And on we trudge.

It was back to the salt mines for Travelling Companion yesterday,  and I agreed to drive her in.  I didn’t really have any particular need for the car,  but it just so happens that our bathroom scales has decided that it’s no longer willing to cooperate.  There’s only a couple places that come to mind where I can find a new one,  and any of those destinations would involve getting there by car,  or convoluted, time consuming public transit.   You may have gathered by now that I’m not overly keen on time consuming,  convoluted public transit.  I’m not even all that thrilled with straight hop on,  hop off public transit.

So my little agenda then became one of seeking out the aforementioned bathroom scales,  but when the phone rang at about 2:00 p.m., and T.C. told me she was done and could I come and fetch her?,  that sort of put that plan into a tail spin.  She originally thought she’d like to stay until 5:00, so I just figured I’d leave a bit early and do some shopping.  Didn’t happen.

We’re still short in the bathroom scales department.  Not such a good idea,  especially after Christmas.  I’m not going to mention any facts or “figures” that were brought to the “forefront” after having spent a year in Puerto Rico without a set of bathroom scales,  but lets just say that,  up until then I had considered beer a “summertime” drink?   I ask you,  what’s the temperature like year around in Puerto Rico?   Right.  That was a slippery slope.

And a bit of a shocker when I did get back on the scales after a year in Puerto Rico.  Yikes!

 

So for this “Ex-Pat”  assignment,  I made sure to ship along the bathroom scales,  just to keep an eye on the situation,  so to speak?  Have I mentioned how cheap the beer is here??  The pastry?  The chocolate?   Having to have my suit pants let out when we went home in August?  

Oh wait, I don’t think I ever did talk about that.  Maybe a subject best left alone,  with the minor exception that,  if you do go to the same men’s clothing store for years on end,  there’s at least a good chance that the owner and his trusty long time assistant will have grown old right along with you.   This takes any hint of embarrassment out of the equation.  Thankfully none of us have turned into little cherubs just yet,  but it’s still nice to discover that there is, in fact,  extra material left over at the back of a pair of good quality trousers.  Who knew?

Something I wasn’t really aware of.

Anyway,  since it was the “First Work Day”,  and T.C. is at the level where all the various accounting types below her are still sorting out their little song and dance routines,  there wasn’t that much for her to do.  Apparently there weren’t even any horror stories,  but of course,  there’s still time for that other shoe to drop.  Not even a subject for the blog anyway,  except to say that everything is peachy keen.   That’s as much detail as I’m willing to provide.

 

In other “news”,  I see the Christmas markets are all being dismantled,  and my guess is that they’ll be setting up the ice rink in front of the Rathaus in the next little while.

I took this yesterday morning out on Mariahilferstraße.

This small market was set up in front of the Mariahilfer Kirche.   Note the now missing roof tops.

 

By the way,  yesterday was a fabulous day, weather wise.  It was hovering around 10°C and sunny.    Today,  not so much so.  I did see that “red sky at morning”,  and sure enough,  it’s clouded over and the wind has picked up.  Not sure we’ll get to avoid winter for much longer.

****

 

I couldn’t help but notice the cops giving this one fellow a bit of a bum’s rush this morning.  He sits in his wheel chair just outside the elevator that takes you down to the subway.  He’s there every day “selling”  some sort of magazine.  Seems his papers weren’t quite in order.   Begging in Vienna you see,  is neither legal nor permitted.  You’ll still see them,  but they’re not allowed to be aggressive in any way,  which means many beggars will sell a magazine called Augustin.  Sorry,  but that website is all in German,  but Augustin is a magazine that has been sold by the homeless crowd in Vienna for a couple decades now.  They pay very little for a bundle, and can sell them for whatever the market will bear. 

I’ve only ever noticed this guy with some other magazine in his lap,  plus he always has a cup shoved out in front of him, with an incessant,  “Bitte….bitte…”  (please…please).    Vendors of Augustin will usually ask you to buy the magazine,  and not just beg for money.  It’s a finer point,  but an important one if you want to keep the cops at bay.

It figures of course,  that just as I’m about to snap a surreptitious shot,  this old girl walks in front the camera,  but here he is wheeling himself back to the elevator.

 

I think that’s where he was headed, since I didn’t hang around to see what happened next. My guess is that he was given a warning.  One of the merchants may have complained.   No way of knowing. 

 

And such is life here in the big city. 

 

That’s it for today’s missive.  Looks like this week will be a bit dull,  so unless I have something come crashing into my brain, (and I won’t feel a thing,  trust me)  I might not have too darned much to say.

 

Bundle up if you have to.  If not,  be sure and use proper sun block,  and keep those sticks on the ice.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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The Chores!

OK,  maybe it’s really only a chore,  and not that big of a one after all.

Before we take the car out onto the roads in the New Year,  there’s a little bit of windshield cosmetic work that needs to be sorted out.

What that actually has to do with the theme from “Green Acres” is a bit of a stretch,  but that stupid tune has been going through my brain for most of the day.  Even when I was out in the parking garage sorting out the Vignette.

For those of you who might have been born in this century (which would make you what?  Twelve?) and who may not know the show to which I am referring,  here’s a little sample:

 

 

So was there some relationship between the idea that his name was “Oliver”  (well,  “Olivah” if you go with the Eva Gabor version)  and the possibility that he’s driving an Oliver tractor?    Actually no,  it was a Fordson model “F”,  but that was fun while it lasted.  And yes,  on the show it was referred to as a “Hoyt-Clagwell”. Not a real make.  I can’t make this stuff up kids.

And what’s with the suit?  C’mon Dude!  Buy some coveralls!

 

So here’s what we had on the windshield:

You’re probably wondering why I had two,  and not just the one for the whole year?  Maybe you weren’t,  but I’ll tell you anyway.  In August we had the windshield replaced when we were home in Canada.  It was a convenient time to sort out the rather large “star” we had acquired that was right in the line of sight of the driver.  I’m not 100% sure,  but I think that wouldn’t pass muster when it came to inspection time.  Best to avoid those types of surprises.   Besides,  it was bloody annoying.

When we arrived back here in Wienerland at the end of our vacation,  I had everything I needed (or so I thought) to go and get a replacement at the ÖAMTC.  That barely pronounceable acronym stands for “Österreichische Automobil-, Motorrad- und Touring Club”,  in case you were wondering,  and is the Austrian equivalent of the AAA or CAA,  only with the addition of an air ambulance service.  

The only thing was,  the ownership was actually sitting on someone’s desk,  which I didn’t get back until after I had gone down to Slovenia and back to drop off my sister-in-law.   So instead of the replacement,   I simply bought (well,  the company bought) a couple short term replacements until the end of the year.   Hey,  I TRIED to get the free replacement,  but it just didn’t work out that way.  The annoying part was that I didn’t find out that I needed the piece of yellow paper (ownership, but not pink) until I had bellied up to the counter at the aforementioned ÖAMTC. 

I don’t get upset about those kinds of things any more.  What’s that expression,  “It’s like wrestling with a pig?”   There’s no point really.  You’ll both get dirty,  but the pig will enjoy it.  I just go,  “Well,  I tried”,  and walk out.

 

So of course,  there’s a certain amount of scraping and rubbing involved,  but the idea is to put the thing in behind the rear view mirror where it’s more or less out of sight from the driver’s point of view.

The blissful little side effect of having it out of view of the driver is that you tend to forget that it’s there,  thereby becoming oblivious to the fact that you had to PAY. 

 

There we go.

 

*****

 

Speaking of theme songs that go round and round,  we decided today to watch “The Third Man”,  which was shot right here in Vienna back in 1949.   A few things have changed since 1949,  (they cleaned the place up a bit)  but it was fun to try and name some of the locations where it was filmed,  the main one of course being right across from the Augustinian Church.  If you happen to go to the Google maps link,  where it says, “Palais Pallavicini”,  right across from Josefplatz was the entrance which led to the apartment of Harry Lime.  This was also the location where he was supposedly run over and killed,  just after coming out the front door.  Bit of a mystery,  and I won’t spoil it for those who may not have seen it.

Anton Karas played the theme song on the Zither,  which is OK for about the first,  oh I don’t know,  twenty minutes?.  However, it does start to get a little tiring after a while.  Thankfully there was no way for him to play any sort of “suspense”  music for the sewer scenes.   That whole sequence was adorned with blessed silence.

Not giving any more away.  You’ll have to watch the film some time.  It’s a little hokey,  but fun just the same.

Especially if you live in Vienna.

Keep it between the ditches.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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New Year’s in Vienna.

 

 

I have to preface this by saying that we’re not really New Year’s Eve party people. 

If we had been anywhere else,  we probably would have simply gone to bed,  but this was a “Once in a lifetime”,  and I don’t mean that in a negative way either.

It’s already dark here well before 5:00 p.m.,  and the fireworks had already started.  Not in a big way mind you,  but just a steady blip here and there.  

Around 8:00 p.m.,  we headed down to the first district,  just to see what we could see.  I decided against public transit,  since I had no intentions of having a single drop of libation,  and had no desire to share public transit with those who had.   Returning from late night ball games from Toronto comes to mind,  and that’s never a pretty picture.

Speaking of pretty pictures,  I did manage a few.   I think.

 

Outside the State Opera,  it’s fairly normal to be able to stand outside and watch the proceedings inside.  “Die Fledermaus”  (The Bat)  was being performed.  I had guessed “The Merry Widow”,  (Die Lustige Witwe)  but some times I get mixed up.  Either way,  I knew we had seen it at some point in time,  so it was vaguely familiar back in the recesses of my pea brain.

 

Then we moved on into the fray.

The estimate was that there were something like 750,000 people hanging around Stephansplatz.

 

 

Travelling Companion decided she wanted some Glühwein,  mostly since she really wanted a cup with 2012 on it.  I had a sip.   Not my thing.

 

She’s going to complain bitterly that I’ve put her picture on here,  but I kind of like this one.

 

There were a couple attempts to take a picture of yours truly in front of Stephansdom,  and I think in this one I’m about to ask just when that’s about to happen:

If I look a little cold,  I was getting there.  So after a couple hours of wondering just what it is that entices people to be there,  I was quite happy to head off to the parking garage at around 11:00 p.m.   I know,  we weren’t right there at midnight,  but remember,  we live in a “Dachgeschoß”,  and I figured we could watch fireworks from the terrace.

Interesting to note that by then the parking garage outside the Staatsoper was pretty well full.   We couldn’t help but notice the plates from all the different countries.  Germany,  Italy,  Slovenia,  Slovakia, Hungary,  The Czech Republic…..there were even a couple from The Ukraine.   Crazy!   

 

I have to preface this next little bit by saying that we’ve seen “orchestrated”  fireworks displays before,   most notably New Year’s Eve in Vegas of 03/04.   That was quite something,  with a synchronised display that was set off from the top of something like 10 casinos up the strip for all of 10 minutes.   Impressive.  But only 10 minutes! 

Fireworks had started in Vienna just as soon as it got dark,  as I mentioned,  and I would say 90% of it is individuals setting off fireworks from their balconies or from the street.  Our neighbours must have dropped a bundle on fireworks.  I’m just saying.

 

This I know.   It’s not easy taking decent photos of fireworks!

So instead,  I shot a few short videos.   I’ll spare you by only putting up a couple of them.

This was at around 11:30 p.m.,  but this type of activity had been going on just about non-stop all night.  It was hard to know where to look….

 

 

 

The first few seconds of this one are out of focus,  since my little camera was a tad confused.   Just hang in there.

 

 

This activity kept up until well after 1:00 a.m.,  but both the battery in my camera,  as well as my own had run down by then.    Besides,  by about 12:30 or so,  there was so much spent gun powder in the air,  it was getting a tad overwhelming,  and I was getting chilled to the bone.

But truly “Once in a lifetime”.

 

 

One final blurb from the local free rag:

 

And there you have it kids.   Hope yours was just fine. 

 

Thanks for stopping by.