Month: February 2012

  • Let’s go to the…wait! Ice Skating??

    It was our last full day in Vienna, and James didn’t have to go to any Fullbright training. We all slept in (happily for me, as I was awake last night from 1:00 am to 6:00 am), and three of us went to a 10:30 breakfast. One kid dashed downstairs at the last second, and the other…well…we had digestive biscuits.  We got ready and planned to tour the Imperial Apartments and the Hapsburg Jewels and Really Nifty Things Vaults. (I am sort of too lazy to look up what it was really called.)  The kids were rather “rain-shy” after last night’s Tour of Misery, so they were less than excited to go.  We began walking and voila! There was a gorgeous church in front of us. It was…uh…a lovely church in Vienna. With gold bits and a statue. 

    We kept walking and got to take pictures of things we saw last night but did not photograph due to darkness and rain.  These are the formal gardens. We walked through them before, and I wondered what all those funky things were. Shrouded parking meters? An art display gone bad? Do you know?

         

    It turns out they are rose bushes of every variety. They wrap them up to keep them cozy all winter long. Apparently, these formal gardens are the pride of Vienna.

     

    I wanted to take lots of pictures of the things we saw last night in the rain, and I though it would be great to get some family shots, too. “Okay, everybody pose however you want!”

    Yeah. It looked like it was going to be a loooooong day. 

     

    We saw a gorgeous building nearby which we had been told was City Hall. “Please, let’s go take some pictures!” I said. So we all trudged over and were duly impressed by how lovely it was.

           

     

    But what was this in front of City Hall?

     

    Last night, our tour guide had mentioned ice skating in the park, but we didn’t pay much attention. But once we saw it, oh boy! We debated for a few minutes, but we quickly decided that skating was more fun than touring a museum. First, we got a family pass for the three children. James didn’t want to skate, but he was happy for me to skate. So we got a pass and skate rental for me as well.

     

     

    We were told Austrians were pretty laid-back and that Vienna was a safe city, but I didn’t realize it was like being in State College! People just left their stuff sitting out unguarded while they skated.

     

    There were two skating rinks. One was the size of Penn State’s indoor rink (or maybe a little larger). It had a bridge across it where people could stand and watch the skaters from above. The other rink was smaller, but still a nice size.

              

     

    And the most fun was the three acres or so of tracks. They were clearly marked with blue signs so that we knew which direction to skate. There were several roundabouts, which gave cause for some “excuse me” times. The park was not perfectly level, so some of the trails were downhill a bit, and some were uphill slightly. It was a lot of fun zooming downhill.

      

     

    For those of you who have skated with me (Dennisons…all three), I didn’t do too badly, but I thought of you as I did that arm-swinging thing. And I never fell down or crashed into anyone. However, someone crashed into me, and I thought it was Michael teasing me, so I turned around and said, “Michael!” and it was this poor Austrian man apologizing all over the place. Embarrassing…

     

    We had a great time skating for an hour or so.  Then we got thirsty and felt bad that James was just wandering around and waiting for us (and also doing a few errands), so we left the ice. I realized that the rink was open until 10:00 pm, and our passes and skate rentals were good until then. So, we rented a box and put our skates in it. We headed to a grocery store

    for sodas and very disgusting croissants (didn’t KNOW they’d be gross, glad I got a Mars bar instead) and finally headed to our original destination. But, we’ll talk about that in a different entry.

    After supper, James headed back to the hotel, and the kids and I worked off our pizza and pasta with a few hours of skating in the dark. Radio Wien played music. I was surprised that 75% of the music we’ve heard here is American stuff–from Adelle to oldies. Only about a quarter of the songs have been in German and unknown to us.  It was crowded at night, but still quite delightful to skate in 48 degree weather on great ice with gorgeous views!

     

             

     

    All in all, it was a great last day in Vienna! Tomorrow, we travel to Linz to meet our new apartment and city!

     

                  

     

     

  • 3:42 in Austria. Can’t Sleep.

    I now know why Japanese tourists smile and nod so much. I find myself doing the same thing. “Hello, I am a perfectly harmless foreigner. I don’t know enough of your language to converse with you. Yet, I don’t want to offend you by insisting you speak in my language. So I will try to look agreeable and friendly.”

    I really am trying with very simple phrases. How hard can it be to say “thank you”? For me, apparently, very hard. Yesterday morning, Michael told me that the word “danke” was said like “Tonka” as in a Tonka truck. But then he said it wasn’t. So I thought he and others were saying it like “donkey.” So I tried that. No luck. DAN-ka? DON-ka? DEN-ka? It’s to the point the kids shake their heads and say, “Mom, stop. You are an embarrassment.” <Begin pathetic whine: I really am trying. I feel like an aberration of nature. I am hurt when they say stuff like that, but I am also self-conscious that I truly am humiliating them and myself.  End of pathetic whine>

    I also feel  a kindred spirit now with the insane homeless who wander the streets muttering to themselves. “ENT-shol-de-ghang. Ent-SHOL-de-gang. No, ENT-shul-de-gahg??” With all the “excuse me’s” I say, you’d think I was the terror of the sidewalk!  And I really want to learn to ask for tap water, leitungs-wasser. Can I say this? I practice and practice, and then when it comes time to ask the waitress for water, I say, “Water, please?” and mimic turning on a faucet (all the while smiling and nodding like an idiot). I mean, really, I am afraid to say “wasser”?  What do I think my poor pronunciation is going to translate into? “Waitress, you smell bad. I also hold you personally responsible for the Holocaust. And, you need a shave.”

    And why do I remember Essig? It means “vinegar.” I looked it up in case I ever encountered a salad and wanted to order my dressing. (I like straight vinegar.) This word, which I probably will never use in the next two months, is firmly cemented in my mind.

    Suffice it to say, I do not have the gift of tongues. It must be because I am a Baptist.

     

  • Somebody Get Me a Brown Paper Package!

    Preferably one tied up with strings. 

    Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
    Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles…

    This evening, the Fullbright folks treated us to a walking tour of Vienna and dinner. Sadly for us, it was a chilly, rainy, turn-your-umbrella-inside-out windy evening.  But we soldiered on for an hour and a half. Our tour guide (the main man from the Fullbright institute) had fascinating stuff to tell us. But it was hard to be fascinated when the wind is whipping in one’s face and feet are getting progressively soggier and colder.

    The main palace and all sorts of cool things are in a five or six block area. We hope to go visit these in detail tomorrow, and it was rainy, so I have few pictures. More on those things later.  We did get to see some “cream colored ponies.”

    The famous Lipizzaner stallions live and perform in this area. The place where they are stabled is one of the few examples of Renaissance architecture in Vienna. (Put THAT in your saddle and ride!)

     

    After the walking tour, we had dinner at a fancy restaurant. The schedule said, “Dame Helene (keller).”  We were vastly amused that we were eating at the Helen Keller. But it turns out that “keller” means “basement” or “downstairs,” so we ate downstairs at the Dame Helen which was much less worthy of Helen Keller jokes.

     

    We were sitting by ourselves until Jorgen, one of the Fullbright people, came and sat with us. He was a lot of fun, spoke perfect English, and was a wealth of information about all sorts of things. He talked German pronunciation and snowboarding with Michael, taught Rachel how to say, “You are a squirrel’s tail,” and told us stories of his time as a high school exchange student in the USA, his PhD. thesis topic on post-WW2 food in Austria, and more. Delightful!

     

    Since they were paying (grin), we felt free to order all the good things they suggested. Michael had a steak.

     

    And I had the most delicious schnitzel ever. Schnitzel is a piece of meat (mine was veal) which is boneless and pounded VERY flat (like 1/4 inch or less). It is then breaded and deep fried. 

     

    Mine was served with German potato salad (cold) and little lettuce leaf things (lamb lettuce?) which had no seasoning. I ate half of my schnitzel and potato salad and greens before I remembered to take a picture if that gives you any indication of how huge my meal was!

     

    We were encouraged to get dessert. Libby had the “moor in a shirt” chocolate cake with chocolate sauce. The whipped cream is unsweetened, but the cake was so dense and chocolatey that it didn’t matter. (If you want more details or the recipe, go here: http://www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/viennese-cuisine/recipes/mohr-im-hemd-chocolate-hazelnut-pudding)

     

    And I had apple strudel in vanilla cream sauce. Nommity nom nom!

     

    Three and a half hours after we sat down to dinner, we headed back to the hotel for hot showers and dry feet. Ahh.

  • Leichter Regen (which sounds so cool)

    But it really just means “light rain,” which is what we had all day. And Libby and Rachel failed to pack any footwear for rain. Hence, we predict head colds quite soon. 

    So, what does one do on a rainy day in Vienna? We slept in, had breakfast, jinked about online, and headed to the museum we were going to go to yesterday. I believe if I were to say it in English it would be Kuhn’s Historical Museum. Maybe?  I do like a good art and artifact museum, and despite the kids not wanting them, I got the whole family the telephone-like audio guides in English and turned them loose. Poor R felt rather sickly, so after an hour when Michael and Libby had finished their whirlwind tour, I let them all go back to the hotel for a few hours.

    So I got to tour all by myself. The tour started in the Egyptian period.

    I need my Rosetta Stone!

     

    This stone carving still had almost all of the original colors on it. Quite neat!

     

    I guess for some reason I didn’t realize that many mummy cases were made of painted wood. Why did I assume they were all made of stone?  But speaking of things made of stone, here is Toe-zymandius. King of Kings.

     

    This is a hippo.  (duh) But, it is not a cute, children’s toy. Hippos, to the Egyptians, were evil and horrid and trampled crops and people. So they’d make hippos for the gods and have hippo killings to keep the balance of good and evil in check.

    I still think it is rather cute, though.

     

    (Sing this like Batman)

    Nah, nah, nah, nah, Nah, nah, nah, nah CAT MUMMY!

     

    Then, we moved into the Greek section. I have seen lots of marble statues carved, and I am always amazed that someone could make something so pretty with a chunk of stone. I have trouble even in Play-doh. Guess that is why no one will ever put my work in a museum.  Okay, now I’m laughing at what they could put in a museum that I’d make. I think it would have to involve paper plates and crayons. Oh, yes! Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! (got to keep that Shelley theme going…)

     

     

    Compare to the marble bust of Marcus Aurelius. Close, eh?

     

    I forgot to mention that this museum was just as beautiful as the one we saw yesterday. I found out that the two buildings were designed and meant to be museums from the start, so they mimicked the architecture inside them.

      

     

    Upstairs in the museum was an art gallery. There was a special display featuring Gustav Klimt. I decided that I like his stuff. It reminds me of Maxfield Parrish’s stuff. I realize that most people would know Klimt and not Parrish, but hey… Do you like his stuff?

        

     

    I enjoyed this picture, though, a great deal. It is a close up of a bigger painting. It just reminded me of lots of little kids I know. (And I’m not naming any names!)

     

    The final thing I saw was a bunch of dark ages treasures people just randomly found in Austria. “Some random shepherd came across this… Some farmer plowed his field and found this…” The only thing I ever dug up in my yard was the cable for the television.

     

    I liked this little glass thing that someone dug up because they look like to glasses-wearing nerds. They didn’t have glasses-wearing nerds in the 700′s did they?

     

     

    Thus ends my museum tour. Do you want to know what happened after? I am sure you’ll find out, as I plan to start writing another entry right now–”The Entry in which Mary Celebrates The Sound of Music in a Gastronomical Fashion.”

  • German for Beginners

    One major difference between being in England and being in Austria is not the lack of ice in drinks (ice is a rarity both places).  It’s the fact that in Austria, the signs are in German and people speak German. Very fast German!  Thankfully, every person we have met has had some experience with English. As the museum docent said to me yesterday in perfect English, “Yes, I speak some English, only high school English.”  If that is high school English, well, wow.

    So far, I have felt the need to learn a few German words:

    Hello- Hallo

    Please- bitte

    Thank you – danke

    Women- Damen (thank HEAVENS for the picture of the girl with the skirt on the door!!

     

    Excuse me – Entshuldigen Sie

    Tap water – Hahn Wasser

    Yes, one must ask for the right kind of water to avoid the mistake of getting mineral water or sparkling water. And most of the water is lukewarm, which doesn’t bother me too much, but Rachel and Libby are desperate for ice water. I was pleased with myself this morning when I asked the hostess at the hotel breakfast bar (who does not speak much English) for tap water for two, please. And she brought just what we wanted!

    I have found, though, that some things are easy enough to guess at, even if you don’t know the language. Can you tell what you will find inside if you enter these buildings?

    (Hint–the first word means “Austrian”)

    Yep, that’s a bank!

    Shoe repair

    A drug store (apothecary?)

     

    One thing that has amused me here in Vienna is that “Vienna” is really “Wien.”  And things Viennese are “Wiener.”  So, you can dance to the “Weiner Waltz.” And Vienna Sausages truly are wieners. We even saw a store called “Wiener World.” I haven’t gone in yet, so I am not sure what sort of store it is.

     

    Last night, we had supper at a cafe. Rachel had spaghetti (again), and James and Michael had schnitzel with potatoes.

     

    Libby had the exotic “toast.” When you order “toast” here, you really order a grilled ham (ham is “schinken” which is not to be confused with “Hahn-chen” which is chicken) and cheese sandwich. 

     

    I had, well, I forget what the German word was, but it was potato dumplings with sauerkraut. Best sauerkraut ever! 

    Anyhow, when I cut into the dumplings, they were stuffed with something. Being brave, I ate it, and it was sort of like hamburger, but sort of crunchy. Hmmm. Not a particularly clear taste of any spice.  After dinner, I asked the waitress what was in the dumplings. She did not understand English well. She said, “Meat. Bacon.” Hmmm. It might have been bland bacon. It might have been some other pork-based meat. I have no idea. I just figured I was in Europe at a restaurant, and they’d not put anything very inedible inside a dumpling, right? Right??

  • Our First Day

    I don’t know that I’ll be so prolific in posting later on, but for now, I have the time.  After breakfast, we discovered that the kids were lying around online and watching Sponge Bob in German, so we decided to do something in the city.

    ohhhh…..wer wohnt inner ananas ganz tief im meer?
    spongebob schwammkopf!
    ist saugstark und gelb und porös und zwar sehr?
    spongebob schwammkopf!

     

    We are staying on Lange Strasse.  Today, I found out that that funky “B” like letter (ß) is also just two letter “s.”  So, it could be Lange Straße.  Anyhow, we headed down the street.

    And walked with James to his meetings.

     

    The reason we are in Austria is that James got a Fullbright scholarship to teach math at Johannes Kepler University in Linz. Monday and Tuesday, however, he has orientation in Vienna.  The headquarters were only about a 15 minute walk, so we walked.  It was a beautiful day, and there were beautiful things to see.

        

     

    We walked through the Museum Quarter. Handily, there are about seven or eight museums in this location as well as the Fullbright offices. There were several cool archways, and this one had some sort of piano music playing. The photos along the sides showed a man with a sardine can, so you can imagine the type of piano music I mean.

     

     

    We got to the right place and dropped James at the door.

      

     

    And then we headed out to tour a museum. We were going to go to The Kunsthistoriches Museum,

     

    but it was closed on Mondays.  So, poor us. We had to go here instead.

     

    This is the Natural History Museum, and it was an average natural history museum. We started out with looking at rocks.

             

     

    And some rocks looked back at us!

     

    Michael took the rocks for granite.

     

    We enjoyed looking at all the animals. Is this a saber tooth tiger?

    Nope, Chuck Testa.

    There were a lot of people who did not speak German at the museum, so I did not feel so much like a conspicuous American. Some of us were amused by a mother who just posed her two somber pre-schoolers in front of displays and snapped pictures. We felt the need to recreate the shot.

     

    And we decided to take a few shots of our own design.

         

     

    I failed to mention that the entry way of the museum was just gorgeous! But you can decide for yourselves. 

          

     

     

    There was a life-sized mechanical dinosaur that moved and blinked and roared. It is thing that will come back to haunt you in a dream later when you’ve eaten too much sauerkraut. But watching it do its thing was neat.

     

    After our touring was done, we decided to stop at a grocery store for an afternoon snack. Libby passed on the “fish in a jar.”  Rachel got Pringles. They also had Barilla pasta, and the grocery store and all during breakfast at the hotel, they played American pop music with the real, English lyrics.

      

     

          

  • Join Us for Breakfast?

    Despite the fact it sounded like someone was using a power drill intermittently all night long, we slept well enough. I slept well enough, I should say. Everyone else was up for a hour or two and got online. I’d wake up, say “Dang, it’s hot in this room,” kick off my blanket, and sleep again. Then I’d wake up and say, “Where’s my cuddly blanket?”, cover up, and repeat the process. I don’t know if this is all of Austria, but we have a firm, foam mattress with a sheet on it and a duvet covered in a white sheet fabric, and that is it for bed linens. 

     

    We set our alarm for 9:30 and went down the stairs to breakfast.

     

    What a way to be welcomed!  Neon!

     

    The waitress/hostess was in black with a white apron. She asked me in German if I wanted coffee, tea, or something else which I didn’t understand. Tea sounds like “tea,” so I was all good. The rest of the family soon joined me, and we had a lovely breakfast. I was all excited to try my first soft-boiled egg, but by the time I got to the breakfast bar, they were not quite soft nor hard boiled from sitting in the warming tray. This was my breakfast. I always want to try new things. (Two different granola blends and the brown bread, which turned out only to be wheat bread.)

     

    The food was fairly ordinary with a bit of an international flair: meat and cheese, different breads. There was plain, white sandwich bread for toast and cornflakes. So it felt rather like home to Michael.  He was happy to be able to order something in German. (Could I have a little coffee, please?)

    Now, we are back in the room. James starts his orientation meetings for the Fullbright this afternoon. The kids and I plan to wander the streets of Vienna. Our goals? Take photos and buy baby powder.  Set the bar low, eh?  Apparently, we are only a block or two from the Parliament buildings here in Vienna. Some of us would rather just spend the day dozing (me included), but I think it is better to stay awake.

  • The Travels Begin

    Hello, there. It’s time to dust off the Xanga blog for another round of international travels with the Sellers! (feel free to insert “squee” sounds here).

    I write this from our hotel room in Vienna. I have to remind myself that it really is only 4:00 in the afternoon on Sunday in PA. My body doesn’t know which was is dawn!  So, what are the best bits so far… hmmm.

    We left Saturday at 1:45 for Dulles airport near Washington, DC. We could have flown out of State College for not much more, but we wanted to fly British Air, and we did not want to have to plane hop too much.  Peep and Poppy went with us.

     

    After stuffing ourselves at Bob Evans (chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes and biscuits), we got to the airport in plenty of time for our 10:30 pm flight. This time, we only had six large suitcases, five smaller suitcase carry-ons, and five backpacks/laptop bags. I still felt like a conspicuous American, which was still okay since I was in America at the time. I felt compelled to tell the British Air people that we were going for over two months. As if they cared why we had so much luggage!

     

     

    We settled in on the airplane and fooled around with the camera.

        

    I got queasy after takeoff. I am such a bad flyer.  But, they fed us a delicious lasagna dinner at 11:30 pm, and I felt so good after eating that I watched One Day, which I’d been wanting to see ever since I read the book.  Dozed a bit after that, but not for long as they served muffins and tea at 4:00. (Did not eat that. Blah.)

    Got off at Heathrow (London) and just smiled and smiled. I was back in England! Even if it was diesel-scented, from-a-transport bus, high-price airport, I was back in England!  We were there about four hours and got on our next flight which was to Vienna. I slept the fitful sleep of someone on an airplane. Gee, so far this is a dull story for traveling internationally.

    Oh! I forgot! I had to get patted down at Heathrow because I set off the metal detectors. The only reason I can think of is it was my braces. Har! It was not too creepy as it was a woman who did the patting down. After all my travels, it sort of felt like a mini-massage. And I made James’ suitcase get flagged and pulled there because I put in my eyeglasses screwdrivers. The guy who found it rolled his eyes and said, “I would not have flagged you for this!” 

    We got to our hotel (pictures later) and went to a pizza place where Rachel had spaghetti, James and Michael and Libby all had plain pizza, and I had one with ham, mushrooms, artichoke, and black olives. It was odd because the ham was on a fourth, the mushrooms on a fourth, and so on. And the olives still had their pits in them. But WOW was it good! I ate a pizza as big as a regular dinner plate. And here, it is not Diet Coke. It’s Coca-Cola Light.

    Now we are back in our hotel rooms showered and in pajamas and very, very sleepy. More later!