The Life of Me

Birthday

2012-01-27T19:17:00.006+01:00

Gorgeous cake, but beware - there was more brandy in there than anything.

My Austrian Oma turned 90 on 30 December and there was no way we would've missed that! So, we got back from South Africa on Tuesday, went to work on Wednesday and Thursday, boarded the train for a 7-hour ride on Thursday evening and went to Oma's birthday party on Friday. (On Saturday Mom & I drove to Munich for New Year's before I returned to Vienna on Monday).

The party was neat and we had a lot of fun with the family. It was great to see everyone again after quite a long time. My two cousins made a little memory book for Oma with all kinds of photos of her when she was young, of her wedding, the kids, the grandkids, the great-grandkids, it was totally awesome. On one page they used the real love letter my Opa sent her before they got married as a background. You couldn't read it all but one line said ... bis du endlich die meine wirst: ...until you become mine at last. Sigh!

Handshake with the Chimney Sweeper.

Mama and her Punsh

Serious discussions while my mom is watching...

...and Schnaps with her youngest sister, as soon as Mom is out of sight. :)

The "end of the evening crowd", right before we had to go dig out our car from the snow.

Take a seat, this might take a while

2012-01-15T16:17:00.005+01:00

My mom asked me today what was wrong with my blog. The 'wrong' is that I have not posted in over a month, although I have several excuses: our trip to South Africa, New Year's Eve, my Oma's 90th birthday and that we changed internet providers. We've been back online since Wednesday, but I didn't get around to doing anything on the blog until today.

Anyway, we're back here just a few weeks before we head to Holland for a weekend, where we get to spend some time with our family there. Hooray!

South Africa

I was impressed by the way everything was so well organised during the Climate Conference in Durban. The transportation system worked like a clockwork, registration went smoothly, hospitality centers and washrooms were always spotless and the internet worked well. There were masses of security and we all felt very safe. I'm not going to go into the outcomes of the conference, but I personally got a lot out of the side events and the tours that I took.

View of Durban from the Moses Mabhida Stadium

Martin came to Durban a few days after I did and we saw not much of each other until my work was over in the afternoon of my birthday. I had a lot planned for that evening, but we ended up relaxing in our hotel and stuffing ourselves with sushi.

The real vacation started on 9 December when we took the early morning flight to Cape Town where we stayed for five days. We didn't leave anything out, and drove out to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope via the Pengiun Colony, had dinner in Camps Bay (boy, is that the spot to people watch: bunches of models and surfer dudes) and crashed at our pretty little holiday apartment in Clifton - AND THAT ALL ON THE FIRST DAY. Clifton is apparently the most expensive real estate in South Africa, which, from the looks of those mansions there, is not too hard to understand.

On the second day we overslept, skipped the market we wanted to go to and went straight to the V&A waterfront, shopped a bit and then boarded the ship to Robben Island. What an amazing experience and so humbling. The guides are former inmates and their stories go straight to your heart! When we returned to the mainland after an excrutiatingly rough boat ride (where half the people threw up all over the boat), we took a walk along Long Street. Saturday afternoons are not the best time to go there, as many shops are closed and we were accosted by several beggars. One of whom threatened us with a knife if we didn't give him some money. We drowned that shock in a local restaurant with a couple mojitos, hailed a cab and called it a day.

On the boat back from Robben Island.

Our fabulous guide who knew everything about the place: the history of the prison, of the liberation movement and of the plants and rabbits.

On the third day we wanted to take the cable car up Table Mountain, but when we got there, there was fog on top and the people at the ticket shop strongly suggested not going up. So we thought, we'd walk up and then decide along the way how far we wanted to go. Of course, half way up, we got ambitious and didn't want to turn around. So we did walk all the way up Table Mountain (the most exhausting hike of my life!) and took the cable car back down. We lunched somewhere along the way, bought some meat for the barbecue and did our laundry in the bathtub. Old skool style. After the hard labour, we walked on the beach for the sunset before we went to bed, with sore legs.

In the beginning of the hike.

Can you see the trail? Me neither.

On top of Table Mountain. Freezing cold winds and flat like a ... umm... table top.

On Monday morning we had booked a tour of the Township Langa, where we got to meet several community workers and children that played traditional music with us. It was immensely impressive on so many levels. We were so sad and depressed about the way these poor people have to live, shocked by how many projects that were designed to help failed miserably and touched by the strength and hope that so many showed in trying to improve their life. Obviously, we were a bit lost after that visit, so it was a lucky stroke of bad timing that we had to hurry back downtown for a paragliding flight which was my birthday present from Martin's parents. It made us continue right away in our day, without pondering the fate of the people in the township. The flight was one of our highlights: we jumped off of Lion's Head and landed right on the beach of Camps Bay. I was a bit scared in the beginning but I quickly sat back and enjoyed the breathtaking views. For a meal, we headed over the mountain to Olympia's café with fabulous food and a succulent cheese cake.

On the last day in Cape Town, Tuesday, we slept a bit longer, had a lazy breakfast and drove towards the winelands around Stellenbosch. On the way, we had a gourmet lunch at the Tokara winery/restaurant, with an all white dessert for Martin and a dream of Chocolate and Basil for me. The wine was excellent, but due to the weight restrictions of our local flights we didn't buy any. We can get pretty good wine here, too (my current everyday favorite: White Wine Cuvee Flat Lake for 4,99). While the winelands were gorgeous and we found a most amazing little gallery with fantastic art in Franschhoek, it did feel like we were back in Europe or California, so we returned to Cape Town for one last dinner on the beach front in "Pretty People Town" (Camps Bay, not really our crowd), a rainstormy night and a very wet car rental return, and boarded our flight back to Durban.

In the winelands. We finally saw the lavender we missed in France.

At the car rental return spot, it was literally raining from buckets and the nice car valet was instructed to give us a ride to the check in counter. Now, that wouldn't have been necessary, but he was all hyped and took us on a scenic route along the airport's parking lot. Shortly before he went back on the freeway with us, I had to step in and tell him where he had to go. At that point, he was about to burst into tears and took us right back to where we started... Just another way to lose fifteen minutes at the airport. :)

Our adventures in KwaZuluNatal will follow shortly. But let me tell you, it includes white beaches, Zulu Chicken, King Steve, and masses of animals.

Martin says I drive like an old lady. Whatever...

Too Busy for Sh*t

2011-11-20T17:40:00.004+01:00

I feel sorry for breaking my good posting routine, but I'm just really busy right now and there doesn't seem a real end in sight. Well, of course there is, but just now I feel like there is none.

Anyway - I'm still alive. Albeit with daily headaches and allergies acting up. But there it is, to literally translate a German saying: nothing comes from nothing and work comes before pleasure.

The next time you hear from me might well be in 2012, so take care, merry Christmas, happy new year and so long 2011...

(Oh, and while 2011 wasn't as exciting as 2010 and much more emotional and truly sad at some times, it wasn't a bad year after all. But I might still need to define the exact terms for a year actually being bad, I am lucky, blessed by all means and I am truly aware and thankful for that.)

List

2011-11-09T09:51:00.002+01:00

{} I ran at the gym yesterday after months of only ellipticals and spinning bikes. Wow, it felt so good, but Wow, I was soooooo slow.

{} I finally bought a new winter coat. It's pretty and warm and very expensive. I took it home and Martin hates it. So now I'm taking it back to the store and the search starts anew.

{} How cool is it that with the customer's card for a store here in Vienna, you can actually get frequent flyer miles? Awesome!

{} On Saturday, Martin had to work and I spent the whole afternoon watching Modern Family and Hawthorne. Ah, the guilty pleasures.

{} I've already bought two Christmas presents because I won't have to time to shop in December. Any ideas for my boss's farewell present? So far, I haven't been able to come up with anything creative.

{} I want to read Anna Karenina. I think it's time.

{} There's a house down our street that Martin and I really like. It has a tiny bit of garden and looks very quirky. Any chance someone out there will help us out with some cash? It's up for sale and we'd only need about 900k from external sponsors... And I guess a whole lot on top of that to get rid of the horrendous interior decoration.

Fall in Vienna

2011-11-07T11:48:00.004+01:00

Family Time

2011-11-05T11:15:00.001+01:00

We had some family quality time this weekend, with my parents visiting from Thursday to Sunday and our aunt, uncle and cousin from Saturday to Monday.

On Saturday night we all met up in a 200 year old, very quirky Viennese restaurant where we had a great time eating lots of meat and potatoes, drinking beer and Sturm and having fun with the entertaining host. He was very, very Viennese in his ways and and called the pork roast 'a warm pig', bread 'working man's biscuit' and a fried chicken an 'egg shitter'.

We also ate our way through the city, Mom had a fight with her pho noodle soup and the chopsticks, we went shopping, took walks, had Bavarian breakfast and made a little video for our grandpa. It's been a very, very long time since all of us were laughing so hard that we were all crying by the end of the 'video shoot'. :)

Mom eating her noodle soup, she did have some fun with those pho noodles!

Browsing the displays at Naschmarkt.

Mom and her little brother, Helmut. They WILL NOT pose for a photo. EVER. Period.

This video stuff is fun!

Having Weißwürste for Breakfast. Yummy! My parents brought them from Munich, so we could have the real thing.

From Above

2011-11-03T10:31:00.002+01:00

I've always loved flying.
My favorite part is taking off and waiting for my ears to pop all by themselves.

But flying over the Alps on our way to Nice, was just spectacular:

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T10:44:00.005+01:00

We started a bit early with carving our pumpkin, so by yesterday it had not only wilted so much that it looked like it lost all its teeth, it had also developed several patches of very hairy mildew. Which is why our pumpkin was dumped on the day before Halloween.

But it gave us delicious pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup. The pie recipe is here, although I used my own crust recipe.

For the soup:

Chop one small onion and two cloves of garlic. Lightly brown everything in a large pot with two teaspoons of cold pressed rape seed oil and then add about four handfuls of shredded pumpkin meat and three small peeled and chopped potatoes. Top off with about four or five cups of boiling water (all vegetables should be covered by about one finger's breadth). Add 1.5 cubes of vegetable stock, salt and pepper and let cook for about ten minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Puree the soup, put back on the stove and add about a 0.5 cups of cream*. Let simmer.

In the meantime cut four slices of fullwheat toast into cubes and roast in a pan with olive oil and coarsly chopped garlic cloves (you won't eat the garlic). Once browned, put the croutons on a plate and throw away the garlic. In the same pan - no need ot clean it!- place about a handful of bacon bits and roast them as well, once they've released most of their fat, dump them on a paper towel and dab off the access fat.

Taste the soup, maybe add some more salt, if it's too thick, add some water, too. Put soup in a plate, place croutons in the middle and the bacon on top. (The bacon wil sink if not placed on top of the bread.)

Serves about 5-6. Enjoy.

* To avoid the cream to clot, let it sit out of the fridge for about twenty minutes before using it.

October Birthdays

2011-10-27T17:00:00.001+02:00

The boys, last year in Italy.

There are two VERY important birthdays in October and I managed not to mention either one of them! Shame on me.

Well, better late than never:

13 October - Martin turned 31.
19 October - David turned 27.

David's was celebrated last Friday at a local pub, where I couldn't stay too long because I had a pretty annoying cold and cool drinks, fried food and smoky bars are not the best cure for that. Martin decided last minute to spend the weekend with his family so he had a 6 am train to catch on Saturday. I hope they didn't mind too much that we left so early!

For Martin's, we went to a Serbian grill restaurant where a bit too much meat, beer and schnapps was imbibed which might have resulted in some digestion issues on the next day. And then again, maybe not. :)

Olga and the pretty flower arrangements.

The Germans, Lars and Sarah and the pornographic art.

Very skeptic Markus

Dessert Happiness.

Alone

2011-10-25T16:32:00.001+02:00

Friday evening view from the office.

I've been alone this weekend. I'm really bad at being alone in our apartment, because I'm constantly afraid of burglars or serial killers. Especially since I left my keys at the copy shop on Friday afternoon (smart!).

I'm better at being alone per se. I'm really good at making a great mess and at not making the bed. I'm good at drinking enough (tea) and not so good at eating well. I've had TV dinners for lunch, as well as Nutella sandwiches and greek salads followed by wafers and jelly beans. I'm good a staying on the couch and reading a book, crying for the last ten pages of the book - basically sobbing - and spending afternoons with TV series and movies that Martin wouldn't probably like to watch.

Things that I've enjoyed in particular:

I Don't Know How She Does It
Not that the movie was in any way 'deep', but it got me really angry toward the end and then pulled itself back out of my I-Hate-Pit. If you see it, you'll know.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog
My favorite line: 'Melancholy overwhelms me, at supersonic speed.' And the bashing of French Cuisine. Word.

Watching Sunday TV preachers
Wow, we usually zap past any of this, but today I felt drawn to this Singaporean Preacher, Joseph Prince, who has a fortune of 55.4 million USD according to Wikipedia. I wasn't always paying attention, as I was doing other stuff during his sermon, but my favorite part was that he wanted to take out peoples' brains and wash them with a detergent of Jesus' blood.

Remember Her?

2011-10-23T16:50:00.001+02:00

A while ago, I wrote about the beautiful bearded lady who MCed the Burlesque Show we saw? Well, she's now on an Austrian Talent show and she can sing:

The Gym

2011-10-18T20:55:00.004+02:00

What the other girl in the shower looks like:

What I look like:

You better say that both are beautiful. In their 'own way'.

I just got home from my spinning class, and you can now officially spread peanut butter on me, I'm toast. What was I thinking?! And the worst part is that I'm sure that I'll go again next week. It's great while doing it and now - at an adult bedtime of 8:55 pm - I shall call it a day and crawl into bed with my bff, the hot water bottle and a good book (currently The Elegance of the Hedgehog).

Expecting our first snow on Thursday.

Good Night.

As a final question: Shall I do this for my birthday? We currently have the mother fraction saying NOooooo! DON'T YOU DARE MAKE DAD AND ME WORRY SO MUCH!!! and the other fraction going WTF Go for it (mainly Martin and I). So, wattayasay?

Our Environment

2011-10-08T21:23:00.002+02:00

Two sundays ago I finally sent off the first part of my thesis to my new professor. I also started reading the books for my next chapters. But since the weather was absolutely beautiful, Martin and I decided to take our work and reading material to the park. While Martin read a report on the Steve Irwin environmental battle ship with militant vegan sailors, I focused on climate change and economic development in South East Asia, before I fell asleep with my head on Martin’s lap. One weekend, two midday cat naps – can you say perfect happiness?

Marseille

2011-10-06T21:06:00.002+02:00

Us overlooking Marseille

The largest city on our trip through the Provence and Cote D’Azur was Marseilles. As we came down from the quaint little town of Aix en Provence, Marseilles took our breath away. It was big, congested, cosmopolitan, a bit dirty, a bit ugly but mostly stunning, brimming with life and hot as a pizza oven. We safely parked our car in an underground garage after hearing horror stories of cars scratched for not having a Marseillaise license plates and attacks in tiny allies where car windows were smashed for the lady’s handbags. The rest of the day was spent on foot, and we were astonished that the soles of our feet didn’t melt into the pavements. As in Aix, we also jumped aboard a little tourist choo-choo train to drive up to the Notre Dame de la Garde church above the old harbour. Martin had the window seat and next two me were two little French girls who were just adorable. The were so good and the younger one started to nod off on my shoulder after a few turns. Their mother was sitting in front of us, together with her gigantic dog and a large potted plant. Don't know why she needed either fidus or the ficus with her on the city tour.

Afterwards we walked around the small area of old Marseilles, a tiny part of the city that wasn’t bombed during WWII, before heading out towards our overnight at a former villa in La Seyne Sur Mer.

The view over the city with the islands in the back. One of them is where the Man in the Iron Mask was kept prisoner... I think.

Notre Dame de la Garde, the church where sailors went to pray for protection.

Awesome street art.

An old door in the old town.

View of the old harbour through the arch of one of the 1950s social tenements along its flanks.

French windows.

Saturday Family Time

2011-10-04T20:51:00.003+02:00

On Saturday, we spent the whole day with Sarah and David. We weren’t sure if we would make it, because they had set a pretty early starting time. 10 am. I know, not THAT early, but given that we had to get up, have breakfast, get dressed and make the bed and ride our bikes for about 35 minutes to their apartment, put a bit of a hamper on our Saturday morning sleep-in. Anyway, the reason why we had to start that early was because we wanted to go to a church flea market, about ten bike minutes away from their apartment. It was really a classic flea market, where the main things on sale were books and old clothes. Sarah was lucky as she bought four vintage leather handbags for 10 Euros. The boys weren’t very impressed, but I was, that was a pretty good bounty!

We also bought a whole plate of home made cakes that the ladies sold. Two of them were poppy seed and one apple-meringue. They were really good and you could literally taste the life-long baking skills of the old ladies of the church.

Church lady cakes - lots of poppy seed!

Sarah gave us a couple of glasses of Schweppes Aperol, which is bitter lemonade with a shot of aperol and lots of ice. After one glass at around noon, I took a lovely nap on their couch while Sarah ran to the store one more time, Martin did some research on his birthday presents (it is in two weeks) and David cooked a really delicious Thai curry for us.

Sarah's new signature drink: Yummy! And a gorgeous color!

Rrrrrrrrrrready to Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble

David's fabulous curry, and he didn't have to break the pan for it!

The rest of the day was spent on the balcony with coffee, cakes, drinks and talks, bike rides and several episodes of Community and Big Bang Theory.

My first 30th Birthday Present

2011-10-02T21:30:00.002+02:00

I mentioned before that my dearest Ursi gave me my first 30th birthday present a bit early. A bit, as in 3 months too early. But it was so necessary because she gave me tickets for a concert in Vienna, for which 1) I would not have found anyone except her to come with me 2) I wouldn't have wanted anyone but her to come with me and 3) it gave us a reason to drink real Champagne on a Wednesday, 4) the pre-concert dinner was so nice that we were almost too late and had to take a taxi for a 3-Euro ride and 5) we have another wonderful concert memory that we will remember for all times, although this one was a bit more 'adult'.

The other concert we went to together... when we were about 13 or 14?... was the Kelly Family. Go and google that. I'm not EVER going to put that on my blog. No matter how fond the memories! (Sorry Ursi!)

The concert we saw this time:

Unexpected Friends

2011-10-01T19:54:00.003+02:00

I had some fun in the last two days, as I am looking for a classy venue for my boss. She is retiring in a few months and I am in charge of her farewell dinner. I am totally gonna rock this.

So, I have now visited several Palais in Vienna, some worse for wear, others absolutely stunning in all aspects. Surprisingly, they are not as expensive as expected, considering that we would be practically renting the whole p(a)lace.

Anyway, one of my first meetings was with a lady who, at first sight, was quite frightening. She was wearing a black skin tight dress, which ended several inches above her knees, combined with a hot red coat. In her own words she didn’t’ necessarily look like she was gonna starve any time soon. We looked at the rooms and she offered me a Lungenstrudel Soup (go ahead, translate that) at 9:30 am. No, thanks!

The business part of the meeting was over after twenty minutes, but then we just continued to talk for about an hour about what it was like to come from a small Austrian town and now live in Vienna. Although we are from opposite sides of this, admittedly tiny country, so many things were the same that it was plain scary. Like the fact that on 1 November, when everyone visits graves for All Saint’s Day, the fur coats are taken out of their moth ball summer hibernation to be paraded in front of all other villagers. Or that everyone knows everything about everyone, even if you go on a walk with your fiancé at 2 am, after sneaking out of your bedroom in your purple pyjamas.

Photos from the Schloss Neuwaldegg, all taken with my blackberry, so please don't judge me on the quality:

The Dutch Invasion

2011-09-22T12:30:00.002+02:00

When my cousin Inge told us about a year ago that they were coming to Vienna this year, we were already very excited. When they told us they were coming in May on the exact weekend when we were going home for Martin's Dad's birthday party, we were devastated. When they then said that they were coming in September after all, the world was set right again and we could start getting excited again.

So after a long and exhaustive email exchange with both Inge and her husband Roy, they actually did come to Vienna in early September. If you ask them, they'll probably tell you that all they ate was cake and Schnitzel... which is actually pretty close to the truth, if I'm not totally mistaken. We went on a little city tour together, visited the university and met up with David, Sarah and Martin at Naschmarkt for a couple of drinks and light dinner. While they went on a tour of the Sissi Appartments and the Imperial Palace, we got ready for their visit (For which I made apfelstrudel which turned out pretty good, despite a splash too much of rum. But what am I saying? Too much rum? Impossible!).

While they had yet another Schnitzel dinner, Martin and I had a Sushi snack and some wine before we we ended up in a club with Country Music, beer and Spritzers and an almost dislocated hip for me, because I thought I'd needed to dance like a crazy woman on speed.

Ooohh... Good times!

I think that they liked it here, and Inge promised that she'll be back (maybe together with Jacqueline or her mom?) so we could have a weekend just for us girls.

Goodball

2011-09-20T12:15:00.006+02:00

David and his team members, how handsome. I wonder why they didn't get more points on 'Team Looks'

On Saturday, David played at a charity football ('soccer' for the non-believers) tournament. Their team played for a tiny, two-woman show called Amina. This NGO is fighting to provide people in least developed countries with clean water by either training locals to maintain existing wells or or by actually installing wells in rural communities. I think it's amazing how these girls just went ahead and started something so important. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to speak to them properly, because we were so busy cheering, arguing with the referee or eating bratwursts, but they have a website if you want to get more information: http://www.aktivfuermenschen.at/ (all in German, unfortunately)

We fight with bubbles!

The tournament was very low key and the total revenue was given to the three winning teams at a 5-3-2 ratio. The food stalls, entrance fees, drinks and anything that involved money went straight to the winning teams. The teams were made up of players for a specific cause, e.g. the Vienna Integrationshaus, Greenpeace or KAMA (an organisation that organises special courses taught by immigrants).

Unfortunately, the Amina Team came in fourth, so we just missed the top three. But we all had a lot of fun and we got a total Karma boost while spending an afternoon at the football field!

Yes. That is indeed a Wonder Woman t-shirt.

Happy Birthday Papa!

2011-09-18T11:37:00.003+02:00

Today is my Dad's birthday.

As a present, he got the last few seasons of the Sopranos and will spend this rainy Sunday in Munich in his appartment, watching TV.

Today is the start of the Oktoberfest in Munich. He said that in the last few days, it felt like the city was being invaded by Dirndls and Lederhosen. It's no fun being out in the streets if you're not be-dirndled and drunk. In fact, Mom tells me her lawyer has his offices on the street next to Wiesn. He has to close down the offices during Oktoberfest because he can't have his clients walk slalom between piles of shit and vomit. (True story.)

Mom is not looking forward to a day spent with the Sopranos that much. I guess she'll just have to endure it. She should be happy that he didn't get what he really wanted, for the past few years:

Photo Credits

Naz Drowje!

2011-09-08T20:41:00.004+02:00

I was hardly back from France when I had to go to Gdansk (Poland) for work. It didn't expect much of it... in fact, all I knew was that I was supposed to drink 'strong' beer - which I did - and to eat smoked eel - which I didn't. But the town was a cute little mix of a bit Amsterdam and a bit Bruges with a dollop of Prague. Plus, everything was a lot cheaper than here! For example, I had chipped a fingernail and wanted to buy a nail file when I came across a beauty salon which gave me a full manicure for five euros flat. And I had a fabulous time with the manicurist and her mother, where we tried to communicate in Polish, German, English and Russian. They guessed my age at 21, which is exactly what I wanted to hear in my 30th year!

The conference I went to was pretty good and I had the chance to meet a few interesting people from all over Europe. My hotel was absolutely gorgeous with 8 (!) windows, four of which were doors to my own private balcony. The only problem was that I was scared out of my mind at mind because I could hear the birds scratching on the roof. Freaky!

There was a really relaxed and happy vibe throughout the city, people were very friendly and open and I never felt lonely although being alone. Here's some of the people I met:

Russki Sailors there for the sailing parade

Two cute elderly ladies who were just as fascinated by the trick fountain as the kids were. And isn't it awesome that the older one is wearing hot pink croggs?

Very cute but extremely annoying spoilt brat. She knows exactly how cute she is and will do the total opposite of what her parents say. The family was sitting next to me on the tourist boat and although I had no idea what they were saying, everything was crystal clear to understand.

Ambitious young street musicans, they were having so much fun and were really good, too!

Ladies taking a break from their Sunday afternoon stroll.

Old fashioned sailor on the mock pirate boat I took to get to the beach. The boat's name was the Black Pearl, I had a Gin & Tonic on the way back while they had life music.

Last Day of Vacation

2011-08-30T14:29:00.007+02:00

Today is my last day of vacation for this summer. The good point is that I have lots to look forward too, although it might be tarnished with work. Oh the horror! At work, we'll be busy and I get to go to Poland for business next week so time should fly. I am half excited and half scared to go back to the gym... I took a break for two weeks but I did stay active: lots of biking, walking and swimming. I hope it won't be too bad. The fact that I pinched a nerve that gave me a bad time for almost two weeks and had me walking around like female Napoleon when I did my new routine for the first time is not helping me get motivated again.

So now I am enjoying my last afternoon with a cup of coffee, reruns of Murder She Wrote and way too much time wasted on Pinterest. That website is a devil's black hole of the internet!

David will be here any second and then we're off to finally watch the last part of Harry Potter.

Next week we're expecting some VIP visitors from Holland and I'm totally excited to show them around. Could everyone please help us pray for good weather?

So, to reminisce a bit more about our time in France, here are some more photos:

View over Lac Ste Croix. It's a lake. NOT the Caribbean Sea. And yes, thanks for asking, we did go for a swim and it was heavenly!

Dinner at a square in Manosque. Overseen by the canine caretaker.

Yeah. Just a window shutter... moving on...

The little chapel atop Moustier Ste Marie. Can you see the gold star?

The Four Dolphins Fountain in Aix en Provence. Those are really supposed to be dolphins, not kidding!

An alley in Aix en Provence.

The view from the rooftop terrace of our cozy hotel. It was small, but it had lounge chairs on the roof where we drank our beer from a can we'd bought on our way home. I know, kind of trashy, but if they charge € 6 for a large beer in a bar, I tend to fall back on my trashy options.

C'est magnifique!

2011-08-27T18:56:00.007+02:00

The river snaking toward the canyon.

Getting to our little B&B.

The first night we spent in the mountains north of the coast, near the Gorges du Verdon. The town - if you want to call it a town!- was about five houses and 25 people in a remote spot off the road. To get there, we missed the exit first and then followed a scary road to get to the houses. Once there, we got this fabulous room with a view over the mountains. On that night, I had to fight with a French chef because the food was basically disgusting, we were never served desert and they still wanted to charge the full amount of what we had ordered in the beginning. It was basically our mistake because we had chosen the preset menu. Stupid us. But in the end my French did convince the horrible little French chef that we were right and we only paid for our drinks.

On the next day we headed to the canyon and hiked around a bit. There were lots of caves and we couldn't walk through them because we didn't have flashlights. A shame, really. There were several groups of people who went canyoning and next time we'll definitely do that! The sights around the canyon were amazing, though!

Our view.

The 'town'

Canyoning.

700 meter drop.

Back from France

2011-08-24T22:11:00.004+02:00

We got back from our trip to Southern France late last night. It was very intense and beautiful and HOT! Not only were we on the Mediterranean coast in August, we also were there during a massive European heat wave. Go figure. But it was still very, very amazing and I have never in my life been so grateful for air conditioning (both in our rental car and in our rooms).

We learnt from our rental car experience in May and opted for a slightly more expensive car that ran on Dees'uhl, and all kinds of other schnick-schnack like the A/C, cruise control, distance sensors and a decent radio. As we were on a slightly tight budget we only stayed at 2-3 star hotels and little private B&Bs which all were absolutely worth it. There is not a single one that I wouldn't recommend to anyone I know.

There will be a massive photo attack coming up, but this is the tour:

Day 1: arrival in Nice - Vence - drive along the country side with a stope in Gréolières - Castellane and overnight at a tiny stone house in the mountains
Day 2: drive through the canyon of Verdon - Moustiers Ste Marie - a swim in the Lac de Sainte Croix and overnight in Manosque
Day 3: Trip through the lavender fields (which were all already harvested) - Aix en Provence including overnight
Day 4: Early departure from Aix to Marseilles - drive along the coast line and overnight in La Seyne sur Mer (first swim in the ocean)
Day 5: Drive along the coast with a detour through the vinyards for wine tasting- St Tropez - overnight in Fréjus
Day 6: Grasse - Cannes - Antibes - overnight in Fréjus
Day 7: Monaco - Eze - overnight in Fréjus
Day 8: Last day spent in Nice, return to Vienna.

Bike Ride

2011-08-14T18:06:00.004+02:00

I just can't keep my legs clean.

We finally got the chance to take our bikes outside city limits and went on a little ride to Neusiedlersee, which is a very flat and muddy lake near Vienna. Since we didn't have enough faith in our fitness, we took the train to a town half way and then started from there. This is usually a 20 minute train ride, which did in fact work on the way back. But when we finally made it out of the house in the morning, we went to the wrong train station and then caught the wrong train. This train went in the same direction but could't get past a construction area. So we had to get off the train, load ourselves and the bikes on a bus and sit on the damn bus for another thirty minutes.

But then the country side was absolutely gorgeous with vinyards and corn rows, wild peach trees, little snakes that crossed the road and no sound but the wind and birds. We wanted to have a banana split at the stylish restaurant on the lake but it was packed and we had lunch at the next door place instead. The contrast couldn't have been more extreme, on the one side were guys in white linen suits and ladies in high heels, on the other side beer bellies without shirts and bad perms. The food was alright and we had a good view for people watching.

Now we're home, tired and happy. And we'll really enjoy eating those peaches we picked along the way!

Little box houses

Flowers in the fields

Sad sunflowers, squeezed between Welschriesling and Zweigelt grapes.

Half of Vienna and some more was at the lake today. Can't blame them after three weeks of rain and clouds.

Boats on the lake.

Wachau

2011-08-06T13:47:00.005+02:00

First things first: check out Martin's Blog to see how his renovation project worked out. Can you say stylish?

On our way back to Vienna in May, we made use of our rental car, left the Autobahn 90 km before Vienna and took the scenic route along the Danube, through Wachau. Wachau is a region know for its wine and apricots. At that time, the apricots were neither in bloom nor ripe, but the wine is always available... Too bad you can't really drink it when you still have to drive home, but we did stock up on some wonderful white wine and a cognac from the region. In fact, they have a special vintage brandy which they sell by year. They have now just started selling 1981, and they won't start selling 1982 before 1981 is sold out. The point of this explanation is that I could actually be drinking my vintage brandy for my 30th birthday this year. Cool, huh?

Shot from the car window, a glimpse at the danube with a little castle on the hill.

Slightly crooked stairs

The beautiful Danube

The little way leading down to the river.

The church square in the tiny town of Schwallenbach.

Down the road in Schwallenbach.

Looking up to the church of Duernstein from the Danube riverbank.

Where the grapes grow to go straight into my glass:

Handy Man

2011-07-31T19:51:00.004+02:00

In the last few weeks Martin has started renovating our two cupboards for the hallway. One of them is a vintage thing that was covered in inch thick yellowish beige goo that was slabbed on so heavily that single drops had dried on the walls. Funny enough, as he was working in the back yard, one of our neighbors had a chat with him, and told him it was probably from the 1920s. He works at Austria'a largest auction house, so he should know. Another neighbor also came up to him and gave him some handy tips. Turns out she's a professional conservator!

Martin has scraped off the old color, sanded them down and has now started recoloring them. One in dark purple and one in green. I helped a little with detail scraping and minor sanding, but I'm pretty much useless when it comes to home improvement.

In the meantime I put myself on a diet again (no fat, no carbs only vegetables and protein) so that I can wear all my summer dresses during our holiday. Good thing the weather sucks, so I don't get frustrated. I did make a cake for Martin and David that looked more like a bloody wound with puss than anything tasty. I tasted awful, too. So I took the necessary consequences and ordered a highly acclaimed cook book for anything 'baking'. I hope it'll get me back into the groove.

Disaster Cake

Still recovering from Friday night

2011-07-24T15:59:00.003+02:00

On Friday I had the time of my life. I finally got to enjoy Martin's birthday present from 2010! It was totally awesome and worth leaving work a bit early, standing in the rain for a couple of hours, standing around a bit more and enduring a distinct pressure in my bladder from 4 pm to 1 am. All the while praying for the rain to stop before eight o'clock (which totally worked).

Because that's when they came on stage: Bon Jovi. It was so extremely awesome, I don't have the words to describe it. 60,000 people all rocking the night away for three full hours, singing and dancing along to 30 songs, including repeats of Keep the Faith and covers of Wild Thing and Hallelujah. I was yelling and screaming and singing so hard that my voice cracked at the end of the show. We were standing right at the first wave breaker, albeit behind the Golden Circle (about 200/ticket) and the Diamond Circle (about 400/ticket), and had the best view and sound of the whole stadion. Swear to God.

Best present ever. Best show ever. Best time ever.

Last Glimpse of the Empire

2011-07-20T20:53:00.007+02:00

Last Saturday Vienna was in special state. The last son of the last emperor (Karl I) died at the age of 98 and a one week funeral marathon almost came to an end during the burial, the procession and the requiem in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. (The last part was his heart being buried in Hungary a day later. Yes, seriously. Body in Vienna, heart in Budapest. His wife was interred as well, although she'd already died a year earlier.)

A lot of discussion was going on, because this funeral was gigantic and all of Austria's high level politics as well as representatives of other countries attended it. Since we kicked out the emperor's family -the Habsburgs- after WWI, some people were not happy about an event that had all the pomp and glory of a state funeral.

Martin and I went there to watch the procession that snaked around the city center and was approximately one kilometer long. It was really impressive, with lots of special army regiments, clubs and associations, period dresses and a 21 shot canon salute.

If you want to know more, go to Wikipedia... here come the photos:

Dinner at our Place

2011-07-14T14:58:00.003+02:00

We had a great time on Tuesday night!

Happy People.

Some Food examples: White Russian, the main course and dessert. :)

Lovely People.

Next day cure: Powerade & Brezels.
In fact, the color inspired us for a few hours at the pool in the afternoon. The public pool in our district did remind us faintly of Chinese circumstances.

Some Kind of Vacation

2011-07-12T09:04:00.010+02:00

There's a tiny little park near Margaretenguertel where they set up hammocks. How awesome!

Summer is totally showing off at the moment, we have hot, hot weather with lots of sun and I took a week off to write on my thesis. Now isn't that something? And on top of it, I don't know why, when you are having a good time, you think Tuesday is almost the weekend already and when you're working, Tuesday feels like an eternity away from Friday afternoon?

I did decide that the weekend was mine and we went on an extended bike ride, ate dim sum and tried to have frozen joghurt. There's two new frozen joghurt places in Vienna and both were closed on the hottest Sunday afternoon of the year... Anyway, now I am stuck on the computer again and am thanking God for our high ceilings, our drapes and the age of this building (built in the 1880s) which stays nice and cool during the day.

Alex and Georg are coming for dinner tonight and we've planned and prepared the following: margaritas (we bought a new blender!), white russians and coronas. seven layer dip. achiote chicken, tomato rice and homemade salsa. chocolate cake with blueberries and joghurt cream. The weather forecast said that tomorrow will be the hottest day of the year, so we might reschedule our day to include a couple hours at the pool. It's a kind of vacation after all. :)

Spying on Martin in Burggarten. About half an hour after he got checked out by a guy, who then almost ran into a pole because he couldn't keep his eyes off my man. Martin didn't even notice.

Yippieh!

2011-07-07T18:08:00.004+02:00

Yesterday I was cranky. Really grumpy and with a crumpled brow. I was angry for no reason whatsoever and I think it was lucky for Martin that he had a night out with an old friend. I spent the evening at home watching first a romantic movie and then the news (guess what brought right down again?), ate chocolates and stale crackers on the couch.

Today I have some things that made me smile, like seeing someone swim across the little lake infront of our building this morning at 8 am. I wished it was me. And then I remembered that it would never be me, because I'd never get up in the morning to swim. Or to run. Or any other exercise. I'm all for a quiet morning: shower, long breakfast, cup of tea, radio and a 20 minute ride to work to get into the mood. My exercise happens in the evening.

On the way home from work, this made me laugh out loud in the subway. Did Jamaica me any food yet? The heat hit me full force on my walk home and I just went and skipped the gym, bought a container of Pecan Vanilla Caramel ice cream and called it a perfect summer night with the little gem below. Now I'll take off my pants and chill on the couch.

Prosecco, Elderberry Syrup, Frozen Raspberries. In a Belgian beerglas. I got style, Baby.

One more day until my one week vacation to write.

Five more weeks until France.

Just a bit more than five months until South Africa. That's right: 30th birthday in Cape Town, Christmas with the big five. YEEEEHAWWW!

Days Like These

2011-07-02T14:18:00.006+02:00

On days like these...

... I wish I had a bathtub. Not that I ever actually had one, at least not in the past twenty years, but when it's chilly outside and windy, and when that second cup of tea ain't doing its trick, it would be so nice. I'd use lavender scented bubbles, I'd read a trashy women's magazine and I'd be drinking a cold drink.

... I tend to screw my diet and stuff myself with chunks of white bread, drenched in olive oil, chocolates and fresh market apricots.

... I dream of holidays past and yet to come. I think back on the sunny days in California or Italy, I think of things we could do in France and I watch documentaries about the wedding in Monaco.

... I spend too much time online, looking at pretty things or tasty things, wearing sweat pants and old sports socks with wall paint splatters on it. And I'm in awe over Kate Moss's wedding dress.

Long Weekend Over

2011-06-26T16:52:00.003+02:00

We had the last of three long weekends in early summer. This week, we had Martin's parents and Ursula as visitors. And lo and behold - we hardly took any pictures.

I was pretty exhausted because I attended a conference in the beginning of the week, so I was quite happy with taking it easy and gabbing with Ursula for hours on end. Not that we didn't do anything...

We started off on Thursday night with beers and tequila, we had to work on Friday but we spent the afternoon chatting and then we cooked fajitas for dinner. I think they all liked them and the very good wine Martin's Dad brought from Naschmarkt. We had long discussions well into the night about life, God, heaven - and we sang along loudly to some ve ry old songs and some very strange songs.

On Saturday we took Martin's parents to our Saturday market where we buy vegetables and fruit, and while the three of them went on a quest for a Heurigen, Ursi and I headed for Le Bol for salad and cidre, then did some shopping and we all met up for ice cream and cocktails in the evening.

Today, Martin's parents had to head home early and Martin helped Ursula make some vital decisions about her living situation. I guess we are ready for the new work week, although I could handle another day off. :)

Eye & Nose Candy

2011-06-16T20:58:00.004+02:00

Honestly, I thought I was past the age where I swoon over boybands, but oh dear... those boys from Blue grew up alright:

Whenever I have the feeling I might be a bit smelly, I step into the nearest perfume store and spritz myself with some very expensive perfume. Now I found one that I really like but its name goes so much against my deepest convictions and beliefs - I simply don't want to wear it because I don't want to send the wrong signals:

What happened last week

2011-06-13T09:56:00.009+02:00

1) Sarah turned 28
We celebrated with a great barbecue on their terrace until the storm came and we had to move the whole party inside. Unfortunately, I missed the storm as such because I had to lay down since I had a massive migraine. Yep, that's me: going to a birthday party and taking a nap from 7:45 to 8:30.

Great food, great people and Martin made some fantastic cocktails! There's another career option.

Then the storm came raining down...

Grab the table and shuffle inside.

2) My poor Mom got really ill
Last week I called my dad for their new address (by the way - anyone who needs my parents' address, send me an email), he told me he had to take mom to the hospital because she had been ill all night. Now that's a comforting thought in the middle of your workday. But she is feeling better now and her 'grumpy old self', says my dad the King of Grumpy.

3) We said goodbye to Patrick, who is moving away
Seems like people are growing up, slowly but surely and moving away to make a stellar career. Who would've thought it'll go so fast?

Back in the days: 2007.

4) We said goodbye to Jena, who is moving back home to San Francisco
It was also Jena's birthday last week which she spent in our appartment for the last time. We fed her cake (Coconut with Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Frosting), took her to Sri Lankan dinner and had Ice Cream. Martin made breakfast quesadillas. Her farewell was celebrated at one of my new favorite restauarants in Vienna, which is located right next to the Old Danube.

Not my photo

5) We managed to get our cards sent in time for Father's day
That is something like a once-in-a-lifetime achievement, so it definitely needs to be mentioned. Happy belated Father's Day to all the Daddies out there!

King of Grumpy

6) We booked a holiday in Southern France
Despite our quite restricted budget, I couldn't let summer pass without a teeny weeny vacation. So we booked a holiday around the Côte d'Azur and some of Provence. We going to be on a tight budget, so hotels or B&Bs won't cost more than 70 € for both of us, flights were 150 € a head. The only expensive thing will be the rental car, for which we'll also get the smallest category.

Now & Then

2011-06-07T20:55:00.004+02:00

2000

A difference of 11 years...

I knew back than that we'd get a photo done more than a decade later.

I know now that we will get a photo done in a decade and in two, in three...

I know we'll be a'moaning and a'groaning when we're old grannies.

It might not be in person, but that's what makes our friendship special:

Location not an issue.

I guess it's a working long-distance relationship.

Based on teenage secrets, Disney movies and quirky music tastes.

I guess those are the true pillars of friendships.

2011

What a party

2011-05-28T17:47:00.007+02:00

On Monday we returned from our long weekend celebrating Martin's Dad's 60th birthday in the middle of nowhere. At a little farmhouse at the end of the road. A gravel road. Where usually there is just the farmers' couple, cows, goats and some turkeys. But the party was the bomb: we had first class catering (the poor chef!), fun party games, lots of wine and beer, just a bit too much schnaps and good music. We all stayed overnight in dorm rooms or in the hay, we had breakfast in the beautiful alpine meadows with milk that came straight out of the cow. Literally.

So, when I was sitting at work this week, researching statistics to compare GDP growth and growth of energy consumption, preparing four different trips for our bosses and reading through the IPCC reports on climate change, I had some fun things to remember:

Smiling faces.

Someone who was happy with his birthday present... (the amp)

The boys who went for a little walk after dinner. While the girls did shots.

The boys who posed for a men-only photo. While the girls did shots.

These girls who did pose for a picture while they were working on our breakfast.

A Sunday morning breakfast.

Martin's brother and his wife who roasted the birthday boy.

How we all behaved civilized for a little while.

... mainly out of respect for the fabulous food.

And how we played in the hay in our pretty clothes.

and how I head-butted with the baby goat.

And today, when I stepped on the scale after a rather exhausting work out session, I thought about all the good food I had and all the good wine... although I might not be in a position anymore to have more Nutella for breakfast than bread.

What got lost along the way

2011-05-18T10:07:00.005+02:00

So, there are several things that I just didn't blog about for the most simple reason of not having the time to do so.

1) We participated in the Pink Ribbon Run 2011 - it was only 2.5 km, but we had a lot of fun and I was really proud of myself and happy that the boys joined me. They were a bit afraid that they might end up having to wear pink t-shirts! I got rather emotional halfway through when I started paying attention to all the people who were running for a particular woman in their life who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Several of them had t-shirts with photos and "For Mom", "For Emma" etc. written across their shirts. (Photos were taken by Sarah, the celebrity photographer)

Can you find us?

All running for a lady called Brigitte.

2) We had Jena's parents over for dinner at our home just after Easter. I wanted to give them a typical Austrian dish, so I made Kartoffelgulasch, Feldsalat and Schinkenhörnchen. We gave them elderberry syrup and I made muffins with cream cheese frosting and blueberries for dessert. I managed to pour the muffin dough into all the muffin forms without spilling a single drop, and then the tray slipped and all twelve of them tumbled over. I was so upset I had a furious crying fit right then and there in the puddle of muffin dough.

Dinner with the Wuus, our special guests from Alabama.

3) We watched the Harley Davidson parade last weekend, and we both had so much fun watching the bikes roar by. Martin made this video, if you want to see most of the 1.500 bikes riding on Vienna's Ringstrasse and if you watch closely you'll see me waving with my rubbery arm. I'm certainly no princess material, judging from my waving skills. :)

... Other than that, very busy preparing for Martin's father's 60th birthday party this Saturday which is all still a very tight kept secret, but involves many little arrangements and errands that must be run, including preparations for old fart goody bags and most importantly: WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?!

Glued to the Couch again

2011-05-11T10:02:00.004+02:00

Fresh Asparagus from the Market!

I don't know if it's got something to do with getting older or with the building I am working in, but I have never been sick so much as in the last two years. I was really proud of the fact that I was only sick once in three years in my old job - back when I had a part time job, was studying at university and had a second job as a tutor at the English institute. So stress can't really be a factor. Why am I writing this now? I AM SICK AGAIN. And it is really getting on my nerves lately. Yesterday was really bad with all the symptoms you just wish for: sneezing, headache, sore throat, ear ache, cold shivers and a hurting back. Today it's all the same, just a slight bit better. I've been medicating myself since there is so much medicine left from my previous illnesses and I guess it's working alright but I'm just so over this whole sickness thing. Right now I'm at a point where as long as I am lying on the couch not doing much - neither concentrating on anything nor doing anything which requires me to move around - I feel just fine. Then I get ants in my pants and I attempt to get something done. I just now spent ten minutes putting my winter clothes away and my summer clothes out and now I am exhausted. I was breathing so hard from hanging dresses in the closet that I had to take a break.

Thinking of better times... The weekend was gorgeous and very productive. We went to the market for the first time this year, spent the afternoon on the Danube Island, had ice cream and watched Jaws. On Sunday we cleaned all the windows, vacuumed and tidied everything. And I made one of the very few dishes I can do really well: Risotto.

So I decided to share because if I am really good at making it, it must be dead easy.

Ingredients:
(serves 4)

1/4 liter of white wine (any dry one will work, this time I used Pinot Grigio)
1/2 liter of broth (I blanched the asparagus and used the blanched water to make the broth)
2 small chopped onions
1 chopped garlic clove
4 handfuls of risotto rice
almost 1 pound of asparagus - washed, cleaned and chopped in 2 cm pieces, blanched in boiling water for about 2 mins
Salt, Pepper
1 cup of grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon of butter or if you're lactose intolerant like Martin - rape seed oil (NOT olive oil, I don't like to cook with olive oil, it burns easily and goes bitter)

In a large pot, heat butter/oil and throw in the garlic & onion. Slightly cook, until the onions start to become transparent. Then add the rice and stirr until the rice is also slightly see-through. Now add a bit of white wine, just enough to cover the rice mix. Stir until it goes all slimy. You want slimy all the way to the end. When there's almost no liquid left, put a little bit more wine in, just as much as the first time. Stir. Slimy. More Wine. Continue this procedure until all the wine is gone and then continue with the broth (will take about 15 minutes during which you are stuck to the stove, because you'll be constantly stirring). When about half the broth is gone, try the rice if it's almost done. If it is just about done, add the aparagus, continue stirring. (That's why you needed the big pot, it'll go messy otherwise). After about five minutes, the asparagus should be crunchy but hot. Now add the parmesan. Stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper - serve.

This time we added some grilled mushrooms: throw them in a hot pan with a few crushed garlic cloves, salt & pepper and serve when they're brown all around.

Lucky to be here

2011-05-05T21:40:00.003+02:00

Vienna is indeed a great place to be. Once in a while you just happen to stumble upon things that really make you happy.

Like, meeting up in the city to enjoy a bit of sun and then you run into a piano player infront of the museum for art history, who is playing lovely 'Klavierkunst':

Or in the middle of the usual workday this happens:

Boss (yells): "Katrin, you want opera tickets?"
Katrin (yells): "Mmm... dunno... when?"
Boss (yells): "Tomorrow."
Katrin (yells): "Yeah. Thanks."
Boss (yells): "Oh, I just saw it's Ballet. But it's just ten euros a piece anyway."

Turns out, we get seats that usually costs 130 € a piece, two days after the premiere. It was absolutely stunning and beautiful. The dancer's pants reminded me of the Nespresso capsules, and Martin was inspired to do a new design for bathroom appliances.

Tomorrow I'll meet one of my best friends from back in school. I haven't seen her for exactly ten years, I'm really excited!!!

Back to the Roots

2011-04-29T18:41:00.004+02:00

My Oma, she'll turn 90 in December and she still climbs ladders.
She shouldn't, but she's stubborn.
Stubborness runs in the family.

[Unfortunately all the family time last weekend was overshadowed by some very tragic news from my family in California. We are still very much in shock and heartbroken. Our thoughts are with all of them and we hope they'll get through this horrible time somehow.]

I spent Easter with lots of my family, which was great. I went and stayed with Mom & Dad, then Mom & I drove to her mother's house, then Mom stayed overnight with Sarah's family after a dinner with Martin's parents (where I was staying) and on Sunday we went for a walk on the lake with Martin's parents, his aunt and my Mom, where we ran into two of Mom's sisters, their husbands and Oma. You still following? Here's some photo support:

Good Friday with Mom & Dad on Lake Starnberg.

Walking to the boardwalk of Lake Constance with Martin's family and Mom.

Oma and my very handsome brother.

I love all of my families very much.

Don't take anything for granted.

Salzburg

2011-04-13T19:45:00.004+02:00

(Stupid blogger deleted my first Salzburg post. Stupid.)

Considering that April showers have now started working in earnest for those May flowers, it was a great luck for us that we had such a gorgeous spring weekend in Salzburg.

We took the 9 am train to Salzburg, which got us there at noon. First we checked into our hotel which Martin's brother - he of the superior connections to the tourism industry - so kindly booked for us. The best part was breakfast on the 15th floor, with a beautiful view of the Salzburg Fortress and the beautiful Salzburg mountains. For all I know, it could have been the Bavarian mountains, but I'm pretty sure about the fortress.

We met Martin's brother and his family for an afternoon in the city, and after a short break at McDonald's (how awesome is it that McD now sells macarons in their cafe?) we headed to the Haus der Natur. Haus der Natur is a science museum where the kids went bezerk the second they set foot in it.

Two hours of that + a very front-seat view a birth video = we are SO SURE about our no-kid-policy.

(Lately, my dad has learned to read this blog. So, sorry Papa.)

Uncle Martin! Uncle Martin! Uncle Martin! Can I take a picture! Come! Look! Uncle Martin! Hold me! Not her! Now me! Hey! My turn! Uncle Martin!

Boah, fisheez.

Seems like that game was not made for grown ups. I didn't get it anyway. Stupid birds.

I got my turn in the crane, too. Martin got about 3 billion turns in the crane.
(Uncle Martin! Uncle Martin! Uncle Martin!)

After we finished in the museum, fed everyone ice cream and got lost on the way to the car, Martin and I were dead. But, alas, no rest for the wicked so we raced through our showers, put our evening faces on and ran off to Ursi's 30th birthday warm up party. We inhaled a Chinese dinner on the way to have a decent basis for the drinks. The party was very nice, Ursi looked as fabulous as expected (I hope to get some photos to prove it soon) and we met new people. It seems like Ursi enjoyed the butterfly confetti and the glitter bombs more than the actual presents, but I guess you just don't grow out of some things. :)

Sunday was spent with a huge breakfast and a very lazy walk through the city, before we caught the 4 pm train back home. Martin fell asleep on the train. I didn't. Yeah, me!

Siamese twin horses, equal opportunities reaches the animal workforce.

This was taken last Sunday, looks like in the olden days.

Lay Low

2011-04-06T20:44:00.003+02:00

Martin and I both leaved through this magazine which we get for free at one of the local stores. We were both seriously salivating.
(Basil Crème Brulée with Balsamic Strawberries anyone?).
The best thing is that every single recipe I have cooked out of this magazine worked out. AND they tell you exactly where you can buy the ingredients, by zip code. AWESOME!
Now if they could just add a little note about gas oven temperatures, it would be perfect.

After such a glorious weekend, we are now experiencing a rather low week. On Monday we got into some very heavy rain showers and unfortunately, I caught a little head cold. But nothing will take away from me that we're going for a fun-filled weekend to Salzburg on Saturday, to celebrate Ursula's 30th birthday. The girl's got it good, she is pre-celebrating because she'll be in New York City for the real day. Makes me want to wish I had a grand plan for my 30th, but I guess celebrating 29 years o a white sandy beach in Cancun with a cocktail or two isn't so bad either.

(Scratch the part where I've been working and staying in a crappy hotel more than 5000 miles away from everybody I love. And the part that I missed the Kings of Leon concert. Oh, and did I ever tell you about the ant trail straight across our table at one of the hotel's restaurants?)

So this week we're taking it easy. The only highlight for this week is that tomorrow I get to fork over almost 100 € for a new US passport. The total lowlight (is that a word?!) is my crappy gym performance yesterday, yapping after 2.5 km and glowing in an unhealthy shade of red. Embarrassing.

What a difference a week makes...

2011-04-03T19:18:00.001+02:00

Last week, there was nothing but barren bushes and trees, brown-grey patches of grass and empty flower beds. And within just seven meagre days we got this:

Happy Spring! (Finally).

I have new glasses!

2011-03-20T18:37:00.004+01:00

My first designer glasses:

Martin trying them out:

Our stuffed dog, trying to look smart:

Me posing... I wasn't really reading a book, I was watching TV:

Gyoza and Bing

2011-03-20T18:13:00.004+01:00

We just had to repeat the fun we had with Jena a few weeks ago when she stayed over for a night. This time, she offered to cook something Chinese for us. She used her mom's recipe for the food and we improvised on a limey, gingery soup for the dumplings. Basically, you make a dough and then you fill it with a meat filling, and then you cook it in water. They certainly didn't turn out pretty or sophisticated, but they sure were tasty. Jena also made Bing, a kind of bread with lots of green onions, I loved it, Martin liked it, but we made Jena take all the leftovers, since it does not go with my current diet plan. We sat around the kitchen all night, drank lots of red wine and ate my home made Linzer Torte as a dessert. The cake turned out quite good, despite my putting an egg too many in!

Martin helped Jena put an apron on. And boy did she need one!

Aren't they cute how they are working next to another? I did help too, I swear!

Yummy!

No dinner without cake.

Do what you can

2011-03-20T18:08:00.003+01:00

I donated money for the Japanese Red Cross.

For that, I got a tiny little origami crane.

I wouldn't have needed the crane, but I like it. A lot.

Do what you can!

Taste Journey to Nepal

2011-03-09T20:39:00.005+01:00

On Thursdays, Yak & Yeti, the Nepalese restauarant of Vienna, has a Momo Special. All you can eat for 12 Euros. So we used the opportunity to meet up with some of our friends to stuff ourselves with their version of Dim Sum. I must say, it was really good food! The downpart was that the only non-smoking section is the 'ethnic' one, where you sit on the floor. Seems like we're getting old, since all of us had a hell of a time getting back up. Three days later, I had a running shoe video analysis and my trainer could still tell that I had pain in my hip!

Anyway, here are some impressions... All pictures turned out a bit blurry, because we were trying to avoid the flash. I did try to make them look artsy with the processing, though!

Reflections of Jena

Lisa is the 'newbie' in our group, she's Heinz's girlfriend and her mother is from Tunesia. Very sweet, and very worried about the situation in North Africa.

Trying not to move so that the photo won't blur.

Alex and Georg definitely moved during the photo. No poise, people!

Don't eat that, bugger!

2011-03-09T19:56:00.007+01:00

This little guy had lost his Mama and he can't do tricks with his tongue.

When I got into the subway on my way home today, I heard a little boy yelling Mama! all through the train. He must've had been at it for a long while, because his voice was already hoarse and his cheeks were flushed. His mother was at this point already trying the ignore-tactic, but he was still getting very much attention from everyone else in there, and so gave a high pitched special for his audience. At one point I dared to look over and the little bugger just went and stuck his tiny tongue out at me. I usually like flirting with kids on public transportation, but this one was so annoying, I was well beyond any playful eye rolling and waving. I tried to stare him down which came to absolutely no avail...

I couldn't believe in how many ways that ugly little kid could twist his tongue around.

One day, he'll make someone very happy with those acrobatics.

But he screwed up his karma big time today, so he better watch out!

Here's to the Dozen!

2011-02-27T15:36:00.004+01:00

On Monday, Martin and I will be a couple for 12 years. To celebrate that, we had a fabulous weekend with cocktails & friends, a delicious dinner at the beautiful Aux Gazelles restaurant (which I then topped with a Caramel McSundae, because that is the best dessert in the world. Just ask my mom. She used to drive us to McD for a treat and only get the sundae.), Saturday at the Vienna Spa, a couple movies, a good workout (I am getting faster!) and a walk downtown with two half priced chai lattes thanks to a voucher I have carried around in my purse for over two thirds of a year.

Martin's phone takes very weird photos, but we didn't want to carry around our camera all day.

I really enjoyed the spa a lot, which comes as a surprise, as we both don't really like saunas or steam baths, but their pools and jacuzzis were really nice. The whole place is still very much under construction, but they hid it quite well behind printed screens. They had several smaller baths, with jets all over the walls and you could swim outside many of them. It was a bit weird to be sitting in steaming water when temperatures are actually freezing! My almost favorite feature was the (outside) 'floating pool with liquid sounds', which was basically a saltwater pool with built in benches. But you could just float on your back in the middle of the water and they had underwater chill out music - so good! Of course the absolute favorite for me were the two slides, one of which had light effects in it, making me feel like I was on some sort of awesome trip.

Happy

2011-02-20T15:16:00.006+01:00

I love homemade smoothies: blueberry, blackberry, apple and ice.

This weekend is just perfect...

I love that we had a friend over for dinner who stayed until 6 pm the following day. We had satay & peanut sauce, spicy glassnoodle salad and a nutty apple cake with ice cream. Red sparkling wine, red normal wine, aperol sprizz for Martin. On Saturday morning we had banana pancakes, salmon and strawberries for breakfast (I know, naughty to have strawberries in February). Then we continued to eat, chat and watch Mad Men until we had to leave for a party that night.

I love that I really didn't feel like going out and had a blast when we got there. Our friends Daniela and Alexander are the perfect hosts, and catered for us with cocktails and beers, fantastic food, fun games and great music ... never thought I'd say that about the Lamabada. I even enjoyed to stop over at Burger King at 3 am, halfway through our 1.5 hour journey home.

I love that that cab driver looked back as he was turning into a road that led away from us and saw my frantic waving.

I love that I was in bed until 2 pm today, while we drank tea and ate breakfast in bed, I finished reading On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan - which was beyond brilliant - and Martin and I told each other stories from our childhood in between naps.

I love that this weekend showed once again that it's just not feasible to worry. Things will work out and people are so much more than what we think they are. There is nothing wrong with relying on the kindness of strangers.

I love and feel loved.

Just Because We Can

2011-02-16T20:43:00.006+01:00

Bonjour Paris!

We went to Paris over the weekend. Just like that. No pre-planning, no great expectations, no shopping agenda, just Paris, just the weekend and just us. Close enough to Valentine's Day, as well. We flew out on Saturday morning at 7 am and were out and about in Paris without worries at 10:30 am. On Sunday we flew back to Vienna at 8 pm and were back in our own beds at 11 pm.

Just because we can.

And we could basically because of the last minute deal. :)

Our hotel was smack in the center of the Latin Quarter. With a cosy room, a firm and narrow bed (just perfect!) and flowery curtains. If you stood on the bed and looked over the house across the street, you could see the Sacre Coeur Cathedral.

We mainly stayed in the hotel's neighbourhood, getting lost in the tiny streets. Instead of the grande boulevards and gigantic monuments, we opted for the quaint alleys, little bistros and basically ate our way through St-Germain-des-Prés, the Marais and Monparnasse. We only saw the Eiffel Tower twice from afar.

One of the little bistros we passed - can you see the man with the red nose on the second table?

One of the few famous sights we actually saw. I insisted on walking across Pont Neuf and kissing right in the middle of it. Martin was not so thrilled with the tourist kitsch, but he did fall for the love lockets. :)

Hey! It was the weekend before Valentine's Day. Cut me some slack!

Did I say, we ate our way from bakery to bakery?

I must say, French baked goods are to die for: macarons, pain au chocolat, baguettes, sandwichs, croissants, etc... Anything sweet in France I can't resist. But I don't really care for their normal cuisine. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant on Saturday night and I did not like it. (I wonder how many mails de haine I get for that sentence?). The considerable sugar and butter - oh butter! - intake during the weekend, put two more kilos right on my love handles. Thanks, Paris.

Do you get my point?

In reference to my mother, who at the tender age of nineteen, lived in Paris for a year and hung out with the bo-bo hippies in the seventies. She played her flute in the Metro stations to get enough money for a pain au chocolate. She knew Gunther Grass, but says he was a bit cookoo. She's a true inspiration.

Monsieur, walking home after church on Sunday morning.

... And good thing that Comptoir des Cotonnieres store was closed.

Very impressive St Sulpice Church.

Inside the church, they had an organ concert going on when we got there. Can you imagine the sound of that instrument? It drifted out on the deserted streets, luring us in.

Flying Duck - good thing we didn't eat his cousin. Then I would've felt bad taking this photo.

On our way to the Fondation Cartier. The lady who had been moving her TV set politely waited out of view for Martin to take this picture. Charming, indeed.

Turbo Boost

2011-02-08T20:02:00.004+01:00

On Friday afternoon the boys and I made a pilgrimage to Vienna's White Trash Hub, Lugner City. Whatever embarrassing you can think of, you'll find it there: clothes that are mainly made of plastic, ill working merry go rounds, trashy beauty contests, fat girls in track suits and skinny boys with tanning bed-orange faces and white sunglasses in winter... and of course, all kinds of celebrity wrecks.

So, when we found out that David's favorite childhood actor would be giving autographs, we were of course there two hours in advance to stand in line for a little signature. Well, the best part was the people watching and the fact that we could get cold beer in the grocery store while waiting. Apparently true, hard-core fans had been waiting in line for many more hours already and we ended up getting the door slammed in our faces because there were too many people there. No autographs, but at least we got some photos from a distance!

Nu Rulez & Money well spent

2011-02-02T19:01:00.006+01:00

A show I saw for the very first time this Sunday, and I was not able to change the channel. Pure meditation.

Last week after another tedious evening spent infront of the TV, watching the most atrocious shows ('I have twelve kids with stupid names, come join me in my fun' or 'We're white trash millionaires, look how we decorate our yacht in white, gold and leopard skin'), Martin and I came up with a new rule for our house: We shall only watch TV on two week nights. So we immediately settled for Monday (Glee, Desperate Housewives) and Thursday (Criminal Minds, Bones and a home video show) and, of course, the weekend.

Little did we know that I would fall for yet another head cold in the beginning of this week and while I was too tired and sick to watch TV most of Monday (when I could have watched according to the new rules), I was okay and feeling good enough to sit up for ten minutes at a time on No-TV-Tuesday. So I read a chick lit novel front to back in nearly a day.

Today, I'm still not totally well but hey, I was not gonna spend a sick day at home without TV again, so I bravely marched to my dentist appointment and then on to work. Who would have guessed that before my 11 am snack, I would have spent 230 Euro, without the instant gratification gained from retail therapy?

At 8:45 I tried on the pair of snowboard pants Martin had ordered, but were too small for him and he couldn't send back. Martin likes to snowboard, he has good gear and quality clothes so that pair would cost 170 Eur in a store. He got it from a friend and paid half of that. I do not like to snowboard all that much and I'm not that good at it either. But, the pants fit me well, the pro-pants will be mine and I owe Martin about 90 Euro.

At 9:30 I sniffed and humphed into the dentist's and croaked my way through reception. I am terrified by dentists and brush my teeth like a maniac, just to avoid having to go there. They x-rayed me, they put me in the chair, the doctor came , swivelled her tiny little mirror around my mouth and said: 'Good, u-huh, fine, okay, that's nice', so I start to relax a bit until she says, 'Oh, I think I need to drill here.'. Just like that! No warning, nothing. She doesn't even have to finish the sentence asking me if I wanted anestes-HELL YEAH. In goes the syringe, I start to feel the numbness and here they come again the three sisters of pain with the four different kinds of drill they used on my poor little tooth. So I flinch and I crinch, I curl my toes and wring my hands, I drum my legs on the chair and squeeze my eyes shut to think of happier places like public toilets in Italy or a Saturday afternoon in H&M. I might have cried a little (read: I had tears rolling down my cheeks). Then I forked over 90 Euros for anestesia and the white filling, since Austrian medical insurance will only pay for silver amalgam and that would mean there would be an ugly reminder of my horrible morning.

I finally wandered away at 10:35 with my left cheek hanging down and drooling a bit from the corner of my mouth to get a 11 am snack that is a) liquid, b) comes with straw and c) does not give me a sugar shock. I get a Latella-la and pay another 50 Euros for my monthly subway ticket and there you go: 230 Euros gone before I had the straw in the bottle.

Sunday in the Country

2011-01-29T19:48:00.006+01:00

Ok... so it took a full week for me to report on last weekend. I must say my week has been tough and long. Except for a very delightful evening with old friends and the most charming Italian-Austrian baby who snotted all over me and my hand-wash sweater.

Anyway, after a fabulous Bolognese-Jello Shots-lots of Wine-Rock 'n' Roll-Mad Men Saturday, we were just a weeny bit hung over on Sunday. On the other hand, the weather was beautiful and we needed fresh air, so we went for a ride past the outskirts of Vienna. An adventure indeed, as we've never ventured into the near distance outside city limits. So we headed to Baden, a quaint little spa town with a casino and a population that is 65% over 65 years of age. We saw a total of two children the entire time we were there.

Martin on top of the little hill.

I tried to give my best Evita impression, but no one was impressed.

Along the Beethoven walk, it certainly did not look like the middle of January.

An old couple in the café where we had espressos and cream cakes after the walk.

Downtown Baden

Sometimes it felt like a ghost town.

One of the best soups we've had in a long time: bread soup with chanterrelles and bacon. Served in a glass. Delcious!

A great day.

Where's the Lasagne?

2011-01-24T18:21:00.005+01:00

Overheard on the bus today:

12year old girl: "I wish I was a cat."
other 12year old girl: "A cat?"
12year old girl: "Yes, they have a good life: all they do is sleep, eat, shit and sleep."
other 12year old girl: "But it's a short life."
12year old girl: "A happy one."
other 12year old girl: "You'd be castrated by now."

This Week in Review

2011-01-21T21:36:00.005+01:00

View from my office this morning at 8:34 am.

Monday
I was home early and studied French for exactly one hour. Which actually means I read the exercise book while having a sandwich. Martin came home around eight and we watched Glee which is finally - finally!- on German TV. My boyfriend's not a fan, but he kept on singing Don't Stop Believing all night.

Tuesday
The second of three French tests went okay, but it was mostly free writing and I cannot judge my own ability in that. Back to the gym again, I did quite well. It's starting to get easier again although there are no measurable results yet. Nothing on TV that night so I read a bit more of The Girl Who Played With Fire. I'm not into it...

View from my office this morning at 8:37 am.

Wednesday
I made an awesome mushroom and artichoke strudel. You basically throw together mushrooms, artichokes, diced tomatos, and feta cheese. Season it with salt and pepper and wrap it in filo dough. Brush the outside with beaten egg and sprinkle with a little grated cheese. One tip: don't make too much filling so that the strudle won't close. That'll get messy. Believe me, I know.

Thursday
Third of three French tests. Later that day our teacher gave us the results: I got 91%. I guess that's okay for having missed half of the classes. We finally settled on a night out with my French buddies (yeah!) and I hit the gym that night. Gloria Gaynor and Project Runway make Katrin run, run, run!

View from my office this morning at 8:42 am.

Friday
Tried to make Martin go shopping with me after work, which lasted for exactly two stores until he got angry with me. We're going to a Mad Men party tomorrow night and I don't really know what to wear. But I've prepared jello shots for the dinner at Jena's before the party, which will help.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Muesli, Bearded Ladies and a lot of questions

2011-01-16T13:15:00.004+01:00

All organic, all whole wheat and lots of dried berries.

My New Year's resolutions are going okay. I've been back to the gym twice, I've been eating properly (see my homemade muesli), I've been spending time outside and I've just put away all my clothes. This weekend has cost me a bit more than expected, but I am being more prudent already. We haven't made it to the movies yet, but it's only been a week.

Yesterday we went out for drinks and then to a Burlesque strip show, which was pretty good. The show had two girl strippers (I'd promised Martin nipple tassels and he got them), one male stripper (who was obviously not stripping for the ladies in the audience) and a drag queen stripper. The fabulous MC was a bearded lady with gorgeous eyes and a pair of stilettos to kill for. We had to wait for the show to start for rather a long time and the performance was rather short, but totally worth it.

The sad part is that all the friends we met yesterday are currently at a turning point in their life and rather anxious about what's ahead. There are many of us who suffer from psycho-somatic deseases at various degrees and are overwhelmed with the way our life is going. What is going on? What's happened to this generation of ours who has everything and still can't be happy? Why is our life too much for us? Where does this pressure come from that we are putting on ourselves? I don't understand that those of us who are well educated and have pretty good jobs and futures are so worried and there's others who don't have a proper job, whose partners are not able to sustain their family and these others are the ones who procreate. Is ignorance the way forward?

Celebrating Top Mediocrity

2011-01-10T19:18:00.004+01:00

Do you remember, when a while back I said I would participate in the Vienna Photo Marathon together with Sarah? And it turned out to be one of the coldest and gloomiest days in Vienna, perfect for a six-hour Sunday afternoon spent outside? And when I came home, frustrated and exhausted, because the topics were hard and I felt like I was never gonna be good enough? When I said Never Again! and washed away my sorrow with a glass of Merlot? Oh how glad I was that I finally got the feeling back in my fingers when I lay cuddled under my blanket with Martin! How glad we were that we had only signed up for the half marathon and how intimidated we were by those others who came in teams of up to six people, carrying equipment and costumes.

Well, not that there is a great revelation or anything now, over three months after it took place, but out of 358 participants we ranked 63th. No matter what you say, I am very proud of us for achieving this. Hell, I was and am very proud of us that we even pulled it through in the first place.

Officially, I can now say that I take better photos than I snowboard. The only other time I took part in a competition outside school, I did a snowboard race. I ranked 47th out of 48.

Go here to see my photos.
Go here to see the winner photos of the half marathon.
Go here to see the winner photos of the marathon.

Topics:

Hidden
Opposites
In the Augarten
Bent
Subway
Climate friendly transportation
Saving Energy
Climate protection in everyday life
A different perspective
I love Vienna because
The wonder of energy
I am natural

(Up to here was the half marathon, the rest was the full marathoners:)

Forest of signs
Art on the streets
(On the) Graben
In the shop window
Music
Set in stone
Doors and Gates
Renovating
Close by the water
Left
Waiting
Lit Up

Crash and Burn

2011-01-08T14:31:00.003+01:00

2011 did not start off on the right foot for me. The party on New Year's Eve was cool, we had good food, good company, good fireworks and a very out-of-this-world smoky country disco with a prosecco and capri sun flat rate. Flatrate? I was first a bit confused and then figured out that you paid ten Euros and could drink as much capri sun and prosecco as you liked all night long. Basically, I paid ten Euros for a glass of cheap prosecco with ice cubes, because that was all I needed at 1:30 am.

David and Sarah waltzing through the firework mist. We Austrians, we waltz once a year at least, as the first dance of every new year.

Needless to say, my hangover on the 1st kept me from getting out of my pajamas or from sitting up straight. It got a bit better in the evening and I could at least have dinner with Martin's parents.

I got a ride back to Vienna with our friends Roman and Martina and their cute and very eloquent (how many 2 1/2 year olds can say Reißverschluss without a problem?) little girl. Poor Martina was very sick and then poor Katrin got very sick, too. I was knocked out flat for the last four days which has put a stop to my blog update ambitions.

Basically, of the first 8 days of 2011, I was sick and in bed for 5. It can only go uphill from here!

Here's my New Year's resolutions:

1. Save more money. I am working on a concrete plan, e.g. spend only 20 Euro per weekend on entertainment and eating out, incl. coffee, drinks, take out food - anything that is not cooked and made at home.

2. Lose weight. Nothing new here, I need to get fitter and leaner!

3. Go to the cinema more and do it with Martin only. We've had very few 'date nights' in 2010 and I want to change that.

4. Be more tidy. I drive Martin nuts with my clothes that lie around all week, so I'll try to put them away. (Believe or not, this is probably going to be the hardest to do.)

5. Spend more time in the fresh air.

So, gotta lay down again, I'm still not fully recovered and need to relax so I can go back to work again on Monday. Thank God Martin's back, he is right now pounding the schnitzels for our dinner tonight.

Christmas Recap!

2011-01-03T15:13:00.003+01:00

Christmas this year was a really nice event. Up to David's 18th birthday (I think?) our Christmasses were held in the company of guests and a party for all on Christmas Eve. We used to live in a ski resort and Christmas time was always the busiest.

This year, we celebrated in Vienna for the first time and Martin and I hosted the affair. We got a nice Christmas tree and got the food ready. We had some snacks around lunch, egg nogg, champagne, lots of wine and beer and then a table grill and raclette affair for dinner. Everybody was very content and I believe they all liked the food, too. The egg nogg was gone within two hours, a keg for 12 people, drunk by five. Thanks to Martha Stewart for the excellent recipe!

Dad thought he could expertly open the champagne. He thought.
Lots of presents under the tree and goats for all. Everyone got a goat for Christmas, it lives in Burundi and makes a family's life there easier.
As and extra gift, David and Martin got a glass and can of Mass Bier from the Oktoberfest.
The liter of beer had David on our bed for a nap...
The spread: salsa & guac, olives, chips, devilled eggs, hummus, pickle rolls, parma ham on grissini, tomato-mozzarella skewers, salmon spread, smoked trout canapés, fresh vegetables and warm bread.
On Christmas Eve we went for a nice dinner at Listaurant, it was a gamble because none of us had been there before but not many restaurants are open on that evening. But it was a really good meal!
Martin insisted on sparklers since he couldn't have real candles on the tree.
Mom has lost her driving license for a month, so David made her this sign so she could hitch-hike to Munich for work.
David drank his coke with style.
On the way to church on Christmas Eve, Dad insisted to have a photo session. What you can't see in the photo is that I had to hold Dad's cigar while he was snapping away.
I found very cute little nameplates in November already and just had to get them!
Mom & Dad had a very giggly moment later on in the evening.
We got real champagne for a change. Yum!
My dessert went down really well. Praise to Nigella Lawson and her cherry chocolate trifle. Da Bomb!
The Christmas tree will stay up until 6 January ... or 7 January when Martin comes back to Vienna. Yes, 7 January sounds right.
The family portrait before Church. We'd told Dad (only non-catholic in our family) that church wouldn't take longer than 45 minutes so he said he'd have a drink and smoke another cigar. Church did take more like two hours and he finally made it to mass as well, just before the communion because he was bored and cold. He even shook the pastor's hand!

The Holiday: Check!

2010-12-21T18:19:00.003+01:00

Working Wonders

2010-12-17T20:35:00.005+01:00

Vienna's Christmas Lights, just a tiny glimpse of the glory.

Yesterday we had our little Christmas farewell dinner from the office. Before we went to the restaurant, my colleague Jena and I met Martin on Stephansplatz to light one of a million candles (all over Austria and Europe) to set a sign against poverty. Almost half a million Austrians are living in poverty and during this event Caritas invited people to join them and donate food. So Martin, Jena and I lit a few candles and then went to the store and got lots of food to donate. We got basic staples like noodles, muesli and cocoa powder but also good stuff like big Milka bars, canned Pineapples and Nutella. Good Stuff!

The candle lettering spelled: 'Caritas & Du, gemeinsam Wunder wirken', (Caritas & you, working wonders together)

Martin's comment to this blurry picture of us with the girl: You chickens always have to move!

Everyone helped lighting the candles.

Martin helped and burned his fingers.

Today Martin and I went and got our first ever Christmas tree - because this year, for the very first time, we'll be celebrating Christmas in Vienna and my parents are coming here, too. Wish us luck! Haha!

David and Sarah are coming over tomorrow to help us decorate the tree. Sarah is bringing over some cookies and I'll make a few for the party at my French class on Tuesday. I had made some earlier in December, but the good ones are gone, the bad ones have gone bad and the ugly ones were thrown out. We hope to hit a couple more Christmas markets this weekend and I might get a chance to get a few presents tomorrow. It's a real shame, but I haven't bought a single present yet.

In the Christmas movie checklist we've got these already checked off:

Miracle on 34th Street
Four Christmases
Scrooged
Family Stone (Martin Only)
Groundhog Day

Still on the list:

Love, Actually
The Holiday
Santa Clause
Elf
Home Alone
While You Were Sleeping

Back home and in a Christmas Spirit

2010-12-13T16:58:00.007+01:00

I got home on Friday night and wasn't as exhausted as I thought I would be. On the flight from Cancun to Frankfurt, I slept for about seven of the 9 1/2 hours, and Frankfurt airport was easy to navigate- although it did take a full hour to get out of the plane and to the departure gate there.

On Saturday, we re-celebrated my birthday on the Spittelberg Christmas market and at Plutzerbräu. Strange enough, Plutzerbräu will have you either absoulutely happy and content (on that evening, me) or absolutely furious and dissappointed (on that evening, Martin and Sarah). On Sunday we took a long walk into town, had very thick hot chocolate at Haas & Haas, ate a Halloumi Pita (me) and Chicken Shish Kebap Lawash (Martin) at Sababa and then headed to our neighbourhood church for a wonderful classical Christmas concert of the Viennese Josef Labor Choir. Most of the singers are blind and for this concert they cooperated with one of the music schools in Vienna. It was absolutely dazzling and got us totally into the Christmas spirit.

It is freaking cold today so we skipped the Harry Potter movie in the evening to stay indoors and cuddle. I had taken the day off today and really used it to the fullest. Tomorrow I'm back to the office for another week until Christmas holidays start! Hooray!

Here are some impressions of Mexico - it was a business trip so I didn't have too many photo opportunities...

Town Square (Plaza Major) in Valladolid.

Cenote (see the little people walking around, halfway down the hole?)

Three pretty ladies

Chichen Itza, the temple

Chichen Itza, the ballgame court

On the beach of Cancun, at around 7 am - there's always some benefit that comes out of a jetlag.

Self-portrait at Tulum

The troupe at Tulum: Austrians, Irish, Chinese, Indian and a Brit.

Tulum

I saw this fellow!!! When I wanted to come closer, the poor guy freaked out and fled under a rock. I would've loved to see an amardillo, remembering the epic Friends episode where Ross is the Holiday Armadillo, Chandler is Santa Claus and Joey shows up as Superman.

Cancun

2010-12-08T02:26:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone from Cancun!

I've still not bought any postcards yet, and I am running out of time. I'll be flying home on Thursday night, arriving in Vienna on 10 December in the late evening. Cancun is insane in many ways. Our hotel is the archetype of an all inclusive club including a constant loud sound level, drunk Americans and yelling kids. The food is so/so, but the rooms are very spacious and I have a nice chunk of seaview. People are really nice here, so that's something. During the day it's pretty hot, about 45 degrees difference to home, but it cools down during the night pretty drastically. I sleep in a sweatshirt because the flimsey sheets don't really do the trick.

The ocean is gorgeous and we went on a daytrip on Sunday, where I took a whole bunch pictures again. I must say, I'm not really in the Chrismas spirit, even though they play Christmas songs all day long in our hotel, including a Spanish version of White Christmas. Which I find a bit odd.

I Taj-ed the Mahal

2010-11-28T20:04:00.012+01:00

This is the third and last part of our Indian holiday pictures, just in time before I leave to Mexico next week. We've had a nice weekend with the Schönbrunn Christmas market, a Schnitzel Dinner at David and Sarah's and a very necessary trip to the gym. I had ambitious cookie baking and decorating plans that mostly stayed plans... No decorations up yet, the first badge of cookies burnt, the second almost burnt and I only made three of the five kinds. Oh well.

Back to India. The final part is all about the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, the ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri, an elephant ride to the Amber Fort in Jaipur, a visit to the Maharaja's palace and fireworks during Diwali.

The Agra Fort

Marble Inlay Decorations inside the fort.

These guys jumped into that gross water for a bit of money.

Indian ladies at the Taj Mahal.

Several families asked us to pose for pictures with them. This family took about fifteen pictures in all kinds of constellations. Very charming, I felt like a film star! :)

Stone engravings at Fatehpur Sikri, a ghost city.

The Amber Fort in Jaipur from afar.

Elephant gondolas!

Our 'taxi'.

Restorations at the hall of mirrors, absolutely stunning!

Marble butterfly

Castle of Winds

Water Castle

200 year old sundial at the Maharaja's palace.

Diwali is the festival of lights, everything is illuminated and fireworks last for days.

Goose & India - On the road

2010-11-21T12:22:00.008+01:00

It feels like I'm not really posting anything about our 'normal' life anymore because we've been gone so much lately. Yesterday, for example, we were invited for a traditional Viennese Goose Dinner. On and around St. Martin's Day, we eat goose because apparently geese cackled so loudly when St Martin was hiding in their stable that he was found and was made a bishop. Poor Martin was so shy, he didn't feel worthy to be a bishop.

The dinner was at Daniela's new appartment on the other end of town (took us two taxi rides and a looooong subway trip to come home at 3 am), which she and Alexander had just redecorated very nicely. The dinner was absolutely perfect, with home made breads and spreads, a golden brown goose, potato dumplings, gravy, two kinds of red cabbage (I brought mine with chocolate) and three desserts. It was such a great evening, with all our friends, lots of wine and very full tummies.

*******************************

But back to the holiday photos, I really hope I'll be able to post all the different ones before I head to Mexico in less then two weeks. On the one hand, I am so glad and thankful that I get this chance to travel so much, but on the other hand I'll be gone again for ten days at my favorite time of the year (Christmas) and I won't be home for my birthday again. Yes, I know, I should start to grow up!

Anyway, we spent a lot of time on the road in India:

Ridin' the Tuc Tuc

We nearly ran this one over, going about 100 km/h on this street when she just popped out of the shrubs.

Monkey God

Rice Grain Mandalas at Delhi Airport

New Delhi, India

2010-11-13T12:20:00.009+01:00

I am finally getting a chance to share a few photos of Delhi. Last week was exactly as expected, plus a bad headache and a gigantic workload at the office. There's just so preciously little time between now and Mexico, I feel like I'd need a time machine.

But now is the weekend, and we have a day off on Tuesday, so let's look at other things. I am sharing some photos of New Delhi, but I have make it clear that this is a very one-sided view. So many people there are still so extremely poor, I don't know how to describe it. Whole families living in makeshift tents on the side of the road - sometimes in the shrubs between the highway lanes - roaming through the garbage. Kids with no clothes on and emaciated women crouching next to a small burning fire for warmth. There are whole slums hidden behind poster walls and under bridges, in the country side some people actually still live in clay huts. On the other side is glorious India with an abundant history and beautiful temples, mosques and palaces. 60% of all Indians have cell phones, and some of the most luxurious hotels I have ever seen are in New Delhi.

In lack of a Mini-Van.

Holy water at a Sikh Temple.

The courtyard of the Big Mosque.

Ghandi's tomb and memorial, with praying men.

President's house, 2x as big as the white house with elephant bushes.

School kids, visiting Humayum's Tomb. (See below).

Martin with our guide, Bhuvan. He's a really great guy, and we're very glad to have met him.

At the Quitab Minar Tower in Southern Delhi.

Back Home

2010-11-07T15:02:00.005+01:00

I've never been so happy to come home. India was amazing, a fascinating country but I am just very, very happy to be back home. There are so many things we now appreciate much more: fresh air, drinking tap water, eating vegetables and salads, the relative quietness of Vienna...

We had a red-eye flight last night and we both hardly slept at all. Tomorrow we are back to work, which will probably be quite stressful in the next few weeks.

I'll post more pictures as soon as I can, but I now have to take another nap. :)

New View

2010-10-26T17:49:00.003+02:00

Today I saw my first cows on the highways and was always too slow to make a photo. They were even walking in the wrong direction.

Our new hotel is right next to India's version of the Mall of America: The Great India Place, the biggest mall in India.

The conference we are here for starts tomorrow. Today, in the late afternoon, we went to pre-register and to deliver our documents. As we get there, NOTHING is done. No stalls, no booths, nothing. My colleage wanted to put the reports in the main room for the plenary session tomorrow morning at 9 am. It is the main opening event, with a bunch of ministers coming and about 1000 excpected attendees. Well, the kind gentleman gave him two options: stack them in the room or outside. My colleague asked what the difference was and the gentleman replied that there isn't really a difference, as the room is even constructed yet.

So looking forward to tomorrow.

Here & Happy

2010-10-25T11:22:00.004+02:00

Just a quick one to say I made it here safely. The flight was okay, although I felt like I was in a time machine, didn't know these airplanes still existed! One tiny screen for the whole cabin, and on top of that they showed a film in Hindi with English subtitles. It was a weird choice, seriously.

A loo with a view

Anyway, our hotel is beautiful, and I can see one of India's main attractions (Connaught Place) from the loo. I think I might have had too much fun in the traffic today, the taxi ride took about 2 hours and cost me 7 euros with tip. It was not as bad as expected and I even got a chance to run around a small market, watching ladies getting henna tatoos and people selling fresh lime juice on the streets.

Traffic isn't as bad as everyone said. :)

Now I am working a bit from my gigantic bed before the real stress starts tomorrow - 15 hour days in hot weather. Oh well, it'll just make time fly before Martin comes and the real fun begins.

Namaste!

Go! Go! Go!

2010-10-21T21:32:00.006+02:00

Last week we celebrated two birthdays: first my sweet boyfriend turned 30 on 13 October, which we spent quietly, privately and romantically. I made him a cake and bought him dinner which we ate at home. We had the big party on Saturday, with lots of friends, family and cake. He got a combined present from everyone - a ski holiday in January/February.

Martin's favorite food - a little bit of everything. And Cheese.

Party People, having a great time at Café Phil. No other place is better for a living room athmosphere.

Birthday Boy - got a 1000 piece puzzle as a clue for his present. He guessed it after a few pieces, thank God.

Then my lovely brother, the best brother in the whole wide world although he does not like to pose for my pictures, turned 26 on 19 October. We had a fantastic pizza at an Italian restaurant called I Carusi. The pizza is a bit pricey, but worth every cent. We had a few glasses of wine and and Averna and then we went to another bar where the boys smoked a Shisha. I never understood what was so great about those, especially since none of us are smokers. A good night nonetheless and we also set the schedule for the rest of the year. Seriously, it's all planned out until January. Crazy.

On Sunday is the big day: I'm leaving to New Delhi. Our work schedule for the first few days is insane but then Martin comes on Friday and we'll have ten days of Indian sightseeing. I am a bit worried about getting sick, but in the end I am so much looking forward to seeing all the wonders of India - or at least the part where we're staying. We'll get to see the Taj Mahal. Yeah!!

Oh yes, almost forgot: Look who stopped by at work today-

Camping

2010-10-03T20:36:00.012+02:00

[I've started with this post about a week ago and I've been trying to upload the pictures ever since. Don't know what blogger doesn't like about my pictures... Today is October 10]

This was my first time camping and I had absolutely no idea what I had waiting for me. While, on the one side, it was a scary experience, it was absolutely great on the other. It's been hard to decide what I liked best: the smell of the woods? the family time? the s'mores? the dogs? the 5 am road trip? the day at the beach? the ice-cold showers? the hike in Muir Woods? the giant pancake? discovering a banana slug?

In the first night I heard strange grunts outside our tent and I was convinced it was a boar. My mom had told me horror stories of the ones she encountered in Tuscany, and the sheer idea of that had me almost pee my pants. Those monsters can kill you.

Anyway, the sounds stopped after a while and I fell back asleep. Exactly an hour later (2:04 am - oh yes, I remember well), I heard screams from a few girls in the camp. I was up, heart racing, hands sweating, shaking, blindly staring into the dark... Martin next to me also up and looking about. Now, Martin - contrary to me - is a camping veteran. He's been hard-core camping with nothing but a tent and a hole in the ground. The fact that he was scared did not really help my panic. In my wild imagination, I was sure that it must be a bear that had girls screaming like that and, after all, this was California.

Then and there, I decided that it was enough, I was packing my bag and out of there. I would drive back the one and half hour drive, even if I didn't know where exactly my grandparents' house was. There was no way I was staying in that tent - until I remembered that our car was down in the parking lot, a fifteen minute walk away from the campground, in the direction of the screaming girls. No chance I was doing that and don't ask me how, but I did fall asleep again. My slumber was light, haunted by dreams of raging wild life and serial killers slaying young girls in the forest. Funny enough, Martin also dreamt of a human killer...

The next morning I got up and was still determined to stop this camping experience. Until my aunt and uncle told us that they had seen the beasts that ravaged our campground. Plural?! I wondered why they hadn't shot them (or him?), but apparently there were four of them. Four wild animals, minds set at devouring anything that got under their tiny, anthropomorphic claws.

I was scared to death by racoons.

Four little burglars with striped tails who took away at least several months of my life expectancy for ever. I would have rather invested those months in french fries. And the girls screaming, you ask? Were there others, even bigger chicken-shits then me? They had taken cookies into their sleeping bags at night, and a racoon set on dinner will not be stopped by a bit of padded cloth...

My cousin Kevin and his girlfriend Linda - they're coming to visit very soon!

Uncle Curt, in the smoke of his precious fire and with the vintage 70s pop up trailer in the background. The trailer has been in the family for almost fourty years.

Late night dinner guest

Aunt Debbie, preparing dinner and trying to scare me with her racoon imitaiton. Almost got me. Phew!

Trattoria di Forest,
who said you can't dine in style while camping?

S'mores - serious business.

Early morning road trip to see the sunrise: uncle, aunt, cousin & girlfriend, Martin and I plus dog in one car.
There was someone else who was more carsick than me: the dog.

Sunrise roadtrip reward: two giant pancakes that could feed a whole family.

A sea of fog

A day at Stinson beach that gave me the strangest sensual sensations: very strong sun, sand so hot you couldn't walk on it, cold wind and freezing water.
Debbie and Martin were drinking beer wrapped in deflated water balls (no alcohol on the beach, weird), milk shakes and smoothies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Some Impression

2010-09-26T12:08:00.004+02:00

Time flies!

It's been over three weeks since we're back.

I've been working and working out.

Martin's been working and coughing, sneezing and a teeny weeny bit of whining. (Sorry).

(He's gonna kill me for that.)

We're preparing for our next trip (India end of October/beginning of November).

I've booked my flight for the business trip after that (Cancun - beginning of December).

The weather's been gorgeous until the minute I step out of the office.

I've been in a shopping mood but I didn't have the time.

I did order stuff online.

There's still boxes lying around our appartment.

When was the renovation? March?!

The flowers Martin got from my mom are drying or dying in the vase.

We're also planning Martin's 30th birthday.

Sarah is intending to bake a cake that calls for 48 eggs.

That's four dozen.

And here's the video of our trip to America.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

We still have our camping trip to come, it deserves a full post of its own.

And of course our road trip down the coast.

Back Full Throttle

2010-09-19T19:35:00.003+02:00

Our delegation at the European Commission in Brussels.

The minute I got back to work, I was extremely busy with all the backlog of work (despite working a couple hours a week during my vacation) and the upcoming visit of a high level delegation of Caribbean politians who were here from 12 September to 18 September. I was in charge of this, but of course there was no way of doing it without my colleagues' help.

Anyway, last week I was with the delegation 24/7, including a two day trip to Brussels with them. Then my mom and dad came for a visit to celebrate dad's birthday this weekend while my poor Martin fell ill last Wednesday with a very bad cough and a fever. So the minute I got home every day, I am in housewife/nurse mode...

Dad's birthday dinner at Gergelys in Schlossquadrat. Awesome food (Mom and I shared a Boeuf Tartare that was heavenly and their steaks are fantastic) and awesome service, in a very charming setting.

From our walk in the vinyards today, this winery had a re-opening today with a live jazz band.

I promise there are more pictures to come from our trip to America, I just need to find the time... Next week my French course starts again, as well as a vigorous diet and exercise program to get rid of the holiday layer. There were a few clothes crises before the visit, which resulted in a last minute suit purchase and a rummage through my complete wardrobe.

I am mainly online right now...

2010-09-06T19:38:00.004+02:00

... because I need to stay awake and busy until at least 9 pm. But I so want to go to bed right now. Apparently, you get a jetlag if you're going east, not west. Oh well, my two good friends, Red Bull and Diet Coke kept me good company today and I not only made it through the day, but also through a spontaneous work discussion with my boss (hello, another semester of French, an intensive power-point course and a raise!). By the time I got home I was cold, shaking and moody but Martin took good care of me.

I gained three kilos in three weeks, back to square one in my weight loss program. :(

Anyway here goes...

In the first week we stayed in San Francisco for two nights. Unfortunately I got unlucky on the booking website and we ended up right on Market Street, next to the Tenderloin. I was a bit scared, but the hotel was nice and we were on Union Square in only ten minutes.

Great Neighborhood.

But pretty hotel on the inside.

On Tuesday my aunt and uncle and two cousins came to pick us up at the hotel and took us out for a fantastic dinner at the Cliff House. Aunt Debbie really wanted to grab us and take us away from our hotel, but she was unsuccessful. I'd paid 89 dollars in advance for that tiny room!

Wonderful dinner at the wonderful Cliff House with wonderful family: Curt, Martin, Katrin, Debbie, Kevin and Camille. They have also promised to come visit so there's some more prospective couch sleepers that now HAVE to come, because I put it in writing. Oh, the powers of the written word!

Our first breakfast at an American Diner. So good in the mouth, so bad for the the other parts of the body.

Not as many as expected, not as smelly as feared and still pretty darn cute.
I mean the sea lions.

Amazing city.

On Wednesday we headed north to my grandparents house, after a short stroll with my cousin Camille in the Haight-Ashbury. There were about three 'real' hippies there, but the shops were cute and we got ourselves a coffee cup. Driving around SF is quite easy if you compare it to European cities, so we got to Oma & Opa's house quick and without problem.

On Friday they took us to Costco - what an experience! I couldn't believe the size of that store and the size of the products they sell. It was fun to string along the different samples they were handing out. While I took Oma around picking up flowers, snacks and wine, Martin was hurrying after a very swift and quick Opa in the little motorized shopping carts they had available there. He looked so funny trying to keep up with speedy Opa! They took us to a great Mexican restaurant where Martin was carded for ordering beer. Haha! That waitress was just trying to flirt with him, I think.

That's all for now. I'm not up to writing more today, but don't worry, there's more to come.

Made It

2010-08-18T03:07:00.003+02:00

We arrived safely, yesterday.

Spent all day today, running around doing this:

Market Street
Union Square
China Town
Lombard Street
Fisherman's Wharf
Pier 39
Coit Tower
Frank Lloyd Wright Building

All on foot. Uphill. Downhill. Upstairs. Downstairs. No Jetlag - strange. See ya. Bye.

Salzburg Quickie

2010-08-09T20:25:00.006+02:00

Today in a week we'll be in California. So, in order to get my mind off the extreme nervousness (how many times have I called the airline?), it was a brilliant idea to spend the last weekend before we leave in Salzburg.

On Friday we went to a rock concert. For the first time in my life I know a whole rock band and I was super-excited about that. Unfortunately my head hurt very badly all day, but three monster pills did the trick and by five I was ready for an after-work drink. Too bad that I wasn't feeling 100% like the party queen I usually am (Haha. David will fall off his chair when he reads this. There's a reason why I don't know that many rock bands.), so we went home right after the concert.

Nevertheless, I was still very happy that Ursi, our most gorgeous and fabulous hostess for Saturday night, pampered us with a bit of bubbly and a delicious home made lasagne, before she offered us her bed. Ursi is the real party queen, I tell you, and she is looking so good these days, I am very happy for her.

On Sunday we met up with Inge and Jacqueline (my cousins), their husbands (Roy and Jim) and one son each (Mike and Noah). They have five boys all together! We strolled through the city, ate ice cream and Mozartkugeln, Leberkäse and Speckbrot and had a beer and soup in a garden restaurant. Mike, Inge's son, is a really sweet little man and smart, too: He's going on a chess tournament to Prague in fall! And Jacqueline's baby is the most adorable little chubby charmer ever. Now I definitely can't wait to meet her other two next week.

Walking practice in Mirabell Gardens

Park Discussions

Bridge Discussions

Don't ask me what's so funny. Seriously. Maybe they were thinking about the ding-dong song again? It involves a frying pan, placed on a man's crotch and a wooden spoon hanging from his backside that swings to the front between his legs.
Oh.... Now I get it.

In Salzburg's famous Getreidegasse.

Dirndl Alarm!

Hangover remedies.

Oh, and just to put it in writing: Roy and Inge are coming to Vienna in September 2011. There's no way getting out of this now, you two!

Coming Up

2010-08-05T19:16:00.004+02:00

While I am really busy at work, and there's tons of things going on, I just can't wait for time to go by. I am constantly bored if I'm not super-busy. Example of super-busy?

On the way to work (takes twenty minutes, involves a bus and a subway) today, I finished my tea, applied lip gloss, read the newspaper of the guy across from me, while wondering why the woman I see every morning doesn't pluck her airbrows, got off the bus, got on the subway and checked my work emails while walking to the train door. On the subway, I started reading my book - got bored - checked my private emails, read the ones from my cousin who is in Columbia (how cool is that?!), worried about my cousin in Columbia, read the newspaper of the woman sitting next to me over her shoulder, while trying to hear the music the girl across from me who was tapping her feet to.

My dad, my uncle Charlie and I on my first trip there. Mom says, when I was born, dad called his parents in the US and said, "the baby's born, if you want to know what it is, better call me back".

I just can't wait until 16 August when we board the plain to San Francisco!

Martin, too!

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! CAN'T WAIT!

All Senses Open

2010-07-24T21:12:00.003+02:00

Last Friday at work I had to get something from downstairs and when I got back, I got out of the elevator, took a left, then the first right, passed the usual four, five other offices until I came to my own. THAT's when I noticed I was on the wrong floor. And later that night I really urgently needed to use the bathroom, so I went in, did my thing and when I came out again I faced a guy standing at the pissoir - I had accidentally ended up in the men's room. And all the poor, shocked guy got as an excuse was a hearty Scheisse from me... Oh well, I guess I can't always be charming. Or aware of my surroundings.

My lovely, sun-filled office.