I think my feet stink.

Oh wait.  It's just that damned cheese!
 For as long as I can remember,  Travelling Companion has had this thing about this particularity very smelly and hard mozzarella cheese that you grate up and put on pasta.  Seems that no matter how well it's wrapped up,  it tends to do a number on the fridge innards.
 Actually,  it can do a bit of a number on a person's innards too,  but thankfully I'm by myself for long stretches of time.
 I've slowly learned to like this cheese,  even though I still haven't really warmed up to the smell.
Hm.  "Cheese" "warm"  and "smell"  all in relatively close proximity.
Kind of paints a picture.



I think it reminds me of the smelly feet of one of my older brothers when I was a kid.

He liked to share.

Such a kind fellow.


.../...


That wasn't really what I was going to talk about today,  it was just one of those wacky thoughts that went through my pea brain.
 I'm sure you wanted to learn all about it.


I actually had more on my mind yesterday,  but it was one of those 4:30 mornings,  and it must be some sort of "old man"  thing,  but once I'm up in the morning,  I can lie down and close my eyes,  but I can't seem to go back to sleep.   It's probably the couple cups of coffee I've had to drink to actually wake up in the first place.
Hence,  I was feeling kind of pooched for most of the day.   That's my excuse anyway.


 The reason for the "Bonn day two" label,  is that that is where Travelling Companion is today.   I do the airport runs and had to get her to the mess they call an airport here for a 7:00 a.m. flight.   Boarding time was something like 6:20.    We made it OK,  in spite of the usual very poorly laid out drop off area for departing passengers.  They've put one of the terminals on the opposite side of the drop off route,  which means that ever Tom Dick and Hans who decides to cross with his luggage has the right of way.
Very trying.

She called much later in the day to tell me among other things that they had to de-ice the plane before take off!   What the hell??  I know I had the winter tires put on the car,  but please!
The little display in the car was showing something like +3 so I guess that's too close to the danger zone.

I mistakenly thought her big presentation was yesterday afternoon,  but it was some other type of pow-wow and she was asked to do an impromptu presentation for one of the groups.  Not sure what that was all about,  but she's done that kind of thing for so many years that it's not much of a challenge.   I think the session today for the big financial cheese is the last round for this particular fall activity.  (the "Profit Plan")   At least that's my hope.   (just trying to keep with the cheese theme here)

 Now,  speaking of cheese.

(you're permitted to roll your eyes at this point)

 We took a jaunt down to Heldenplatz on Tuesday afternoon,  since somebody has been wanting to see a tank ever since we first moved to Europe.  
She also didn't want me to put her picture on the blog.  That presents a bit of a quandry,  but hey,  I dealt with it as best I know how. 
You would think that I would be the one wanting to see such a thing.  I couldn't care less.  Besides,  this one was somewhat of a let down.

Not much of a tank.

What the hell are they going to shoot with that puny little thing?
 In all fairness,  I did see a write up in the paper where they had a photo of some other vehicle that had a much larger barrel on the front,  but it looked like it was way over on the other side,  and there were just too many displays of silliness and people in the way for us to ever have thought about going too far into the exhibit.
This is an annual thing on the Austrian Independence Day,  which celebrates the founding of the modern day Austrian Constitution,  as well as the day on which the last of the Allies left on October 26th,  1955.
At least that's what they like to say.
We're not all about history lessons here,  so you can do your own research.

 I think however,  what we really thought we were going to see was something like this....

That's what I'm talking about!

No doubt there was something like that there,  but if you saw the crowd....oh my.



That's about all I have for today. 

Travelling Companion doesn't come in tonight until something like 9:40,   which will give me time to attend a little meeting at the Cafe downstairs between the tenants of the building and the a representative from the building owners.  Should be fun.

Let's hope it doesn't turn into a lynch mob,  although personally I have no qualms about "shooting the messenger",  since that quite often sends the strongest message. 
Pretty sure I won't have to say much however,  since just about everyone I meet along the way has some gripe or other about the way the place is kept. 
Pitifully.

I'll be sure and report back on my findings.   I'm sure you care.





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Off to the Circus!

And it's not what you think.   I just came back from the garage.  Good Lord.

 This is the place where we keep our tires,  and I typically stop by for fuel when needed since it's just down the street from the parking garage on Zieglergasse.  AND it's full service.  I know!  Full service gas stations are pretty rare,  and I have no problems whatsoever letting some dude pump my diesel.

 Since the car was due for an oil change,  I had called on Monday to make sure they could do that as well,  and was assured it was no problem.   I'd just have to wait a little longer.  No biggie.   What I really was trying to avoid was having to go to the dealership here in Wienerland,  since the last time I was there,  I pretty much decided I never would set foot in the place again.   That's a whole other story.  We won't go there.

This place is basically wall to wall tires,  since it's virtually all they do.  


So they balance the winter tires and put them on, move the car out and I'm beginning to wonder if there had been a miscommunication about the oil change but no, that was next.
 Now,   I've done my share of oil changes and observed just as many,  since I've had some sort of vehicle with an internal combustion engine since 1977 or there abouts,  but what I saw next was something I had never seen before.  
Rather than put the car on the hoist and drain the (hot) oil,   they simply sucked it out.




Alrighty then!

That camera angle is a pretty good indication as to just where I like to be when somebody has their noggin under the hood.  I don't really care whether the car belongs to me or to Lease Plan,  I want to see the oil going in.   I want to see the guy check it,  and I want to see him put the cap back on.

I think you get the idea.

At one point there,  this place was so busy it was like a mini traffic jam.  Cars trying to get fuel.  Others waiting for tires.  All of this is going on in what amounts to a courtyard in amongst the buildings.


At one point,  I happened to notice a lady pull away from the pumps after having paid for her fuel and her gas cap hadn't be replaced.  I literally bolted out in front of her to tell her to just hold on a second while I put it back and closed the little door.   She probably thought at first I was some nut job,  but had that look of quiet thankfulness on her face when she realised what was going on.

I think it was at that moment that I muttered something under my breath along the lines of a "circus".
I'd also like to repeat what I said above about seeing the clown put the oil cap back on.


Always a good idea to keep an eye on the clowns.

..../....


 I do realise that I sometimes neglect to pass on every little detail of our lives here in Wienerland,  but if I could use the smoking analogy I mentioned a few entries ago,  there were times when I would smoke my brains out,  and other times when I didn't really feel like it all that much.
 This is kind of the same.   Some days I just don't have much to say,  and I'd rather not bore you any worse than I already am....

 Here's a brief run-down:

Due to the "THERE IS NO POSSIBLE"  of last week,  confidence was not too terribly high when it came to simply going down to Karlskirche and hoping there would be some decent seats for the Four Seasons.

We didn't go.

Remember what I said about "once in a life time"?   I'm not going to sit or stand at the back,  when with just a little bit of planning I can have decent seats at a performance.    If these people had actually taken our money and said we'd need to pick up the tickets at the "box office",  that would have been fine.   We've had to do that before at that particular venue when an ensemble came in from Salzburg to do Mozart's Requiem back in August.
I have no problems with that arrangement,  even though I'd prefer to have the tickets in my hot little hands ahead of time.
 
Saturday I got sucked into doing some shopping,  which is going to be the rather annoying theme for the next several Saturdays  until we blow on outta here on the tenth of December.
 Happens every year.
Travelling Companion has nobody else to shop with.  Sometimes she'll head out on her own,  but not too often.
I could mention where we went,  but that would be just a tad too much information.   This is a public forum after all.  Not much of a surprise when you can read on a blog what you're getting for your birthday. 

 Suffice to say,   muggins here had to make a trip to the post office on Monday.




And yes,  there were Christmas presents too,  but they don't get shipped home in a box.  We have suitcases for that purpose.

I guess I can say we stopped for lunch at Café Diglas.

It's on Wollzeile,  just down the street from Figlmüller.


We've gone here before,  last year some time.  More than once I think,  since the food is half decent.   Here's the thing though.   If you go in there as a tourist,  you're probably going to find the attitude of the wait staff to be somewhat "off putting"?  shall we say?   First of all,  we were offered a seat right by the front door.  What?  Is the food free?   I doubt it.   That wasn't going to happen.   "Nicht sehr gemütlich"
I'm working on this technique of being diplomatically forceful.   So fine,  we were ushered to a very much nicer area in the back.  We sat in that very same spot the last time we didn't want to sit right next to the door,  now that I think of it.
So,  our service was OK,  and as I mentioned the food was fine.   One of the customers right next to us however,  had the unpleasant experience of having the dipshit waiter spill water on her.   (see,  they bring you a glass of water with your coffee,  'cause it's kinda strong)
 Now,  in my brief experience in a full service restaurant,  if any of my wait staff spilled anything on a customer,  they got to eat for free.   Couldn't give away the booze,  since we have laws against that in Canada,  but the meal was on the house.
So sorry,  we'll try not to do that again,  and to show that we mean it,  here you go...


 Not only does that not happen here in Wienerland,  but the waiter was trying to make as if it was no big deal,  since it was "only water".  (ya,  and that's only my knee in your groin....)  Needless to say the lady was not happy that he had spilled water on her suede coat,   and I kept a pretty close eye on this clown when he brought our drinks.

There we go with the clowns again!!



On Sunday we decided to go to the Albertina  since there's an exhibit of the drawings of some Italian dude.

OK fine,  it was Michelangelo



I didn't think I had a photo of the Albertina from this angle,  so I took one.


(If I don't upload any of these pictures I take,  I'm not sure what else I'd do with them...)


You may recall that we went to the Albertina back in January to check out another exhibit (it was Impressionism,  but whatever)  and I had had some minor issues with the way that things are put on display?
We're kind of keeping with the circus theme here I've noticed.

Again,  poorly displayed.

   There were some neat ideas,  like showing the interior of the Sistine Chapel along with a lot of the drawings that had been made by Michelangelo ahead of time, on big flat screen TVs.

It's fine to put the exhibits at "eye level",   (unless of course you're in a wheel chair and then you're screwed) with tiny little cards next to them that are barely legible,  but not the TVs.    Ever see a TV directly behind the bar at a sports bar?  No,  it's way up high where all the patrons can watch what's going on.   The folks who work at the museum obviously don't get that idea.
I need to get myself on one of these committees.   Seriously!   Then I'm going to jump up on the table in the middle of the room and ask,  "OK,  can everyone see me?   Why is that?  Put your hand up if you know".   The "put your hand up"  thing is what you do with little kids by the way.
I'm sure the place looks just wonderful after hours when it's completely empty,  but when it's crowded well,   it just doesn't work.
 So after about an hour and a half of shuffling around looking at the backs of people's heads,  we had had enough.


I think that's all I have for now,  since the time is slipping by.


 Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.



 .

"SORRY! THEIR IS NO POSSIBLE!"

"YOU CAN BUY DIRECTLY!"

What??


 And this,   Ladies and Gentlemen,  is the calliper of English spoken in this fair land.   Actually,   to give credit where credit is due,  the boys in the Cafe downstairs can do better,  and they're (or should it be their,  or there?)  not really even trained to deal with the English speaking public.  Oh,  and their first language is Turkish!

This was in a email from some very fine folks at a ticket office here in Wienerland for a concert we want to go to tonight.  I've put in a call.  Not sure if I'll hear back.
 I know I've had these thoughts of giving English lessons,  but I'm not even sure if there's anyone willing to learn.  They seem to be quite happy to be graduates of the Ralph Wiggum school of English.

Don't bother too much with the first link,  but *you're welcome to click on the second one to get a summation of that of which I speak.

*Or is it "your"?

OK,  I'll stop now.

I can sort of cut them some slack when it comes to homonyms,  because we have a whack of them in English,  and it can be confusing,  but those two "sentences"  don't even translate back into German.


 Makes for a good laugh I suppose,  but sometimes I just shake my head.   It's always good sport when I simply choose to only speak English.  Such an arrogant bastard.  I know.


So back to the concerts.

It so happens they're playing The Four Seasons at Karlskirche.  Now,  this has nothing to do with Frankie Valli, even though I guess that could be considered "old" music.
No,  I'm referring to le quattro stagioni , written by some Italian dude back in 1723.  We're going for the really old stuff here, and it's not Mozart.  We do get enough of that.
  You will notice that there is an Italian connection there.   Just thought I'd mention it.  Somehow though I doubt that Valli was listening to Vivaldi as a young lad,  but it's not 'unpossible'.  (spell check doesn't like my Ralph Wiggum spelling)

The primary goal of my ticket ordering session last night on line was to try and get tickets to an upcoming performance of Tosca at the Staatsoper.   I think I've wanted to go see Tosca ever since the "Three Tenors"  did their little stint back in the nineties.
I'm putting all these links in for anyone who may have just crawled out from under a rock.
 Sorry,  being a bit of a snot again.

 I invite you to go and have a look at the website for opera tickets,  and you may notice that it can get just a tad pricey.  I have no interest in standing up at the back,  but we instead look on these types of events as "once in a life time",  which means I'd prefer to either have good seats or stay home.

I suppose that if we had had a couple bucks at the time,  It would have been exciting to go and see someone like Pavarotti back in his prime.

If you do go to that first link and are not quite familiar with that particular opera,  let me fill in a couple blanks.  "Vesti La Guibba"  literally means "put on the suit",  in this case referring to the clown suit worn by the main character, Canio, who plays the part of a clown,  hence the term "Pagliacci".
Even though the show must go on,  he's heartbroken since he just found out his wife Nedda, has been fooling around on him.
Racy stuff I know.  You may need a tissue.

Even as late as 1994 he wasn't too shabby.
Unfortunately the timing wasn't right,  and I was never willing to pony up the gobs of money required to see him long after he should have retired.  


I guess that's all I have for today.   Except for the fact that I miss our dryer,   but I'm getting really good at ironing shirts.
And just about everything else.


Today's number is 49.
(49 sleeps and a "wakie")



Have a fine weekend.




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