Four Years.

Doesn’t seem possible.

There are a couple milestones worth mentioning.  I know it was right around this time of the year that Travelling Companion and I made a trip over together to the Netherlands to start looking for a place to live.  Well,  actually it was closer to the end of May,  but that’s slightly irrelevant.  She had been over on her own before that point to see whether or not she wanted to take a job here in Europe,  and ultimately to decide whether we’d live in Birmingham or the Netherlands.  In spite of any perceived language issues,  I’m glad we chose the Netherlands,  truth be told.

The thing that was really gnawing at us at the time of that trip though,  wasn’t so much just the idea of heading off to Europe,   but having to leave right after daughter number two had had a very rough time in the hospital.  I’m being really, really vague on purpose here,  since well,  it’s probably the best thing to do.

 

 

Our house guest is once again out and about,  and I think she’ll be stopping by the Nashmarkt on her way back in order to pick up some spinach. 

It’s a funny thing,  but spinach is a rather rare commodity it seems.   I’ve hunted high and low in the regular stores,  since we tend to take buying spinach for granted most anywhere in North America.   Not so much here.   When I finally broke down and asked a store clerk last year some time,  it was pointed out that I could probably find spinach in any grocery store run by Turks. 

I’m not kidding. 

So a person can either hoof it out Mariahilfer past the Gürtel in search of a Turkish sort of fruit and veggie stand,  or look for one at the Naschmarkt.  Either way,  there is a certain amount of inconvenience involved.  All because an idea is hatched to make a certain kind of salad. 

It was my job to come up with the pecans.  Now,  in hindsight I should have foisted that job off on Ljuba as well,  since I had to go to three different stores to get those suckers.   I think I’ve done my walking for today! 

It didn’t help when the kid at the Merkur over at the Westbahnhof didn’t know what “Pecannüsse”  (pecan nuts) were.  I thought at first maybe I had mixed something up in my pea brain,  but my German was correct,  he was just young and dim.  I mean,  he was polite and all,  and trying to be helpful,  but he was missing that little snippet of product knowledge.   No biggie.  I went all the way down to the other Merkur and found them. I stuck in a little map,  just for fun. I’m not sure why they don’t all carry the same products,  since it’s the same bloody store,  but that’s all the same at this point.   The next step would have been to hoof it down to the Naschmarkt myself,  but I just might have had to take some sort of public transit by then to get my tired butt back home.  I was getting to the point when things were starting to hurt.  I’d sooner spend a couple Euros on a subway ticket than pop any painkillers if I can help it.

 

In the spirit of taking you along on the journey today, (and so you can also share in the annoyance) I shot just under a minute of video out on the street.  It’s the construction site I’ve mentioned a couple times by now.  Well,  I’m not sure exactly what the machine could possibly be that they’ve been running ALL DAY LONG,  but they could stop at any time and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings.

 

Have fun.  You’re welcome to turn up the volume a bit, not that I would recommend it.

 

I’ll actually cross the street rather than walk under the site,  since it’s so bloody loud.  I’ve read of the odd complaint from a few wayward jets passing over head.  I’m not so sure we could even hear any passing aircraft today.

 

I don’t want you to think I’m just a big whiney complainer,  so I’ll slap up a couple pics I took of last night’s sunset. 

We’ve had some interesting weather over the last couple of days,  and that usually makes for something happening in the sunset department.

 

Even with the crane (Vienna State Symbol)  or maybe because of it,  it was a not so shabby vista.

 

 

Tomorrow we’ll be leaving the craziness of Vienna for the craziness of Prague.  The last time I was there it was mid February and *bleepin’* cold,  so this will be a different experience for me.  On the down side, I’m sure it’ll be mobbed.   Oh well.

 

Keep that pasta al dente*.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

*Um,  better for diabetics,  apparently.

 

 

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