a weekend of madness in two acts - part 1

Take one of your crazy best friends

add two new friends he brings along,

a tiny heatwave

a truck load of music

and three days.

Shake it all up and what you get might just resemble a pretty perfect weekend :)

I guess the original plan was, for them to come as Beirut were playing here in Vienna, however tickets sold out and Simon ended up being the only one with a ticket (not the first time, ask him about a certain Heinz gig in Salzburg a decade ago!) haha Off he went and Alex, Markus and I set off to wander the streets of Vienna - insert silly ice cream/frozen yoghurt incident here - before heading to Adria/Donaukanal to watch Germany play Greece in the EuroCup. Outdoor screenings are the way to go in this heat!

meet Markus

and Alex

thank God Germany won 4:1 

not sure what all the 500 people watching there would have done if they hadn't

Despite all intentions to dance the night away we caved and went for hot dogs and drinks in two pubs (and we have memorabilia to prove it haha) crashing a 30th birthday party along the way

an introduction to Viennese fast food

souvenir nr 1 - Slatin Pascha - he went on to travel all the way back home with the boys 

as did souvenir nr 2 - beer glassware 

Part two and a special musical highlight tomorrow x

like a breath of fresh air

When I went to KHM which is the Museum of Art History here in Vienna, we were wandering around looking at all the different paintings. As that era includes mostly paintings on religious subjects and court portraits, it was one holy or royal family after another. Beautiful paintings but a bit repetitive after a while and all of a sudden there's this:

Fire by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (image from here)

I could have stood there staring at it for hours! Check out this link for a few more paintings and his story. Can't believe Arcimboldo wasn't burnt at the stake at a time when every other painting had a religious subject :) Quite unbelievable for a 16th century painter.
There were three more painting by him so if you ever happen to be in the area make sure to pop in and look at those paintings - they're breathtaking, seriously!
Happy weekend people xx

playing tourist in and around Vienna

While Dave & Carol were here, I found myself being a tourist again. Always good to have an excuse to  venture out and explore the city a bit more, as I found that you hardly ever do that in the place you grow up in.

We started off in Moedling...

 went on to Gumpoldskirchen...

 and on to Baden...

the rose gardens there are extensive, I think Carol found her happy place :)

ended our night at the Heurigen with a couple of friends & family - you know everyone's feeling great when horrible jokes are being translated and fake accents are being put on haha

The next day brought more adventures in the city...

 Neue Burg museum

we saw the museum of ancient musical instruments, the arms and armour museum and the Ephesos exhibition before we headed over to KHM

taking a break and fleeing the rain at Cafe Demel

Ended our little Vienna trip with some yummy Indian food before we said our good byes and my Aussie family went on to explore more of Europe :)

falafel adventures

Ever since my move I'm back in cooking mode. Not that I don't like being cooked for, but it is my way to relax and it makes my heart happy :)
I've thought about making falafels from scratch for a very long time now. I used to make them with a box mix when I was cooking for the Zekester years ago in London, but they were not the best. In Austria you can look everywhere for a pre-mix to no avail but to be honest I really like to know what goes into my food. One day while browsing the net I came across this recipe here.
If I would have known how simple it really is, I would have never used a pre-mix!!! Only thing I missed was a food processor, hooray for roomies who have awesome kitchen appliances :)

We feasted for two days!! So good, only thing I'd tweak next time to use a bit more salt and maybe put in a bit more parsley than I had on hand this time. You should definitely try it. It is so darn easy xx

back in Vienna

It only took me close to 7 years but I'm back in the city I was born in.
Isn't it funny how life never goes the way you plan it? When people ask me where I see myself in 5 years time, usually my first reaction is to laugh. Not a particularly nice thing to do since most are really sincere when asking, but considering what has happened over the last 10 years, I don't even bother to make plans anymore. I end up being completely taken by surprise by the opportunities that come my way. Most of them are unexplainable and that's why we call them "JC hook ups" :)
Back to Vienna. It's a different city than the one I left behind all these years ago and visiting for a couple days or even weeks at a time, you never take it all in. Somehow I'm excited to get to know this city and discover all the great changes, new stores and restaurants and lots of art that this beautiful city houses.
Here's to a phenomenal spring, as I'll be gone again come summer. Yeah, no-one saw that coming right haha As much as I'm getting used to the idea of staying in one place for a while, it's not called the nomadic life for nothing.

celebrate good times

As I was in London and Bath for my birthday last year, I called my friends together for a night of catching up and toasting to a new decade haha.
It was a fun day filled with strolling around Vienna, delicious Lebanese food, a bit of window shopping, hanging out at the pub until the early hours and chatting non-stop. Kind of perfect :)

two of my favourite Salzburg girls x

 the kitchen had closed before we could order :(

 so many lovely people!!

 as I didn't want presents all money went towards freeing slaves and fighting human trafficking

love this photo mostly because it could have been taken in '98!!

 besties

a great night out finishes at the kebab place! 

Love my friends, they are some of the best people this planet has to offer!! Thanks so much for coming out and making the night special xx

Vienna in the fall

Days off are straight from heaven...
It's been a crazy couple of months in this nomads life and with a busy London stint one flight away, I tried to relax this week. Too much adrenaline and rushing around - my heart is about to gallop out of my chest and somehow I haven't slept for what feels like an eternity now - the dark circles under my eyes have extended all the way down to my chin!!!!!
So whenever the sun came out I tried to go for a walk and Wednesday was spent at the new Magritte exhibition at Albertina. A beautiful collection and quite funny for certain.
Most bizarre/random moment of the month happened when I walked out of the building and down the stairs. An Indian family came up to me and asked me to take a picture. Nice as I am I smiled and reached for the camera to take a photo of them, when the man says "no, you have to be in the photo!" WHAT??!! So he took a photo of his wife and myself haha I've been wrecking my brain ever since, who they might have confused me with. There were about thirty other people around, so why pick me? I guess I'll never know :)
Walking through the city I once again was blown away how beautiful Vienna is! The more I leave, the nicer it gets.
What followed was a much needed besties catch up with Ruth - coffee led to dinner. Followed by a trip to my favourite B family. They are my oasis of calm. Thanks Claudia for such a good night and being there for me xxx

Ruth and I found this fella looming over us...

Jupiter Jones & My Glorious at Arena Wien

Just a quick reminder that the Konvoi is coming to our home woohoo Finally might I add :)
So this is all going down this Thursday (10/11/2011) at 8pm at Arena.
Tickets are still available if you click here.
See you there everyone x

R&I - pre wedding

There are not many girls who would turn down the offer of getting all dolled up :)
Saturday morning I went to the florist to pick up the bridal bouquet, decorations and accessorise. (Got yelled at by an old lady accusing me of being completely inconsiderate??!! speak for yourself lady for yelling through empty streets before 8am on a Saturday haha)
Made my way to Ruth's flat to drop of all the flowers and get her and Kat in the car to go and get our hair done. Next stop was MAC store. Don't know how we did it but after make up fun we had lunch at the apartment ... didn't really think that one through. There went our lipstick haha

 so in love with this bouquet...

 hair stylist doing a fantastic job!!

 mini beehive - loved it, took me 2 days to get it all out haha

 love how Kat is clutching her bump, so sweet :)

 make up guy working his magic, really nice guy as well!

girl heaven @ MAC

FYI the wedding dress is an original 50s dress, Ruth and Nicola found while shopping for dresses in London, so we decided that we wanted to do a bit of a 50s dress up. (think Stepford Wives or Mad Men - click here for a beautiful summary by Elsie). Yup that was our inspiration and I think the lovely bride looked stunning beyond words!
So good to have a girly morning before a day of celebrations. I'll forever treasure this!