Naschmarkt and Shopping

Today I went to the Naschmarkt, which is a food market, and the largest in Vienna. It stretches in mostly a single line down the river Wien. There was all sorts of food, from meat and vegetables to what in NZ I guess we would call deli-food and pick-n-mix.


It was really crowded, but apparently it is not so bad during the week. I was talked into buying some sweet almonds. They are like scorched almonds so I had to buy them, they are coated with something, I don't know what, perhaps some sort of white-chocolate, or perhaps just some sort of sugary mixture. They are really good.


The reason I went today despite the crowds (other than the fact that I have to work all week) is because on Saturday there is a flohmarkt (flea-market). It is the same as garage sales in NZ, only really big. Some really interestings stuff. Loads of fur coats and hats (everybody wears them here, it is so cold). I didn't buy one though - where would I wear it after I left here? Some of it was still quite expensive.


So after the market I went shopping (yay!). I found the main shopping street, Mariahilferstrasse, and it is a stop on the underground train that I take, so how great is that? It is a very long street so I didn't go very far down. But I didn't have to, I needed a good coat you see. There is a shop here called H&M, it is nice but inexpensive - sort of like Glasson's but way better. And I got a great coat, it is navy and woollen, and it was half price, only 40 euro (about 80 bucks). So I brought some other stuff too because it was all on sale, and I will try not to go shopping again for awhile. Then I went and brought a good warm jacket (because you do need both a coat and a jacket you know) which was also half price and only 40 euro, so really I only spent as much as I would have on a full price coat. And it will be good for when (fingers-crossed) I go skiing.


So today was a sort of expensive day, and it was very cold as always, and it was both a lucky day and an unlucky day. It was lucky because I was heading further up Mariahilferstrasse after my shopping, but I decided I couldn't be bothered and turned around. And as I went back down the street a saw a lady holding my purse! I had dropped it and not even noticed! Imagine how screwed I would have been if I hadn't turned back around. So that was very lucky.

What was unlucky is that I tried to buy my shopping with my Irish debit-card but it didn't work. So that was ok, I used my credit card instead. But when I got home I checked my bank account and both cards have been charged! So that sucks. I will have to print out the statements and take them in with the receipt so that I can get my money back. To pay twice would be like nothing had been on sale! At least now I know though to not bother trying to use my Irish card, because it will not work but still be charged.


So that was my day, and a very long day it was too. This week I hope to go ice-skating, and to an opera. Perhaps soon I will start travelling to different places. I would like to start going to the museums too because there are about a thousand of them here. So perhaps I will have more interesting photos soon.