Home time, Part Deux.

This was an entry I really should have done when I was actually there, but somehow when we're at home there is just so much to do in so little time, that the motivation for blogging is kind of shoved by the wayside.
I suppose the very next entry should have had the title, "We have an apartment in Vienna", since that was the latest development. I only wanted to use that as a title since those are words that I never thought would ever pass my lips.
I mean, if you had told me 20 years ago we'd end up moving to Vienna, you would have had some "splainin' " to do.
Just to make it that much more fun, we're not going there on some poor student shoe string budget either. Not having to live in a dorm or a youth hostel makes it that much more exciting.
Now, don't get me wrong. We're simply not big spenders, and we'll be heading to Ikea later in the week to round out the rather sparse furnishings that we presently have here in Kikkerland.
We didn't really ship all that much from Canada, simply because we knew we were coming to a furnished house. There was no indication there would be a "plan B".

That's fine.

Besides, we wouldn't have had any more space in this house here anyway.

As much as I'm not overly keen on the stuff at Ikea, it will serve a purpose, and can easily be shipped to Austria before being assembled.

I realise there's an Ikea close by in the Vienna area because I saw one, and you're probably wondering why I would have big items shipped from here? Well, the new place is on the fifth floor, the elevator is tiny, and muggins here ain't lugging no wardrobes up five flights of winding staircase.

Hence, the "cunning plan".

Meanwhile, being at home in Canada meant shopping and running the roads.

Visiting with family...
Getting work done to my daughter's car...
Getting work done to her dog....
...and doing a little work around the house. Since we won't be back until some time in December, I thought it best to winterize the sprinkler system and be done with it.
They had a fair amount of rain in the summer time, so it wasn't needed all that much, with the exception of about 20 days or so in September. Turns out I have an issue I'll have to deal with next spring before putting it back into use, but I've at least done the prognosis. Now I just need to treat the patient.
We took home two empty suitcases, since we seem to always be missing this or that, and there is the issue of winter in Vienna. There was no problem filling them both, since there was also "stuff" we had left behind the last time we were home in June.
I'd sooner bring "stuff" back with me, rather than end up duplicating it over here. First of all, we seem to have enough "stuff", and when I look at the price of something I already own here in Yurp, I usually decide to temporarily do without.
I also wanted to buy an external back-up for computer "stuff", since there will come a time when this laptop will crap out, and I don't want to lose a couple thousand pics I've taken over the last year or so.
Between that and a new camera I bought, Gabe has no worries about what to get me for my 52nd birthday. Nice how that works, huh?
By the way, it's the SD 990IS (which stands for 'image stabilization') and nicely slips into my pocket, so there won't be the worry of leaving it behind in some little eatery in Vienna.
(um...that's another story, and turned out just fine, thank-you. But it was a close call)

Now, about the apartment:

There's certainly not going to be any mention of an address on a blog, but suffice to say we're "in the thick of things", and even though I'm not much of a city boy, I think it's going to be cool to be so close to the heart of Vienna. I'm sure I'll get around to taking more photos, but I only have one or two that I took of this place when we were out two weeks ago house hunting.

The relocation lady was kind enough to forward us a copy of the floor plan, and even though you won't be able to make it much bigger on the net, you'll get the idea.




It's smaller than we were shooting for, but that's no big deal, since we have this rather spacious "terrasse" on the roof. There's also a small outdoor space just off the kitchen on the main level.

Cool, huh??

This one will give you an idea....


Um... speaking of "cool". When we were in Vienna in July, and on subsequent visits, it's been rather toasty. They do seem to get hot summers, yet don't have a lot of air conditioning.

Well...(heehee) this place is air conditioned!


This was on our "wish list" and we were kinda hoping for a miracle, and with it being a new renovation, there just happened to be air conditioning.
We were also quite aware of just how each place was being heated since we kinda got short changed here in Delden, and I really don't want to freeze my arse off again this winter. Seriously, it's already getting a tad "fresh" upstairs. Hopefully the weather holds out until we can get outta Dodge. The new place has a boiler system, with convectors in every room.

Oh man!


The plan for house hunting was to take photos and copious notes, which is what Gabe is doing in the photo. I also made sure to try and put the number of the photo with the notes, so we could later try and retrace our steps. After the first dozen or so places, it can all start to get a little muddled up.

Trust me.


Oh, and you might notice, there are no closets, so that's why we'll be bringing our own.

Hey, I'll bring my own closets if it means I get heat.

Home time.

I don't think it would entirely fair to sort of leave everything hanging, even though most everything going on here in "blog land" has to do with being in Yurp.
In the absence therefore of going on about hanging around airports, putting up with smelly farting people on airplanes or being jolted awake by some screaming banshee that then chooses to finally go to sleep after we're all OFF the flippin' plane....I'll instead put up a few pics and perhaps just the odd comment or two....


I didn't get too carried away while in Gmünd, since the town is pretty basic. There were a couple nice views however, including the little chapel that's in the centre of town.

The hotel....

Another view of the centre.



You'll notice that the layout is similar to the way Dutch cities used to be laid out say, thirty years ago. I don't think the Austrians are too interested in closing off town centres and making them all bike and pedestrian areas, however.

There's a certain amount of wine produced in Austria, and one of the sights one will see most anywhere, is the "Heuriger".



I had no idea what that was all about, but the young lady at the desk was able to clue me in.
This can either be a stand alone venue, or a drinking establishment where one can purchase locally grown wine.

This one happened to be directly behind the hotel.
Didn't open until four p.m. though, so it was given a pass this time around.

So for the two days that we were in the Shrems/Gmünd area, I kept getting stuck behind these tractors hauling potatoes, since it seems that, along with the wine, we were in potato country.
On Friday I followed one of these guys to see just where they were going, and I at least found the "staging area", but didn't think I wanted to go up the road to see where they were being stored. Too many tractors, too little room.

Now, I didn't stop to count them all, but I'm pretty sure that's a lot of potatoes.
And no, I didn't sneak off to New Brunswick to get this one either....

On the move.

Don't have a lot of time left on our little internet allotment, so I'll have to sum things up.
We're presently still in Austria, having spent the first part of the week looking for a place to live.
Well, the two of us together on the Monday with the relocation lady along with at sometimes a host of real estate agents, then I went out to have a look around on the Tuesday as Gabe was working. With the exception of finding one place that was way more expensive, Tuesday didn't bring anything.
The plan is to be right in Vienna, in the thick of things, so to speak. We think we've found something, and have a back up if it doesn't pan out.
The back up location is out in district 21, which is Floridsdorf, and although a part of Vienna, certainly isn't "in the thick of things", so we're hoping the first choice works out.
I'll post details when I get myself someplace where the internet clock isn't ticking.
Today we head to the airport, which from here in Shrems, is about an hour and a half drive.
The hotel we're at here is actually in Gmünd, which is right on the Czech border, and there's a whole story there about why this location is close to the Czech border, but that will have to wait.
Plus, there's a somewhat shorter story about the fact that I used to have a pen-pal in Gmünd, about 35 years ago....
Crazy, huh?

We should be in Amsterdam this time tomorrow, and then in Canada later in the day.

Can't wait.