I collect things that amuse me during my Shirleyfests. Vienna has not let me down in this regard. The three pictures above are typical everyday Viennese dishes ( yes I ate all of these and more). So please tell me why there are these machines everywhere you look? I mean you are eating 7,000 calories a day and you want to weigh yourself in public?

I did ask one pastry chef how the Viennese can stay so slim when they eat all of these high caloric dishes. She said that through constant consumption the Viennese body has become immune to the calories contained therein.

Next up in the amusement department.

Is it a coffee house? Is it a bar? I guess it’s a coffee bar. In any event, for 50 cents more than a coffee you get a gin and tonic ( iced!). I’m not sure whether that’s just really good coffee or really bad gin.

Keeping with the “drinking is a value proposition” in Austria……

So the sign says 3 euros to taste 3 wines. That glass is the first “taste”. Pretty big taste! By the time I was done ( I got along with the lady and she insisted on adding a couple more) I had two large glasses of wine for 3 euros. Ok moving on from food amusements.

Awww…. Equal opportunity child crossing helpers. Or creepy?

And those Viennese must be speed walkers since they can get there three times faster than cars.

I came across this sign in Baden. Maybe it should have just said park and bathrooms this way and everything else is the other way.

When I got to the apartment there were no ice trays. Clearly that is not going to work for my aperol spritz needs so I went to the market to buy some ice. The man said ice is only sold at the petrol stations which are outside of town. That won’t work. I went to a home store and ask for ice cube trays. They looked at me funny and said why don’t I buy the ice bags. What are ice bags? They sent me to the drugstore and there I found what looks like zip lock bags but you fill them up from the faucet and the water finds it’s proper place. Freeze and peel back the plastic for ice. Here are the pictures. What a great idea. Who wants me to buy them some?Since I have lots of ice, and I’m immune from the calories since my body is used to aperol spritzes and I can walk faster than a car, I know just what to do.

Tonight I’m off to something called Coffeehouse Conversation where you show up at a designated coffee house and you eat and talk with locals. We will see…..