sure what I'm going to end up with any time I take the camera off "auto" and remove the flash,  since then I'm pretty much flying blind.   And I mean that in a literal sense.   I need my specs to see the display,  and even then I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to end up with until I put the pictures onto a bigger screen,  such as a computer....
Certainly better than the old days of film photography,  and a heck of a sight cheaper too.  There's nothing quite like that sinking feeling when you get back an envelope full of really crappy prints that you've just paid about twelve bucks for.
Fun times. 
There's that other sinking feeling when the price of the developed prints doesn't quite add up?  That's when you also know that things didn't go well.

I suppose that's about it for today.  I may or may not have anything to say for the next little while.  Just depends.

We're already looking at flights for the trip home in late August. 

Trying not to wish our lives away.


Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there.



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