Ahem

Now, what was i saying about Viennese charm?

Things we bought to relieve our need and other needs which have arisen

mugs (from the Museum Quartier shop) featuring a red duck (pictured) and a red rabbit (not pictured). I didn't get the red poodle design due to my allergy to dogs and the stag beetle was a bit scary. a minimal salt and pepper potand maximal, baroque eggcups (complete with lion heads on either side) which seem somehow fitting for Austria though I'm at a loss as to why!
we got some wine glasses too, which, ironically, probably hold as much as the big beakers but look a lot nicer!

Other identified needs:

• a colander
• a salad bowl
• a vegetable chopping knife

There's a first time for everything...

This, the first proper day in Vienna has had it's fair few "firsts".

I foraged for bread and a newspaper for breakfast for the first time.

We went to our first exhibition at the Kunstforum, Belgian Symbolism - The Kiss of the Sphynx, which was a brilliant collection of exquisite paintings and sculpture by Belgian artists from around the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century: Fernand Khnopff, Odillon Redon, Felicien Rops plus others i can't remember! I was also told off for taking photos in the gallery, hey ho, I'm sure that'll happen again! The pic posted is An Angel by Fernand Khnopff.

We had our first gulasch for lunch (a bit too salty, sadly) at the Kaffee Alt Wien, which has been a favourite haunt since visiting in the mid 1990's.

We visited Julius Meinl am Graben (surely this is the poshest supermarket in the world?) to top up on bourgeois fripperies (to keep us happy) and then popped into the former Konsum (Co-op) off the Rotenturmstrasse which is now a Spar ("Gourmet", apparently) to buy some proper food for dinner.

We had put our other full carrier bags (accumulated along the way) in the trolley as we were going round the supermarket, to free hands to buy more thing, and also, by this time (6pm) we were a bit knackered and it meant we didn't have to carry them around. As we pushed the trolley through the till to load new bags with food, the woman behind the till called me back and proceeded to rifle through the bags already in the trolley to make sure I hadn't pinched anything!

If I had had the presence of mind (and also the necessary vocabulary) I would have reassured her by saying "No, we haven't stolen anything from here, we only shoplift from classier establishments!"

Never mind, I'm sure I will experience Viennese charm again before we leave.

what we need...

Although very well appointed, there are some things which you take for granted at home that aren't here:

• bread board
• egg cups
• mugs (there are only cups)
  
• wine glasses (only currently have huge beakers, and even we have standards!)
• salt and pepper pot
  

does this make me sound fussy?

Servus!

Well, we're here!

Vienna looked very gloomy and monochrome as we landed and the landscapes from the airport looked cold and grey through the window of the new high speed train (the CAT) which has cut the journey time into the city to 16 minutes.

It's not as cold as I expected it to be, but I am glad I invested in long johns, as I'm sure they'll be very welcome quite soon!

The flat is lovely! It is small, but very smart and lots of mod-cons we don't have at home, like a Dampfdusche (steam shower cabinet) which naturally we can't get to work and a whirlpool bath! It's in an Altbau on Oberkirchergasse in Ober Doebling, which has curved stairwells with ornate wrought iron, erm, ironwork on the outside windows, and worked plaster in the walls. I will take some photos soon.

In the immediate vicinity are fruit and veg shops, a fishmongers, butcher and a bio-laden selling all kinds of organic lovely stuff and ecover. i think we're in bio-heaven.

More soon. Auf wiedershauen lieblings!