okay.....
1. everything happens so much earlier here. we live in a really quiet road (in what seems to be a pretty quiet district) but the most activity and noise happens between 6 - 8am in the morning! (workmen started loudly digging up the pavement outside at 7am last week!). supermarkets are closed in the evenings and on sundays but they are open at like 7.30am. do people not lie in?!
2. people don't cross the street at crossings when the man is red. no really, most people don't! apparently you can be fined for jaywalking or something (but i don't know how true that is). i mean obviously i remember my 'green cross code'! but i find myself getting really frustrated waiting at crossings. i must learn not to be so impatient!
3. dogs are allowed into many cafes/restaurants where food is served.
4. austria is much more religious than i realised. there is a church we pass on our way into the city centre and we walked by one sunday and there were people kneeling outside on the pavement because the church was packed out. i've never seen that before.
5. newspapers are sold in plastic wallets tied to lamp posts on street corners. people help themselves and put the money into a slot. that would never happen in england! the newspaper companies would go bust as no one would pay for them! (it was funny we saw an old lady a few weeks ago in her dressing gown and slippers buying her newspaper from the street corner).
i'm sure there are many more but these are what come to mind at the moment.
i realised that i hadn't shown you any photos of where we live but i haven't really taken any. this is a view up our street when standing outside the main door and looking left. its not particularly an attractive or exciting road but i love our actual apartment (the old VW van is cool!).
this is the local park about 5 mins walk away from the apartment which i run around (well, okay... i've run around it a few times).
People are forced to shop groceries in the morning because it is closed in the evening when they get of work :) But seriously, it used to be even worse, the stores used to close even earlier - terrible.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that you can get a fine, but it much depends on the mood of the police. A cop once snapped on me from his car as I walked over the street, eventhoug it wasn't a light for pedestrians, only cars. The real reason why people wait is because traffic is terrible and you most likely will get killed.
That with the plastic wallets is only in the weekends/sundays because all stores are closed. I learned about that at the university, they don't make any money that way BUT they get the newspaper distributed in a day where everyone has time to read. Somehow it adds up.
Thanks for this post, I love it when people compare their "new" and "old" country!
Have a nice sunny weekend!
Emilie
hey emilie, thanks for your response! that clears a few things up!
ReplyDeletehave a great weekend too. fingers crossed for sunshine!
kerry
I just read about the jaywalking issue in my Lonely Planet guidebook to Vienna. I've been duly warned!!
ReplyDeleteIt is funny, I was home in Sweden and wanted to cross the street with two friends, they walked as soon there weren't any cars, I didn't move an inch until the light turned green - that's what 7 years in Vienna does to you :) In Sweden the cars stopp for people, in Vienna.. I am not so sure..
ReplyDeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteLearning to wait for the green man may save your life, sooner or later: I almost stepped into the path of a streetcar one fine morning, just because I had not realized that it could come from the opposite direction of a one-way street!