Austian adventure-a teaser

I'll write the full story later, but I just wanted to through this out as a teaser:

We went to the Alps where I encountered some local color in the form of people dressed in fur and devil masks, and bearing sticks...switches, really...which they knew how to use...

Aren't you intrigued now? :) Write more later...

Jim's in town!

There's an elevator in the Stephansdom Cathedral that brings you to the top of the north tower. The view of Vienna is amazing! And a little bit scary - the elevator stops and drops you off in basically a wire cage with stairs that you can take to nice solid stone beneath your feet...
We went to this wine cellar called the Twelfth Apostle (in English) - it was built some time in the 1100's. So beautiful. And Muskateller is an amazing wine.

This is in one of the shopping districts in Vienna - all the Christmas lights are lit now in the evenings, and it's really beautiful!
And again, the view from the top of the Stephansdom tower... We're really high up!
Sachertorte, apple strudel and melange... Vienna rocks.

More pics :-)

I don't remember the name of this church either, but I think it's St. Michael's

Random opulence...
I think this is Rathaus Cathedral also

Beautiful painted buildings...

More sightseeing pics

A plaza with a holocaust memorial.
Inside Stephansdom- no flash, so no good pics but you can get the idea.
Rathaus Cathedral in the background

Death to the fish!
And more random beauty

Pics from sightseeing Sunday

High over Vienna is Stephansdom. For an absolutely enormous cathedral, I had a hard time finding it - look at the roof though for some very cool tiling effects...


The Graben (which means ditch) - a major shopping area with stores like Versace. In the center, with the gold top, is the plague memorial statue.



They take the library seriously here in Vienna, and that's only a tiny part of the building.

Random beauty, everywhere...

Singing

I was exploring in Vienna, went into a small-ish cathedral, and this choir came in after me and started singing...

Blogging from Vienna

Vienna, things they have in:
-beautiful cathedrals
-friendly people
-amazing coffee & pastries
-Christmas markets
-the greatest hits of the 80's and 90's
-good beer
-good wine (for cheap!)
-amazing music, everywhere, even in empty churches
-culture where pedestrians rule
-and more to follow...

This is the Rathaus Cathedral and KrisKrindleMarkt.Nachtsmarkt and buildings

I don't remember the name of this cathedral but it's telling that it merits only a sentence in the guide book!

These statues are to honor Vivaldi - how cool is that???

In the Rathaus ...

I love Vienna.

Score-Jim: 1 Dinner: 1

It's been a tie game for the past two days of "Jim cooks dinner without Steph's flavor input":


Day one was smoked tofu pad thai-definitely a win!



Day two was burgers with munster (fine) but I also attempted cole slaw with the giant Chinese cabbage we got with the veggie share...believe it or not, it looks WAAAAY better than it tastes...

Scenes from Halloween 2009

The poultry family came to call.

Davey Jones and a Wild Thing
Tonks, Hermione and a Bunny

Alice in Wonderland!
in the Skeleton's Hollow (those are dog bones on the mantle...)

Shasta's halloween costume :-)

For some reason, Shasta lets us dress her up. Isn't she a cute little bumblebee??