More Vienna, yes, we are still here ...

We did the shop together, nice since the bike takes all the weight then went directly to the Museums Quarter (MQ) for a pomegranate drink, yum, while we waited for the Leopold Wasser restaurant to open at 12:30 for a grill cooked burger which we shared. Bruce’s appetite is back with the cooler weather! Yeah! 

We watched people and dogs but being Monday it wasn’t too busy there. Nice to get out into the sun and air and enjoy good food, burger was wonderful. Home and a cleaner is cleaning the area around the elevator, he pushes the button for it to open and Bruce isn’t quite quick enough before the door closes or tries to with Bruce caught in-between. Cleaner shoves the door open, we get to the fifth floor and door won’t open. I pried it open with my fingers to get us out. Now the damn thing is broken again. Contact Peter and go through the usual. He said they used substandard parts when putting it in and now they are worn out, as with many in Vienna. Well it’s a major problem for us for sure! 

Days out for lunch, shopping but not really any sight seeing, pleasant days though. I need to take some pictures of the detailed architecture here, works of art, just hanging out over doorways and windows. Here's a start ....

Went out for brunch on Sunday and after had an ice tea each, served in a mini-carafe with lemon, orange and mint. Vienna does know how to make interesting drinks! They will use any fruit like pomegranate and rhubarb and many contain herbs like basil, mint and spice of ginger. You saw the picture where they used roses on a previous post. Very inventive and some are tastier than others to our palates of course I appreciate the inventiveness of their making. 

Street "art" or graffiti, you decide.

On the domestic front I got a long awaited hair cut. Bad cut in Germany, tried a correction which made it worse, and needed another when I came to Vienna. Stopped in a shop up the road from the flat and he’s booked out for a month so make an appointment anyway for now. Get another hair cut to last me over and it’s worse than both German ones! Ugh, should have known I’d be in trouble when she asked me AFTER the cut if my hair was naturally curly or a perm. Who perms these days anyway? Well, now I have a good cut and feel better and have another appointment for trim before going back to Freiburg.  The fellow is truly so very good it was a great stroke of luck to meet him! There are very many hair and personal services in the neighbourhood we are in, difficult to choose who is going to be the best to engage and for what. Example the worst haircut at the shop also gives the best pedicure, obviously by different people, different skill sets. I truly live by my mother’s rule, “if you can’t say something nice about someone then don’t say anything at all”. So I won’t give a bad review to the first “stylist” she’s young and just needs better training. 

We breakfasted out, I had scrambled eggs with vegetables in, asked what vegetables and the waitress said, what ever they had on hand. Well there were chopped carrots and peppers, green onion and while I’ve never had carrots in my eggs before it was tasty. Did the shop, went back to the MQ for an iced tea, a British couple moved tables because of cigarette smoke, I don’t think they’ve been here long, it will become an annoyance to them. On the way back to the flat smelt the grilling hamburgers so stopped for one to share. Quite a warm day but a breeze so nice to be out again. 

Back down to the Naschmarkt market around 11:00 a.m. on a weekday and it’s quite quiet, easier to move around and see more. It’s such a fascinating place for us, and you know how we do like markets, kids in a candy store would describe us well in markets. So many different fruits, vegetables, example black potatoes, and a multitude of other things, spices from all over the world, teas, fish and meat. 

Much of it is Turkish so there are many falafel stands. We bought more hummus, the stall owner is very liberal with his samplings. In fact, most are and some yell Stop! at their stalls to offer you something. They will ask where are you from and the ruse often works! One fellow, large bloke was dining at a seafood restaurant and they gave him a bib after he spilled on his shirt. This big, almost mean looking fellow, wearing a bib! We had Indian food again, jumbo prawns for me that were some of the best I’ve ever had. Bruce had lamb biryani, the rice was spiced so wonderfully.

I liked the presentation.

This is the mini-sweater and dirndl I mentioned in the previous post.

Picnic supper tasting very small amounts of things bought at the market, pomegranate seeds, messy, more on that in a bit, hummus, avocado, stilton cheese, dried lingonberries, a feast even after lunch. I don’t think you can commonly get lingonberries in Canada. I have a Polish friend who loves them. 

To eat the pomegranate, we looked for videos on the web to see how to seed and every one said the juice stains as item number one. Operation pomegranate: we took the top off and scored the outside which allows you to peal the layers out and fairly successfully get the seeds out except, I popped one, juice everywhere, wall, fridge, my favourite top, which I should have removed prior. Seeds are yummy though and reportedly good for you so was worth it I suppose. 

Saturday and our local artisan market is on. But firstly I decided I wanted new glasses, not really needed, as such, but wanted a change, ones I’m wearing have a small scratch on the lens and I’m just tired of the frames. There is a nice looking glasses shop up the street so went in to “just to” try on frames. A while later I have new glasses, well, not yet in ten to fourteen days while the lenses are being built. Small change in the prescription, left eye weaker than the right but here they are, drum roll please, http://brillengiovanni.com go to Marken, they are called Gotti, the light blue ones. I’m very pleased!

A stop at the Mexican food shop yields green tomatillo salsa and taco chips, then on to the artisan market. 

What caught our eye and intrigued was a leather belt, more the buckle actually and then I went into the shop to find handbags, beautifully, made in the Czech Republic. Walked out of there with wallets for both of us and a handbag for me. Bruce gave me the bag and wallet as an early birthday present! Thanks Love! They are of a fine quality leather and etched and coloured in beautiful designs. Bruce says he doesn’t think he’s owned anything more beautiful, admiring his wallet now, as I write this. 

Then I spotted some unusual earrings in the next shop and bought them and a ring to match. Packaging is in small boxes with handles on top, lovely too! 

Whew, a lot of money was spent today but we both know that when you find something that is unusual, hand crafted, the bonus is you are helping to support an artist, you fall in love, true love, buy it because you’ll always rue not doing so. 

We’ve both experienced that before, mostly over non-utilitarian items, for me it was a tiny hand thrown pot, so thin light shone through on Granville Island, by the time I thought I had to have it it was gone and the artist wasn’t showing there anymore. For Bruce was a kimono, hand stitched and large enough to be a wall hanging on Salt Spring Island. These things, while beautiful and wanted were impractical. What we bought today is more practical, we can admire and wear them daily so, again, supporting artists, and using the product daily is a win-win. Off the old soap box once again.

We’d stopped for lunch at a favourite restaurant which is in the atria of a pre-school and many other offices of which I don’t know about, mostly arts according to the brochures seen. There was a hoard of people dropping off bottled water, clothing, diapers, all manner of things and all at once it seemed. The street was overloaded with cars and truly swarms of people seemed to inhabit the area with the goods they brought. At first we didn’t know what was happening, only that Bruce couldn’t get by a van to get to a slope in the curb. Watching, since we had no choice, I think they had organized a relief mission for the thousands of Syrian refugees who had crossed into Austria last night, bused in from Hungary. I missed a taped interview that happened while we were there, in English too, being more worried about getting Bruce out of the well meaning fray. I’ll try to find a link to the story for more information, didn't find that particular one but many people are helping out.

A cooler Sunday with wind and we’re out fairly early so have breakfast in a glassed in solarium at the Leopold Museum. We don’t drink a lot of coffee in restaurants but may remedy that since Vienna is said to have the best coffee and having had one it truly was.

I tried sitting or reclining on the blue blocks everyone uses in the MQ but I’m too short and kept slipping down, they don’t work for me…http://www.mqw.at/en/about/mq-courtyards/  go to the bottom of the page to read about the design and function of the furniture. Being short or PQ vertically challenged is a disadvantage most of the time, well there are worse things for sure.

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Some Different Things in Vienna

Unusual site in Vienna

Saturday was the opening of Mariahilfer-strasse pedestrian mall. It’s the largest shopping mecca in downtown Vienna with all the usual big trendy chain stores, including United Colours of Benetton, which we see in every city we’ve been to, and never go in to. Crews have been noisily working on the mall since we’ve been here. Lots of balloons floating around, a zip line which I’d never seen before, two climbing walls and that’s just in the three blocks we walked! All free as far as we could tell and the ages of children doing both were quite young. Bands of musicians of course and scores of people which is why we ducked down a side street for a sushi lunch, crowds aren’t really our thing.

A much quieter Sunday in the Museums Quarter, locals and tourists having breakfast and lunch. I had my first wiener schnitzel, it was house made and good but when I asked in German to take away, the waiter thought just take it away, not take home, again. Looking up the words in translate now! Writing in my little red book I carry everywhere, thanks again Ivan. This is the second or third time of happening and I’m not going to let it happen again. The salad was superb as well so I’m really missing out on good food for later. My fault entirely but frustrating too, okay enough whining… The restaurant is called Corbaci -  http://www.stadtbekannt.at/corbaci/ Look at the tile work on the ceiling, better picture on the website than what I could have taken I think. We’ll be back and I’ll use the correct words for take away next time.

Hear Me Roar Human! Actually she's yawning.

Lexi and I sometimes “argue” she does something bad and I yell no. At night these days she wakes about 04:00 and wants to play. I do not know why, perhaps first light. She sleeps on my legs most of the night quite peacefully, moves when I do and we both like it. The other night we had a round of “no’s!!!” and she took one paw and swatted me in the head! Didn’t hurt but she is becoming more of a pill and discipline problem. Hah, we made an appointment at the Vet’s today for tomorrow to get her nails cut, a kitty pawdicure. Maybe that’ll slow her down some.

Appointment was ignored by the vet and he/she had four people in the waiting room when we went. They weren’t taken in while we were there so I finally went to the desk, behind a door and asked. She said to call first so she could say how many people were waiting. There was a husky dog, quite small, beautiful white blue eyes that had a permanent look of curiosity about him. A cat meowed the whole time, not ours. Mom and daughter brought sandwiches and drinks so I figured the wait was going to be long. We just carried Lexi home again, unboxed her and she looked at us like what was that all about…

We cancelled our trip to Budapest, Hungary. The flat we chose had air-conditioning but the taxi to/from and doing any touring in this heat would have not been enjoyable. This heat wave (a couple of weeks ago from this post) is amazing and not in a good way. It’s affecting all of Europe and not due to leave us for another week or so. Debilitating for those without air conditioning which we thankfully have and is not very common in most parts of Europe. Peter has been escaping to a mountain lodge in Styria where they get amazing views of the night sky, away from the City. It takes two hours and forty five minutes to get there but he says it’s worth it.

Yes, folks, that's a sail boat, bent out of shape on top of a hotel... why?

With all the research done on rollerstuhl taxis, taxis with ramps for wheel chairs, I compiled a list of companies we’ve used or were going to in Hungary. They certainly vary widely in price but part of that is due to distances of course. I will say that every one we’ve used has been prompt, drivers are caring and nice, with the exception of one, well you can’t win ‘em all. Problem is, while they have air conditioning it mainly stays in the front and doesn’t filter to the back where Bruce needs it most. Most are a type of van with no wide opening windows in the back either, which was another consideration in cancelling Budapest.  

What is this? We figured it was for the ducks easy in and out of the pond.

Monday and I’m off to do a shop before noon. One of the Indian restaurants we’ve been to before was open and I stopped in to get some lamb/spinach curry for Bruce especially, although I enjoy it too. Waiting outside with a bottle of sparkling water a woman came up to the table and started the usual speech/imploring to give her money. She is nicely dressed, pregnant and I gave my usual response of I don’t speak German, she kept on so I gave her my partly used bottle of water and left. As doing so the waiter was outside and wanted the water bottle back. Okay faux pas there I would guess and if I go back perhaps he won’t be as friendly. In Germany you pay a deposit or pfand on some recyclable bottles, not here, but perhaps it’s different for restaurants. 

We went to the Naschmarkt on Saturday, very busy, crowded but lovely. For those in Vancouver, think Granville Island. Here is a website that describes it well. http://www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/markets/naschmarkt

I didn’t realize it was so close, a ten minute walk, although we’d passed it several times by taxi. You see Vienna has many one way streets so it’s easy to get confused about location from the starting point of the flat. 

Chose Indian food for our lunch and it was excellent. Will definitely go back maybe on a less busy week day. Didn’t see a whole lot of fruit and veg but so many restaurants, likely we missed parts of it. Lots of Turkish influenced foods like dried fruits, nuts, teas, hummus and vendors were yelling out to the crowd for attention to their unique products. Saw a tiny dirndl and a tiny sweater, hand made with sheep and goats on it. 

Yummy!

Bought yummy hummus after trying all the vendor’s types and olives - RED olives! Hmm, makes me wonder if they’ve been dyed and reading this article found out they are! http://www.delallo.com/articles/red-bella-di-cerignola-olive They are called Cerignola grown only in a specific area of Italy. They have a unique flavour that is extremely tasty.

Restaurants in the market vary from very up scale to casual dining and it seems all nationalities are represented. It’s an obvious meeting place for people and some were very elegantly dressed. Areas were under construction so walking through with the crowds was a bit difficult but of course everyone managed patiently. Warm sunny day but not too hot so it was a pleasure to be out and about.

We’ve today, Saturday before flight on a week Monday decided to stay another month here. We haven’t seen much of Vienna and feel short changed by not spending more time. This is due to the heat wave and the broken elevator several times. Peter is happy, he likes us, we’re happy. Peter also wants to take us on a wine tour, show us more of Vienna and I can’t agree more that we can explore this wonderful City further.

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Roaring Lexi Cat

Touring Vienna by Bus

We had decided to go to the Danube River, and just so you know, it is a lovely shade of blue, and since we haven’t figured out the metro system, even yet, decided just to walk/roll and see where we got to. Out through the Museums Quarter again because the elevator system puts us conveniently close to the old district, we walked past more museums in palatial buildings and stumbled onto a hop on hop off bus doing city tours.

Statue of Empress Maria Theresa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa

Oh well since we are sometimes spontaneous we hitched, paid for, a ride. They have a deal for both Vienna and Budapest so we signed up since we’ll be in Budapest mid-August. Now these hop/on/off busses are really touristy but they do provide a good overlook of a city and we use them in large cities. 

We first stopped at Schoenbrunn Palace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schönbrunn_Palace and since we’d seen it we just had a mediocre lunch there. The line ups to buy tickets were horrendous. I am so glad we did the tour of the interior, gardens and zoo when my legs were a lot younger! It is a fabulous place, a not to miss in Vienna in my mind, but I remember hardly being able to walk to the metro to get back to the hotel, so tired. 

Outside Belvedere Palace

Then we stopped at the Belvedere Castle and grounds, again not too much touring but a delightful spot. 

Sphinx Statue, human head, lion body representing strength and intelligence

Meanwhile on the bus we wound through Vienna in one direction, the opposite of where we’d planned, to the river, but that’s okay. We bought a 48 hour ticket so we can go the opposite direction tomorrow or Saturday. 

Parliament Building

Many people, read experienced travellers, think these buses are a waste of money, if you do the research ahead you can take a regular bus(s) at a fraction of the cost and see everything. I don’t agree, firstly because, call me lazy, but I don’t want to do all the research, I want to learn but it’s so much easier just plugging in and listening. Secondly, we can afford the easier way. Thirdly, the tour operators are usually really nice people and yes, they get paid to be, but truly most we’ve met are knowledgable about the city, the tours and the sights. 


Our first driver was a hoot, the ramp coming off was quite steep and she stood in front to “catch” Bruce, scared me, didn’t want her or her toes run over! She had long pretty nails and had to pull up the ramp handle very carefully so as not to damage them which she carried off with aplomb. The woman who sold us our ticket was also very knowledgable and told us snippets of information we didn’t get on the tour, good sales person, friendly but not pushy. Anyway it was a lovely day, not to hot and full of touristic sightseeing. Vienna is a beautiful city and we get to see more of it tomorrow including the Danube River.

Coffee - Important in Vienna! This is the smallest house.

Aside, a reminiscence since a fruit fly just landed in my drink. I was with my ex-husband and we met a couple who were friends from Germany. The male friend wore knee length dress shorts, probably lived in them looking at his tan. He was asked to leave since shorts weren’t “appropriate attire” for the patio according to this ritzy hotel’s rules, it is a patio in summer, come on! So he left, went to the nearby hotel, changed, came back, ordered a drink and had a fruit fly land inside it. Not a happy man now, he said “this fly is wearing shorts please remove it and give me a new drink”. 

It's an ATM! At Praterstern permanent fairgrounds with the oldest ferris wheel

Second day of touring Vienna in the opposite direction of yesterday. We got to the Danube and walked to a park alongside it called Bundesbaeder Alte Donau, Federal Bathing place in Donau where we had to pay two euros each to get in. The park was full of families in swimming togs, some having picnics, some eating at the small outdoor restaurant. There were some very tanned people about, so this must be a regular outing for them. Back on the bus to return to the centre and a large family boarded the children were good, just restless and everyone talked the entire time, got a bit tiring for us. The audio function didn’t work which was a shame because that’s an important part of learning what all those beautiful buildings are, and would have helped tune out the noise.

Arsenal Museum

When people come to Vienna they expect and do see many old, ornate buildings but the modern ones are beautiful as well. 

Striking, perhaps maybe a stretch to call it beautiful

Many large companies have headquarters in the Donau District and they have built strikingly modern buildings there. We can see the tops of some of them from the flat so it was good to look at them up close.

So that was our two days of sightseeing, and it was a good thing we did it then, it's very hot here now.

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Comic Characters in Vienna

We overlook the Museums Quarter and decided to take a closer look. Three lifts transport us down to the middle of it and it is hopping! www.mqw.at 

Look at those spikes on her knees. 

First off we see many, many people in costume with brightly coloured wigs portraying cartoon characters, mostly. They seemed to have professional photographers with them but that didn’t stop the rest of the crowd including me from snapping away. Very colourful and artistic and they brought their persona attitudes with them. Some costumes looked to be professionally done. A sight to see! 

Then there were the two wolves, what a pair of comedians they were, interacting with the crowd. Came over to Bruce and gave him a high five and a hug; knelt on all fours so small children could pat their nose; tickled a fellow’s feet who was lounging on a seat. 

Hams and friends

What a couple of guys!

Note the blue blocks behind, they are seating for about four people, eight if you are good friends. There is a hole in the middle to put an umbrella in and they cover the whole Museum quarter. Handy and extra seating for concert goers or a busy day like it was.

There was also a large rectangular pool where they set up battery operated, radio controlled boats to zoom around, amongst decorated crates depicting drinking bars with Barbie’s attached, yes, somewhat different. Anyone in the crowd was allowed to have a go. 

Barbie and Ken at the bar

The operator brought him in close for the picture - Thank you

A sign on the outside of the pool said “don’t feed the alligators” someone has a sense of humour. Actually the day was cooler than past days and families were out enjoying the weather. Much laughter in the air and the restaurants that line that square were pretty full. This also seemed to be like the Alameda in Sevilla, the alternative lifestyle neighbourhood which would make sense since the venues are called Museums but are geared more to the arts culture. It was a very pleasant day with unexpected viewing of unexpected things, which is, of course, a benefit of travel. 

Double rainbows tonight, a reverse of the main one in colour which I didn’t realize before, picture wasn't great but what a sight, sun shining off the towers and the sky is beautiful!

Wow!

We've booked part of this winter in Sevilla, will likely stay longer but for booking purposes decided two months would get us going. Our wonderful blogger friends in Sevilla helped us with that booking, you see I found a fabulous looking flat in an area we haven’t been to before. It is devoid of architectural wonders, a working class area for Sevillanos. Thankfully our friends advised that while the neighbourhood was fine, it was quite remote from downtown. Andy and Ali had the same problem when they booked a flat outside and took too long to get to the inner city. So I canned that place, politely of course, and was able to book close to where we’ve lived before, back in the older part of the City. One blogger said she wants to be astounded every time she walks out her door and we agree wholeheartedly. We don’t get that in Freiburg but the flat is new and for a purchase it was a good one. 

More to come, been busy with the camera this last week so have broken up the posts.

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat

Haus des Meeres, Aquarium

Rose Lemonade, ever heard of it or had it? It is lovely, refreshing and pretty all at the same time. This is a cool courtyard to sit in and avoid the heat.

We made it! To Haus des Meeres, Aqua Terra Zoo, finally. We've been meaning to go since we arrived in Vienna but the elevator for the flat has broken down four times in those weeks. We are five long flights up so it has been quite inconvenient! 

Anyway, back to the Haus, it’s eleven floors in a former flak tower from the war. There are six towers existing in Vienna, one houses the Haus des Meeres, one is an art gallery and as far as I can tell the others are empty. http://www.viennadirect.com/sights/mak.php  Plans to disassemble them failed because there were too many buildings built up around them. Blowing them up would cause damage, the walls are so very thick that taking them down with a bulldozer or something wouldn’t work either, so they left them. My first post on Vienna shows the one we see out one side of the flat.

Here's the website for the aquarium, click on images for it to get more pictures. 

http://www.haus-des-meeres.at

Starfish just hangin'

There is only one elevator from entryway to the eighth floor, then another for nine to eleven, that elevator has a window in it where you can see into a fish tank! There are two small restaurants, one mid floors, one on the top with magnificent 360 degree views of Vienna. Staff must spend half their day on that first elevator and it does take some time to reach each floor, there are stairs but Bruce had his wheels and many families had strollers. There is a lab for the breeding program and meeting rooms where they have classes for children. 

Giant lobster I think

Aside, the Royal BC Museum in Victoria,  had been housed in the basement of the House of Parliament there. A dark and dreary place we visited as children and didn’t like. They built a brand new one and it opened with great fanfare. It is a beautiful building and the displays are interactive with the audience. My mom signed us up for children’s classes and I remember really enjoying them, certainly we learned about many things not taught in regular school.http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca If you are in Victoria, I’d advise taking a tour, it’s not like any stuffy museum you’ve ever seen before.

The animals and fish - we liked the little monkeys best and they sure are not shy, one climbed onto the arm of Bruce’s chair and I wasn’t fast enough to get a picture, but they will walk right in front of you. Curious little things, investigated the bottom of a baby carriage or pretty much anything those humans bring in. 

Old diving gear, heavy I expect!

There are snakes, no thanks, insects, no thanks, but yes to turtles, sharks, hammerhead sharks were interesting for us to see, their eyes are at each end of the peen. Multiple types of fish and corals, well, I won’t continue with the animal species description, too numerous but see the above website link for more information. It was a lovely visit and well worth seeing, especially those monkeys!

The round glassware has an ant farm running through it!

That was our visit, enjoyed it thoroughly!

Cheers, Bx2 & Lexi Cat

Visit to Piber Stud Farm and the City of Graz

We saw the the Spanish Riding School Lippizaner Stallion show, in Vienna a few years back and were extremely impressed! We found out the Stud Farm is fairly close to Vienna and decided to visit to see the foals, mares and stallions who have worked the show, now used as stud. Graz is second largest city to Vienna so stayed there and trained to Koeflach (umlaut over the o), taxied to the farm.

The two and a half hour train trip to Graz was beautiful! Through mountains and valleys, sunflower fields and small villages. Majestic rock formations and views of valleys.

I had read somewhere sit left on the way and right on the way back and it was true. There were homes made of stone, all the way to the roof with small windows in a row across them, two or three stories high. They were numbered and mostly unoccupied, I think they may have been housing for when the railroad was built.

It was a scenic ride both ways and we both really enjoyed it.

A castle!

Graz train station and the lift to take us to where we are to meet our driver is out of commission. Seem to be having trouble with lifts these days, (the one at the flat in Vienna broke down three times in the last week, major problem, hopefully now fixed for good) so Bruce goes in the opposite direction to the one that works and comes out probably about a kilometre from the main entrance. Well what choice do we have really? I walk back to the main station and summon the driver with van to pick us up. I’m sorry, but he’s not the brightest marble in the bag, but long story short and we find Bruce after circling the block.

Restorative time in the room which is roomy, light, with lovely rugs, planned bonus, air-conditioning. Then off to do a small shop and dinner at where you can order to your liking of salad, pizza, spaetsle/pasta, burger or breakfast by marking what ingredients you want added. Cheap but pretty good, more of a student hangout I think, but we’ve done well with them in other cities. They served a glass of tap water with the wine,  as they typically do with coffee, never had that before but it was welcome.

Outside wall of hotel.

Detail, they are scenes of farming activities

In both cities of Vienna and Graz and I expect the rest of Austria they are very proud of their tap water. It comes from the mountains and is very pure. As you know, I like sparkly water but did drink tap while in Cornwall last year so may revert again. Rather silly really, to haul home, recycle bottles just for a bit of sparkle which I can still order in a restaurant.

Partial day of touring around neighbourhoods, in Graz, getting a bit lost but able to recover by asking folk. People are kind here, if they don’t know they’ll hail someone going by to ask. We didn’t go to the tourist area, just wanted to see where people live. Encountered a couple of large parks and missed the Schloss park which has a castle on top of the hill.

Went to the farmer’s market first thing which is just around the block from the hotel and it was typical, lovely and quite large. Saw bunches of baby carrots I haven’t seen since we picked our own on the farm and really wished I could have bought and cooked up, a forgotten memory. Lots of flowers including sunflowers from those fields we passed. I had an early lunch/breakfast at a fish stall. Their potato salad was a delight, used a flavoured vinegar, a bit like German but more vinegar, read swimming in it, with chives and onions. Bruce bought apple juice in a 100 ml bottle for 1.80 Euro and it’s home made I think and tastes almost as good as wine.

Hot day but there was a breeze so if you could catch it made the day bearable. So I walked my little legs off, Bruce rolled along and would scout ahead to help determine where we were or not supposed to be. So we’ve seen some of Graz but not it’s tourist highlights, fine by me.

Dinner was at a Greek restaurant called Athen across the road from the hotel.  You can smoke inside there, still amazes me and feels weird besides. Food was done expertly, lamb chops and large shrimps, it’s been a long while since we’ve had Greek food so was a treat. Out of the tourist area it seemed to be a locals bar, people were playing cards in the back room, a TV was on for news, I would guess following what’s happening there now.

On to the reason for our visit to the area, the Piber Stud farm is where they birth, grow, train the horses. It is a business operation really that has gone on for hundreds of years. That doesn’t take away from the cuteness of the foals for us though. It is  a real measure of training of the horse and rider. The horse gets years of careful stewardship, the rider less so.

Foals are born brown, black, grey but change colour to white in about ten years, it takes that long. The white is astounding and another reason they are special. Here is a website to explain the history etc. and just go with what we saw. www.piber.com

We arrived during the rest time for the horses, probably from tourists who are snapping pictures of them, they rest from noon to 13:00 so we lunched at the Cafe Caballero on site. I had pumpkin oil on my salad, explanation in a bit.

Once rest time was over we got audio equipment and a map, the tour was in German and there were quite a few people on it so it was nice to wander ourselves. We loosely followed the tour and went through the various barns housing various aged stallions, grouped by age. One wasn’t too happy and he kept snorting and banging around his stall but the rest were pretty placid. They have a majesty and dignified aura about them.

Then we saw the mares and foals in a large loose paddock. Being “children” they chased, nipped and generally romped along with their mothers like kids do, a beautiful sight.

I took many, many more pictures of horses as you can imagine. Okay one more.

In pasture

Spanish Riding School coats

The acreage has a castle which is now used for events and office space, a 950 year old church, a carriage museum, blacksmith barn, and an interactive children’s learning area where they can be taught how to mount a horse or make horseshoes and such, didn’t see it. The visit was worth every bit of effort it took to get there!

Horse statues made from horseshoes

Kuerbis (umlaut over the u) or pumpkin is a very large crop in Styria, Austria where Piber, Koeflach and Graz are located. Oil is large for salads which tasted nutty and very good, they put seeds into everything, and they are tasty! In North America we tend to use pumpkin for Halloween as decoration and discard. Here it is like every other vegetable and used for soups, creams, added to almost anything. It’s a bigger deal than spargel/asparagus in Germany I think.

Back again to the Greek place in Graz and the entire first floor is filled with kids, balloons, parents, grandparents and strollers. How they fit everyone in was amazing but they did and noise level was at the top. Luckily the smoking allowed tables were quite a far way away from the party so we could still enjoy a meal. They served shots of Ouzo to everyone, which for me was welcomed, liquorice in flavour and not a drink I buy so it was a treat, especially in small quantity. We were trying to figure out when we’d last had Greek food and it has to be about four years now. No wonder we went back for a second night. Plus we’d been in Piber all day for three hours of walking and an hour each way by train so were tired, this place is right across the street from the hotel so it has the triple whammy of being close, tasty and smoking inside since they don’t have a patio.

On the train going by one of the many villages and I saw a naked child no tan lines just enjoying running around in the sun. Did I mention the backyard swimming pools so many homes have, it seemed every second or third house had one.

Ride home to Vienna was good, extremely hot day but the train was air conditioned so the two and a half hour ride was comfortable. We were on a train headed to Prague so three languages were spoken, written. We’ve been to Prague and learning that language is or would be almost as bad as an Oriental language I think. Don’t remember having any problem in Prague, most spoke English, or maybe my pantomiming worked once again.

“Home” now in Vienna to a thankfully cool flat, it is seriously HOT today, just about melted into a puddle on the brief wait for the cab driver at the train station.

Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat

First Days in Vienna

Journey to Vienna, called Wien here. Train to Frankfurt, overnight at an Airport hotel. Spent the evening in the Beer Garden, or Biergarten eating dinner and drinking wine. Our room didn’t allow smoking in it so we stayed outside. Briefly met a couple from San Francisco who’s flight connection didn’t happen so they were put up there. Her accent was more mid-west we guessed because it was quite pronounced. Next morning up and “at em” to the Airport where they had a problem with the batteries being plugged in on Bruce’s chair so it took a while. They didn’t charge for Lexi which is unusual, probably forgot due to the chair issue. Anyway, all got sorted in plenty of time for the flight. De-planing and having them bring a wheelchair to the gate means we are last off so we are not in the way of more ambulatory people. Collect bags and Bruce’s chair and look for the special cab driver we’d hired to accommodate the chair. Found him, on to the flat. 

Another thing, same airport, different policies every time it seems, I won’t go into detail here but it is sometimes confusing.  But some of what happens is not sensible, or sometimes even more sensible. Go figure is all I will say on the non-subject. Just another rant.

I texted our host, Peter, and he was at the flat to meet us. Now he has SuperHost status from AirBnB and deserves it in our opinion, as does Pepe in Sevilla. He left us a fridge full of food, shopped for coffee and sparkling water after he heard I liked it. Gave a thorough run through of the flat which has the most amazing views of Vienna’s buildings. 

Liked the shadow made from the statue in the cupola 

The flat has air conditioning, a major reason for renting it because Bruce wilts in the heat and it's hot! The building  is old, we're on the top floor and the walls are a bit strange, covered with tacked white board, but nice and bright, two floors, will do us fine for the next two months. Shops are close by as is a light rail system. 

Lexi pulled her hiding trick and took all three of us to find her behind a kitchen cabinet. Travel weariness gets to us all sometimes like the time in Paris, but this was quite an easy trip really.

Will be out exploring tomorrow after a restful night I hope.

Another building although they look and are the same, cathedral to the left

Restful night, out doing our usual circling of the neighbourhood so we don’t get lost. Had lunch at a burger joint and it was good. Did a shop at a Spar grocers we found. Came back to Bruce having trouble getting up the entryway to the flat so contacted our host to tell him - make it a priority please - a ramp is needed!

View between previous pictures, don't have a wide lens on the camera

Hazy view but you can see what we look out on

Peter said all buildings in Vienna have to be wheelchair accessible by January 2016 by law so he and a friend will hopefully design something for market. A good idea since a moveable one will be needed. and if successful could go to other cities also. Handicapped access isn’t easy in Europe with the old buildings. We found one! sturdy rubber, small, but large enough and not heavy, perfect! Bruce felt quite trapped in the building not knowing if he could get back in again. He can still walk some but really to get out and about he needs the chair. We took our host to lunch at a local place he suggested in a large garden area to say thanks. 

Did another shop at a different Spar, larger, that we had spotted yesterday on our wanders. We had read about an aquarium in Vienna and wanted to check it out. Built in an old war bunker, we look out one side of the building at this enormous round concrete building which is frankly very ugly and found out it is the aquarium, right close by! We’ll be going there soon.

The transit system here looks good and one runs by our door regularly, mind, not all have handicapped access but some do so we’ll do the transit monthly ticket thing and have greater access to further points in the city. It’s just too big to walk or roll everywhere. Our host is living a bit outside the city, while we occupy his flat, in the wine producing area and has offered to show us around when we are ready. 

About our host Peter, he has had many lives, travelled widely and had many different careers. It’s quite amazing what he told us and I won’t go into too much detail here but working in multi-national finance, a pilot, living on the street, a trained artist focusing on sculpture, and living in so many different countries. He was a nomad before many of the blogger’s we’ve met were, and didn’t blog about it, before blogging became a medium, and he’s not that old! Bruce asked him if he would consider writing a book because he certainly was and still has a life that is not a conventional of work 9-5, go home and veg out. It does go a way to explain this eclectic flat interior with it’s fabulous view.

He’s had a Nobel prize winner stay in the flat, forget whom. Has also had a couple of Google programmers stay and they drank a lot of champagne and ate pizza basically, didn’t go out at all. The flat view has been used in movie scenes but when it isn’t being used for such illustrious functions, like us living here, Peter does. It is full of his possessions which he marks by a red bit of tape to say “hands off”, there is a fair bit of red tape around…

I re-arranged the kitchen cupboards because Peter is quite a tall man and he’d put everything where I couldn’t reach. Luckily we have a ladder in the flat so it wasn’t a problem. 

A neighbouring area is called Spittelberg and it is full of antique shops and funky little shops. Good restaurant called Boheme, named after the opera in a small lane off a main street. There was a Saturday market and an organic food market there too. Small parks along those lanes provide shade which is needed right now with temps in the mid-thirties as it seems everywhere. Because this District of Vienna is small we only walk a couple of blocks and we’ve hit another one. We’re in Neubau, 7th District, of 23 total, read about it here http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/seventh-district-vienna.htm

Second full day here and I’m happy with the choice!

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat