Eponymous

Today is the feast of Pentecost and right on time peonies, my favourite flowers, which are called Pfingstrosen in German - literally pentecost(al) rose/whitsun rose - are in full bloom. It's no surprise that the scent I've favoured for years now contains peonies as its head note.

Peonies in my parents' garden...

...and in the vase
The smell - divine!

Holidaying in the Country Which Requires No Passport...

I'm in KLU for the Whitsun weekend and will be staying here until Tuesday when Flocki has a "doctor's appointment". Despite the fact that I always polish off my meals, the weather gods decided to foil my plans of lots of swimming in the lake:

Instead, I spent the greater part of the morning in KLU's biggest mall, promptly bumping into the Gazelle (not exactly adverse to retail therapy either), her boyfriend and sister.

In the afternoon, I visited the country that has no border police and customs officials - Erdbeerland (strawberry fields) with my Mum. The strawberries were surprisingly ripe and tasty:

"Not Shopping" Continued

Ran into a Mexx-bag (50% off) today. Its outer "body" is made of pleated satin that looks as if loads of ribbons have been sewn together. Love at first sight:

The Gazelle (=hand) assisted me with the photo shoot.

Hope Dies Last

I've been a "power-user" of anti-cellulite lotions and potions for over ten years now. Has it helped to permanently diminish the unsightly dimples that disfigure my thighs? Nope, I'm afraid it hasn't, but it gets better and stays better as long as I carry on applying the cream. This bikini-season, I'm trying my luck with this expensive product of the cosmetics industry:Rather unusual but not unpleasant smell, no sticky residue, no results yet (bought it on Saturday) when its L'Oreal predecessor was finished. We'll see.

Sidetracked

On Friday evening, I said goodbye to Chiquita, with whom I had just agreed that yes, we'd have to curb our shopping sprees. On my way to the subway station, I passed the MANGO store on Kärntner Str. Hmmm, haven't been there in years. Let's have a loook. Ten minutes later I was at the checkout with 3 items in my hand.

Oooops.

Barcelona. Without Vicky and Christina

... but with my Mum, who gave me the trip as a birthday present. Despite forecasts of "heavy rain" we enjoyed glorious sunshine and despite numerous cautionary tales we did not get robbed. We unanimously agreed that we wouldn't have minded to stay some days longer.

The vibrant colours!

The stunning architecture!
Even the ground was impressive to look at:

Plus, I love cities that have a beach...

Should you be planning to go there, I can recommend our hotel, which was affordable, yet stylish and conveniently located.

I found Barcelona a very "un-mediterranean" city in a good way - everything well-organised and in perfect condition. On the bus, the driver wouldn't let a young mother with her baby in a carrying sling get on until someone had offered her a seat. I don't know if he personally feared a lawsuit should a sudden breaking maneouvre cause mother and child to fall down or it was mandatory for "special needs" passengers to have a seat, but I found it interesting to watch and hyper-correct.

The only thing I was seriously underwhelmed by were the shoe stores. So many people had assured me that I'd be tempted to buy shoes by the dozen. This was not the case at all since every shop we entered seemed to stock the same chucks-esque sneakers and comfortable sandals that would have thrilled my Granny.

I realised again just how easily influenced I obviously am when I visit a foreign city where EVERYone wears the same outfit. It can be something I would normally detest, but by the end of my stay I'll have decided I must have it. It happened in New York when UGG boots suddenly grew on me after I had complained about them for years. In Barcelona it was leggings, which I had already despised first time round when I was a teenager and too fat to be seen in public with a pair of them even if I'd have worn colossal shoulder pads to balance them. After seeing hundreds of women of all ages wearing long tunic-style tops and dresses with leggings, I succumbed and bought a pair. If I will ever wear it in public remains to be seen, but still I had to give in to fashion-peer-pressure...

Uuuaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhh

Just felt like it. Since throwing sharp objects at people or well-directed kicks at nether regions is not exactly socially acceptable (well, at least it wasn't last time I read an etiquette manual), electronic screams are the safter option. And tomorrow is a holiday...

Teaser

More pictures from my mini-holiday in Barcelona to come *soon*.

Well, You Live and Learn

This pretty much is my unofficial status message this week...

Literally, it applies to the sight that unfolded before me as I left the ViennaFair on Sunday afternoon:

Funny, I thought. Looks like some kind of "bike polo". Turns out, it actually is called bike polo...

Product Placement

The other day, MC and I attended an event at the Austrian T-Mobile headquarters. When we walked home we saw a huge ad on the fire wall of the building "next door":

It was by mobile-phone company Orange, reading "We just wanted to say "hello" to our competitor". Now I hate Orange's annoying jingle and new "Hallo, Europa"-line of advertising, but I found this a master-stroke and had to take a photo even though it was pitch-dark (thank you, Photoshop).

Each to Their Own...

This Sunday is Mother's Day and I have already sent little parcels to my mum and my grannies. Speaking of parcels and Mother's Day: I recently received an order of ginger-lemon tea from the UK which was wrapped in a piece of newspaper, with quite a catchy headline prominently on display:

I, for my part, decided not to entrust the Austrian postal service with any organs, but send presents of a more conventional kind. I thought it better not to go to KLU in honour of the day because the one time I did that, it ended in a car-crash...

Picture Perfect

Many of my friends went away for the bank-holiday weekend. I had a visitor and quite enjoyed experiencing my hometown like a tourist for a change. Vienna showed itself from her best side (i.e. no grumpy waiters and nasty dog turd experiences) and I was quite the proud hostess:

Speechless

It started pretty harmlessly on Friday night, as my visitor from Germany and I were invited for an Austrian feast (Leberknödelsuppe, Wiener Schnitzel and "heiße Liebe") at Amica's. I felt my voice gradually sound more and more like that of a French chansonnier after his second bottle of absinthe and third pack of Gauloises and asked for a big pot of tea to soothe my throat. By the time we got home, I could barely croak. When we got up on Saturday morning, I tried to reply to my friend's concerned "Are you feeling better today?", but all I could manage was a little "chrrrrchk" sound. At the pharmacy they recommended salt lozenges, which I duly bought and sucked on all day. They didn't help much, though and it was just as bad yesterday when I could only whisper and felt like a deaf-mute at the café, pointing at the menu and croaking my order.

I'm back to the French chansonnier stage today and - knock on wood - am hoping to regain my voice by speaking as little as possible. I used to think that "losing one's voice" was a figure of speech and I thought people were grossly exaggerating when they said they were temporarily unable to speak. Well, not so, apparently.

Doggy Bags

Seen on Wollzeile, Vienna.

Overheard

Last Friday, the Empress, MC and I were enjoying our breakfast at the office when somehow our conversation swerved to a discussion about "today's youth". My colleagues are 10 and 8 years younger than me, but they also agreed that back in THEIR days, girls in particular didn't use language as foul when in company and didn't dress as unflattering as they do nowadays. Well, be that as it may, you certainly wouldn't have overheard conversations as these on the bus:

Teenager A: I'm telling you, last night I was, like, SO stressed out. I was chatting to this friend on Facebook when you kept distracting me with all your status updates and then this Ali guy wanted to become my friend.

Teenager B: I know! My computer was killing me. It was dead slow and I had to wait for the characters to come up one after the other on the screen.

TA: This Ali's German is brutal, really.

TB: Don't you know him?

TA: No. Never met him.

TB: I only have friends on Facebook whom I know in real live. It really ruins your profile if you have all those strangers. I have this friend who has 2 profiles: one with people he actually knows, the other with loads of people he just added or who added him.

TA: I don't mind. I want to ad an American next.

TB: What for?

TA: Well, to learn English of course.

*******

Friday evening. Another teenager, her skin tanned to a scary mahogany hue, to her friend: "What are we gonna do tonight? I don't just want to go to the tanning salon again."