Let’s just stay home.

 

Here’s a brief snippet of a conversation from Friday afternoon:

“I guess we’re not going to Slovenia tomorrow”.

Me: “Whu??  I thought that was next weekend?”

“No,  that was this weekend. We’ll go next weekend instead.”

“Um….

O…K.”

 

 

See,  I just figured it COULDN’T be this weekend,  since we’ve only been back here for four days.  As you may recall,  we ran down to Slovenia two weekends ago for a funeral,  then last weekend we were in Italy.  From Thursday until Monday.   So,  why would we want to run the roads again after four days? 

Of course, if we hang around here,  there’s bound to be some sort other excursion,  which usually involves shopping. 

Now here’s the thing,  when it comes to shopping for bedding,  it’s not just a matter of vocabulary,  but as I explained to one of the very helpful ladies at "Leiner”,

“Daß (as I waved my hand in a sweeping fashion to take in all the pillows,  sheets and comforters) für mich ist ein Fremdes Land”

 

That is to say,  I’m on foreign soil,  and I’m not just talking about which country we’re in. 

It wasn’t until many years into our relationship that I finally figured out the significance of “thread count”.   That’s just one tiny example.  Really behind the curve here.

 

In hindsight it would have been more cost effective to go to Slovenia for the weekend.  Beyond that I have no comment.  There were several bags.  Big.  Heavy bags.

 

 

Today,  (Sunday)  an idea was floated to just go down to the First District and meander around.  In the past we’ve only ever ventured down there to go to one of the churches. 

Thankfully there’s not much open on a Sunday,  so I didn’t have to lug any bags home again.  It just so happened that there was a flea market type of thing going on just off Kärtner Straße,  so that was a bit of a diversion.

 

I guess for those who like to “collect” things,  there was bound to be something of interest.  I have enough “stuff” in my life,  and usually only if there are old tools I might show the slightest interest.  Usually though it’s just pitiful junk.

 

Need a boar’s head??

I’ve seen this sort of thing in Belgium,  Paris….Florida.

(Huge Flea Markets in Florida!)

I don’t mean the boar’s head necessarily,  but the rest of it.

The languages spoken are different,  but the junk is the same.

 

 

Part of the “display”  was inside a shopping mall,  and the floor of one of the elevators caught my eye.

 

We’ve never been here when the mall is open either,  but it’s a lot of somewhat high end shops with a prices to match.    I’m pretty sure you could by the sewing machine,  serger,  material and pay for enough lessons to make some of the clothes,  and still come out ahead.    Who pays €2250 for a skirt??  I didn’t take a picture,  although I guess I should have. 

 

Before we were about to head out the door,   there was briefly the thought of taking the subway,  but I opted for the car.  There’s a very nice parking garage right next to the Opera,  which also happens to be considerably better lit and cleaner than the one we use around the corner from our front door.

 

 

And one would think that for the privilege of parking there,  one would have to pay a tidy sum.   Well no,  we were pleasantly surprised that by using our second parking access card (don’t know what else to call it)  our total cost was less than two Euros.  I actually forget,  but I think it was something like €1,60.     One trip on the subway to get there would have been €1,80.  

Works for me.

 

This “second parking access card” is one that gets us into a whole network of parking garages,  where we not only get a slight discount (I think it’s 15%,  but I don’t remember)  but there’s no need to go to the “Kassa”  to validate a card for egress. (um…to get out).  We simply use the card in the little machine,  it get’s read and then read again when we leave.   The amount shows up on an invoice at some point later in a monthly cycle.   It just gets added to the amount that is already automatically taken from our bank account.  

We’ve touched on that.  It’s scary I know,  but convenient.

 

Neither one of us wanted to hang around too much longer after our bit of a walk about,  and it turns out that we got home none too soon,  since Mariahilfer Straße was closed off for some sort of protest/demonstration/whatever…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve done a bit of searching on the net to try and figure out what these chimps were on about,  and your guess is as good as mine.  It’s obvious that it’s some sort of Austrian/Turkish association,  but beyond that,  I haven’t a clue.   If your going to bellow into a bullhorn,  probably not the best idea to do it in Turkish,  in a German speaking country??   Even if it had been in German I might not have filled in the blanks.  Just too hard to figure out. 

 

 

Plus,  I’d have to actually give a rat’s tiny behind. 

 

 

 

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