Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Calm Before the Storm

So the next few days are insanely busy, so if a day or two goes by without a post, that’s why.  We start by going to Salzburg tomorrow.  Then, Vienna Friday.  Then Venice for the weekend.  Monday we go to the Czech Republic.  Tuesday is the reception with the University here.  Wednesday is a break.  Then boom – Thursday concentration camp, Friday pack up and leave for Slovenia, Saturday (that’s next Saturday) drive 14 hours to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  Then, and only then, maybe I’ll have time to like calm down or sleep in or relax or something.  This trip is definitely a whirlwind and my feet (not accustomed to wearing shoes very often) are suffering miserably:

Tuesday 001 Tuesday 003

After another long day of lectures, I joined the laundry party down in the basement.  There was a mad rush with all of us trying to get clean clothes before the chaos starts.  A quick trip to the store and a snack-ish lunch combined with the laundry room party and quick nap made for a pleasant afternoon.

Then, this evening, we had an “Upper Austrian Night” at Johann’s Restaurant (basically in the gym of the building we’re living in).Tuesday 004

Tired and frustrated with the local fare (pictured above), I opted for the vegetarian option which, with the exception of a side salad with nothing but lettuce and clear vinegar, managed to not have a single vegetable, let alone a green one.  But Prof. Lanier taught us a new game to play with those cardboard coasters from bars that’s something like flip-cup except not really.  I’m proud to say that our table won. 

After dinner, we explored the sport’s complex:

Tuesday 008 Tuesday 006

And then us girls headed downtown for a little “girl talk/night".  We went to Josef’s, which is the same place we ate our first group meal in Austria.  It has a great indoor seating area and then it all opens up into an outdoor patio type space in the middle so that the indoor and outdoor flow together.  Although I didn’t care for the blood sausages from when we ate there, I must say I had a great time.  I’ve grown quite fond of the “high gravity” beers here because they sip more like wine.  Dinner started at 6 and we got home from downtown about 12:30, and in that 6 hour time period, I sipped only three beers.  They just have more flavor and therefore you can still enjoy them drinking slowly.

So that was my evening.  I will say, I miss my dog.  We all talked about our pets and how much we miss them over drinks tonight!  But I know Maxi-Poo is in good hands and that I’ll see him soon!

2 comments:

  1. sounds like you will be very busy, post or e-mail when you can, mom and i look forwaed to it. heck even nanny reads it every day. owen did better at football camp today, but i guess he is still to young to take full advantage of it.
    take care of your feet, soak them in hot epson salt ( if you can find any over there.

    Love....dad

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  2. Max misses his momma too! He just finished a bone (sorry!!) and is curled up in our room for night night.

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