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.

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.

You're the top

After venturing out to buy a guidebook or two from Borders we partook of a little general retail therapy in Banana Republic along the way, we were recommended by the sales assistant to take the elevator up to the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower to the Signature Room for cocktails as the sun went down over the city.

We took his advice. It was astonishing!

Thank you Terry.

It is big, and it certainly is Clever!

Normally I would steer clear of food products with novelty names as, in my humble opinion, anything that's had excessive time spent thinking up a catchy, with it, fun, humorous, trendy name is probably going to be, well, erm, rubbish.

Clever food may have just made me reconsider my jaded food perspective.

Clever tomatoes ended up in my shopping basket as something of a fait accompli. The only other tomato option on offer at the time in the local Billa, was a peeled and primped and preened and chopped and be-herbed deluxe "Gourmet" version of tinned tomatoes somewhere in the region of £1.50, which I just wasn't prepared to pay.

I'm glad I didn't! My newly purchased Clever tomatoes were big and sweet and helped me make an almost perfect bolognese sauce.

Whether eating said sauce has made me any more intelligent is questionable, but I certainly feel cleverer (groan) for trying the brand out.

The last resort

I finally found a new coat!!!

After a fruitless wander the length and breadth of the Mariahilferstraße last Thursday I was prepared to throw in the towel, admit defeat, give up my quest and look scruffy until spring. We're hopefully off to Chicago next week though and the temperature at the moment has been somewhere in the region of -10 degrees celcius. So, rather than run the risk of hypothermia or a frostbitten underarm, I decided to explore the local fashion emporia of Oberdöbling (the area where we are living).

There is a gents outfitters literally across the road from us called Schlatte (which naturally we have, rather childishly nicknamed Slattern) that, so far, I had avoided, as venturing in might mean all manner of engagement in tongues foreign. I feared, through misunderstanding, linguistic interference and a tendency to agree with whatever's being said, that I would probably end up leaving with sock suspenders and collar tips rather than a coat.

There was a moment when I was wrapped in a long puffa jacket that made me look like a fat black caterpillar that I feared things may not turn out well, but Frau Schlatte was very efficient and my faltering German not quite as faltering as I expected it to be, and I was quickly kitted out in a rather fine and very warm wool/cashmere mix driving coat. Hooray!

I hope it's still cold in Chicago when we get there!

Haven't you got work to do?

Wow! We've been here for 2 weeks!

We've settled into some semblance of routine now and it's amazing how quickly you become accustomed to change. Initially it felt a bit like we were on holiday (but with laptops), exploring pastures new(ish) and exotic(ish) and while some things still maintain their novelty, and probably shall forever (I may speak of them at a later date when more jaded, world-weary and in the mood to mock... but not yet), once the dust (yes, they have dust in Austria too, and it's just like at home!) starts to gather in the corners of the room, you reailise that you have to tackle the same mundane tasks as at home (unless of course you have a cleaner in either location to do them for you).

I complied a list of inconsequential little observations that I may add to from time to time.

You know you're no longer on holiday when:

• you can finally work the cooker hob
  
• you have to get the hoover out
• you have to do the washing
• the milk goes sour
• the woman in the bakery recognises you
• you know the time the bus/train/tram is due to arrive before you leave the house
• you know which of the three local supermarkets sells the best tomatoes
• you realise that E1.50 for a single leek is quite expensive
  
• you have to buy bathroom cleaner

What a lot we got...

How could we possibly need anything else?

Actually, a ladle would be really useful!

My aunt went to Bratislava and bought...

... a colander from Tesco! That's another thing I can cross off the "what we need" list.

We visited Bratislava several times during our time in Vienna between 1993/94 when we had friends to stay. During these trips, as well as exploring the cultural opportunities the city had to offer, we would also visit the local grocery stores and once or twice, the big supermarket (at that time Walmart) before travelling back, to stock up on luxury(sic) items (coffee, beer, pickles etc). We were quite hard up at the time and the difference in prices of the items we bought and brought back (was it smuggling? I really don't know) would offset the price of the tickets.

For our guests, Bratislava offered a different cultural experience to that of Vienna which I think they all found at least interesting, if nothing else. We also reckoned that in our own small way, that we were supporting the local economy too. So everything was ok!

Now while this isn't intended as a big political statement about local produce, supply and demand, or global consumption, it was interesting to note that the goods we used to buy in 1993 at a saving to equivalent goods in local Austrian supermarkets, were now actually more expensive than than they are in Vienna and at home in the UK! While I imagine that in the meantime, the Slovak economy has generally raised the standard of living for its inhabitants, I doubt it has boomed to the extent where they can afford to pay more for their shopping than we do in the Austria or the UK for that matter.

Surely this makes the "luxury goods" even more unobtainable for the local inhabitants than they were previoulsy, or at the very least, is a great big rip-off.

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

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!