Austrian Oddities

I have a somewhat fraught relationship with Austrian laundresses! When I was a student here I lost my receipt and had to browbeat them into returning my clothes. And this week, almost the first thing that the lady said to me was "no receipt, no clothes." Of course, I made sure not to lose it. But the service is appalling. To get three shirts, two pairs of socks and two underwear shorts washed cost about 15 Euros. And I discovered that they didn't iron anything. My white dress shirt was so wrinkled it was impossible to wear. Luckily, the maid in the hotel will iron it for me. But this is just one of those oddities of Austria. If you come, bring lots of clothes! (It rains a lot in the summer, so also bring an umbrella.)

Another oddity is junk food. There isn't any. One of the pleasures of visiting Canada for me is reacquainting myself with the junk food of my youth: creamsicles and cheezits, available along with masses of other junk food products in every corner store. First of all, there don't seem to be any corner stores in Austria, just the occasional Konditorei or little pastry shop that might have a cooler in the corner with milk and yoghurt and maybe a couple of frozen ice cream bars. I discovered what seemed to be a supermarket, but it consisted mostly of cosmetics and health food. I found a couple of chocolate bars and bottles of juice near the cash, but that was it. Where do people shop? There is a big market near the Grosses Festspielhaus, maybe they buy stuff there.

Salzburg is impressively well-organized, compared to Mexico. There is no litter on the streets. There are no graffiti, there is no loud music or barking dogs at night. Everyone obeys the traffic signals and the taxi drivers live in fear of the police (semi-kidding!). There are a couple of beggars who seem to be middle-aged gypsy women.

Here is another oddity: why do so many women in Austria ride bicycles while wearing mini-skirts?

Ah, the maid in the hotel just came back with my shirt, beautifully ironed and refused to accept payment.

Here is another oddity: I went in search of a couple of bottles of wine (I am hoping to pick up some Meinklang frizzante Pinot Noir Rosé an Austrian wine which was just recommended in the Wall Street Journal) and found the shop but it doesn't open until 5 pm? What kind of retail place doesn't open until 5? Wine shops in Austria, I guess.

That's all the oddities I can think of at the moment so let's listen to some music by Heinrich Schütz. This is his Johannes-Passion from 1666.

UPDATE: It is a cold and rainy afternoon so I decided to try out that Austrian tradition of going to a Konditorei in the late afternoon for coffee and pastry. Turns out there is one on the corner where they serve coffee as well as milkshakes, beer, wine, cocktails and so on. They also have sandwiches and pastries and bagels and croissants as well as a selection of newspapers and magazines. I looked through the local paper, the Salzburger Nachrichten, and found a review of the Sokolov concert (he has been playing every year in Salzburg since 2007) as well as a review of the Quatuor Ébène concert. The slim paper is in three brief sections: main news, culture, and science and economics. Now I don't know how or if they make any money, but it seems like an excellent paper. There was even an ad for a supermarket, so apparently they have one somewhere.