Syringgasse

Syringgasse was the street we lived on. In the 17th district of Vienna. At number 17 in the 19th unit. And it was a pleasant little place to be. We never did show you pictures while we were there, but here you go now. Pictures of our little home in Austria.

This is what it looked like on the first day we moved in...

A week or two in, we made it our own. A little more comfortable and homey. Then our landlord said we needed to put it back the original way before we left so this is the night we had to do that.

Toilet Talk

Okay, so one of the strangest things we had to adjust to in Europe were the washrooms. Oh boy. That was a tricky adjustment. 

The majority of the issues went as follows: "I can't find a bathroom anywhere in this whole city. Oh I found one; what I have to pay almost a euro just to use it? I'll hold it. Okay, I can't hold it anymore, we have to find a McDonald's (they've always got one, and it's usually free). If we can't find a McDonald's we'll wait until dinner and take our chances at the state of that washroom."

Pretty much this happened on the daily (while we weren't at home). These are some of the most interesting we saw around.

Budapest, Hungary - Restaurant

Venice, Italy - McDonald's

Venice, Italy - Restaurant

Venice, Italy - Hotel Room (Eric loved it)

Verona, Italy - Restaurant (Katherine was not impressed)

Rome, Itally - Hotel Room (this was an interesting way to shower every morning)

Ckesy Krumlov, Czech Republic - on display in a Museum

Orientation Week

Here are some things we're learning and seeing, and some things maybe you'd like to know and see as well. Some of what we know in Vienna so far. 
 
Living in Vienna is wonderful set of books (lent to us by the Morgans), from which we have learned everything we know, and will continue to pull all useful knowledge from. They are lifesavers and we'd be lost without them. I started to list some specifics we've found in here, but I just can't do it. You name it, they've got all you'd need to know about it. We love them. I know they will be talked about again, and they will be henceforth be referred to as "the Books".

Map of the Subway lines. We live off the U6.

These signs are almost like an oasis in the desert sometimes. This means that right below you is a U station, and it's helped us find our way a few times.

This is a speed limit sign. It means 30 kilometres per hour.

SPAR is the most economically friendly chain of supermarkets. There are SPAR, INTERSPAR and EUROSPAR stores. This one happens to be like 50m from our house. Also, you will never find one of these open later than 8 o'clock. That's one important thing you should know about Vienna. Everything around here shuts down really early. Most things at 6pm, and when you're lucky you can find stuff open til 8, but anything open after 8 is usually the kind of place you would never want to find yourself in anyway.

These (plus an Evian water bottle) are the only familiar things I came home with on grocery trip number one. PS I did not get Evian because I am a water snob, only because here in Vienna the big this is sparkling water. It's almost hard to escape it, and Evian was the only name I recognized and could be sure was still and did not contain alcohol.

That's another thing. Alcohol is everywhere! It's strange to not order a drink before or with dinner. They actually sell it right in the grocery stores all over. It takes up more space than juice and water usually.

A breakfast in Austria typically consists of bread, jam and coffee. THe selection of jam in the grocery store is virtuously endless. There is also a large selection of honey and spreads, like Nutella. There is hardly any peanut butter though.

This is the selection our grocery store has, and our's is a big one. That empty spot is for Skippy Peanut Butter, which have not tried yet because it's really expensive and hasn't been in stock the last few times we've looked. I miss Kraft :(
BIPA looks like a cute little cosmetics shop, but it's actually just a normal drug store. It'd be similar to a Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, but without a pharmacy.


This is about the closest thing to plain white toilet paper we found in the grocery store. They have some of every colour, and we even saw one with a Hello Kitty pattern. Our bums will be grateful to get back home though because softness and comfort is not something they value here in toilet paper, as much as home at least.

Obdachlos

E:
We're renting our apartment from a kind member of the church who happens to be a neurosurgeon. But tonight we are on our own. We took the normal train and it took a lot longer than I had anticipated. At our last stop we were tired... exhausted and jet lagged-- we had just toted 3 50lbs bags with our carry-ons onto two trains and a tram and through two huge stations.
Next stop, home for the next 4 months. I called our doctor-landlord. He woke to answer the phone, "What happend? What took you so long? I thought you landed at 7" I explained, but explaining couldn't change reality-- you don't do brain surgery on anything less than 8 hours of sleep.
I have to admit the news of that phone call was rather discouraging and disappointing. I felt abandoned; however, I really couldn't blame Heber. Just one of those miscommunications that ends in trial.
We sat on a step in the dark while we let it all sink in and rested. There we were with no other phone numbers, no map, no speaky German, no energy... just too much to carry. Katherine cried a little, but was brave. We did have each other, and Katherine was a good support to me while I tried to comfort and support her.
After resting for a few minutes, we ventured down the road to an open restaurant. Perhaps it was my 3rd attempt at speaking to the locals. My success rate depended solely on the other parties English ability. This one happened to be a success. We made it to a near by hotel.
Looking back the whole experience wasn't too bad. In the moment it was hard, but I figured that we'd get through it. It was really a battle of determination against the exhaustion. Determination won this time. The whole event kind of strengthened Katherine and I. We became a little closer tonight.
Before going to sleep, I took Katherine out the window and we sat on the roof. We're in Europe.