Retail therapy foiled by European fashion

I took myself shopping today, feeling the need for retail therapy, specifically for clothes.  However, that didn't go so well for two reasons: sheer number of people and strange fashion. Let me explain.

First, tomorrow is May Day (May 01), which is a national holiday.  As it falls on a Saturday, UN staff (me included) had today off instead.  I was told that this is great, because it means we can shop and run errands in relative peace, since most other people are at work.  Ha!!  Maybe I stil need to get used to the sheer number of people everywhere all the time, because according to me the stores on Mariahilfer Strasse were all super busy. If this was supposed to be a relatively quiet day, I am scared to think of what the pre-Christmas weeks will be like!

Secondly, the fashion here definitely does not match my taste.  There seem to be two dominant style extremes:
1- expensive, reserved, old-lady, beige and boring (even with extensive use of animal print)
2- flashback to the 80's - in a bad way. Ruffles, asymetrical, layers upon layers, parachute sleeves and tops, oversize everything, even Converse! All that's missing are the leg warmers.
Then there's the colour palette for the summer here: variations on beige, white, peach, and washed out prints.  Your basic nightmare.  Finally, everyone seems to have a love affair with 3/4 length leggings - also a throwback from the 80s.  Worst of all are the Jeggings - you got it, leggings made to look like jeans.  I don't care how young and hot you are, that is never EVER a good look, it just looks cheap and a bit trashy.

SO, I came home just about empty-handed.  However all is not lost: late in the day I peeked in that high-end mall close by, the Ringenstrasse Galerie.  Heaven: it was just about empty, and there were actually clothes I might consider.  I'll definitely need to go there soon... but not this weekend.   :-(

To finish things off, another retail nightmare: around 6 PM, I went to the grocery store (stores close at 7 PM on weekdays).  From the top of the stairs leading into this particular grocery store, I had a bird's eye view of the store.  For just a second, it looked like a colony of ants in a frenzy, madly stocking up on food... And that's when it occurred to me that between tomorrow being a holiday and Sunday being the usual Sunday  (they roll up the sidewalks on Sundays), all stores will be closed ALL weekend.  For some reason, people suddenly feel the need to buy 12 bottles of mineral water and fight over the last schnitzels (not kidding!).  I almost turned around and walked back out, but I did need a few things and really, there are no options if you're out of food, so I dove in.  I somehow managed to peacefully ignore the frenzied shoppers around me, and even had a laugh with a stranger while waiting in the long line-up for the cash.

In between all the shopping madness, I did manage to get a decent haircut.  I was a bit worried I'd get a terrible one, because hardly anyone here has short hair so there was a good chance of getting a stylist who had no idea how to do good ultra-short cuts for women.  But lucked out and I stumbled upon a trendy salon, complete with extreme stylists, lots of flashy hair colours and styles and bling, edgy decor and music so loud I could hardly hear a thing.  By the way, noise turns out to be a bad thing for me: the more noise there is, the less I can understand a person talking to me in German.  So then have I use my decent German to tell them that I don't understand them, which in turn confuses them. "She speaks German yet tells me - in German - that she can't understand me? Wait... Is this candid camera?"

Shopping heaven

Note to all shopaholics out there: they aren't lying when they say that Vienna is a shopper's paradise!

I was aware of the main City Centre shopping area, and of several malls around town.  Then today I went to Mariahilfergasse, a street that is supposed to be fabulous for shopping.  Well, for you who are from or in Ottawa, imagine Bank Street on speed:  I walked only the "top" part of the street, about 10 blocks.  It is cheek-to-jowl stores of all kinds, small and independent, large chains, cheap and crappy, expensive and snooty: you name it,  it's there.  Add to this a blaze of advertising signs up to 3 stories high, and intense pedestrian and vehicle traffic.  In one sense it was exhilarating, on the other hand, my senses were quite exhausted after 90 minutes.  And I didn't even try the 2 main "side" streets, which are supposed to house the less run-of-the-mill stores.

If that shopping madness does not appeal, I could always go to the Ringenstrassen Galerie mall.  It's just a few blocks from my apartment, so it will make a great rainy day excursion.  However, I'm not planning on buying much there:  this mall contains only upscale, high end, and luxury retail stores.  Basically a nice place tzo window shop, but murder on the pocketbook.

Feeling cheap? I could hop on a train (or two or three) and go to the far outskirts of the city to an outlet mall whose name currently escapes me.

Looking for a bit more adventure? Why not try malls in Hungary or in Bratislava (Sloyakia), just for the sake of variety?

The moral of this story is: control is the key - or else I'll come back with a fabulous wardrobe and an empty bank acount! But oh, what fun!

First week at work and Aussies too

I made it through my first week of work just fine.  In the morning, a lot of us come in on the shuttle buses at about 8:15.  We all drop our stuff in our offices and make a beeline for the coffee room, where we sit around, chat, drink coffee and maybe share whatever snack someone brought in (once was cookies, once was fresh bread and kielbasa-type sausage) for 15 minutes or so.  Then it's off to work.  I was only actually in my office about half of the week: I spent one day at HQ for "Orientation", a half-day getting a crown cemented back on, and another half-day receiving my volcano-delayed air shipment.  I have clothes!  And shoes!  :-)

The work itself will be interesting, a mix of actual science and a lot of project management/organisation.  The first project I am being involved in is a "small" one, only 14 Latin-American countries involved.  Should be fun; the only slight problem is that I know next to nothing about the subject matter, so I am spending some time reading a reference book (but I am skipping past the calculus-looking pages, no need to make my brain melt).

I have now moved into the gorgeous apartment.  It is very quiet, which is mildly surprising given the location.  The only downside at the moment is that the brand new Internet connection is not working, and the cable company can only send a repairperson next Wednesday.  So I have to go to an Internet Cafe to do things like write this blog, check email, check the transit system website, etc.  Conveniently, there is an Internet Cafe just around the block, open long hours and cheap, even set up for Skype etc.

I went out with some new people yesterday evening.  Basically, I heard a bunch of them were going out for drinks, and managed to get myself invited along.  I ended up at an Australian (!) bar, complete with kangaroo and crocodile on the menu.  It was really a nice place actually, not over-crowded as they limit the number of clients downstairs, and not too loud music.  Plus it's 2 blocks from home!  I found my group of expats, about half of them Aussies, and only one of whom I knew even the name.  They are a lot of fun, we ended up separating only around midnight.

Funny little event happened too: we were walking towards home (myself and 6 guys at this point), when a group of women came to talk to us. They were out for one of the girls' bridal shower.  They were asking men for small change to pay for the girl's taxi home; in exchange they offered small gifts.  Tony was happily drunk, and was the first to step forward.  They gave him a dirty magazine from 1971.  Turns out this made his day: Tony remarked that this was perfect, as the only thing covering the girl on the front page was the plush toy monkey in her lap, and he collects monkeys, so this was a two-for-one.  As the ladies in the group only had a rudimentary grasp of English, they were a bit confused by his long-winded and slightly garbled comment, so Tony started pulling out of his pockets the various things he had with him that had monkeys on them (key chain, ID card, etc), and comparing them to the monkey in the picture.

Schönbrunn Palace

Sorry, this post is a little late...

Yesterday was a glorious day, so I decided to go see Schönbrunn Palace. It is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.  It is the summer "residence" of Empres Maria Theresa (alo known as "Sisi" from the movies), wife of Franz II/I of the Hapsburg dynasty.  By residence, I mean that the place was big enough to house her and her 1500-member court during the summer season.  It is fabulously restored, with original floors, candelabras, silk-screened walls, etc.  The grand ballroom really makes you want to start waltzing around.  I honestly would have done so if there hadn't been so many people around - too much risk of bumping into someone.  I MUST go back there for a concert, they have them right in that room, in period costumes no less!
Then there's the park, with a first section ultra-groomed, and side- and back sections a bit less ladscaped.  Gorgeous!  It will be even more beautiful when all the hedges and trees are completely leafy.  I spent a good hour inside the palace, and another 3 hours in the park. 

And what impressed me the most (besides the ballroom) in the whole place? It was the fact that I stood in the room where the 6-year-old Mozart gave his first ever piano recital for the Emperor and Empress!

Supermarket insanity

I was late coming home today, partly due to the fact that we work an extra 2 hours on Mondays to compensate for summer hours, and partly because I got off the shuttle bus about 10 blocks early.  In any case, I just made it to the grocery store at 7:15 PM, 15 minutes before closing.  It was total chaos inside!  At this supermarket (maybe at all of them, not sure), they actually take all the stock off the shelves and outof the refrigerated display cases at the end of the day.  Not only that, they do it before closing.  So last minute shoppers were actually fighting to grab things off shelves before the employees could pack it away.  Absolute craziness!  I got some juice and got out of there fast!

Tourism Show

I was walking around the Museum Quartier this afternoon, enjoying the sunshine for a change, when I decided to walk to City Hall.  Well, the closer I got to it, the louder I heard music.  When I got to City Hall, I found that the gardens had been taken over by a large event directed at resident Viennese, promoting tourism in a neighbouring Austrian region. Basically, it was a series of booths about specific villages, attractions or specialities.  Now, this being Austria, what the event was really about was alcohol and music.  At least every 2nd booth had locally-made beer and spirits for sale, so everyone was wandering around with wine glasses and beer  cups in their hands.  There was an abundance of traditional clothes - dirndls, lederhosen, funny hats with all sizes of feathers, the works.  All this was accompanied by the dulcet sounds of... traditional Austrian music.  You got it: accordions, trumpets, yoo-hoos and yodels.  I was complimented on my smile a few times, but that was mostly because I was smiling extra broadly, trying not to crack up and laugh at all the nice Austrian people!

Apartment search

I have gone to see 7 apartments so far, in 4 different districts.  The apartments ranged from high-rise blandness to historical charm, 1- and 2-bedrooms, crappy to classy.  Most owners spoke English, but a few did not (yes, Margaret, I did the talking-with-my-hands thing!).  Basically, I dragged myself across a soggy city 2 evenings in a row, and have ended up with 2 very viable options. 

Apartment 1 (the "slick" one) is modern and edgy, with a glass block section in a shower wall (nothing kinky, it's all wavy and not really see-through), cutting-edge lighting, and wired everywhere for sound and video projection.  It has a fabulous kitchen with bar area, leather couches, radiant floor heating, air conditioning and a shower with a floor mosaic.  It is directly across the street from a subway station, and the excellent windows block out 90% of the traffic noise.  There is a little office, too small for a 2nd bedroom, but great as a crafts room.  It is the bigger of the two apartments, but not the best layout for setting up a mattres for visitors.  Other downside, the location is so-so, in a non-descript building with rather scary stairwells and elevators.  Somehow the high-end apartment seems out of place in a building that looks like a dive.  It's also located a 20-30 minute walk from most attractions and/or shopping areas.  It is the most expensive of the two options, though not by much.

Apartment 2 (the "courtyard" one) is in the middle of the central historic district.  It is in a building on a quiet side-street, almost across the street from a little church and down the street from the Haus der Musik - the local music Conservatory.  The apartment is smaller than the first one, but much better use of space.  The couch in the living room is a pull-out with a decent mattress.  There is a working fireplace and a narrow but long balcony that looks onto  private courtyard.  The apartment is fully furnished, up to and including 2 TVs and a clothes iron.  Sounds great, right?  Here are the downsides: it is about a 10 minute walk from a subway station.  It is centrally located, so there is the possibility of druken idiots on the street making noise and being annoying late at night.  No really good spot for crafts, and no bookshelf.  And the kitchen is tiny, the size of a large closet, although it does have a dishwasher.  :-) 

After crunching numbers and thinking about layouts, commutes and the like, I tossed all that out the window and went with my gut.  Courtyard apartment wins the day!  I was completely charmed by apartment and its furniture, and fell in love with the little courtyard.  You can't really do anything in the courtyard itself, but I like the atmosphere of sitting on your balcony chatting with your neighbours, all surrounded by plants, cobblestones and a little fountain in a wall.  Plus, right in the historical district, come on!  This is basically the dream location to soak in the most atmosphere and history.  The place isn't cluttered, so there is room to add a bookshelf and maybe a little table to accomodate my sewing machine.  So if all goes well tomorrow, I will meet with the owner at the VIC Housing Service to sign a contract, hand over a large wad of money and possibly get the keys right away.  I'm so excited! 

I'll be severely ticked off if this doesn't work out...

Visit to the mall

After more paperwork at the VIC this morning, I took myself to a mall I heard about a few stops further on the U1 subway line, the Donauzentrum.  Well, it was huge!  And no nice linear floor plan for these guys.  No this mall is made of at least 2 buildings linked by a "bridge", in which there are several Y-shaped intersections.  Some places there are escalators down and stairs to go up, sometimes the reverse. Add to that some serious renovation and expansion everywhere.  There are kryptic signs pointing towards the "pyramid" and the "arena", yet the hallway they pointed to was a dead end.  There is also a multiplex cinema somewhere in there.  I definitely will need many trips to that mall to figure it all out. 

Most of Vienna is now smoke-free in public areas, but the implementation of that policy is sometimes wonky.  In the mall, there was one little cafeteria-style area where smoking was allowed.  Unfortunately, the cafeteria was open to the mall and therefore spewing smoke everywhere.  And as it was located on the bridge linking the buildings, there seemed to be no way to avoid walking through the smoke! 

I spent an hour in a telecom store, trying to pick out a cell phone and plan.  After all that time, I found out I can't get one until I have my Legitimationskarte in hand.  That's a kind of card proving my strange status of no-working-visa-and-not-quite-a-diplomat-but-still-with-some-privileges.  I should get that later this week, and then I can return to the mall and get my phone.  (That'll be for another post.)

By then I was starving, but this mall does not have a food court, only a smattering of restaurants and food counters spread out all over.  There was one where you could choose from a variety of breaded foods - meat, fish, even veggies, which would then be served to you... on a bun!  I ended up eating something at a little counter called the CrêpeCat, which sold crêpes (of course) but for some reason also carried baked potatoes.  Strange combination...

Outside the mall, on the street surrounding the subway station, I finally found what must be the local equivalent of a food court:a series of kind of chip-wagons, although only one sold fries etc.  The others were for sausages (of course) and local dishes, some shawarma-type offerings, and I bretzel one too I think.  But it was raining again, so I didn't look too closely, just walked by.

First day at the IAEA

Today was my first day at the IAEA headquarters in the Vienna International Centre (VIC).  Basically, it was an exercise in paper creation and paper pushing.  And I get to do it some more tomorrow! Yay!  I had dressed in a suit for today, and boy, was I glad I did: the few people not in business dress stuck out like sore thumbs.  It was fun to walk through the halls and hear many different languages.  I also found out that I get 10 days off a year (kind of like statutory holidays): they range from the Austrian National Day to Christmas Day to Eid al Fitr.  It's nice that they recognize more than one religion's holidays, even though the Christian ones still dominate.

I also discovered that there is a small office (computer lab, really) at headquarters for us staff coming in from Seibersdorf for the day.  Oh yes, if you didn't know yet, my office will be at the Seibersdorf Laboratories site, about 30 km outside of Vienna.  Getting there is a bit of an issue: there are two shuttle buses going from Vienna to Seibersdorf, but they follow very different routes through the city and only go once a day in each direction.  The only other option is a lunch-time shuttle leaving from the VIC.   The upside is that it will be difficult to just stay at the office for a coupleextra hours work.  The downside is that if extra work is needed on weekends, I'll have to cart stuff home and then to the VIC.

So the commuting situation is not ideal, but what can you do. Actually, what I could do is buy a car and drive myself to work.  The incentives are the commuting flexibility and the sweet deal I'd get on a new car (no federal tax and also duty-free).  However, if I drove, I'd have to contend with traffic.  Plus, within Vienna itself there is absolutely no point using a car, as there is very limited parking and a superb public transit system.  So I'll give the public transit + shuttle bus option a try for a few weeks and then reevaluate.

The highlight of the day at HQ was seeing how big the commissary is - that's a duty-free store available to UN staff. It's big enough that it has several aisles, and even a separate section for luxury items. Perfume, gold, silk ties, anyone? Of course, there is a purchasing limit at the commissary, based on one's salary; so the more money you make, the more they bend the rules and allow you to purchase duty-free stuff...?


I also went to an Austria Bank (actual name, kind of like Scotia Bank) to set up an account.  It always fascinates me how European countries can be so advanced in some technologies and not in others.  In this case, I see that online banking will be a pain. For security purposes (i.e. in order to confirm that I am allowed to access my account), there is a complicated system involving numeric codes, the list of which is ON PAPER ONLY.  For example, the online system will prompt me to enter the code starting with 41 and ending in 7.  I'll have to look it up on the list and enter it to get access to my account.  Really?  An online system that relies on a piece of paper for security? Of course, once I have a cell phone, the system can send me a text message with the correct code to enter. 

In fact, cell phones have a lot more uses here, up to and including paying parking meters.  I keep getting asked for my Handy (cell phone) number, I seriously need to get one soon. After having looked online for a long time, I have determined 2 things: 
1. Rates quoted for international calls/texts include 2 categories: EU countries, and other international countries (specifically Egypt and Turkey).  Somehow it's really hard to find info on rates or inclusions/exclusions for communications to North America.
2. I really need to find an electronics store with a helpful, non-commission salesperson to walk me through the different options, including how basic landlines work, and what all those abbreviations are - the ones that are so pervasive (and probably obvious to residents) that no one bothers spelling them out! Confusing!

Must investigate both the Handys and the commissary in the next few days, when I have a bit more time and more comfortable shoes.

Church experience

I went to Peterskirche (Peter's Church) for Mass this morning. I was told it would be something special,  in honour of the "2nd Sunday of Easter". First off, the church is Baroque style, so as I entered the church I was almost blinded by the bling and decorations.  Carvings, paintings, trompe-l'oeil, and gold and cherubs everywhere!  The mass itself was held alternately in Latin and German, some spoken and some sung, all accompanied by the gorgeous ancient organ and Gregorian chant.  The church bells even chimed in at specific moments during mass. To complete the atmosphere, a priest was receiving confessions in a purple-curtained carved wood confessional on one side, and one of the two priests at the front was a tiny old man, all bent over and trembling.  We even received communion old-style, by kneeling at the altar. 

I felt like I was in a movie, talk about pulling out all the stops!

Second day in Vienna

I walked around some more on Saturday. There are of course huge crowds in the City centre, with tour groups everywhere, easily identified by a sheep-like group of people led by someone carrying a flag, stick, inflatable cactus (I kid you not!)  So I decided to walk away from Stephansplatz, and found the Donau Kanal, a canal on the west side of the actual Donau (Danube). Not sure why it was built, as it is quite curvy, and has no obvious maritime use. No tourists there, they all seem to stay within a few blocks of St Stephan catherdral and the museums. I walked along the bank of the canal, and had to laugh when I saw workers setting up for the summer season: they were building up fake tiki-bars, with plywood walls covered in bamboo and rattan.  Beside these were areas covered in less than 30 cm of sand, all carefully contained within low wooden structures.  Piles of beach chairs were ready to be set out.  I'd heard about Paris setting up fake beaches, but this is the first time I've actually seen one!

I was thinking of walking on to the actual Donau river, another 30 minutes further maybe, but then I saw a big dark cloud coming, so I decided to walk back instead. In anticipation of Monday morning, I took the U-bahn (metro) to the Vienna Inernational Centre, just to see how long it takes to get there. Boy, is that place ever big! I better go a bit early on Monday morning, to be sure I find the right building and the right gate on time. Of course, by the time I got to the VIC it was raining, so I took the U-bahn right back. The U-bahn stations were clean, uncluttered and bright, with a train about every 4 minutes, no worries at all. I then went to a supermarket to pick up somehting for dinner (and food to carry me through to Monday as almost everything is closed on Sundays).  Of course, once I was back in my apartment, the sun was out again! 

First day in Vienna

First off, I have to say that travelling business is SO much better than economy, it will suck to have to go back to economy on my next trip.  From the executive lounge in the airport to the champagne before take-off, the 4-course dinner and the seats lying completely flat, this makes travelling a real experience!

I arrived in Vienna yesterday morning.  After getting to my apartment hotel and having a short nap, I went for a walk to start familiarizing myself with the city core.  Turns out I am staying abou 5 minutes walk away from tourist central.  This area contains St. Stephan cathedral, a huge pedestrian street lined with stores, and the museum quarter.  I found the typical tourist draws, the Spanish Riding School, the Mozart House and the Sisi museum.  I walked through one of the parks between the museums.  It was rather disappointing, there was quite a bit of litter on the ground, which is surprising as this city is in general very clean.

I started to take pictures, then reminded myself that I now live here, and there is no rush to photograph everything.  So I just wandered around, not going into any of the exhibits, just soaking in the atmosphere.  What gorgeous architecture, fantastic statues everywhere, and horse-drawn carriages by the dozens!  Plus, it is extremely obvious that this city markets itself as "Mozart's City", as there are Mozart Kugel (a kind of chocolate confection) everywhere.  Even the souvenir shops carry the Mozart name.  And to add a bit of flavour/kitsch, there are people everywhere dressed in period costumes, selling tickets to "Mozart evenings", dinners and concerts in old buildings with the waiters and musicians in period costumes.  Kind of cute, to me it provides more atmosphere (maybe it's the tourist in me).  But if they have Halloween parties here, a lot of people will come dessed similarly.  :-)

After about 2 hours, I went back to my apartment and stayed awake as long as I could.  I think I made it to 8:30 PM, not bad consiering I'd had about 2 hours sleep the night before.