Ferragosto

Ferragosto is the time, when summer reaches it's peak. Around August 15th everyone is on vacation. In Italy most of the shops are closed during August. Also in the neighbourhood where I am staying right now more and more shops are also closed ... at least until August 22. I actually like the fact that people celebrate their vacation. Imagine everyone would celebrate a staycation like I do!

It is never too early to get ready for the next winter. While Harrods in London is selling Christmas souvenirs, the newly opened Moncler Shop on Kohlmarkt offers cool-climate-chambers:

Interesting: the exterior if the shop looks like an interior decoration.

I thought "Why not show you some of our visitors?" Here they come:

A woman wearing a maxi shirt and a maxi golden purse, a delightful view!
Mountain spring water at every other corner
I keep on wondering: What is it, that says "I am not from here"? Is it just the shorts?

Not all the tourists wear shorts. During a lunch break I studied the thoroughly and came to the conclusion the genes are different. The faces are different, the hair ... Especially Caucasians from overseas (US, UK, AUS) are so different, they never seem to blend in. It fascinates me! How a culture shapes you from the inside and not just the clothes you wear. I will continue observating tourists, trying to nail it down, what it is!

Yesterday was a sunny day:

View from the balcony

View from the bedroom window

I was so right, missing this over the last weeks. Yesterday I sang all the way to the DIY market, where I was going to buy a box. What a task! A plastic box for 5 EUR. Photos will follow. I was wearing my hot pants and listening to Wes Anderson soundtracks, a perfect summer afternoon.

Even better when still on a runner's high after the Week10Day3 run. This would be a typical post workout/run meal:

Kaiserschmarrn with apple compote and plum compote and a glass of fresh skimmed milk,
not to forget the glass of water to rehydrate

During my evening runs in Schönbrunn I miss the fountain's water-plays, they shut down the fountain at 4pm! The fountain must be very delicate, it had been shut down for decades, its renovation took almost a decade.

In my youth we were allowed to take the old stairway,
it had been fenced after the renovation of the fountain.

Today (yes! Another sunny day) I went swimming in Schönbrunn. No, not inside the fountain bassin, but at the place where the pool party took place a few weeks ago.

If those tourist, seeking refreshment in the shade of trees, only knew ....
there is a public pool behind the fountain! ... they might forget about the sightseeing.

The footwalk reminds me of a scenery Gustav Klimt painted at Lake Attersee. I could look at trees forever:

Trees at 1pm and later ...
... in the evening at 7.30pm

Inbetween those hours I swam and rested on a sunbed. The last time I went to the pool it was so cool, I had to leave right after I got out of the water, shivering from the cold, but not today! Today I rested on the sunbed for hours and even got dizzy!!!! I can't remember when I have been lying on a sunbed, dizzy, closing my eyes .... and feeling perfectly bored.

I was looking at the trees and looking out for airplanes heading towards VIA

Since temperatures were above 25°C, I even enjoyed staying in the shade and took lots of photos of the lockers. They come with a rustic charm:

The mirror is so large! It is larger than any mirror in my place or my parent's place or my sister's place. Is it fair, mirroring the bikini-image of oneself? It is very hard not to look.I've checked in for exactly the same locker for 3 times in a row. 211 suits me.This is what a busy afternoon looks like? The sunday afternoon you have been always afraid of going to the public pools because they where overly crowded?

The Viennese don't go to public pools as long as the temperature is below 30°C. At least not in en masse. Imagine taking photos in the locker room sunday afternoon in August and no one is around.

A plane!
... and another one!
I brought my de-caf in a thermos and earned it after my second swim.
Oh yes, and I took extra care NOT to spill the coffee over my wonderful post-pool-party bikini.

Leaving the pool only because your empty stomach tells you so is no fun. I acted "pro' " and brought a cooling-bag with lots of plastic dishes with me. The retired ladies, sitting in front of their cabins could not to better.

Today's pool menue included:

Apple pie (home-made)
Cous-cous salad (home-made)
Quarter of a Water Melon
De-caf Café latte (home-made)

People, reading - this view almost wettens my eyes. I don't know why, but it warms my heart, just knowing people still enjoy reading when given the chance and time and place to read.

I am not very good at throwing beach bags over fences before climbing over them, so I leave the park before the gates close. This is the gatekeeper's kiosk.

Today I've watched runners and joggers passing by (one is pictured to the far right), while I was carrying my beach bag and my cooling-bag. Tomorrow I will be one of them, running once again.

Please excuse if my staycation reports bore you to death. They are as close to a vacation as a staycation can get. You can trust me - I had the pleasure to look at my sister's 240 photos which she had taken during her family vacation: at the beach, at the pool, at the lodge, at dinner, at the pool ... today's posting should get pretty close to the boredom real vacation photos can trigger.

One week from today things be back to normal, no more boring sceneries but back to life. I will move back to the inner city district. Until then I need to recharge my mum's car battery. I was stupid and did not close one door properly, leaving the light inside the car on ... until the battery was empty. Not good! Tomorrow I will get equipped and start with the red endings and then the black endings and as soon as the motor runs, turn on the lights or the aircondition ...
I feel stupid because I did the same mistake, exactly the same mistake 2 years ago. Same car, same garage, same door!
It is jinxed: the car parks in a garage. At home we don't have a garage and in the streets you always see if the light inside the car is still on when you get out of the car (when returning home at night). In the garage it is light as day, thanks to the lights that go automatically when you drive in the garage. My brother-in-law locks himself out amd I don't close doors properly. Jinxed, jinxed!