Learning the ropes

It's been one week and I feel.... like breaking into a Barenaked Ladies song!  But really, this week has been largely uneventful with the exception of Wednesdays trip to the Schönbrunn Tiergarten (Zoo) and today's trip to the Donauturm (Danube Tower).

I actually preferred visiting this country as a tourist 5 years ago because someone made my bed, washed our linens and towels, cleaned our hotel room and I had no laundry to do.  Here I have to do it myself (until I find a maid).  I tried to get most of these things out of the way during the week so that our weekends are free to do whatever we want.  The nice thing is that the kids stay out of my hair because they know that if they start fighting or driving me nuts, they will be put to work. 

I also restarted my workouts this week which has been painful.  I was only able to pull of 3 days even though I did spend another too walking for hours.  I'll call it an even 4 days.  Moral of the story: It's much harder to get back on track than it was to derail.  I'm shooting for 4-5 days next week.

I feel like we spent the week trying to figure out things and observing.  So far, I have learned:

• It's really hot in July in Vienna. People smell and some people smell more than others.
  
• Newer trams and buses do have air conditioning.  You just need to find them.
  
• Transportation tickets are on the honor system.  Plain clothes police do check tickets but they are few and far between.  Tickets can be purchased on the tram for about 20 cents (Euro) extra than if you buy them from a ticket machine at the UBahn.  You can also buy them at any Tabak (tobacco) store.  These are everywhere, but they are closed Saturday and Sunday.  You stamp your ticket when you start a journey.  There are no turnstiles keeping you from transport if you don't stamp it, but it you get caught you have to pay a hefty fine. If you need to stop and there is no one waiting at the bus stop, press the stop button or the driver will skip your stop.
  
• Everything seems to be on the honor system.  Newspapers are left out for sale outside shops at the request of 2 euro and people deposit their coins and take their paper.
  
• Dogs can ride the buses, trams and the U-bahn, but need to be leashed and muzzled.  They are allowed in most places that do not sell food or do not have other live animals (i.e. the zoo).  Perhaps zoo staff think that free dogs will upset the caged animals.  Outdoor cafe's are ok.  They seem to love their dogs more than they like children.
  
• Most businesses close early and/or are closed on Saturdays and Sundays.  Starbucks closes at 7pm every night.  As we walked to the store today, many businesses were already closed with many closing at noon on Saturdays.  I hate to think what it will be like when the holidays hit.
  
• Having a car is really helpful.  We walked about 7/10 of a mile to the store with our empty shopping bags which was fine, but coming back was a royal pain.
  
• German is helpful, but rather unnecessary.  Even the old woman on the bus today spoke English.  I think it helps to try to speak it, but most service industry personnel speak it quite well.
  
• Austrians are quite xenophobic and their current target group are the Turkish.  There is a history there with the Habsburgs trying to stop the threat of the Ottoman Empire, but I don't know if these old wounds continue to stir this pot. The Turkish actually provide great customer service as one of our friends theorized because they are treated so poorly by other Austrians.  They go out of their way to be kind, are quite friendly and the Döner kebabs are the bomb!
  
• Austria is a neutral country due to a post WWII agreement they signed in order to have Allied Forces turn their country back over to them.  They cannot take sides in any conflict.
  
• Vienna is not Warsaw.  People do not park on the sidewalk here and while they seem to drive recklessly, rules are followed and they yield to pedestrians even if there is no crosswalk.  No triple u-turn threat here!
  
• This post is not Warsaw! Warsaw was considered a "hardship" post even though I never experienced any hardship there.  This is not a hardship post yet everything seems to be more difficult.  We still don't have cell phone service and have been getting by on Skype.  In order to get phone service, we need to open up a bank account (something we did not have to do in Poland).  In order to open an account, we need a proof of residency which we cannot get until we attend a security briefing which is held on Wednesdays and this past Wednesday was a holiday.  This means that we have to go this Wednesday and then initiate the process for this residency card following that briefing.  This could take a long time because Austria's bureaucracy far supersedes the USG. Apparently, getting our air freight requires us to complete some checklist and it is taking far longer to do this than it did in Warsaw.  The kids are bored at home without their toys so the best thing to do is keep them outside in the heat so they forget.
  
• There are lots of American products (or products available in the USA) available here.  To name a few, they have Pringles, Oreos, Pepperidge Farm, Haagen Daz, Ben and Jerry's,  Phildelphia Cream Cheese (in many varieties), Coke, Laughing Cow Cheese, Capri Sun, Krispies, Starbucks (iced coffee sold in stores) Palmolive, Listerine, Colgate, Nivea, Garnier Fructis, Pantene and many more. Most of it is junk, but its available and my kids are thrilled.
  
• Certain German words like Einfahrt (entrance), Ausfahrt (exit) and gasse (lane) are very entertaining to children.  I feel for the poor German teacher this fall and expect to get a call from the principal's office at some point.

So there you have it.  I'm sure there is far more to learn about this city and this country so I will expand on some of these things as we learn more.  Until next time...