Oh the places we'll go.....if we could ever figure out how to get there!

We spent the last two days getting organized and getting past the jet lag.  We are still largely out of whack sleeping in until 11am or further if we let ourselves.  Today, I woke up at 11am and got everyone up.  We had to venture out to figure out transportation. But where to go?

It was unbelievably hot outside.  Disney in June did not even compare to how hot it has been since we arrived.  Doing something outdoors for more than an hour was not going to work for me or the kids.  Last night we found the Wiener Linien site which is surprisingly in English.  But, right now, we don't have cell phone/data service with the exception of Wi-Fi.  The Cat, however, found this nifty iPhone app called AnachB.at.  It is the real time transportation information for Vienna and it's in English. 

We decided to take the Things to see The Amazing Spiderman at the Haydn Kino, an English language cinema (Kino) that has been around since 1914.  I had already researched it while in the states and we were plesantly surprised to see that films that were not even out in the USA were playing here. We punched in the locations into the app, snapped screen shots and we were on our way.

It took us about an hour to travel 30 minutes, but it was more due to our disorientation than the efficiency of Vienna Transportation.  Transportation here is a combination of buses, trams and U-bahns (subway/metro) that run like a well oiled machine.  Most stops have electronic up to the minute bus or tram info as do the U-bahn (see below). 

We took a tram and a bus and a train today, but they were pretty quick.  It was trying to figure out where to walk that was a bit confusing because the app tells you to go north or south and I have no idea which is which at this moment.  But we made it to the Neubaugasse stop and to the kino 35 minutes before show time.  So we explored and these are the things we saw:

By the end of our brief tour we had coffee in hand and had seen several chains familiar to us from both the US and Europe.  The familiar, a piece of home even if I don't shop there (i.e. Forever 21).  By the end of our visit to Starbucks, I had a map with every Starbucks in Vienna on hand!

The kino's first showing for the day was at 1430/230pm. We made our way back to the area and were surprised to see not just Americans, but people of other nationalities waiting to see the film.  The theater was not like the ones we are accustomed (stadium seating and an all you can eat free for all), but the seats were comfortable and they sold popcorn, nachos, sodas, water, candy and Haribo (the gummies of choice in Europe). Here are some pics of what it looks like:

But the most intersting find today was this one:

I stared at this guy trying to figure out what exactly he (and his friend) had on their earlobe.  Friends, these guys have holes in their ears and that ring forms to the whole in their lobe!  WTF moment of the day! I've seen alot of weird in my life, but I have never seen this. 

Our little adventure today served its purpose: to allow Thing 1 (my xenophobe, the anxious one) that Vienna has much to offer that is familiar to him.  I think he was comforted by hearing other speaking English at Starbucks and at the kino.  I figure that if I can balance the familiar with the unfamiliar, it will help him adjust.

Here's hoping that tomorrow I get a SIM card for my phone so I can use a real time GPS to figure out where the hell we are! Until then...