Austria re-visited.
Hiya, I’m back! Well, actually I’m not quite back yet as while I’m typing these lines I’m still sitting at Stansted airport and got some seven hours of travelling ahead until I return to that room I call home away from home.
First of all I want to apologise to anyone who might have checked my blog hoping to find some potos and updates from Austria. Fact is: I really was too busy. So busy that I only had time and energy once to post on my blog – and exactly that time the Blogspot server was down. Poo.
Anyhow, as always when I’m enjoying myself (and I did enjoy myself in spite of being so busy) time passed far too quickly and today I caught myself wishing for a few extra days to stay. But no. Of course not. C’est la vie, mons amis… (sp?) I did, however, get a lot of things sorted out and also spent time with my family and so I’m quite satisfied now.
To maintain the appearance of a regularly updated blog (as it should be) I will write separate entries for single days, pretending that I’m writing the entry on the respective day and trying to remember the things that happened and to revive my impressions. Pretending to be in the past you could say… ;-)
Wednesday, 25th October 2006
First day in Vienna.
Yes! After a long and tiring jouney I have finally arrived! Monday evening I got on a coach to London after choir rehearsal. It was a double-decker bus, my first trip on that sort of bus and while it drove through the dark night I did recognise a few places along the way. First there was the corner of Grosvenor Park in Chester where I’d been two times before. I like Chester. Then I happened across that building in Birmingham that I’d seen on my England trip in summer. And I also saw the garage where I’d parked my car in Stratford. Memories. It was also the first time I saw a number of British cities at nighttime. A good opportunity to do some comparison. In Chester, for example, high street shops generally don’t have metal shutters while shops in other cities do. Thus there must be a difference in crime levels because seemingly shops need to protect their goods and shop windows in certain cities and in other cities they don’t. I found that quite interesting. Anyway, after celebrating the reunion with my family yesterday evening I went to Vienna today visiting various locations of the University of Vienna and getting things sorted out. What did strike me again is (as always when I go to Vienna) the good state public transportation is in, how cheap a day ticket is and the general cleanness of public places. Discipline and consideration seem to be common there.
Back home!
Main building of the University of Vienna
The time-honoured university library
The Translation and Interpretation Centre, part of the University of Vienna
Thursday, 26th October 2006
Hiking.
Today is a public holiday in Austria, the so-called “Nationalfeiertag”, the day on which we celebrate Austria’s becoming independent in the 1950’s. As you naturally can’t do much work on a public holiday, my family and I decided to go hiking. We went to the quiet and beautiful area of Lake Laudachsee which isn’t far from Lake Traunsee (and also Lake Mondsee which is mentioned in one of the stories on my translation blog). The weather was perfect and the warm air outside made it hard to believe that it is actually almost November. So we spent the afternoon walking, talking and enjoying the scenery. I was taking landscape photos again, of course. I just can’t help it… :-)
Scenic spot near Lake Laudachsee
Sunday, 29th October 2006
More Vienna for me.
Yesterday evening I got back from two more days in Vienna. On Friday morning and afternoon I was quite busy again and there isn’t really much I’d actually write on here but in the evening I met my brother and his girlfriend (whose name is Jasmin) who have a flat in Vienna now. Together we went to the cinema and then for a few drinks in several Viennese pubs and taking in the great beer & atmosphere and chatting on end and before soon it was five in the morning. Good thing there are night buses in Vienna. The next day, on Saturday, my parents joined us and together we went to meet Jasmin’s parents. An extended family reunion if you wish. Much of the afternoon we spent in said parents’ flat in the 14th district of Vienna, talking over coffee and cake. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but I really like talking over coffee and cake. Thus it was the perfect afternoon for me and to make it a perfect day we went to a wine tavern (called “Heuriger” in Austria – or at least that’s what the type of wine tavern we went to is called…) in one of the townships just outside Vienna. I drank some “Sturm” which is wine that hasn’t riped for a long time and thus is still really light and sweet. Its taste almost resembles grape juice you could say. It can normally only be bought in autumn and so I was totally happy to get some. Unfortunately my parents and I had to leave at 8pm but it had been a great day. I really like Jasmin’s parents as they are lovely people and I’m looking forward to meeting them again soon (December it shall be).
Tuesday, 31st October 2006
And Vienna again.
The last two days were spent in Vienna too. I’ve been five days in Vienna so far: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Again, I don’t want to bore you too much with the details, only so much: I had a talk with some university professors and got some answers to questions I’d had before. I travelled around a lot by tube again and saw some of the representative (and quite impressive) buildings of the 1st district, the historical city centre. A glimpse of it you can catch by looking on the Vienna webcam on the right side of the blog. It’s been my last time in Vienna for the time being as I won’t go there in the next three days. I shall return in December.
Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna
Halls of residence next to the Danube
Friday, 3rd November 2006
First snow.
The day before yesterday, 1st November, was a public holiday again. As it is the custom on that day or the day after, we visited the family graves. 2nd November is called “Allerseelen” which means “all souls”. It’s called that because it’s an occasion for people to remember their late ancestors and their souls. Probably it’s not so different from the Japanese o-bon where people return to their ancestral homes, mind the family graves and remember the dead.
Yesterday was quite a relaxing day on which I stayed home and didn’t do too much and today is my last day in Austria already. I got up quite early and after a quick breakfast I drove my brother to the train station in Linz. He’s moving to Vienna now for good as he found a job there and starts working on Monday. So, after dropping him off there I returned home and packed my bags for my return to Britain. Soon I’ll have to leave the homestead again and I really don’t want to go yet. However, I have to. And I’m tired. The long journey and all that being busy and staying up long have taken their toll. I bet that I made mistakes in this text which I normally wouldn’t make. But who cares. Too bad that I won’t even get much chance to catch up on sleeping once I return to Britain as I have work on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. But on Tuesday I shall rest. That will be nice.
Ah, by the way, the first snow of this winter has fallen yesterday. Looking out of the window, everything is white. A truly beautiful sight.
So, goodbye is immanent now and it reminds me of an Austrian song of which I have translated the first few lines into English. It’s called “Muss i denn”…
Do I have, do I have, do I have to leave this town,
Have to leave this town,
While you are staying here?
When I come, when I come, when I come back again,
Come back again,
I will visit you, my dear…
That’s it for now, Austria will be left behind today. I’ll be back in December.
First of all I want to apologise to anyone who might have checked my blog hoping to find some potos and updates from Austria. Fact is: I really was too busy. So busy that I only had time and energy once to post on my blog – and exactly that time the Blogspot server was down. Poo.
Anyhow, as always when I’m enjoying myself (and I did enjoy myself in spite of being so busy) time passed far too quickly and today I caught myself wishing for a few extra days to stay. But no. Of course not. C’est la vie, mons amis… (sp?) I did, however, get a lot of things sorted out and also spent time with my family and so I’m quite satisfied now.
To maintain the appearance of a regularly updated blog (as it should be) I will write separate entries for single days, pretending that I’m writing the entry on the respective day and trying to remember the things that happened and to revive my impressions. Pretending to be in the past you could say… ;-)
Wednesday, 25th October 2006
First day in Vienna.
Yes! After a long and tiring jouney I have finally arrived! Monday evening I got on a coach to London after choir rehearsal. It was a double-decker bus, my first trip on that sort of bus and while it drove through the dark night I did recognise a few places along the way. First there was the corner of Grosvenor Park in Chester where I’d been two times before. I like Chester. Then I happened across that building in Birmingham that I’d seen on my England trip in summer. And I also saw the garage where I’d parked my car in Stratford. Memories. It was also the first time I saw a number of British cities at nighttime. A good opportunity to do some comparison. In Chester, for example, high street shops generally don’t have metal shutters while shops in other cities do. Thus there must be a difference in crime levels because seemingly shops need to protect their goods and shop windows in certain cities and in other cities they don’t. I found that quite interesting. Anyway, after celebrating the reunion with my family yesterday evening I went to Vienna today visiting various locations of the University of Vienna and getting things sorted out. What did strike me again is (as always when I go to Vienna) the good state public transportation is in, how cheap a day ticket is and the general cleanness of public places. Discipline and consideration seem to be common there.
Back home!
Main building of the University of Vienna
The time-honoured university library
The Translation and Interpretation Centre, part of the University of ViennaThursday, 26th October 2006
Hiking.
Today is a public holiday in Austria, the so-called “Nationalfeiertag”, the day on which we celebrate Austria’s becoming independent in the 1950’s. As you naturally can’t do much work on a public holiday, my family and I decided to go hiking. We went to the quiet and beautiful area of Lake Laudachsee which isn’t far from Lake Traunsee (and also Lake Mondsee which is mentioned in one of the stories on my translation blog). The weather was perfect and the warm air outside made it hard to believe that it is actually almost November. So we spent the afternoon walking, talking and enjoying the scenery. I was taking landscape photos again, of course. I just can’t help it… :-)
Scenic spot near Lake LaudachseeSunday, 29th October 2006
More Vienna for me.
Yesterday evening I got back from two more days in Vienna. On Friday morning and afternoon I was quite busy again and there isn’t really much I’d actually write on here but in the evening I met my brother and his girlfriend (whose name is Jasmin) who have a flat in Vienna now. Together we went to the cinema and then for a few drinks in several Viennese pubs and taking in the great beer & atmosphere and chatting on end and before soon it was five in the morning. Good thing there are night buses in Vienna. The next day, on Saturday, my parents joined us and together we went to meet Jasmin’s parents. An extended family reunion if you wish. Much of the afternoon we spent in said parents’ flat in the 14th district of Vienna, talking over coffee and cake. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but I really like talking over coffee and cake. Thus it was the perfect afternoon for me and to make it a perfect day we went to a wine tavern (called “Heuriger” in Austria – or at least that’s what the type of wine tavern we went to is called…) in one of the townships just outside Vienna. I drank some “Sturm” which is wine that hasn’t riped for a long time and thus is still really light and sweet. Its taste almost resembles grape juice you could say. It can normally only be bought in autumn and so I was totally happy to get some. Unfortunately my parents and I had to leave at 8pm but it had been a great day. I really like Jasmin’s parents as they are lovely people and I’m looking forward to meeting them again soon (December it shall be).
Tuesday, 31st October 2006
And Vienna again.
The last two days were spent in Vienna too. I’ve been five days in Vienna so far: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Again, I don’t want to bore you too much with the details, only so much: I had a talk with some university professors and got some answers to questions I’d had before. I travelled around a lot by tube again and saw some of the representative (and quite impressive) buildings of the 1st district, the historical city centre. A glimpse of it you can catch by looking on the Vienna webcam on the right side of the blog. It’s been my last time in Vienna for the time being as I won’t go there in the next three days. I shall return in December.
Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna
Halls of residence next to the DanubeFriday, 3rd November 2006
First snow.
The day before yesterday, 1st November, was a public holiday again. As it is the custom on that day or the day after, we visited the family graves. 2nd November is called “Allerseelen” which means “all souls”. It’s called that because it’s an occasion for people to remember their late ancestors and their souls. Probably it’s not so different from the Japanese o-bon where people return to their ancestral homes, mind the family graves and remember the dead.
Yesterday was quite a relaxing day on which I stayed home and didn’t do too much and today is my last day in Austria already. I got up quite early and after a quick breakfast I drove my brother to the train station in Linz. He’s moving to Vienna now for good as he found a job there and starts working on Monday. So, after dropping him off there I returned home and packed my bags for my return to Britain. Soon I’ll have to leave the homestead again and I really don’t want to go yet. However, I have to. And I’m tired. The long journey and all that being busy and staying up long have taken their toll. I bet that I made mistakes in this text which I normally wouldn’t make. But who cares. Too bad that I won’t even get much chance to catch up on sleeping once I return to Britain as I have work on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. But on Tuesday I shall rest. That will be nice.
Ah, by the way, the first snow of this winter has fallen yesterday. Looking out of the window, everything is white. A truly beautiful sight.
So, goodbye is immanent now and it reminds me of an Austrian song of which I have translated the first few lines into English. It’s called “Muss i denn”…
Do I have, do I have, do I have to leave this town,
Have to leave this town,
While you are staying here?
When I come, when I come, when I come back again,
Come back again,
I will visit you, my dear…
That’s it for now, Austria will be left behind today. I’ll be back in December.
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