How hot? It's far too hot!

Originally published 17 June 2013

Shopping in the market

​Quote of the day comes from one of two Indian guys I was talking with in a bakery. The bakery was in the underground and was air conditioned. I was sitting there having a drink and a pastry just to get out of the heat. He said, with a heavy Indian accent, "I am from India. I am aware of what hot is. THIS is too hot." Yes. It is too hot.

I've found my Vienna sausages!

​For the last few days, we have battled miserable temperatures. We were supposed to encounter temperatures no higher than the low 70's. It has been in the 90's for........I dunno.....too long. Maybe 5 or 6 days. I haven't been comfortable since we came down out of the Alps!

Tea dealer in the market

​The crew went museum hopping this morning. I dried some laundry, then headed to the market, prowling the stalls stocked high with produce, spices, fish, and all matter of things. You see some really odd things.....one was whole octopus. Ya just don't find that in Tennessee. And if you did...someone would have already shot it. There were some really cool stalls, including a dealer who sold nothing but different kinds of vinegar.

​After that it was off to meet Laurie at the opera and run around with her a bit. I was early so I hung out in a bakery in the underground. It happened to be air conditioned...which I truly appreciated. It was there I met the Indian guys who commented on the heat. I'll tell ya.....when the Indian guys think it's hot......take their word for it. It's 20 plus degrees above normal. I'll be glad when it cools off.

Cops watching the naked protesters!

I went up to meet Laurie at the opera. While waiting, a protest started up. I'm not sure what they were protesting......and as best I could decipher the signs, they were protesting a lot of things. It's not like i cared what they were protesting. I'd have watched anyway....as most of the women involved with the protest were naked. The cops stood by with a look on their face that said "exactly how are these people bothering me? Do I really wanna roust a bunch of naked women?" After assembling and talking about a few things in German, they marched away.

Naked protesters marching away

​Laurie and I took the underground to Prater. This is where Vienna goes to play. It's a huge, gorgeous park, with athletic fields, walking paths, lakes, and a huge amusement park with a historic ferris wheel. We walked through the park, a very nice change from a very hot concrete city. Afterwards, we got on the underground and headed back downtown.

In the Prater with Laurie

​Laurie, David, and Sheree were going to a concert tonight. We were wandering around looking for a place for dinner and ran into some friends of theirs. David and Sheree knew they were going to be here, but randomly running across them on the street was a bit of a surprise. We had dinner and they all went to the concert, while I wandered....taking in the sights and watching the people.

Live opera simulcast to the big screen outside the opera house

​On my wandering I took in another palace. There are palaces all over in this part of the world. Not terribly long ago, this part of the world was a fractured collection of small kingdoms, probably hundreds of them. Eventually they were unified into the countries we have today.....if I recall...sometime in the mid to late 1800's. Each of these little kingdoms had either palaces or castles. All of whom, according to the descriptions, were more important , more beautiful, nicer, bigger, better located, etc. than all the others. This one was no exception.

Just another palace....

​After the concert was over, we congregated and headed back to the apartment. It's still insanely hot.......around 85 at 10 p.m. I hope it cools off soon.

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