Sunday, July 30, 2006

What's the deal with the libraries?

So, anyone who knows me, knows that I like to read. And as I already mentioned, happening upon the National Austrian Library had resulted in a lifting of the spirits. But since then, we have had very little luck.

The thing is, I know some German. So I knew that the word for library was bibliothek. Unfortunately, what I had forgotten was that we are in Austria and there a few differences. Like the reason I wasn't having much luck finding a "bibliothek" is because, here, they are mostly called "Bucherei's". DOH!

So, Jordy and I were directed to the really big library. It is very impressive looking and has an amazing view. It also has a large, foreign language section with a decent sized section of English books. But they weren't to my taste so I haven't been inspired to go back.

I finally had a bit of luck, a few weeks later. On my way to visit a friend, I walked past this place that had a lot of books in it. Initially I didn't pay it much never mind because I thought it was just a book store. But I eventually twigged that it was set up more like a ....yay! A library! A library! Cool. I couldn't wait to go back.

I went back but I couldn't find it. I was very perplexed. So then I asked Jordy and she directed me back to where I too had thought the library was. But it wasn't there. I went back another day for a more thorough look. Still nothing. I am starting to get quite discouraged. The next time, I took Jordy with me and boy did I feel silly. I hadn't walked far enough down the street. Hah!

Excitement returns. I present myself at the library bright and early. It doesn't open until 2pm. Stink. I return a differnt day at 4pm. My reasoning being that if it doesn't open until 2pm, it will still be open at 4pm. Wrong. On this day, the library opened at 11pm and closed at 4pm. Aaaargghh!Do I sound aggravated? I was aggravated.

"Stuff it. The books are probably all stink anyway. I'll stink to buying second hand books." I mutter to myself in extreme vexation. Then Greg, asks me, "Why don't you join the library?"
Perhaps he is worried about the accumulation of books on our bookshelf. So I decide to give it another try.

This time I am successful and I am even pleasantly surprised by the selection of English books.

Whew. But I haven't joined yet. That is a task for another day. But this time, I will make sure that I am sufficiently fortified with chocolate.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

The shop-a-holic gets a fix.

Yippee. yahoo. Hurray. ha ha.

As you can see, I am feeling ever so slightly effervescent and I don't mean that I am emitting small bubbles of gas.

My darling sweet husband gifted JOrdy and I with some shopping money and then came and spent the whole day with us as we indulged ourselves. Greg even bought an item of clothing.

So Jordy and I both have very sore feet but we are wearing the best accesories, a big grin on our faces.

add this to the list of tourist traps

So, so far on our list is
1. The horse drawn carriages
2. Any bread put on the table at a cafe/restaurant that you didn't order
3. At the ice-cream parlour, any wafers that are on the table
4. And the new addition is.... be wary of any condiments, i.e. mustard, tomato sauce, mayo, etc...
You will be charged for each one you use. It might get put on the table in a small dish. So you
can be forgiven for thinking it is just part of the meal.

So basically, don't touch anything on the table unless you specifically ordered it or you can try asking the waiter if that stuff is free.

Or you can just go for it and hope for the best.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

I've been away.

I have been away for 8 days hence part of the reason for the lack of updates. The other reason is I'm a cheapskate so I have been waiting until I could make "free" entries.i.e. not having to pay for them at a cyber cafe.

Anyway. "Where have you been?" I hear you cry. I have been in Kleinzell in Niederoesterreich. (The o is meant to have an umlaut on it and no "e" after it. I am explaining this for people who may want to google this word.)Which is a town outside of Vienna by 1 and a half-2 or 3 hours.

As you can see from the photos,it looks a lot like N.Z. In actual fact most of the flora is the same as in N.Z.









I was asked to attend a church teen camp as a helper in the kitchen.
There were 2 other helpers in the kitchen and even if I do say so myself, we made a good team. It was also beneficial to me as I got to see how some of the food which I see in the supermarkets but have no idea how to cook them, can be used. Not to mention that our chef was a totally rocking cook.

The camp was on top of a hill and in my spare time I went for walks, picked and ate wild strawberries and tried not to break my ankle.

Jordan finally got her birthday present.

We got her a mobile phone and she has been very cute with it.

The best description I could come up with is that she is like a cat with a piece of string. I don't like the thing because it is too fandangled.

Plus we have been having a few problems with trying to get top up cards. One problem is we didn't know what a top up card was called in Austria, which we have just recently found out is called....a pre-paid card.I'm sure you can imagine my face right now. Another problem is that no-one can understand us regardless of whether we are speaking English or German or English with what we consider to be a german accent. Hey, it works for Greg.

So anyway, if you want to give Jordy a thrill, text her.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Open Air Concert at Schloss Schonbrunn



Isn't it pretty?Once a year Vienna hosts a huge free open air concert here. This year the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was playing, directed by Placido Domingo.




It was scheduled for earlier last month but it got rained out. This time the day started out beautiful and then it started to rain just before the concert started. We arrived early, as you can see how from how few people are here, so we could get a good position.





Unfortunately the best posi's were blocked off for ticket holders who we think probably paid for this priviledge. but we can neither confirm nor deny this information.






Behind these two gorgeous people you can see how many more people have arrived.

I should have known better




This awesome piano was part of a plant art exhibit being run by the Landstrasse Disrict. Guess which place this one won? Yes. First place.

So, I couldn't resist taking a photo and having a bit of fun. You may notice in the bottom corner of the second photo there is a sign - written in German of course. I noticed it but couldn't be bothered getting out my dictionary to see what it said. Well after a passerby, walked past, gave me a big frown and said in a loud disapproving voice, (which made me feel about 2), "Nicht beruhen!" I knew I should have made the effort.

The sign said "Don't touch!". Of course.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

The annual Donauinselfest




Vienna has an annual event which is similar to our Big Day out except that it runs for 3 days instead of 1. It is called the Donauinselfest. "Donau" is German for Danube, "insel" means island, and "fest" means celebration.

Initially, us kiwis were very excited and keen to go. Until we had a look at the line-up and the only singer we recognised was Mel C. For those of you who have either forgotten who that is, or never cared, she used to be of a girl band called.....The Spice Girls. Yes. That's what we thought. Oh.... So as you can see, she wasn't much of a draw card.

Howm-so-ever,(yes the m is deliberate and it's not a spelling mistake), for the first time ever the "Vienna Philharmonica" was going to play. Our....my theory is that they elected to play last minute for the "fest" because their previous first big performance was cancelled.

We got to sit real close to the front and they were completely and utterly awesome. I loved it. Really Really. I especially liked how considerate the audience was. No one talked and hardly anyone moved around so that you weren't distracted.