It’s quiet and everyone I can see is wearing a mask — properly. Seemed worth noting these days. 😉
Presidential election
9 OctAccording to projections, the incumbent, Alexander van der Bellen, has gotten an absolute majority — and that in a field with seven candidates. I guess I’m not the only one who thinks he’s doing a good job.
Drinking water
8 Oct
Drinking water from a fire hydrant? Yes, in Vienna, where a Viennese friend once proudly said that here we flush our toilets with water others buy in supermarkets. (It comes from the mountains, thanks to Kaiser Franz Josef. Mentioned here: https://ecbinvienna.com/2022/01/04/08-breitenfurter-strase-to-alterlaa/)
In this case, there is a sponsored run to support cancer research today and the runners apparently will be able to get water at this station near the Narrenturm. (More about the Narrenturm here: https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/en/narrenturm)
Looking old?
28 SepMaylo and I seem to be looking a bit old today. Two people commented on Maylo clearly not being a young dog anymore and someone about 50 just gave up her seat on the tram for me. Nice and a bit discouraging at the same time.
ecb in Rome
24 SepIf you are ever in Rome near the Termini train station and need a bite to eat, you could do worse than Cucina da Luciano on the corner of Via Giovanni Amendola and Via Danieli Manin. All the signs are in Italian (Orari Mar – Dom) but the staff speak English. The pasta is al dente and the drinkable house wine costs EUR 2 for a quarter of a liter. A nice experience on a Saturday, when some Italians also seemed to be enjoying a leisurely lunch.
Changeable weather today
18 Sep
These two photos were taken from the same spot on the canal — the dark clouds were upriver and the blue sky was down. Maylo and I did get quite wet as we were walking upriver. It’s a good thing that we are not, as one says in German, made of sugar!
Kindness
22 JulIt’s late and hot. Maylo and I were on our way home from a Heuriger. (Where else would we go on a hot Friday evening? ;-))
It was quite a long trip home with several changes and long waits. We were waiting the tram that would more or less drop us off at our door and Maylo was lying on the sidewalk looking tired. Next thing I knew a man, dirty and poorly dressed but with gentle eyes and a smile, was sharing his bottled water with Maylo, pouring it onto the pavement and watching while Maylo lapped it up.
I couldn’t tell whether he was deaf and that’s why he didn’t speak or simply didn’t speak German. He tried to communicate with gestures and I sadly couldn’t tell what he wanted to say. Then our tram arrived and I thanked him for the water and said good night. Just as the tram doors started to close, he slid the bottle in to Maylo and went his way.
I was sure he needed the wonderfully cold, almost full bottle of water more than Maylo did, but I also thought he perhaps wanted to give it to a hot little dog more than he wanted to drink it himself.
In any case, it was a very special exchange for me, especially in a world where ever more people push themselves ahead, never mind the others, and I wanted to share it with you.
Praterwal wird ins Wien Museum gehoben
20 Julhttps://wien.orf.at/stories/3165341/
Here is a nice, light story in a world full of heavy news. A 10-meter whale sculpture that stood in front of a Gasthaus (kind of restaurant), zum Walfisch, in the Prater is being moved to the Wien Museum now that the restaurant it represented is no longer there. It is so big that it is being moved in now while the renovations are still ongoing. Eventually it will be hung from the ceiling.
More about this later, I hope, but now I have to go to work. The curse of the drinking classes, as my father loved to quip, possibly quoting George Bernard Shaw. Curse of the writing classes is more like it! 😉
If you’re interested in the renovation of the Wien Museum, I mentioned it in this post: https://ecbinvienna.com/2019/01/10/wien-museum-vienna-museum/
Today in the Trafik
18 JunThursday was a holiday in Austria (Corpus Christi). What does that have to do today in the Trafik? More than one would think. When a holiday in Austria falls on a Thursday then many people in Vienna take a “Fenstertag” or “window day” and leave town for a four-day weekend. This leaves behind in the city people like me, who have no family to visit in, say, Salzburg, and those who have to work.
This was clearly visible in the Trafik this morning. Usually, there are a lot of people in and out on a Saturday morning. Many, like me, are picking up their newspaper to be read during a leisurely breakfast. Today only a few came in and all of them bought cigarettes but no newspapers, apparently on their way to work. Maylo and I stayed for a while and chatted with the Trafikantin, which we otherwise never get the chance to do, before wending our way home for breakfast.
I love Vienna when half the population is out of town. 🙂
That time of year again
2 JunTwo days ago I caught a whiff of a sweet fragrance as we set out on our morning dog walk. Yesterday it was clear it was the linden blossoms of one particular tree that gets a lot of sun. Today it reminded to let you know — it must be June, the linden trees are out.
Happy June!
ecbinvienna 