Saturday, August 29, 2009

Shopping in Austria

Shopping in Austria is a quite an experience. They are "green" here so they don't give you bags you have bring your own. You fill your bags as you go through the store and try to decide...hummm...I would like that but do I want to carry it home? Once your bags are full and your back is breaking you go through the check out. This is also a hoot. They greet you and try to hurry you along by going as fast as they possibly can, piling all your groceries on the other side. They don't have baggers here so you must bag your own...as the woman is piling them on faster than you can put them in your bag. You start to wonder how you got that much in the bag in the first place. Then as you're are frantically bagging the woman is long done and expecting you to pay her. So you stop, quick pull out your money, and in a jiffy she hands you back your change and starts checking out the next person and that persons food comes flying your way. Ahhhhhh, so you start loading your arms with the aquardly packed bags and all the items you couldn't get to fit back in them and head to a place designaged for repacking as the Astrian behind you is laughing at you because they know we aren't from around here. And that's only a third of the battle...now you have to get it home!
This was me riding the U-Ban after shopping at Ikea for the last of our house decorations. I have my purse held over my right shoulder, my teacher bag with two teacher edition text books, a large plant and an over filled bag with two pillows some fake flowers, candles, and other decorations. Try hanging on to all that and not topple over as the U-Ban starts and stops!Here I am carrying groceris home. Trust me...they were much more heavy than they look. The camera takes off about 20 pounds. :-) OK we are 2/3 of the way done...
OK, now we are home and the last part is fitting all that into the very small fridge (the freezer is in there, too). Once, it's all unloaded we sit down and think, "Whose gonna cook it for us? We are way to tired!"

1 comment:

The Bullhorn said...

Nicki-Reading your blog brought back fond memories of my own few days in Vienna. It must be incredible to actually LIVE there. When you get settled, you should check out the Nashmarkt (sp?) downtown. I think the U-Bahn has a stop nearby, but of course I don't recall which one. The best kebaps in the city are there to be had from Turkish vendors there, and they were reasonably cheap as I remember (2 EU each, I think). Anyway, it's great to catch up on your life.