New balance

341/365 - Hi, originally uploaded by Wayne-K.

Another non-Vienna post this evening. No nike free run for my knee. It swells up after the first jog but not directly. So I'm at a lost, what to do with not one but the TWO pairs of nike free run shoes sitting in the shoe cupboard.
New balance suits my knees just fine. I'm not saying nike isn't good. It's just not what my knees like. ( They're fussy old knees you know which needs a bit of loving) My next big buy would be brooks. Oh but it is so expensive and my fear is buying one....jogging....only to have my right knee swell.

Burnt Out

Burnt Out, originally uploaded by bikesnotscott.

A lovely picture I wish I was one of the matches with the vibrant red tip in the picture. Deadlines are meant to scare you into actually doing work....I don't care what the real definition is. You see that sorry-looking match ...yes that could well be us...in 1 year from now should we choose to focus on wrong goals.

As the year comes to an end...

Near Arcotel Hotel, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Time flies for some people. For me...it gallops at a super fast pace when I'm not paying attention. And as in the year before I am trying to squeeze in more work in these last few days than humanly possible. So let's have some facts ( and fiction) in bullet form for some light-reading today.

• My Vienna posts shall continue but perhaps intermittently in between daily posts.
• Burt's bee does a MEAN peppermint shower gel you simply MUST consider buying to sooth the body at the end of a hard day working. ( I kid you not)
• I have decided to like the pure leather version of the La pliage Longchamp which only means I'm now possibly going to join the ranks of "those who live beyond their means" yuck!
• The jogging frenzy has fizzled slightly but I don't forsee it dying off completely. Thanks to jogging i am look forward to some nice dresses in the new year.
• Solaris has gone and done what is possibly a very mean move. The lovely carpark rate of RM1 per entry has been hiked up. Parts of the carpark has been designated "PREMIER" parking. My honeydew during a quick dash to solaris costs an extra RM5 thanks to the parking rates.
• I played disastrously in the mini-concert last Sunday. Still cringe when I think of the bars and bars of wrong notes I played that afternoon. Age does not make your skin thicker...old people are still able to feel acute pangs of embarassment. 
• AJ and I have not had regular scrabble matches for a few months now. We're both out of practice. Yes I'm speaking on AJ's behalf.
• My moo cow addiction is dying off slowly. ( do I hear a sigh of relief out there?)

More soon. It's nearly 11pm and I need to lie down 

Cobblestone road

Cobblestone road, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

I found this street while walking about trying to find Mozart's apartment. What I ended up doing was to walk in a huge big loop and returning to find the place incredibly near where I started. I wouldn't want to be wearing heels and walking down this road. I wonder how the folks at Trinity College Dublin walk to lectures. We didn't have cobblestone in Galway. But we did have gale-force- wind to keep us away from attending morning lectures.

Bubbled water in a glass

Bubbled water in a glass, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

I tried googling re" glasses with etchings on them"....but found nothing much apart from musical etchings. If you order water ( at least in the restaurants I ate in) you get served with glasses like this with little numbers at the side. Am I correct in guessing it's also used to serve beer? Picture taken in a rather nice restaurant where I had the traditional Viennese dish served with coins of potatoes. It was nice and warm indoors...:)

BIke for rent!

BIke for rent!, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

This is seen just behind St Stephen's Cathedral. Don't you think the colors are absolutely vibrant? Bikes for rent. That's what they are. I think Vienna is pretty accessible by bicycle. Except for the cold knuckles and frozen fingers you may want to consider it as a decent mode of transport. Pssst.....I read on the net, the first hour is free!!!!2nd hour: 1 euro per started hour
3rd hour: 2 euros per started hour
4th - 120th hour: 4 euros for each started hour. Flat fee for exceeding the hours or loss of the bike: 600 euros

Citybike Info Hotline: Tel. 0810 500 500
www.citybikewien.at

L Heiner

L Heiner, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Heiner is apparently ( I've only just googled it and most articles are in German) famous for pastries. This was taken super early in the morning. The shop was still closed. ( YOu can see how dark it is indoors) I was attracted to the marzipans. Aren't they lovely? As a rule, I don't fancy marzipans...they're sweet and leave a sugary taste on my teeth.

Music :)

Music :), originally uploaded by ETU!.

We have a mini-concert this afternoon ...I'll be playing Vivaldi's Winter and I hope not to hit more than two wrong notes. As the teacher says...I must feel the music and enjoy playing.

Popcorner

Popcorner, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

It's true! You really should invest in good advertising. And as advertising goes, striking colors count for a lot. This is how I came to be in the possession of just such a picture. It's a small shop off one of the lanes in Vienna. When I walked pass, it was empty but I have since googled the shop and pictures of the inside features loads of colourful popcorn and many more people in the shop. I really should have bought a packet to taste!!! Please click here to visit a website which features more pictures of the inside and what they sell!


Popcorner
Naglergasse 3
1010 Wien

Desigual

Desigual, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Guess which one I bought??????

Cleaning windows

Cleaning windows, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

I can't merge the two pictures so it'll have to be in two separate posts. Window cleaning! No wonder the view through them is crystal clear. In this picture is a man dressed in overalls ( which if you scroll to the next post appears to be the uniform for cleaning windows. Makes sense...while you're perched like so...you wouldn't want to be worried about your pants falling off. How sensible.

The other thing is, I bought a ladder recently. It's about half the height of this....and lemme just say this man is amazing getting all the way to the top and washing away. I got midway up mine and came right down.

more window cleaning

more window cleaning, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

A closer look at the outfit for cleaning windows. Love the cheerful colours:) If you google, there's quite a number of companies for cleaning windows. Questions they need to know...
1. How do you want them cleaned? Both inside and outside/inside only/outside only
2. Do you have screens to be removed and cleaned also? yes/no
3. How many stories is your home? select one....
4. Would you like to schedule routine window washing? Yes monthly/Yes quarterly/no,just this time/don't know/other

Linking buildings subtly

Linking buildings subtly, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

This is just beside St Stephan's Cathedral, taken on my last morning in Vienna. I wonder why the need to link the two buildings. Did someone buy them both? The lane between is pretty small you won't exert self walking to and fro surely.

Gorgeous stairs

Gorgeous stairs, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Seen at H&M in Vienna. No super escalator for you ...but instead you get to walk up these gorgeous stairs. It's so nice you can almost forget you're actually climbing up a couple of flights....

Chalet school series

Untitled, originally uploaded by DaniLikesTea.

I loved ( and I still love) reading this series. Again, a short break from my Vienna pictures all because of the word breakfast. Frushtuck ...that was used a lot in the Chalet series. The other phrase I've only read and never heard out loud was Gruss Gott.

I was greeted with that each time I entered a shop. Literal translation is " God's greeting". It is used in Southern Germany and in Austria.

Hoher Markt

Hoher Markt, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

It's a pity this is the only picture I have of Hoher Markt. At the time of this picture taking....I didn't know that Hoher Markt is the oldest square in Vienna. And in the middle ages, this was a very important market place.

I took this picture because of the word Fruhstuck which is one of the few German words I know courtesy of reading the "Chalet School" series by Elinor M Brent Dyer.

Grills which open up

Grills which open up, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Have you ever seen anything like this before? WIndow grills which open up during the daytime. Ours are usually non-mobile and sealed safely shut.This picture was taken on the second day in Vienna. Notice the wet roads. It had rained earlier and the temperature had dropped a bit. And at this point, my feet were wet and I was dying to lie down in bed under a thick duvet and sleep. THAT would have been a waste of precious see-vienna-to-the-max time. So I ate a frozen yoghurt ( yes even in Vienna I missed moo cow) to wake self up....and soldiered on to the end of the day.

Pastries in Vienna

Pastries in Vienna, originally uploaded by edina

Please help me understand why pastries in Malaysia cannot taste anything close to these lovely ones in Vienna? This was taken at the u-bahn station Kasiermuhlen just beside the wall where you can buy your ticket for the tube.

Museum Quartier

This area houses a selection of buildings including the famous Leopold Museum. Within this complex are a few cultural buildings with different specialities and wide range of cultural topics. There are cafes ( yum!) and shops ( yay) and wide spaces for push prams and buggies. And I suspect if you're studying art in university or have studied it before ( unlike me ) you would have reaped the full benefit of visiting such a lovely culturally rich area. I absorbed some arty-farty- feeling by paying to visit the Leopold Museum and listening to the commentaries to the end. 

A cold mid-morning

A cold mid-morning, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

The natural history museum is an imposing building. Even if you didnt know what it was ( like me) I'm pretty certain you would have walked towards it. Here's the weird thing about Vienna which I found, the signs leading to any lovely buildings are very subtly placed. So unless you're armed with a map....you may have to walk very close and ( I did this) enter the building to find out what it is.

The line to take would be either U2 or U3 and you'ld want to exit out of Volkstheatre station. Just in front of this building is a bit of garden with some fountains and benches to sit. Nobody sat there when we were there because it was raining. And yes I got to use my rather expensive umbrella purchased on day 1 in Vienna:) I have nothing much to report about the inside of this building. But I believe there are virtual video tours for those of you aching to see what this houses:)

Moo cow!

IMG_3058, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Okay I've done it. Uploaded image from my album to flick and linked it to blogger. Howw smart am I? Not very actually. Cos I still havent figured out how to photo-bucket link. ( And I think I'll leave that for now until next week)

Moo cow! It's a Malaysian company. Would you believe it? How many branches are there? Lemme just count the ones I've been to....Plaza Damas, SOlaris, Gardens Midvalley, KLCC and One Utama.

If you take a closer look at the card, you may be able to see the chops are slightly different from each franchaise. Which is my favourite? The one at Plaza Damas. The least favourite...the one at one utama,,,,the girl who served me was very narky about getting a free scoop. She insisted that I was only elligible for it on the SAME day. Otherwise nada! Zero scoop if I come back another day.

Photobucket

Bucket, originally uploaded by d o l f i.

Thanks Lettie and Fibrate for your comments re where to upload pictures. ( Hosts is a more accurate term) So here is what I have been doing for the last 43 minutes...trying to figure out how exactly to do it.

I've created a photobucket account. And uploaded ( blush) a single picture. And that's about the only successful bit of the story I can share. The tricky bit of uploading a picture to blogger is beyond me. So I've cheated by linking someone else's picture for now.

It's funny how you don't care very much for blogging and uploading pictures until you CAN'T and then you absolutely just want to do it. There must be a syndrome for this:) I call it kiasu-ism!

Out of space no WAY!!!

Here's a weird thing. Apparently I have run out of my quota of 1G in terms of pictures posted on blogspot. ( Swoon) I now have the option of
1. panicking and creating a new blog with another competitor ie wordpress
2. Delete some pictures ( waaah) thus creating more space
3. Ignoring this and hoping it will all solve itself the next time I log on.

Please advice:(
In the meantime I am left with words to describe what's been happening.
1. Mum's birthday which was three days from 4th Grand-auntie's birthday.
2. My right knee swelled up as a direct result of ignoring all warning and jogging an additional 5 km after 13.3 km. ( silly I know but I wanted to collect nike miles)
3.My violin teacher thinks I may ( just may) have improved in the scales and double stops
4.I now cannot imagine living with only ONE handphone.( I have 2)
5.I received news the 6 year old niece has achieved an award in Wu shu..giving her a licence to kick holes in walls ( not at my place hopefully) when she visits.
6.I'm re-reading Angels by Marian Keyes. Part of the promise to self made earlier in the year re no further purchase of fiction paperbags until the shelves are cleared of books never read!

Enough for now. While I wait for some suggestions from you!

Vienna airport

Walking very fast after immigation

Long walkalator

Very few posters

Finally a sign ...am in the right direction

Seeing other people....but mostly it was empty

This is where we collect the luggage

Feel free to take one

WHOA.....this was a nice surprise

Walked closer to get a better look

How cool is this?

Definitely nothing to declare:)

This is what I saw when I first landed. The smell of new-ness. The walls looked rather bare and there were long walkalators for you to cruise through loads of walls before you get to your luggage.

Albertina Musuem....

Neptune or Zeus fountain..which is it?

The south entrance I think.

I was taken by the fountain. A quick walk here main reason was to buy tickets at the opera house for the evening performance. And then a quick walk back to the conference place for some academic brain learning:)

Subtle signs of renovation

Look at the windows

The cathedral ...parts of which are still undergoing renovation

Traditional Viennese food!

Pancake soup

This was taken on my second day in Vienna. This was dinner. And I picked this shop because I was so hungry and tired I just wanted to sit down and eat. It was a shop off the main street and had a small crowd already there. ( Very important! I wouldnt have gone to an empty shop) I picked the set meal which costs 11 euros I think minus the bubbly water I had. The soup was salty but warm and comforting. I thought it was nice but towards the end it just got too salty for me. ( I did however finish it in stages together with bites of the main dish)

Wiener Schnitzel and my map to the left of the picture

Here it is. Traditional Austrian fare. Instead of pork this was chicken. And the little coins of potatoes were a nice change from fried chips....and the lime was left alone because I wasn't too sure what to do with it. I think I did squeeze it onto the chicken eventually. But I preferred it without. It's very think ( I later read this was pounded slightly...tenderized I mean) and the whole entire meat is crispy. So I guess the oil must be nice and hot...and it certainly didn't taste of mucky oil ( like some recycled oil found in stalls in Malaysia) So, this was an enjoyable meal

Apple Strudel

This was pretty decent. We have great apple strudel in Malaysia too. So I wasn't too excited.  But I liked the main dish very much!!

Kumar and Clark visit PPUKM

Prof Parveen Kumar and Dr Michael Clark

We were honoured with a visit from the very famous Kumar and Clark on friday morning. Here they are signing autographed copies of their latest edition of Kumar and Clark. ( this post may appear odd in my series of posts on Vienna...but I just had to break the theme and post this special day)

What do you call your shop if it's near Mozart's house?

Clever!!!

Der Liebe Augustin

Walking down a street on day 1

Welcome to Griechenbeisl , which is the oldest inn in Vienna dating back to 1447.(This I know from my mini-internet search just a while back). I found this on day one. This was taken around 8:15am with minimal people around. The folks I met were people walking in a hurry to open their shops. I was possibly the only tourist about at that hour. At that time I didn't know that, so I wrongly assumed Vienna was quiet and devoid of tourists. You can just make out the wet roads. It started raining again about 10 minutes after this picture was taken. This time a steady flow with got progressively heavier. And it continued right into the night. 

A random shot....which shows something of interest!

Okay let's try and write more about this place. Here's what I found:
Opening hours: daily 11am – 12.30pm
Kitchen hours: daily 11am – 11.30pm
Closed: only December 24

No wonder the place was all quiet and deserted at this hour:) You can taste authentic vienese cuisine here. And possibly imagine having a meal with the other famous folks who supposedly supped here as well. Here are the list of folks; Beethevon, Schubert, Strauss and Wagner.  Sadly I didn't enjoy a meal here. But on the up side. Going through my pictures and finding interesting tourist spots is very fulfilling in a weird way.

Do you see the words Der Liebe Augustin in the second picture?    In 1679 , the people of Vienna suffered from the plague. Nobody ventured out much. Liebe Augustin was a poet, bagpiper and minstrel would sing and drink.The story is that he passed out cold at the side of the road and was picked up by the plague sweepers and thrown into the plague pit.  He woke up ( shocked I'm sure by being surrounded by horrendously ill folks around him) played the bagpipes ( luckily for him he still had it ) until help came and he was rescued. He didn't die from the plague and lived for many years on. Did his humour or the wine save him from the plague??

Frick in Vienna

Proud to sell English books

I won't write much about Frick but I will say this. I went to two different branches. But this one at Graben was lovely. The steps were inviting and you get to walk across to another side of the building. No I didn't buy anything here. Books are definitely cheaper in Malaysia.

At Graben

Love the steps

Cosy arrangement of books

Volkstheatrer

The exit from the u-ban to the open space

My googling the night before led me here. Main place of interest was the museum quarter. It was wet and windy. I was really pleased I caved in and bought an umbrella on the first day. Otherwise I would have ended up wet and cold. And I may have bought a "vienna" umbrella. Instead I have a lovely navy blue umbrella plain and simple which may be used for many years to come hopefully.

Volkstheater Neustiftgasse 1, Vienna, Austria on a wet morning!

This I saw en route to the musuem quarter. I didn't google the exact directions so I wandered about a bit. So here's what I've since found out about this building.  Volkstheater was opened in 1889. And it is one of the largest theater in the German speaking world. It seats 970. And now I really wished I had caught a musical here. And did you know, only German language shows are produced!