When “Baden gehen” “baden geht”
As lockdown eases Curmudgeon wonders what kind of a summer is ahead. Culture and the arts appear to have a difficult one ahead, as does tourism. Continue reading When “Baden gehen” “baden geht”
Category: Holidays
National Curmudgeon’s Cottageviertel Staycation
Curmudgeon takes his wife away for a minibreak, without breaking the lockdown. Stay home and stay safe Continue reading National Curmudgeon’s Cottageviertel Staycation
When holidays were all about Pschitt and giggles
The curmudgeon bemoans entitlement and harks back to simpler days, when a foreign holiday was all about Pschitt and giggles. Continue reading When holidays were all about Pschitt and giggles
Didn’t we have a lovely day, the day we didn’t go to Gamlitz…
As the heatwave continues, the Sommerloch is over due to a political wedding, the coalition extending the Austrian tradition of Proporz and the debris of another Kirtag, all taking place as the Curmudgeon flees the 19th district for the deep south. Continue reading Didn’t we have a lovely day, the day we didn’t go to Gamlitz…
A comedy of errors
A tweet by the British Ambassador reminded me of a comedy of errors that happened when we holidayed in Tyrol in the 1990s.
Back then, we used to make accommodation reservations through the local tourist board. A phone call to them, back in the days when PTA (Post Telekom Austria) had a monopoly on voice services, was about ATS 7 a minute during the day (yes! Over EUR 0.50 a minute!) so it was no wonder that we would confirm by writing a letter and receive a letter back with a Zahlschein.
Curmudgeon heads to the hills.
As the school year drew to an end, my wife bade a retiring colleague farewell at the end of a long teaching career, and so our thoughts turned to holidays. We’d decided to go for getting some down time, with fresh air, walks and scenery and decided to explore the Pinzgau and then come back through the Murtal. Continue reading “Curmudgeon heads to the hills.”
Semesterferien strikes in Vienna and Lower Austria
Until my working circumstances changed, and I became a man of leisure, I was bound despite not having any children of school age to the school holidays for going on holiday. The shoulder season was unheard of and unchartered territory for going away. My wife, shackled to school holidays by dint of being a teacher is also similarly non-plussed. She now counts the number of Semesterferien left until retirement. We’ve tried to dodge going away at the this time of year, as when we have, the lurgy sets in and we pay full board to be ill in a hotel bed because they won’t let us cancel our accommodation. The motorail routes are also, if operating, booked out far in advance and we prefer to have a longer summer break than bankrupting ourselves by mid-February in search of snow.
Continue reading “Semesterferien strikes in Vienna and Lower Austria”
