A few years ago Mrs. Sommovilla,
Mrs. Graber, and Mrs. Elefant all read a novel
entitledHousehold
Gods..
It was about a frustrated American woman whose ex-husband was slow in paying child support, who had trouble in finding good
childcare, and who felt she was being discriminated against in her law firm
because she was a woman! Aarrgghh!
The woman wished she could live in a simpler, happier time and woke up the next morning in another woman’s body
in the 2nd century AD in some town in the Roman Empire
called Carnuntum!Not a smart wish to make,
but it sure made for an interesting book!
Mrs. Sommovilla was surprised to find out later on the Internet that Carnuntum had been a
town lying right outside of Vienna, the capital of Austria!
Vienna & Carnuntum
Next Mrs. Sommovilla “magically” received a
Vienna Guidebook in the mail from a lovely couple
who invited her to stay in their apartment
in Vienna (that’s Wien in German)!
Could a German-Latin teacher resist?
(Her hosts even offered to drive her to Carnuntum!)
So she recruited a friend to go along
and thus began…
Right away we dashed off to Carnuntum…
Once part of aRoman colony,it’s now thelargestRomanarchaeologicalsite in Austria!
Rome used CARNUNTUM AS A BARRIER AGAINST the
barbarians!
It was an important outpost on the border between the Romans and the Germanic Tribes!
Das Heidentor—The Heathen Gate!
• The mysterious arch that may commemorate Rome’s victory against Germanic tribes along its border!
One last tourist souvenir-A
two cent Euro coin is
transformed into
a Roman coin
the old-fashioned
way!
On to the
Wiener Stadtzentrum– Center City Vienna
• Right near our apartment!
• Delicious ice cream parlors nearby!
• Lots to see and do!
If you want to drive, your car needs a license plate:
• On the left under the European Union flag’s symbol
(a circle of 12 stars) • is the initial representing the country
(A for Austria)• to the right is the first initial of the city
(W for Wien)
“Smart Cars” everywhere!
• Tiny and cute car: Europe has less space than America!
• You can custom design the parts!
• They’re coming to America soon!
Beautiful Flavors too!
All this walking makes me want some mint chocolate chip ice cream!
• Who left the pants out?
Even the Teddy Bears are musicians!
• A Steiff Bear with
the
“Knopf im Ohr”— (“Button in the Ear”)
• As Viennese composer Schubert
More odd Buildings—the Gasometer
• Four Apartment buildings and a shopping mall complex built from old fuel tanks
Speaking of English, we wonder what’s going on in
the rest of the world?
• Digital News in the Streetcar—hmmm, looks like good news!
The Olympics are coming, the Olympics are coming!
(Later back home in August I watched Austria’sMarkus Roganwin the silver in the 100 meter backstoke!)
Back on the street..
(Is this where Freddy Kruger was born?)
..we sampled many Viennese specialties like..
Viennese Coffeewith “Schlag”-
Whipped Cream
Malaga-Eis Rum raisin!
Fiocca-Eis: Ice Cream that tastes like Whipped Cream!
Chocolates with ApricotFilling
Apfel strudel
And we also saw Viennese curiosities like..
Sissi-Taler:
The Backwards Nine!• Sometimes the
Austrians get sloppy and write their “nines” backwards!!!
• But judging from their street ads, they like to be careful too..
We are also reminded not to confuse
Austria with Australia—but that doesn’t keep us from
hopping over to..
A world-famous cemetery!
• Vienna’s Central Cemetery is one of the largest and most beautiful in Europe,
featuring…
What? You find cemeteries a
downer??Vienna can take you
“up” in its world-famous
inner-city amusement park—
the Prater!
Not high enough?Then you can eat
in a revolving restaurant up at the top of the
• Donauturm- The
Danube Tower!
And check out the fabulous palaces in Wien!
• The downtown residence of the Habsburg Emperors—the Hofburg!
Once inside we took the audio tour!
Directions for
tourists in
English,
French
and
Italian…
not in Spanish!
..where we had delicious coffee and puzzled over the backwards “c” ‘s in
a mysterous Roman numeral..
..where you can feast your eyes on modern artwork
inside..
Gustav Klimt’s famous painting “The Kiss”
Speaking of green, we saw a commercial being filmed in
front of a “green screen” in the center of town one night!
Ahh, that was right near the famous Hotel Sacher where
we shared a Viennese delicacy--Sacher Torte!
• Dark chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jelly under the chocolate icing!
And on the way back to the apartment one day we saw
evidence of a Yummy Custom-Schultüten:
• First graders all get big paper cones filled with candy treats on their first day of school!
Back in the apartment a waterbed awaits!
The covered comforters are pretty, each folds over, and that makes bedmaking a snap!
Europe has less space to spare than the US!
• A washer and dryer combined in one machine saves space!!!
The German-speaking world loves Smurfs!
• How much do you think Mrs.
Sommovilla had to pay her friend to pose for this picture???
In some respects our timing was a little bit off..
• The “Anker Uhr”clock has mechanical figures that would come out through both doors to the side…no Smurfs though!
Yes, some of Vienna’s big attractions were closed
during our trip.. Spanish Riding School
and Lipizzaner Stallions
Vienna Boys’ Choir
Vienna State Opera
..but we were there on the day that a new Austrian postage
stamp came out and bought ten of them at 1€ each!