Dan and Em's Blog

As much as I love Starbucks, I’ve been feeling left out — they didn’t have any of the typical US autumn offerings here, and I was thinking that Vienna is probably too cool for Starbucks’ traditional red holiday cups and tasty wintry drinks.  I’d kind of resigned myself to paying the price of giving up my usual coffee holiday merriment in exchange for spending a wonderful, festive holiday in one of the most Christmassy parts of the world.  (It’s a rough life — oh, the sacrifices I must make!)

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We’ve tried out a heurigen (a Viennese wine tavern) before.  We’ve been intrigued by the idea since we first saw the concept recommended on the Rick Stevesepisode about Vienna — in theory, they’re small restaurants (often buffet style) attached to micro-vineyards located within the city of Vienna.  They are only allowed to sell the wine that is produced by the vineyard associated with the heurigen (again, in theory — I’ve read that this is usually, but not always, the case, although that is part of the historical context for them).  The originally developed as a way for the vintners to showcase their wines, the young wines in particular (which is a Viennese thing), without paying tax on the sales.  Generally, the wines are good, and the food is ok, but the setting can be beautiful — a cozy outdoor courtyard with live music, a set of picnic benches with a great view, a warm dining room with candles and a lot of ambiance.  (There’s a lot of variation, of course, but this is the general idea.)  They’re very popular with both tourists and locals — last time we went to a more touristy one, this time we wanted to try one that catered to locals.

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I’ve been meaning to do some clothes shopping here in Vienna.  I don’t really have a lot of warm winter clothes that I love (and a few of the things I intended to bring got put into storage by mistake).  And, it can be really hard, as a mom, to not feel frumpy most of the time — I make sure I get a shower and brush my hair every day, but some days, that’s it.  There isn’t always a lot of time or opportunity for putting together a fantastic outfit, and I don’t really have the clothes to do it now, even when I am so inclined.  The people here are generally really well put together in terms of fashion and personal appearance, and it’s inspiring — I don’t need to look like I walked off the pages of a fashion magazine every time I leave the house (which is good, because that isn’t going to happen) but I’ve been wanting to make some changes.  It would just be nice to have a few good outfits to go to — at least a few that I know look good on me and that look good togther.

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I see it all the time — people hurrying down the street, riding on the train, sitting in a cafe, having a meal, having a conversation, playing with their kids.  They sneak a quick peek at their cell phone — too fast to be checking a message:  they’re checking the time.

Once I noticed it, I see it all the time, and it’s really pretty funny.  We’ve replaced pocket watches with wrist watches and replaced wrist watches with cell phones as timepieces.  When we need to know the time, or when we’re asked, we reach into our pocket, pull out our fancy digital pocket watch, click the button on the side to turn it on and peer down.  (All that’s missing, really, is the chain attaching it to our pocket — which actually would be a useful feature.)

Dan and I often laugh between ourselves at how much we take the computing power in our pocket for granted.  When one of us is grumbling about how “slow” or “frustrating” our phone is, the other will remark, “Oh, yes, the supercomputer/phone/camera/internet access in my pocket is just not fast enough for me!”  The ease and seamless integration of this kind of technology into our lives is something that would have been astounding (to the point of seeming magical) to us only 15 years ago or so, and now we carry these devices around with us everywhere we go.  I sure do like my fancy pocket watch.