Archive for December, 2005
Friday, December 30th, 2005
I’m all about trusting the locals. When someone who lives in the area suggests it might be a good idea to [verb] at [place name], well, what the hell, right? They’re the local, they know better. In general this serves the good natured traveler well and you’ll end up [verbing] the [superlative adjective] [object] you’ve ever [verbed] in your life.
Unless you end up freezing your ass off after dark in the streets of Steyr when it is in the low 20s. Then you may wish you’d bailed when the same sensible local says, “Let’s get outta here and go eat Italian food. Now.”
The nightwatch tours of Steyr leave from the town hall at 6pm. They retrace the steps of the halberd bearing citizens who lit the laterns, called out, “11 o clock and all’s well!” and kept an eye out for fires. The tour takes visitors through the streets of the beautifully restored medeival/baroque city. You get to hear all kinds of interesting tales about the history of Steyr. About how one of the biggest winter fires in the city was quenched with wine becasue the water supply was frozen. About a nasty duke who placed his victim’s head on a spike where it stared open-eyed at the home of the victim’s family. About the tragic depression of the early 30s before WWII when lots of kids didn’t go to school because they’d burned their clothes for heating. There’s some saucy stuff about the Steyr dress code and how you could tell a “woman of business” because she’d wear yellow. All in all, the city offers a pretty rousing history, not surprising from a place that’s been thriving as a center of commerce for over 1000 years. (Note to potential participants – the tours are in German only, though if I was going to Steyr, I wouldn’t hestitate to drop in and request a tour in English.)
Luckily, we were fortified for the tour with coffee and Kardinalschnitte, a confection as baroque as Steyr itself, made from sponge cake, meringue, and a fluffy mocha mousse that will set your heart pounding. I’m quite sure I burned off the entire slice in the first 10 minutes of the tour just trying to keep my body temperature up to normal. My hands hurt. My feet hurt. My nose felt like it might break off if anyone brushed up against it. Did I mention it was cold? Dressed in my giant down coat, the silly hat with the fleece lined ear flaps, the long underwear and wool socks, I shuffled around the cobblestoned streets and tried to pay close attention to the guide so’s to keep my mind off the cold. Every now and then I would have Julius translate some bit I hadn’t understood, but mostly it was a ploy to get him to stand really close. I tried to sympathize with the average citizens of historic Steyr, who wore mainly cotton, I learned, but those people had the good sense to not go wandering about at night when it was well below freezing.
At the river crossing that leads to the Italian restaurant, Sabine suggested we call it quits. But I’m a sucker for a view and for a big old gothic church and this tour finished with a climb up the 280 steps that lead to the top of the clock tower. It was worth it, but mostly because a narrow interior stair climb warms you up enough to restore your sense of humor and the feeling in your toes.
After the tour we bundled into the car and headed to Franz Ferdinand, a cool little bistro in Steyrdorf, just across the river from the center of town. I shared pumpkin risotto with J., Christian and Sabine both had good looking plates of pasta. Then we headed up to the cafe at Schloss Lamberg, the castle on the top of the hill. “People do this. They have dinner, then they go for a drink somewhere, right?” said Sabine. (Their girls were at the grandparents for the night.)
There are a handful of places to go out here in Aigen and surrounds and I’ve been to all of them worth visiting, I think, and some that aren’t. The bars are intolerable for their smokiness, so heading out for a beer in winter is near impossible. (Getting out in the summer is another story because you can sit outside.) So in spite of the freezing weather, it was really great to be out and about. Plus, it was fun to go on the tour. Sabine has wanted to give it a try since she first read about it and was psyched to get us all together to go.
Admittedly, there was some swearing when I told them I was planning to be in Austria until March. Spring comes early to Steyr.
The entire set of Steyr photos is here.
Posted in Austria | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 29th, 2005
In a few days, Austria assumes the EU presidency. There’s a PR frenzy around this event of course, including a partially state funded billboard project that shows, among other things, a three way where the participants are wearing masks of Jaques Chirac, George Bush, and the Queen of England. The organization responsible for posting the controversial images says they are meant “reflect on the different social, historical and political developements in Europe.”
There are 150 different images by 75 artists – three were branded offensive. They included the three way, an up the skirt angle photo of a woman’s body- she’s wearing a thong with the EU emblem on it, and a poster that says “Guess where the next terrorist attack is and win a free t-shirt!” There’s a slideshow of the offending billboards here [Link] (not work safe, boys and girls) from the Austrian press. Local reporting says the Chancellor has called for their removal. They were to be up in Vienna for a while and then be moved to Salzburg for an EU conference.
Austrians are cranky about the EU, they think they’re getting screwed. (Pun not intended, but a good one, no?) Mind you, I also heard a story on the news the other day about how Austrians are cranky in general, up to 60% cranky from 40% cranky the last time the survey was taken. Results state that they’re more pessimistic than ever, so their attitude about the EU is not different than their attitude about anything else.
I can’t hit the web site of the 25 Peaces, the artist’s collective responsible for the project, no doubt it’s down due to high traffic. The organization has done controversial projects before, including planting a vegetable garden in the Heldenplatz, a history charged plaza where, among other things, Hitler announced his annexation of Austria. I’m not sure why this is controversial – growing food in a place that was so charged seems like a prosaic way to reclaim it for the Austrians but husband says it’s like planting veggies in the national cemetery. I kind of like this idea – living things from places where there was death, but hey, that’s me. Anyway, until 25 Peaces gets their bandwidth restored, their motivation remains open to speculation.
From a critical point of view, I’ll tell you that I’m not a big fan of shock art. It’s fine for cartoons, but often, the shock value obscures the message. What’s this project supposed to say? That Britain, the US, and France are having all the fun while the rest of the EU sits at home with a magazine? That the EU is taking it lying down? Is it funny? Satire and irreverance are all fine and well with me, but they have to be really smart. One liners bore me.
The story is still unraveling and I’m wading, awkwardly, through the German language press. Further updates as events warrant.
Posted in Austria | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 28th, 2005
It took me a bit to work up to it. I’m not sure why, after all, we have the snow base and the weather has been pretty good. Still, when you know winter is just setting in, there’s not a lot of pressure to rush out on to the snow. No matter. Because finally, after lolling about for a little over a week, I went skiing.
Yes, you are shocked and ashamed of my laziness. In my credit, we lost a few days to rain and I did go snowshoeing once last week. Plus, Christmas was in there and earlier this week, we didn’t have a car. So you can let me off the hook for about half the days I squandered. Also, toss in a sympathy day or two for jet lag and for the fact that I wasn’t too psyched to go out the first time of the season alone. But as of today, ski season is open. If I’m not skiing, I’d better have a damn good excuse.
It was -8 when we left the house, which in Fahrenheit, is Really Damn Cold. (Actually, it’s in the low 20s.) The sun was a flat silver disk behind high clouds that were dropping a very light snow. We skied a little over 10k – enough for the first time out. J. left me behind on the flats and the uphill sections, but I dusted him on the downhill bits because my skis are still wearing a coat of cold weather wax from last winter. The snow is perfect – grainy enough to grab when you’re going uphill, but fast enough to keep you in motion on the flats and going downhill.
It felt pretty good to be on the snow again. I’m tired and sure to be sore tomorrow from even this little warm up, but that’s okay. Now that the first ski of the season is out of the way I can get to it and start skiing like a rich kid on holiday – daily – and start eating like Ariel Sharon Homer Simpson! I mean the pre-stroke Ariel, not the post “no more donuts for you” version.
Of course tomorrow, no go. We’re off to gorgeous Steyr for a visit. We’re staying overnight, so no skiing on Friday, either. It’s worth the sacrifice, we’ll have good company and a night out on the town instead. S’okay. With nothing but snow in the forecast as far as the eye can see, the snow will wait a day or two. We’ll be back on it by Saturday.
Posted in Playing Outside | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 27th, 2005
Shaun’s pics from the Real Canadian Superstore reminded me to take the camera with me today when we went to get groceries. I never get tired of supermarkets in places that are not my home town. It could be Italy, where the selection of olive oil is matched only by the selection of biscotti, or our own Merkur, where the chocolate takes up nearly a whole aisle. Click the pork ‘n’ wine photo to go to a few more supermarket pics.
Posted in Austria | No Comments »
Monday, December 26th, 2005
Remembrance Week, 26th Dec- 1 Jan
I’ve been watching clips from the memorials taking place for the tsunami vicitims and I gotta tell you, it’s breaking my heart. Last night I dreamt that I was at a protest of some kind, but we had all gone dressed for a funeral because before the protest, we were attending the memorial. We stood in silence as hundreds of blue laterns were released in to the sky, signifying only a fraction of those that were killed by the wave. (I gotta stop watching so much TV. Oddly, Rick, you were there, looking very smart in a jacket and tie. Later, four of us went back to an apartment that had the tinest kitchen I’ve seen in my entire life.)
The internet has done great things in delivering help – from getting goods to where they’re needed to making it a near instant transaction to donate money to the aid agency of your choice. If you find yourself with a little spare change after all your shopping or you’re packing up last year’s sweaters because you got new ones, maybe you can get that stuff in the hands or someone who needs it.
Don’t feel obligated to go through my causes. Every tiny bit of help makes a difference, whether it be to a fund that’s used in the Pacific, the Himalayas, or New Orleans.
Posted in Op/Ed | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 26th, 2005
Posted in Austria, Uketopia | 3 Comments »
