Going downhill #2

Forty bloody one!

how did that happen?

I did have a very nice birthday though :)

Going downhill #1

On the bus on the way to work the other day, I was sat in front of a couple of young professionals (yp).

Not that I was ear-wigging or anything... but, they were graduates recently moved here who were musing about acceptable areas to live in.

YP #1 was saying: "Apparently, Jesmond used to be really quite a smart area. You can understand why the people who have bought houses here are irritated by the increase in student accommodation"

YP #2 agreed "Yes, I think if I was looking to buy somewhere I certainly wouldn't want to live in Jesmond".

In the bleak mid-winter

We have had gloriously cold winter weather here for the last few days. Air frost has descended on air frost until frozen surfaces look like they've been hidden in the back set of the lion the witch and the wardrobe.

This kind of cold weather, for me, is almost as satisfying as a hot summer day (it's winter, it's cold and frosty).

Yesterday we ventured down the frosty, wintery hill to the allotment with the bags of vegetable matter that have accumulated in the yard over the past couple of weeks, and guess what? our new tools are still there!

Oh how my faith in humankind is restored.

Things that are no more #2 - #10

After the theft of the greenhouse frame, the solar powered oxygenator for my pond, the (aforementioned) water lily, the garden fork, the spade, the hoe, the rake and a plant support, the thieving b*stards nicked my sea holly too!

I can't post a photo of it but I can post a photo of the hole it used to live in (though, just to be pedantic, it wasn't a hole when it was still there)!

the Zen of decorating

When we had the double glazing fitted in August on or return from Vienna, the surveyor revealed that our rather shoddy windows were rather more jerry built than we had at first thought. All the windows upstairs on the front of the house had been boxed in around the window recess with bits of plank and skirting board and would need restructuring once the windows were put in.

I decided that in the spirit of not increasing the amount of dust harbouring curves and nooks and crannies that architrave presents, that we would keep it simple and do what they do "on the continent" and have the recess plastered and papered rather than boxed in.

This has meant that over that last few weeks that the offending bare walls have had to be sized, re-papered and painted (I'm not complaining by the way, I actually enjoy decorating). I painted the walls without much ado and then cast my eye over the rather grubby yellow ceiling. I decided that I would paint the ceiling the same colour as the walls on the landing. This was mainly fuelled by the spirit of purging and clearing out which has afflicted us both since our return, as there was still some paint left in a big tin in the cupboard at the top of the stairs.

I was unsure how far the paint would go as there was only what looked like a teensy amount left, but I set to. I was amazed that by the time I had scraped the bottom of the tin for the last vestiges of pigment that only this small patch was left unpainted (though with no notion of scale in the picture below, that patch could as easily be feet or inches wide*). I couldn'r decide whether it was irritating to run out of paint at this point or gratifying that the small amount had gone so far in the first place.

Still an excuse for another trip to John Lewis isn't a bad thing is it?

*it was actually about 1sq yard

Things that are no more #1

My waterlily in my pond on the allotment, stolen (sob) earlier in the summer.

This frog now has no pad to call its own :(

I just don't know what to do with myself

Ok, ok!

It's not dead, only resting!

I have been back since the beginning of August and I have only posted one lousy blog entry. I could say that nothing report worthy had happened, but that would be a big fib. I have actually been rather busy.

Since our return I have:

• supervised our double glazing installation
• visited Eigg
• been to Wales
• started a new job
• bought a new vacuum cleaner (not a hoover)
• had a burglary (on the allotment)
• planted some garlic and onions
• had another burglary (on the allotment)
• embraced the new council supplied big blue recycling bin
• took my first half day holiday from my new job to do some decorating at home
• grown a beard
• been to Manchester to help with some of my mum's decorating
• bought a beard trimmer
• bought some Purple Vienna Kohl Rabi seeds
• done some more decorating at home
• had a bonfire
  

I just don't know where to start! Perhaps I should do a(nother) lazy blog entry and post some pictures instead...

Oh it's all gone quiet over there...

Well, strictly speaking, it's all gone quiet over here, as, over there (in Austria), I was rather chatty!

This was quite unintentional as just before we left Vienna at the end of July I had intended to post my own travel guide, complete with links, to some of our favourite places there and about. Unfortunately for me, the landlady decided to kill the internet connection a day early, so I couldn't, and now, I can't find my file to make up for my lackadaisical attitude. I will try to find it later. Since I got back, although lots has happened, I have found it quite difficult to get back into the swing of blogging.

I have also toyed with what to call the blog, since now I am now longer in Vienna, and any greeting will be more likely to come from the UK than not, but I think I will live with Gruss aus Wien for a little while longer, out of badness as much as anything else!

This little piggy went to market...

But these little piggies stayed at home and were so hot they couldn't be bothered to do anything except loll about in the mud!

Wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn...

Last weekend found us on a wine-tasting trip to Styria (Steiermark) in south east Austria.

We had a great couple of days with our friends Gerhard and Lotte who took us around and showed us the sights, smells and tastes of "the heart of Austria".

Here are some of them:

We visited woodland pigs (more of them later), a bear sanctuary on the Slovenian border (their penchant for carrots was remarkable) and a deer farm in near Graz.

During our trip we visited several Weingüter (vineyard) including

• Weingut Tement
  
• Weingut Birnstingl
• Weingut Erich & Walter Polz
  

We even found some wine varieties which neither of our jaded palettes had ever tasted! Imagine that if you can!

Morillon - which is a variety of Chardonnay and very tasty

Schilcher - very pink and VERY sharp (apparently, in murder cases in times gone by, it was taken into consideration when sentencing whether the defendant was intoxicated on Schilcher!)

Sämling - normally served colder than other white wines, and referred to by Gerhard as a "für die Frauen". We quite like it!

Otherness

People often comment that the shopping areas of Vienna (including the rather smart Mariahilferstrasse and even the Kärntner Strasse) look somewhat old-fashioned.

Not having succumbed to 1970s brutish city centre redevelopment as is the case of most British cities, Vienna remains largely untouched. Its smart shop fronts gleam as brightly as the things on sale inside (be they expensive artifacts or glorious bits of golden plasticy tat).

One thing I have noticed since we arrived in February is how few global retail outlets are present here. The ubiquity of some of these shops make any city somehow interchangeable with any other. Not that I have been searching for something "essential" to Vienna since we have been here (I could look in the direction of the Fiaker rides around the city centre or the Spanish Riding School displays for that), it was rather just something that struck me immediately as "different" or even "foreign" about Vienna which took me a long time to work out why.

Some of the usual (and other, not so usual) suspects are present here, including:

• Body Shop
• Crabtree & Evelyn
• Esprit
• Foot Locker
• H&M
• KFC
• Macdonalds
• Starbucks
  
• Zara

The presence of multiple Starbucks shops in the alleged coffee capital of Europe, seems particularly provocative. They seem ever popular though.

To-ing and fro-ing (or "Is a change as good as a rest?")

Our move back to the UK is imminent too (a week tomorrow in fact!) and in preparation for the big move, two weeks ago, I took a full bag of clothes, papers, books, grocery items back with me during my recent return to Newcastle. I figured this would be really clever thing to do; to leave here with a full bag and return to Vienna with an empty bag thereby cutting our eventual final cargo by 19.5kg.

We've had wall to wall visitors since I returned from the UK (this is perhaps the main excuse for not having written anything here for a while, and I'm sticking to it!) and we have trekked and wandered and eaten and drunk our way around this little central European nub until I have worn holes in the bottom my shoes. The weather had been so hot that I felt like I had "done good", assigning those unworn jumpers and jackets back to the drear summer the north east of england is experiencing at the moment.

I have to admit to feeling slightly smug, but, as all you good folk know, pride comes before a fall.

This week, the weather has taken a distinct turn for the worse! The rain has poured for the last couple of days and the temperature continues to drop. No matter how pretty/nice/quaint/interesting places are, they do lose some of their appeal to visitors and guides alike in the drear sublit gloom of miserable rainy summer afternoon/evening.

Thank goodness for good company and idle chit chat.

Sounds of summer

I have been really busy and a tad distracted recently and the hot weather has been sapping the energy from my weary body to the point where posting a blog entry has almost made me swoon at the thought of the expended energy (that's my excuse for my laziness anyway).

Today I have been sat working by the noisy open window (possibly more of that later) of our lounge with the swallows wheeling and darting above the rooves outside. They shrieked as they fly by like excited children and reminded me of the (pleasant) din created by the kids in the street where I live in the UK as they run and squeal and laugh and run some more up and down and up and down. It made me feel a little homesick.

I noticed there was a lot of fast feathered activity around one particular area across the street and realised the there must be a nest under the flashing of one of the buildings immediately opposite. I decided to see if I could capture any of the aerial aerobatic antics with my camera.

Needless to say, I think I took about thirty photos and this is the only one that captured anything other than brick, slate, tin and sky.

I fear the people who live opposite may now think I am a peeping tom!

Futball

It has been brought to my attention, that there is some football thing or other going on here at the moment.

I did know really, just kidding. Y viva España!

A tune too far #13

Though I had decided to be slightly less dogmatic since my return about my relationship with the Austrian broadcasting media, I do feel it necessary to inform you that I have just had to turn the radio off as they were trying to make me listen to Mariah Carey butcher the tragic classic that is Without You.

To be honest, I never really like this song in the first place, but Ms Carey's vocal gymnastics are always a good enough excuse for imposed silence in my opinion!

You're the one for me fatty!

When I was here in the cold, cold, coldness on February and March, I would punctuate each day with a bowl of home made soup for my lunch.

As I work from home, I felt it was important to move away from my desk for slightly longer than it took to make a sandwich each lunchtime to prevent me going a bit cross-eyed and so standing in the kitchen, peeling and chopping, onions, celeriac, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers (... you get the idea) seemed preferable to wandering outside in the windy chill of the Obkirchergasse.

This slightly ritualistic, or obsessive behaviour, depending on how kind your worldview is, resulted in me losing quite a lot of weight. Quite a feat in the land of dumplings, believe me!

Now, when I returned, I was eager to give the soup regime another go (cheaper than Champney's anyway) to shed the pounds I had regained upon returning to the land of the pasty. But alas, it is too hot to even contemplate boiling the kettle during the day because of the extra degrees it adds to the ambient temperature!

I have been further thwarted by the discovery of Ruccola Frischkase and Rote Ruben Frischkase at Radatz, the deli round the corner. This is basically cream cheese (probably 100% fat judging by its general deliciousness) mixed with rocket and beetroot respectively (the latter having the marvellous addition of horseradish too and being the most glorious colour of pink as to make you question all the declarations of the lady behind the counter insisting that it is "100% bio" (German for organic)) and it has become a regular occurrence at breakfast (and other indulgent snacky) times, replacing light cottage cheese and curd cheese as the breakfast bread spread of choice. Yum yum!

My trousers certainly don't feel quite as loose as they did when I arrived but I think I am retaining water in the heat.

A pain in the neck

I mentioned earlier that i had pulled my shoulder attempting to rid the room of flies. Well, last night, it was quite painful and I didn't get a particularly good night's sleep.

Tim went out to the chemist down the road this morning while foraging for bread rolls for breakfast, looking for some potent unguent to apply that would remove the pain without frying my skin in the already searing temperatures.

What he came back with was Dolorex Spray which you spary on and leave to be absorbed. There aren't many ingredients but the only ones I recognise (the main one is Diathylaminsalicylat, which I have no idea what it is or does when it's at home, or abroad!) are menthol, camphor, glycerine and water.This stuff is fantastic though, it was cooling and a little numbing on the skin and the only slightly disconcerting side effect was that it made me smell of mothballs and old wardrobes. After a couple of applications during the day my shoulder feel almost normal again. I need some of this in my bathroom cabinet at home!!! Although after doing a quick "google" on it, it appears to only be available in the UK as an animal medicine!

Not a word!

A walk by the river

It was so hot yesterday that we were barely capable of doing anything!

We had intended to go for a swim again but as I have been suffering a little from a pulled shoulder after trying vigorously to swat flies which were pestering me, plus the imminence of the pool closing, we decided to go for a walk along the Danube.

W got the train to Friedensbrucke and walked into town as far as Schwedenplatz and then turned around and walked back on the other side, this time as far as Spitelau and the Hundertwasser Fernwärme (power station/heating works designed by Austrian artist and bonkers architect, Freidensreich Hundertwasser).

The walls by the river walk are filled with graffiti, some of it banal, some of it really interesting. Have a look and see what you think:



Even Amy Winehouse made an appearance!
This is the Fernwärme I mentioned:

A refreshing plunge

Well, I think summer has finally arrived. As the days have passed this week, the weather has got progressively hotter and yesterday, we decided to go swimming.

When we were here earlier in the year I had purchased an 18 Euro Monatskarte (monthly pass) for unlimited use in any of the swimming baths in Vienna. The closest pool to where we live is the Döbliger Bad which boasts both indoor and outdoor pools and yesterday was teeming with people in the pools and on the lush grassy banks or in the shade of the trees. We decided to walk there rather than take public transport as it was so gloriously warm and probably just as quick, oddly.

It seems to be far more socially orientated than a visit to the pool is in the UK and families and groups seemed set up for the whole day rather than a quick plunge and then a toddle round the shops. There is a cafe and a terrace, set up with real food and real drink (even beer) and no vending machines in sight, a variety of "fun" pools with slides and water plumes and fountains and spurts for youthful cavorting and teenage frolics, there was even a "normal" one too with lanes (taken up by over-excited kids, bombing and belly-flopping from the little diving board).

The water was sparklingly clear and the chill was a blessing after the searing heat of the sun on my body after the brief walk from the main building through to the pool at the bottom of the park. My body is generally so pale that i often think that during sunny weather i actually reflect the sunlight to the benefit of others around me (it hasn't actually been seen outside since 1997 on a day trip to Sitges during a trip to Barcelona with friends). Naturally, we weren't as well set up as the rest of the visitors with their creams and lotions and cold drinks flasks and insulated picnic baskets (we had intended just the quick refreshing plunge and then a toddle around the shops!) so it was only after a very short period that we retired to the (rather warmer and quieter) indoor poor in fear of over exposure of our overly pinky pale skin.

It was too warm for hot chocolate afterwards though and we couldn't even find a vending machine to buy crisps from.

A vegetable epiphany

I can't believe that I have got through, ahem, mumble mumble, years of my life having never eaten kohl rabi.

I feel I have missed out somehow and will need to make up for this immediately (fyi: I am munching a piece as i type)!

Green or white?

The Austrians, like the Germans, have a penchant for asparagus, especially forced asparagus, the thick, pale almost translucent spears which are kept white by depriving it of light are a common sight at the moment in the supermarkets, market stalls, and local greengrocers.
We bought some, to try as an experiment last night. Now, it turns out, we found out part way through preparation and cooking it, that preparation and cooking white asparagus differs quite a lot from that of green asparagus.

While green asparagus can be steamed to a tender delicacy in a couple of minutes, white apsaragus needs about 15 minutes steaming or boiling to stop it becoming stringy. It also needs peeling, which came as an even greater surprise!

Thank goodness at times like this for the omnipresence of the Internet. A lesson to take from this is that seemingly inconsequential blog ramblings can actually be very useful. So think on!

We had it served with serrano ham and a sauce made from mayonnaise, yoghurt and fresh dill (a Tim creation), and it was delicious!

NB after effects of white asparagus are just as pungent as green.

The things you find...

Before I came back to Vienna again I visited my mum. One of the reasons for the visit, was to clear out my old desk as she's having a clearout.

The desk was full of a variety of objects from my late teens which had been stored when I left home in 1988 to go to college. There were letters and postcards and photographs and books and magazines concert programs and knick knacks (not "nik-naks" apparently!) galore. And naturally, the immediate response for me when faced with a slab of personal ephemera from bygone days like this is to sit and sift, and sit a bit longer sift a bit more until I have worked through it all piece by piece, reminiscing and marveling at the naiveties of my youthful concerns until the day had gone and it was time to return home.

This time however I was ruthless! Letters, photographs, postcards, programs, and books awarded at junior school were swiftly dispatched to a plastic bag, unread, unlooked at and probably feeling a tad unloved. Do not fear however, I wasn't going to bin them, no no no, I merely transferred them to the boot of the car to transport back to Newcastle to peruse at my leisure(sic) when I return home later in the summer. No doubt I will probably "lose" a day or two once I start rifling through them, but hey, that's nostalgia for you.

Another task I had to undertake was to review the contents of an old biscuit tin containing my rather embarrassing keyring collection from the late '70s and early '80s. It contained hilarious manky bits of plastic/leather/metal/ that seemed so important to me as a kid but now seemed a little bizarre. I did rescue a few including a skull and crossbones which I think came from the front of Smash Hits (or some other pop music mag) when Adam Ant was at the height of his fame and this little treasure:
This is actually an Edelweiss bought for me by my sister, and it seemed fitting to post here on my Vienna blog (even though I think it was bought in Salzburg but I won't tell if you don't). I did toy with the idea of bringing it with me to carry my Austrian flat keys on but as the Edelweiss is a symbol of Austrian patriotism, I decided against it.

I am returned

Well, I have arrived safe and sound, after a particularly uneventful journey, all efficiency and smooth-running on-timedness can lead to a very dull blog entry. The only minor trauma was getting slightly disorientated in Schipol Airport (easily done, I'm sure you'll agree). Terminal 2 is very big, but it took me a bloody long time to find it!!!

The bags were off the plane by the time the passengers had reached the baggage hall and mine was one of the first which meant that I left the airport about half an hour before I expected too. No stress, no trauma, no rudeness, I was almost shocked.

On the way back to the flat in the CAT taxi there were loads of people on the streets being silly, waving flags and honking horns with painted faces like flags. Apparently there is some football thing going on at the moment in Vienna...

get the duster out!

It's time to spring(sic)-clean the blog, I'm wending my way back to Wien in a couple of days until the end of July.

I apologise to you for not getting round to posting the pictures of the snow in Simmering, perhaps the heat of the summer will be a suitably perverse time to post them :)

More (ahem) jollity/brevity to follow shortly.

No post today!

Sorting stuff for the return trip to the UK tomorrow and deciding what to leave for our return in June. We shipped two crates (makes them sound much bigger than they actually are, they were more like big shoe boxes!) of books back to the England on Saturday for a whopping (? was it? I can't tell!) 40 Euro.

Then we have to clean the flat. The dust never sleeps!

Therefore, no proper post today, I shall endeavour however, to update (along with the promised snow photos) soon after we get home.

Einfach Raus!

This is the name of the ticket we have just discovered on the ÖBB (Austrian Railways).

This is a special ticket that is valid on all Austrian trains except the big fast inter-city trains. It is valid for between 2 - 5 people and costs 28Euro for a whole day's travel for all the people in the group.

We decided to investigate the possibilities over the weekend, starting on Saturday with a trip to Eisenstadt (the regional capital of Burgenland). Saturday was a really warm day and the town centre was uphill from the station (oh my aching shins and blistered feet) so we were a bit tuckered out by the time we arrived to saunter through the, rather deserted, town centre (anyone would think it was a bank holiday or something!).

We had a bit of lunch (Würstel with freshly grated horseradish all round) and made our way idly (we had to run at full pelt) back to the station to catch the next train to Neusiedel Am See, which we sort of missed as we got off at the wrong station. We could see the lake twinkling the distance but had just missed the train (well, we had got off it actually) into town, so we got on a different train and came back a different route into Vienna.

We arrived back in Vienna earlier than we originally expected, and decided to tootle off on another train/adventure to Mödling, an outlying small spa town, just because we could. The town centre was uphill, again, and looked really unpromising from the main road. We almost turned around and came back home but didn't, for some reason I can't remember, and ended up somewhere that was so dinky it looked like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang could have been filmed there (was it? I don't know, but if you do, then please tell me).

Then we headed home, via a Turkish-shop stop to pick up some provisions (delicious pistachio nuts,
aubergine dip and (a tin of!) humous).

Easter Sunday, and a new Einfach Raus ticket beckons, but not before finding the rather brilliant journey planner on the ÖBB website called Scotty, which allows us to plan our journey to the minute before we have actually left the house (I think Austrian public transport efficiency is second only that of Germany).

Today we're going to Melk.

Melk lies on a bend in the Danube, about 100km from Vienna. It's a pretty little town (this time downhill from the station!) which boasts the most jaw-dropping baroque "pile" (atop the hill in the town centre) that I have ever seen. It completely dominates the town.

This pile is a still functioning monastery, with a museum, and gallery, and fountains, and gardens, and church, and cherubs, and frescoes, and relics (!!!), and gold-leaf, and general pomp, and, in fact, so much visual pastel confection that at times, you may feel like you're having a sugar-rush.

Easter Monday we set forth again, this time with Payerbach-Riechenau as our destination of choice.

We were thwarted early on in the journey today however, as both of us were daydreaming and missed our first change (Ottakring). We eventually got back to Wien Meidling (our main departure station) and decided to head towards Wiener Neustadt (which is on the way to Payerbach-Riechenau) and review the situation later in the morning.

Wiener Neustadt (New City) is actually medieval, and not an overflow council estate (like Wythenshawe is to Manchester) as I had previously thought and in itself looked picturesque and probably held enough to keep us entertained for the afternoon, had it not been a Bank Holiday and had everything not been shut. So, after a cursory circuit of the old town we headed back to the station to venture forth, to our original destination.

We arrived in Payerbach-Riechenau and "siezed the day" yet again by jumping onto yet another train which was already in the station when we arrived which took us up the snow covered mountain to Semmering.

It snowed when we arrived and was really beautiful.

Snow pix to follow soon, when I have sorted them out!

Einfach Raus? Well, it gets you out of the house doesn't it?

The good, the bad and the ugly

Tasteful bits courtesy of Antonia and Tim. Thank you, yum!

To market to market

On Friday we went to an Easter Market on Freyung (one of the large squares). There were, amongst other things, lots and lots and lots and lots of eggs: painted eggs, dipped eggs, marbled eggs, sprayed eggs, patterned eggs, plain eggs, dark eggs, pale eggs.
Here's some of the "other things" there were too.I turned a corner between the Easter cake and the Easter biscuit stall, and happened upon this bloke. I think he must be a bit lost...