Taking a Break in Vienna

Since my brother was visiting us in Budapest - well, he actually had other business to attend, but those matters were resolved quite fast - my boyfriend and I decided to take him to Vienna. For him it might be like a vacation inside a vacation, or a trip inside of a trip, and what a wonderful experience! After all, when you are visiting a place, ddon't you love it if you have the chance to visit other places too? ^_^ For us, on the other hand, it was a chance, or maybe an excuse to go visit a city we love very much (though I may love more than my boyfriend, since I really take any chance available to visit Vienna!). A city full of music, history, romance, art and endless beauty... and friends. Yes, one of my penpals lives here, but - unlike in other occasions - we couldn't get in contact, which prevented us from meeting as usual, for a good cup of coffee and a long and never ending conversation.

The city is blooming with the most wonderful flowers all over the place. I'm not very versed in botanics, but I can tell tulips from other types of flowers, and these are simply breath taking. It never ceases to amaze me how such beautiful flowers are kept in different parts of town and there's nobody damaging them, or taking them home, as it would happen in Costa Rica. Present in the most amazing colors, their sheer sight brings endless joy to the soul. It is at looking at these flowers that you get an understanding about the importance of flowers in one's life. Looking at them in the gardens, you understand their beauty, what they do for the scene, and why it's so awesome to get flowers as present, or buy a beautiful bouquet of them to arrange at your place. Hve you noticed how much a vase of flowers can do for a room?

This year was the first time - by the way - that I've ever seen pink and purple tulips. Aren't they something else?? In a matter of hours I became absolutely in love with tulips. I have heard of black tulips but have never seen them in real life still.

The weater changed quite some, getting much warmer than expected, and thus rendering the clothes I packed for myself pretty unadecuate. It is Spring, and this Spring has been acting a little bit cold, so of course I packed only long sleeve shirts. Well, it seems it changed its mind, or maybe egged by the coming of Beltane or May Eve, it decided to go on and heat up. As result, I was pretty much "compelled" to go get myself cooler clothes. I've a pretty thin pair of jeans, but I needed short sleeve tops for it, so without further ado, I went today at the shop under our lovely hotel - an Esprit - and got myself a lovely white blouse and two green tees... Sorry, but I really needed AND wanted those ^_^.

We took a walk close to the Prater, but didn't go much inside, because our main program was to visit the Schönbrunn, where I've got yet another book about Empress Sissi. Yes, yet another book. I hope it's not one of the same I've at home already, as sometimes the translations can be misleading, but if so, then I'll have a wonderful gift for a good friend in my hands.

As many of you know, currently I'm not working, though I can't be called unemployed for I'm on leave, so you may wonder that if I'm not working, if I'm waking up at any time I feel like, going to sleep at any time I feel like, and doing all day pretty much what I feel like, what do I need to take a break from. Well, though I love my Hungary and I'm crazy about my marvelous Budapest, it's good to change the scenary from time to time, get a new air, stretch your legs and change your perspective. And from the well learned streets, our favorite hotel (I'm including you the link of it because if you are planning on visiting Vienna, you should seriously consider staying at Hotel-Pension Continental. I've visited Vienna around 10 times by now, and only in two of them stayed at a different place... and regreted it every single time... both times), and our regular places, we've also discovered new and fabulous things. Learned about a concert program we will make sure to attend the next time, and with includes a fabulous mix of Mozart and Strauss, approached the Herrengasse from another direction, actually walked to the Stephansdom... and I discovered a statue of Schiller that had the power to undust the name from my memory and yearn to read him with the desperate urgency of sweet, firey, intellectual and emotional passion. One statue, and I was tumbling my Kindle for everthing I could foung in amazon.com about him and from him.

I wouldn't say that no particular thoughts have formed yet, no new lessons have been learned, but rather that many seeds have been planted in my soul from the tulips, the streets, the sweet sounding of Austrian German, sprinkled abundantly with sweet smiles and Sachertorte, and Schiller... oh master Schiller. I'll take these seeds to my resting palace, my Budapest, and there kindle them, cherish them and see what new thoughts spring from them.

With Vienna there's a simple thought, like a word wispered from the wise that keeps echoing inside me: "even in the well known and the rutinary you can always find something brand new to learn, if you are willing to".

Vienna, 2010

Before you ask, yes I have made pictures, even a picture with a good friend and penpal of mine - we look so great! - but what I forgot to bring with myself is, well, the cabel to connect my phone and my netbook. This also means, sadly, that my phone is struggling with a very feeble battery life. Damned. And here I really thought I had packed everything I need. Oh well, at least I packed up the cords for the netbook, the converting cube (because I've an American plugging end on the cord and I need to fit it into an European plug), and the netbook and mouse. So I'm able to keep communicating with the rest of the planet.

A week of my holidays has gone by, and honestly I've done little, written even less, mainly concerned with the whole baggage thing. Normally I would have a plan - you know me - to which I would stick and still have loads of fun, but when you travel with family, well, their things can trample your plans.

Christmas came and was gone, and I successfully ditched the Hag and her Christmas-Thing. I wouldn't call it "lunch" when it lasts all day, right? My boyfriend couldn't ditch it, though. He came back at 19:30 h. Yep, my thoughts exactly: I wouldn't have come back from that Hag-marathon alive... or sane.

Yesterday, according to the plan (because we had reservations) we came to Vienna, the whole lot of us. We are set in my favorite hotel of town, with the adorable staff, always so helpful and ready. Hell, you just want to stay here forever! Not much could be done yesterday, after all, from an early waking to a 3 hour train trip with two children, a big family wants nothing but lay down a bit. I myself, went to meet my dear friend, with whom we had coffee at our favorite coffeeplace in town, and then went to this pub - Irish pub -  she knows, where after an awesome coffee with Bailey's I had a mug of lager. One freaking big mug of absolutely delicious lager. I walked out of there by half past ten... at night, all happy and woohoo.

My friend was surprised. She said she had never pictured me like a beer drinker. My humor is much drier in person - she said, and probably she's absolutely right, for in person I honestly hardly open up as much as in paper - but beer? Big mug of beer? Would have never imagined that.

Honestly, I really don't come over like a beer drinker?

KHM Stands For Kunst-Something-Huge-Museum

I start this entry on a Word document. You may wonder why. You are right to do so. Well, as the common sense must has told you, one starts an entry on a Word document when said someone has no access to the Internet. Of course, the lot of you would also think „If I can’t get on the Internet, I don’t post. Plain and Simple.” Well, that’s You, my dear, not me. Of course, if you see this posted, it means that I’ve got good access to the Internet within two hours, otherwise this will be another entry draft lost in the depths of my computer, never to be retreived and the one day erased away because I need the valuable byte space it’s eating up. Memories are treated with unseen cruelty by us.

My second day in Wien has started with me rising right when the breakfast finished, so I fished out a bottle of applejuice from the minibar and had it. Then arranged my plans for the day, which so far had been twisted out of their axe. Lets start with the deceiving Tiberius store, which promised „fashion&books” from the gay side of the town, and it opens at noon and discloses only CLOTHES! I don’t want clothes, I want a gay novel. I already finished Intimate Evil and I need my refil, and no, there’s no gay stuff in L’Évanguil du Satan... at least I don’t think so. Annoyed, I walked down to the Museum Quartier to take advantage of the 2x1 Leopold Museum and this KHM... and they don’t take credit cards! Only Maestro. Who in the fucking HELL has a Maestro card in Costa Rica? I so gara cry to Raiffeisen to make one for me, so I can spend in Wien. I’m beyond devastated. So I’ve got one Adult ticket with my very last 10€ in cash, because when I went for my dictionary, which I’ve got (9,20€ and lacks a fucking lot of words!) the bookstore, Libro (the Austrian counterpart of the Hungarian Libri, I believe) takes no creditcard! To say that I am horrified is an understatement. I mean, I would like to go live in Budapest again, get a job and the whole shebang, BUT my aunt and Jules insist that Wien is so much better and so much civilized, and so much classy, and beautiful... what do I do in a city that closes stores and restaurants at 19 hrs and doesn’t take creditcards? Carry cash and get home early?

Okay, give me five minutes to stop laughing histerically.

Thank you, I’m much better, yes.

So, back to the story. I go to the Museum that Doesn’t Take Credit Cards, and in the way there’s this little fair-like with wooden huts and lovely stuff to buy, including some exceedingly beautiful Murano Glass jewelry. I spend the last of my cash, go check the pictures, and though there are beautiful, and I have discovered that I LOVE Caravaggio (Michaelangelo Merini) and some other painters with names I can’t remember, but who have painted incredibly beautiful pieces, and I find miself in love with Tiziano, the painter... get „scolded” because I took a picture and the flash went off without being intended, I finally realize it would be good to put some solid food in my tummy and got to this luxuriant caffé inside the Museum. I hope there’s some wireless to come with the lunch, but they don’t even have the Käsesandwich I so clumsily tried to order (cheese sandwich. All the others didn’t sound nice enough for me). Okay, coke and truftorte. There is some kind of wireless too. One of the KHM with a killer signal quality and one other with the poorest signal quality in town. What the hell happened? Though both of them are open networks, the killer needs to connect with the network and that takes it so much time I would be waiting here until I become an ancient art piece myself. The other one is so poor it blinks: connected-disconnected-connected-disconnected. Nagi doesn’t like it, gets impatient and says: „Look buddy, make up your mind and when you meet MY standards and provide me with a DECENT stream, THEN I’ll consider to get connected”. Nagi is trying to compensate for the fact that he isn ’t Omi and it’s trying to prove to me that he’s worthy. The dear baby.

Some of it is my fault, I must say.

„Damned Nagi... Omi usually shows me more of the Excel sheets...”

„Oh Nagi... I can see more of my e-mails with Omi...”

I don’t mean to...

Sometime later...

So they have these store where they sell this huge waxy things that look like food and that are cut and measured to the demand of the client. But what are they? Take a look at the picture.

It's soap.

Eating in Wien

It has been my belief for quite a while now, that Vienna (Wien) is one of those places, where people live very calmly and very, very slowly. Either it is regarded like the little "red neck attachment" to Germany, or people here are not prone to stay out of home after work.

I arrived today sometime past 16 hr to Wien, and sometime past 17 hr to my beloved hotel, which I must say, remains as perfect and as beautiful, sporting ravishing Hungarian receptionists as usual. The room is small and beautiful, the kind of place you could call home, and the bathroom is... the kind of space you could call SPA. My mind is made, Hotel Continental will be forever the place I'll stay in when I'm in Wien.

Instead of going right away to have some diner, like I wrote to Jules, I went up to check if there was any Internet in the hotel, and there was, and I felt complied to check on my dear friend Gitta's blog (some awesome note on Penicilin-bread sold at the local convenience store), and then I wrote my very first impressions on Wien in my Hungarian blog, with s a small, annoyed stop at the kind of cattle that travels on the Volánbusz to this sweet city. Some people should be prohibited from any contact with the world. They are just that pissing. Then again, anyways, what kind of Granny eats supper at 17 hr? My aunt shouldn't be counted in. Then again, I'm the "lunch at 15, 16 h because I have no time and I want to avoid the lunch crowd", so I ain't no standard to measure the Universe. Anyway, I spent some quality time and so, and ended up getting up to score food at 19 hr. I checked the fliers at the reception to pick a place to eat. There wasn't much to choose from, and I wasn't ordering a "call girl to take" for supper. Nor was I interested in a lap dance. However, someone left a booklet from the Vienna Visit Card, which I didn't get, AGAIN, and I checked it fro places. There was this very cool looking place, the Bagel Station. Hey, talk to me about bagels, I'm the Bagellina! I'm crazy for bagels! Sure, sure, it's not the most Viennesian thing to eat, but I wanted soemthing light.

That "something light" turned out to be closed at 19 hr! The Hell, with this people! I managed my way through two metro lines, made ma calculations, got lost on the street, and they dare to close on me. So I went looking for some food to score, and all I could see was the Golden Arches of McDonald's. Man, that would really be a bitch, to eat at McDonald's the first meal in Wien. However I saw a funny green sign and thought it could be food, and I was right! Leupold! Awesome place, great food... and such obnoxious waiters. One for drinks, one for foood, and since my German is sadly reduced due to the lack of a dictionary, I was forced to use English (would be happier using French, but no avail). People can be really... unpleasant. I am disappointed.

Nice place, but I doubt I'll eat here again.