Chilbi - Is it a Food? a Disease? a European Auto?

None of the above! Chilbi is the local carnival that graces many of the small villages around the Lake and throughout the countryside during the year. Take carnival rides, raclette booths (smelly melting cheese scraped onto pieces of fresh bread), some cheap product hawkers and a few 'bier gartens' and you have the Waedenswil Chilbi. This fair takes place from Sat. to Mon. starting from 2pm in the afternoon and we're not sure when it stops - heard it going full steam ahead Sat. morning at 12:30am (Kendra was having a nightmare - maybe it was the loud music blaring from the Bahnhof!). I am afraid our pics here are from last year when we didn't know any better. BUT, we obviously thought it had redeeming entertainment value for the family as we decided to go Monday night for dinner and some rides - but forgot the camera.

Last year the girls were content with kiddie rides and a whirl on the Ferris Wheel. But Bart had to go and corrupt Kendra with the Pepsi Ripsaw in Snoopyland at the Mall of America (she remembers every last bit of that label exhausting title) last Dec. and the rest will go down in history - and Susan will probably go down with it! Bart & Rachel are unable to do anything fast and spinny for fear that, well, you know, they may never want to eat another Bratwurst again. So Kendra has found that Mom can handle these crazy rides - likes spinning fast and has a strong stomach. But I found I had a stronger stomach before children. These are not your run-of-the-mill carnival rides. Yes, they are mobile, carnival sorts but they rival the speed and chill factor of a Six Flags - with exception of roller coasters.

Kendra had her heart set on riding the Snow Dream which is a bunch of linked sleighs that chase each other around an undulating track at high speed. As I am clinging to her at warp speed (trying to keep her from flying out), she is yelling how Awesome it was. She then convinces me to go on this crazy swing ride seen in the pic below. I was doing OK until they sped things up and started tilting it - which I did NOT remember from last year. I did not enjoy the ride!!!! All I could thing was - "How could I be whipping around up here 30ft off the ground in this little chain link chair and how could I have thought it was OK to let Kendra go on it too!" She thought it was fun but admitted it made her a little nervous. A big Hannah Montana "YA Think!" can be inserted here. You realize my mother is reading this now and thinking she needs to save her grandchildren from irresponsible parents - but no one's going to listen because I'm sure Kendra got the daredevil guts from her in the first place. So then, we let them ride the little roller coaster by themselves - all the while yelling at them to HOLD ON - because Mommy is about to cry, certain something terrible is going to happen to her beloved babies on these crazy carnival rides. I was not relaxed. So what did I do? Gave in and went on the Snow Dream again w/K - this time we screamed louder and seemed to go faster (maybe that was because it was now dark and they put on the strobe lights). We have stomachs of iron - had some cotton candy right after that. Bart and Rachel seemed to enjoy watching us - especially the "nervous" moments. So there goes another Chilbi. And I think we might find ourselves out of town or something the last full weekend of August next year.

We could see our house from the Ferris Wheel. Tall tree at the top of the horizon, left of middle - then straight down to the white building just below. That's us on top - you can see our backyard fir trees.

I still can't even contemplate a blog about the start of school yet. Maybe after Rachel's Birthday/Slumber party tomorrow night I might be cured. Or ruined forever. We'll see.

kein Zeit

In english that would be - no time. Yes, school has begun, and homework, and violin lessons, and piano lessons and.... need I say more? I have a lot to say but am catching a cold, it's 10pm and it will all have to wait til later. But we still exist, we will survive and sister and Bro-in-law (K & J) come next Thurs. from So. Cal. for 3 weeks!!!!! so must clean up the guest room (aka storage room for Susan's stuff). Tschau!

Vienna - 2nd Half

Took a very nice tour of the Opera House - would like to get tickets someday.
We took the girls to a small Mozart/Strauss concert in a nearby Palais. Here they are enjoying their OJ during the brief intermission. They really seemed to enjoy themselves and especially enjoyed the few pieces that were accompanied by dancing (they were fun, humorous numbers). The conductor was also the 1st/solo violin and so that was of added interest to Rachel as she starts her violin lessons this week.
Schloss Shoenbrunn - nice little summer getaway for the Austrian Royal Family isn't it. Started in the 17th Century as the summer home of Empress Maria Therese and as time went by, was used as a more permanent residence. Considered 2nd in Europe to Versailles. I am a bit partial to this particular location - a bit more understated than Versailles, don't you think? Anyway - the girls loved the Carraige museum and had all sorts of grand plans - "Can't we get a little carraige just to play with?" "We could get a pony to pull it and drive it all around" "And we could have our friends over and drive them around" We were quick to point out that there will never be any carraiges and horses in our backyard - no can do!
The Shoenbrunn hosts the oldest zoo in Europe and everyone was very entertained by this polar bear and his 5 gal. box. It was finally determined the zookeepers had put fish in this container and he was determined to get it. He would throw it, drag it under water, hug it - it was a riot.
Looking from the Schloss toward the gardens which lead to the Glorietta (an impressive looking piece of architecture designed to make ones summer house look very grand and important - as if it needed that extra little touch!). Hey - we have kids who can take our picture now - what fun! There have been a few heads chopped off but for the most part, they do a decent job.

A Funny - We are so pathetic!

I'll make you wait for the Pathetic part and entertain you with other small events in our lives (and I still haven't finished Vienna but girls start school tomorrow!!!):


1st - History was made this last week as Susan's dad was set up with a laptop and has now entered the information age. He even sent us an email this last week - Yeah! Having 3 kids and 5 grandchildren around the world/different time zones has finally broken him down. Now if Bart's parents ever get online - "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"


The 2nd piece of headline news is that Susan mowed the lawn this week. I must admit to never having mowed an entire lawn myself - EVER! I did once mow the front lawn of our house in Carmichael (I must have been 19) but never made it round the back. That was just a chore my dad in his fatherly wisdom (3 kids with asthma or serious grass allergies) chose to not burden my sisters & I with (probably saved a bit in medical as well). Halfway thru the job, I went in to take a Claritine as I was, uh, starting to suck air instead of breath it. And walking behind gas fumes in the sun combined with the smell of fresh cut grass -Ewww- I jumped into the pool quick! I, however, looked much more fashionable than my husband and should have had Rach take a shot of me mowing in my tank and skirt - cooler than shorts! The sad part was - I was looking for praise from Bart who said "why did you mow the lawn - it wasn't long yet." It was long enough and I needed to know how much more of that yard container I could use for other things! He did thank me after that.


Thirdly, before we reach pathetic, on the way home from church today Bart cranked up a little Tobymac and said "let's rock." He and I are whoopin' it up in the front seat and we get asked to turn it down from the little ones in the back. They think we listen to music too loud! So how much longer is that going to last before the reverse is true?


OK - now for a little pathetic in our lives: Bart made pancakes for breakfast this morning - Yummy. And I am on my last pancake but need a little more syrup to stir it around in (I like syrup :). I ask Bart to pass the syrup and he hesitates, then says "why don't you just use the rest of mine? I got a little too much." We both looked at that bottle of Log Cabin sitting there and started laughing. Now, why would anyone use the syrup off anyone else's plate you ask? He picks up the bottle and declares "it's 2/3rds gone and that's good stuff." Not to mention expensive. We figured the Bisquick cost us about $25 and the Log Cabin $20 when factoring the shipping/weight/box space when we shipped it over from CA in coming back this summer. The KC Masterpiece went in luggage so we figure it was almost free although no less precious. Now, we don't nickel & dime everything but, we cannot replace these items here. OK, so they have maple syrup but it's the real stuff (from Canada even) and does not have that thick, tasty artificial maple syrup flavor.
Soooo - I did it - I just used up the syrup off his plate. How pathetic is that! But now I've admitted it to everyone. Since I can't talk to everyone like I used to - and admit our failings in person, just want to give you a taste of our daily goings on!

Vienna - 1st half

1st day in Vienna - a little rainy but crowded and hopping
At the Hofburg - the Neue Berg (New Palace) - which is one of my favorite buildings anywhere
Inside the Neue Berg - It houses the Austrian Museums of Armour & Weapons, Musical Instruments and Roman artifacts (ruins) from Ephesus. It is not the big draw that the Imperial Apartments, Treasury and Silver/China Collections are, so you find yourselved many times alone in large marble rooms/stairways with these beautiful and fanciful things from the past. Bart and I really enjoyed it when we were in Vienna 12 years ago and were glad to share it with the girls.
One of the great armour displays in the Neue Berg
Here we are - ready for a Carraige Ride around Central Vienna. You can imagine, with our 2 girly girls, carraige rides are the ultimate in touristy transportation - just like princesses they are. And, of course, they pick out which horse is their favorite, what they would do if they had a coach in real life, etc... - imaginations run wild.

This is a treat for them. We see the carraiges in most cities we visit and are always inundated with "when do we get to go on a carraige?" We had planned to do this after a concert but the parents got worn down a bit by the "when?" even though we made it clear "When!" and then it was Sun. and we didn't know how late the horsies would be up :). They smiled for the whole ride.

I'll post a few more pic's - there are some cities that just demand to have a lot of pic's taken and for me, Vienna is one of them. It is a vibrant and romantic city and as Bart puts it "the Eastern most city of the Western world." Vienna was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire (not to be confused with the Vatican in Rome) of the Hapsburg family whose rule of the Austrian empire (included parts of areas we know as Czech/Hung/Aust/Germ/Switz) lasted for 600 years. They moved the Empire seat from Prague to Vienna at some 16th/17th Cent. to secure themselves against the Ottoman Empire. We are getting a bit more clear on our understanding of the formation of Europe while living here - and where the religious differences come into play as well. I never took European history and wish I had a bit. Many of the countries we know of in Europe today are very young in terms of the actual land division and set up of current government structures. The Renaissance and Reformation did much to start moving countries away from the rule of Monarchies and the Church (under the Vatican) and then the various Revolutions did the rest up through the end of the 19th Cent.

Enough of history. We ate some great food, had some great fun and it was a really nice weekend. Admittedly, glad to be done with packing/unpacking suitcases for a while with school starting next week. We have been away from our house more than we've been at our house this summer which is fun but we are ready for some routine now. More of Vienna later....