shoes.jpg (49274 bytes)

No one wears shoes in the house, takes a while to get used to. By the way almost everyone here has a cell phone (known here as a handy. They ring on trains, on beaches in movies and in cars. If you shop at the grocery store, you need your own bag.

drinkfountain.jpg (67791 bytes)

This is THE drinking fountain we saw in Berlin, I think Vienna has ONE as well No one here has heard of chocolate chips or brownies, Samantha tried to explain a brownie as squished cake but she finally had to make some to explain it. All power here is 220 volts and the plugs are very different, so even though we saw nice lamps we could not buy them. They do have cable but all but two channels are in German, and in the English channels (CNN and NBC). It is weird to be in a place where no signs or announcements are in English. The announcements on the trains are all preceded with a chime. Nothing is air conditioned and the trains are very hot. During the recent hot spell who would go to a hot mall? I saw NOT one air conditioner in a store for sale or in a house or apartment. Gas is $4 a gallon but the cars are much smaller. Everyone has a fence. Napkins are rare and no one has ice in their drinks, in fact if you are served a sundae you are given a type of cracker to soothe the sore throat the cold ice cream causes.

train.jpg (36285 bytes)

For long train trips, the seats pull out so you can sleep.

beigelbock.jpg (26828 bytes)

Samantha stayed with the Bottig family most of year in Baden as an exchange student. But for 3 months she stayed with the Beigalbock family in a nearby small village We visited this family on the evening of the day we went the 21 miles to the lake in 90 degree weather therefore I consumed great amounts of liquid here. On our visit they treated us to a great outside dinner and we were even allowed to wear our shoes IN the house!

oe3osa.jpg (33024 bytes)

On the next to last day I had the great opportunity to me with a radio amateur I had talked to on a local repeater, His name is Otto and his call OE3OSA. Also met with his delightful wife who was more than cheerful. She had spent time in Australia where they have kangaroos. They treated me to a pure grape drink and the beloved pastry. They were the most upbeat of some very upbeat people I met here. What a super way to end our time here.

Return to main Austria page