Wo die Touristen sind. (Where the tourists are)

Don’t misunderstand.   Vienna needs tourists.  I basically have no problem with tourists,  but I do find them to be an amusing spectacle.  Well,  maybe I wouldn’t go so far as to use the term “spectacle”?  Mostly they’re just “there”.  Sometimes in the way,  and usually quite obvious.  I mean,  with the internet these days,  wouldn’t you do a little research about where you’re going,  where you’re staying?  That kind of thing?  I see so many of them standing on street corners studying maps like they were just dropped there from another world.  The temptation is there to offer some help,  but mostly I don’t really care.
Well,  today I gathered my wits about me and headed off to where the tourists are.  I had ordered some (more) opera tickets a couple months ago,  and decided it was time to have them in my hot little hands.   Since I had driven Travelling Companion to work this morning,  that meant I had a set of wheels at my disposal,  and figured I’d just as soon sit in my own little space,  as opposed to on a subway car.   No huge desire to take the bike either.  Haven’t really had that desire for a while now. 
With the exception of taking the bike,  it turns out that driving the car was actually the cheapest method of getting there too.  Since we are “Dauerparker” (long term parkers?)  in the garage around the corner,  we can also use a second card to get us into certain garages throughout the city and a few spots in the rest of Austria.  Not only does it mean not having to deal with the cash machine to validate your ticket, there’s no ticket required and we also get a discount! Ha!    
Coincidently,  the parking garage that I’m referring to is just outside the Opera,  even though the place to pick up the tickets really had nothing to do with that location at all,  and was about a block away at Karlsplatz.   The tickets were ready and I was back to the car in under twenty minutes (I guess)  and the total cost to park?  €1,60!   I can dig it.  A one way subway ride would have been €1,80,  and wouldn’t have even got me there without changing lines.   I’m really not that “pro car” in the city,  really.   And if I was making the same journey each and every day,  I’m sure I’d consider public transit.  But I think you know how I feel about public transit in general.  I’ll take the Schnellbahn to the airport ‘cause it’s cheaper than a cab,  but even then I’m willing to pony up the dough for the cab ride anyway.

This also involved taking an elevator that was actually shakier than the one we have in our building here.   I took the stairs for the trip back down.   It was really only three floors,  but the elevator was there,  and it’s always easier to come down the stairs than go up.


The prize:

Travelling Companion and I have already seen Madama Butterfly,  and she liked it more than I did,  so she’s welcome to go along with one of our visitors coming here in October to see that one.   I figure since The Magic Flute is on a Tuesday night,  I’ll go to that one.  There was no way in hell that I was ordering three tickets for each performance,  since my biggest fear is that Travelling Companion will get stuck at work,  or stuck in traffic,  and won’t be home in time to head out to the performance.   That came close to happening last year when we were heading off to see the Die Fledermaus  at the Volksoper.   It gets a little too tense for me when we’re all sitting here waiting patiently for her to show up at the door.  It’s also poor form to be late for the opera.   They typically won’t let you in until the first intermission,  and I don’t blame them.

A gratuitous shot of part of the opera building and some garbage cans.  Seriously,  could I have composed a worse picture??

That was today’s big exploit.  I might ramble on a bit about the trip down to Slovenia at some point.   I did want to touch on the perils of car rental in Canada as well.  That too will be for another time.

Keep it between the ditches.

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