2013-07-13: Wandering around Vienna

Today, given that we have quite a nice block of time in Vienna, we opted to just wander around a bit.  Amy's been amazing at planning fun stuff for all of our days, but it was nice to just head to the city with no real agenda too :)  Speaking of, and I know this will come as no surprise to you, but NONE of this would have or could have happened without Amy's immense prep/planning skillz.  Holy crap, the amount of time she put in to get our itinerary and tickets laid out ahead of time was SO HELPFUL.  Unreal.  She's awesome.  Even in the 4 years since we were here last, it seemed we could do more and get things ready in advance over the internet.  YAY!

82 steps back to the street.

Anyway, we headed downtown and hit a couple of main attractions: the Rathauspark (beautiful building and grounds) and the flea market nearby. 

"Nice pecs, bro, but are you checking out my guns?!?  Stupid nets..."

This is a pretty impressive place... 

The two-headed eagle is one of the coolest family symbols EVAR.

We also passed by Goethe - we all had to rub his shoe (thankfully no kissing this sculpture for good luck!)

Goethe is not impressed.

This bears a striking resemblence to me after enough espresso.  Shortly before the "I can hear colors" phase.

On the way to the flea market, we first had to walk through a gauntlet of sushi and seafood restaurants.  The girls all saying "HOLD YOUR BREATH!" :)  Lots of salespeople dressed up in waitstaff costumes - pulling out a chair for you as you walk by "oh, you look tired, here's a chair!", etc. 

One thing both Amy and I noticed was that the market here (with the dried fruits, olives, etc.) were different than those we saw in Germany (both Munster and Munich).  Those had different stands, different stuff.  This market had a bunch of different stands, but they all sold essentially the same thing.  Crazy.  It's like the economy is suffering, but they wanted to keep the stands full so they just hired more people and spread out to more stands.  Evidence abounds that the economy here is really suffering - reminds both Amy and I a little bit of Czechoslovakia in 1991-1992...

So, at the end of this "avenue of fruits, olives, and seafood", we hit the flea market. 

Wow.  I just have to say, I always *thought* the term "flea market" was figurative.  I didn't think you could actually GET fleas at the flea market!  There were a few interesting stands with overpriced antiques, but mainly is was a lot of junk.  And I mean that in the most literal sense possible. 

I realize this is horribly judgmental, and I'm not a bad person (I don't think), but seriously.  Who buys this shit?

OMG, it's just the missing watch gear I've been looking for!

No, these are not brand new.  I would suggest dipping them in alcohol (or acid?) before use.

But I do have to hand it to this one lady.  She sat out in her big pile of stuff that she was probably going to throw out and lorded over it like a boss.  People ate it up! 

Master of all she surveys.  "Some junk piles are bigger, but this one is MINE ALL MINE.  Part of it could be yours too, for the right price."

So the flea market felt a little more flea-ey than market-ey, but whatever - times change.

We also walked past the museum dedicated to the Secessionist Art Movement - cool stuff outside, we'll have to tour it another day.

Marc Antony was a badass. Lions on a leash were kind of like the snakes on a plane of the early 1900's evidently.

We also had our picture taken with Mozart (sculpture).  What you can't see in the picture are several small children climbing on the sculpture while others are trying to get photos.  Climbing on areas that already have damage (from children climbing on it).  Parents physically present, just lame/lazy. 

Mozart being fabulous.

My girls being fabulous.

More bodacious hinges.

This is a BIG door.

DAAAAAANG!  (this is delicious, but don't eat this, Jake)

Still chillin'

On the way home, we ended up going through a subway area that had lots of digital timers embedded in the mirrors.  One of them was about 70 feet long and listed LOTS of digits of PI.  Another one had a counter of the number of schnitzels consumed in Vienna since January 1st (a LOT - a virtual schweinicide).

We met a woman who worked for the ambassador of Canada, she gave us a lot of great tips re: plays/concerts, and Bratislava (we'll probably go there for a day trip next week).