goodbye isle of wight, hello vienna! - england day 12

my last morning on the isle of wight. i had packed most of my things the previous evening, so i was in no rush. one last walk along the beach - it looked like the beginnings of a pleasant enough day, though it was rather windy. i'd really gotten used to these morning walks - the wind, the cries of birds, the fresh sea air, the wet sand under my feet, the light ... i knew i'd miss this.

final breakfast at barnaby's, packing up the rest of my stuff, a last look out the window (ah! a view i'd definitely not mind waking up to every day!), and steve took me to sandown station. the little island train took me to ryde pier head, where i walked straight onto the ferry to portsmouth. waiting for my train to gatwick at the station, i sat outside, not even in he sun, and i did not freeze! it seemed that spring arrived just as i was leaving. plenty of time at gatwick airport, had a fabulous carrot & coriander soup at "giraffe" and the best ginger beer ever.

the flight was pretty uneventful. i had a window seat, which was nice, as it was mostly clear all the way to vienna. and i actually sat on the right side as we were flying over vienna ... the danube, the bridges, then i easily found the church near our home, and eventually made out our house! neat.

of course heinz came to pick me up at the airport - and i just knew that he'd bring at least part of our boy group (otto the croc, pruno the pig, heinrich the bear). i was right. otto and heinrich were perched on his shoulders. so dotty, my cute little travel companion, was reunited with some of her friends. it was pleasantly warm even at 08:45 pm. much nicer than the morning i left!

so, later than i'd thought, i was back home. despite the somewhat blah weather and missing out on several days due to illness, it was a good idea to go to england. i enjoyed being there. the hotel was nice, the owner extremely friendly, the vicinity to the beach was perfect. i loved the cream teas and it had been time for some fish & chips, too, anyway! anglophile that i am, i was happy to be immersed in the language, though there were days when i didn't talk all that much. i had some me time, and the illness forced me to slow down a bit, which perhaps wasn't so bad after all.

and now i'll go have another cuppa in honour of good old blighty, and a hobnob to go with it.


song of the day: goodbye england (covered in snow) by laura marling.

wien

walking home along prinz-eugen-strasse, photo-hunting at suedbahnhof (southern train station) and the nearby building site early on sunday morning



very quiet prinz-eugen-strasse



too early for trams



against everything!



05:07:29 a.m.



waiting to be taken away



platform 19


more sleepy vienna pictures


second song of the day: cigány himnusz by i-have-no-idea-who-does-this-version.

the end of time

steve gander's gig "the end of time" @ TIME, 17 may 2008


steve, pre-gig



we are the band!



wherever i [hang] my hat ...



l'accordeoniste


more photos of the end of time


song of the day: get to leave by howe gelb.

walking among the nameless dead

i finally made it to the cemetery of the nameless yesterday afternoon. it's situated near an industrial port, it's tiny, and definitely worth a visit. i thought i'd get caught in a thunderstorm, or at least in the rain, because it started to drizzle when i walked down the road from the bus stop to the cemetery, and there was thunder, and lightning on the horizon, but i was lucky.

most of the graves don't bear a name, some simply say "nameless". the people buried there were found dead on the shores of the danube near the port; people who'd committed suicide, drowned, been killed - many of them were never identified. one of the saddest graves is that of an 11 year old boy who was murdered in 1904.

i took tons of photos on the cemetery ...







... and also of the old buildings (mills, warehouses, etc) of the alberner hafen (the port).





on my way home, i walked around a market in simmering (vienna's 11th district), or the remains of it: deserted shops, smashed windows, graffiti on the walls, pigeons nesting everywhere.





more pictures, though not all 165 i took ... ;)

i seem to have overdosed on poetry. i don't feel like writing, and i have noticed that when i am out and about, i seem to see things through the photographer's eye, not the poet's. and i have not touched a book of poetry in about a week now - after months and months of reading nothing but poetry (not typical of me, really, because i normally need to read novels as well). perhaps i simply need a break. i received an acceptance note from eclectica, two of my poems will be published in their july issue.

song of the day: bastardo by charlotte hatherley.

an afternoon in the city

took a walk in the city today - museumsquartier, hofburg, volksgarten, parliament. here are a few pictures:











more?

song of the day: military of the heart by naked lunch.

udder madness

it's awfully quiet here today - must have something to do with the return of the lush to her home in bella italia. :) what can i say - it's been fun fun fun. apart from discussing the political situation in approximately 78 countries and the pros and cons of inviting paris hilton to the vienna opera ball, there was a lot of girl talk, drinking, packing/reading innuendoes into every sentence and definitely a massive amount of giggling; as well as some udder things. :)

the trip to the vienna central cemetery on friday was rather chilly - but the tombstones (erect and all) and decomposing composers (© monty python's) made up for that. we had a look around st borromaeus church - my favourite in vienna, a beautiful jugendstil building with terrific detail and the most breath-taking starry dome - and especially enjoyed confession (a. being the priestess, of course).



the baby cemetery is as heartbreaking as the old jewish section is beautiful and enchanting. ms photographer will hopefully blog some of her pics.

we checked out the new open mic at café die feile on friday evening after kaiserschmarren and writing tombstone poetry for dinner. we had some interesting company - mr lenin was sitting on our table. not looking his best, but ... what do you expect, the guy's been dead a good while. ;) things were rather quiet, especially compared to the other open mics, but i hope it'll be better next time. arlene did it for the first time - read, that is. we were the only ones reading in english (i read oxygen - first kiss and thirteen things to do while waiting for your lover, arlene read a poem from her book, Transfiguration), so it was somewhat more fun for me. but - we got a free drink, so who are we to complain?

saturday was a gorgeous sunny day - not many clouds, not too much wind, and pleasant temperatures. perfect day for an educational visit to the zoo at schönbrunn. our favourites were the two white donkeys: one of them kept jumping the other, and we were rather surprised when we found out that both of them were male. as soon as we had noticed that, they stopped doing that, and turned their backs on each other like two pouting boys. too funny. there were also a depressed buffalo, a sunbathing seal, surprisingly active pandas, munching koalas (i'd never even seen them awake), elephants extending their trunks to feel up the walls looking for food, a marathon-swimming hippo, the cutest furry penguin baby and fun primates. oh, and a kissable frog. unfortunately for my dear guest, the petting zoo was closed. she'll just have to come again some other time.


another frog prince ms a. wanted me to marry ...

educational programme part II: monty python's. now the lush has fallen in love with the lumberjack and his, um, rather odd dress sense. figures. she has a thing for ... um, things. weird things. very weird things. like ... (okay, listen, you'll have to pay first.)

in the name of intercultural relations i had to introduce adrenaline to dsf's awful sexy sports clips (the challenge is: spot the tiny, tiny connection to sports!) on tv late at night, and we had an interesting conversation about painting bald spots, hair-removal creams tested on men whose backs look like shag carpets, and the voices of women on sex commercials. not that there was any drinking involved ... *hic*

after our sunday brunch, we went around the ring by tram: i am sure ms alien was adequately impressed with all the huge buildings (opera house, hofburg, the twin museums, city hall, theater, university, ...). :) something colourful after that: a visit to kunsthaus wien and hundertwasserhaus. and then the highlight - getting all touchy-feely with the sphinxes at belvedere palace! by the time we were finished with them, quite a few people were probably wondering where we'd escaped from ...


(photo by angene arl)

we had a few friends over on sunday afternoon/evening, in honor of my wife, of course. sepp's legendary mulled wine was served, and AA was kind enough to leave a little of it for the rest of us. we played a card game and then ended up talking about riding cows and udder experiences (a's choice, naturally. she barely ever speaks about udder things anymore). quite a riot. :)


will you look at the size of her cup? (no, not *that* - the drinking cup!)


BAM! (babs - arlene - michi)

i had to go to work on monday - am filling in for someone this week, which is good. i'm just not used to getting up at 6.30 ... it was actually rather a boring morning, but most things seem rather boring after several days in ms angela's company! *G* we spent some more hours chatting happily before i took ms a to the airport. her flight was cancelled (not sure how much she paid them to try and make it look like an accident - she'd never admit that she *wanted* to stay with mememe) which meant that she had to wait around a lot longer for the next flight. we had time for some health food (hot choc and ice cream) and more silliness until the final goodbye. *sob sob*



and i am sure there is only one way of interpreting her *accidentally* leaving her bunny slippers in vienna: she. will. be. back. waaaaahhhhh! yaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!

most used words of the last few days, in no particular order: lush, udder, mad, sick, weird, long, filth, dirty, lumberjack, it, baaaaaad.

oh and: udder madness is just anudder expression for mad cow disease. ;)

* * * * *
i went to the decemberists concert last night. i was rather tired, and not really in the mood, and when i got there, the place was soooo packed that i was way at the back, and i was surrounded by people who kept chatting throughout the concert. i really don't get it. why go to a concert and then spend all the time gossipping? the sound was not too good anyway, and sometimes i could barely hear the singing! and the weirdest part was that these people kept complaining that they could not really hear the band ... go figure. they played some of my favourite songs though, i particularly love yankee bayonet and valencia, though they did not play i was meant for the stage and los angeles i'm yours.


song of the day: the lumberjack song by monty python's.