Update and Weekend in Vienna

It's been a while since the last post and now it's time for an update. The notable events since the last writing were a night out at Boom Chicago and a karaoke night. Boom Chicago is a skit/improv comedy club and it was pretty good. It was, however, really smokey and probably cost years off my life. If/when the smoking ban arrives in the Netherlands, maybe I will go again. The karaoke night was really good too. I've never tried that before, but it was a lot of fun (pics classified). It's also clear that there are some people who are really good at singing and some people (like me) who really aren't! But, I did get to sing Schnappi, and have had it stuck in my head ever since...

Now, on to Vienna.

This past weekend I went down to Vienna for the weekend. Vienna is a really scenic city, even when it's not the nicest time of the year. It has a very classical style that reminds me a lot of Paris. I saw the Hofburg, of course


and lots of these weird she-lion things.


Importantly, I also got to see The Kiss, which is much more impressive in person.


Also went to the Spanish Riding School to see the horses perform. It's a beautiful arena and, if you like horses, quite an interesting performance. Thanks to a screw-up at the ticket window, I managed to get much better seats than I was supposed to.


The other performance I saw was an opera. If you're ever in Vienna, you have to go to the opera. It's just the thing you have to do there. The opera house is absolutely incredible inside, and it's a really fun experience to dress up and go out for the evening. The seats even have translation screens so you can follow the show. In this case, the opera was about Moses. It started after the burning bush incident when he was trying to convince the Israelites that he had been directed by God. It ended just after he brought back the Commandments. In between, it got a bit shocking by relating the worshipping of Egyptian gods to modern "false gods" like beauty & mmoney. Even for me, seeing scantily clad girls grinding and lapdancing on the letters G, O, D, was a bit shocking. So, apparently even opera can be risque.

The funniest thing to happen, however, was my run in with the Vegan Front of Austria. I had just finished a big lunch of roast pork and ran straight into the "stop killing pigs" and "meat is murder" protest march they were holding. Naturally, I had to stop and take pictures. Kudos to the Austrian police for doing a better job of keeping a straight face than me.


The only bad thing I can say about Vienna is the U-bahn. It was filled with homeless people, most of whom appeared very drunk and often drugged out. I don't know if it was Austrian economic problems or people coming in from the east, but it was really sketchy. I'm not sure I could consider it a safe place for a woman to go alone. I gave a nasty stare to one guy who was staring at a young woman on the train with what I would have to call a serial rapist smile, which he proceded to stare at me with...

If you want to check out the rest of the pics, they are here.