It is Alive!

Although I will be on vacation in Carinthia the week after next, I seized the opportunity of a lift with the Mermaid on Friday after work. This is a long weekend (with the Monday being a holiday) after all and the weatherman had promised sunshine. Who knows - these might be the last rays of sun we might get this summer. Another decisive factor was that the annual "Altstadtzauber" including a night flea market took place. The latter was a disappointment as it was too badly lit to properly see the things on offer, but I was overwhelmed by the amount of people in town on a Friday night. Klagenfurt is known for many things, but being a lively town is not one of them. Unlike its rival Villach, the old town is mostly deserted and in summer months nightlife takes place in Pörtschach and Velden anyway. When I was a teenager, I remember some of our usual Saturday night hangouts  in KLU even closing for summer. Alter Platz looked like a huge open air banquet hall on Friday night:

Many other streets of the old town were similarly crowded as people were watching live performers. My Mum and I returned to check out the flea market on Saturday morning (and bumped into the Mermaid and her Mum again). Personally, I'm not a big fan of flea-markets from a buyer's perspective as I a) don't enjoy haggling and b) feel repulsed by old books, clothes and toys.

Teddy was beginning to feel rejected...

 
I do like to watch other people browse and never cease to be amazed by the stuff on offer, 98% of which I would simply have thrown away. 

Fur coat, anyone?

I did, however, buy something (yep, I know you are surprised now...). A ceramic clock face and a vintage Bohemian brooch, allegedly one of a kind: