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The Neighbors

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Hosting guests gave us a good excuse to explore our neighborhood in Europe a little.  Just down road (actually through a tunnel under a mountain) is Slovenia.  The capital Ljubljana is about an hour drive and has enough sights to spend at least an afternoon.  It’s interesting that as soon as you cross the border there is a lot more English being spoken.  People in the shops and cafes realize that Austrian and Italian visitors don’t speak more than a few words of Slovenian, so everyone switches to English.  For us, it’s a nice little break from practicing German.

We took a detour on the way and stopped off at one of the more famous places in Slovenia.   Lake Bled is surrounded by mountains and has a little island in the middle with a quaint church on it.  It all adds up to a perfectly picturesque spot on a sunny day.   Here’s the proof:

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad, Slovenia, Travel | 2 Comments »

Munchin’ in München

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

My parents recently visited us and we got to do quite a few touristy things in the area.  The next few posts will be some short descriptions and reviews of them.

While we have a local airport about 30 minutes drive away, the closest big, international airport is Munich, about 3 hours away.  We met my parents there and spent the next few days visiting some sights in the area.  This was our 3rd trip to Munich in the last three months and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite cities.

The U-bahn, S-bahn, and trams are pretty easy to navigate and everything you probably want to see is accessible from them.  The central area packs a lot of interesting sites into a small walkable area, and there quite a few day trips outside the city that are also easy to do.  We still haven’t seen everything, so I’m sure we’ll be back.

While we visited all the famous sites like the Frauenkirche and the Glockenspiel, this time around we also went to the BMW Welt, which is the center where you can pick up your car if you buy it there.  It has some great exhibitions and it’s free. We also drove out to Neuschwanstein to see the castle and then visited another at Nymphenburg within the city.

All the sightseeing worked up quite a thirst in us, so we made another stop at the Hofbräu Haus.  We bypassed the crowded tables downstairs and went up to the top floor.  I think this room is usually used for big groups, and there were a few obvious tour groups and some ‘company party’ tables as well. However, if there are just a few of you, you might be able to find a spot.  There is a different band that plays upstairs and the atmosphere is pretty nice.  We also tried out the Augustiner beer garden, which is near the main train station.  It’s huge, but if you can get a table in the Keller, you are in for a treat.  It’s worthwhile mentioning that everyone shares tables at these beer halls.  Don’t be surprised if the waiter seats other people at your table, and don’t be afraid to ask to sit at a table where there are a few open seats as well.  It’s actually an interesting way to meet people, or at least an entertaining way to eavesdrop on their conversations.

Here’s the fuel that kept us going:


Posted in Germany, Living Abroad, Travel | No Comments »

Mountain Stage

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Now that we have a car, it’s time to explore the area beyond our little town.  After talking to both expats and locals, we made a long list of potential things to do here in the summer.  Item #23 is the Giro d’Italia (kind of like Italy’s version of the Tour de France).  We went to a time trial stage two years ago, but have always really wanted to see a mountain stage.  The race organizers obliged us and picked a route this year that actually went through Austria and finished in the Alps in Italy just an hour south of our place.

The stage ended on the Monte Zoncolan, which is somewhat famous in the cycling world for being a hellish climb of 10km with an average grade of about 12%.  However, some spots are as steep as 22%.    It seemed like the perfect place to watch the pros suffer up the switchbacks.   The one important thing that I forgot was that in order to see them on the mountain top finish you have to actually get there, which in this case meant walking up.

Needless to say the hike was brutal and it gave me even more respect for the cyclists.  I still can’t believe how fast they are able to push up that mountain. While the race is exciting, half the fun is watching the other spectators.  They arrive long before (sometimes days) the race starts and camp out, alternately partying and sleeping.  When the racers come by they shout at them, push them up hill, or run along side “encouraging” them. Some riders shouted back,but most just laughed and kept pedaling.  It’s amazing that were no accidents caused by the rabid fans. In the end though, they are true fans – they know all the riders names and shout out in different languages (Vai, Venga, Allez, Go!).  They boo the ones who are suspected of doping, and cheer their favorites.  It’s a unique sport and I think we’re already scoping a stage of Le Tour to attend.

Here I am with the most famous of the fans:

Here’s Alberto in the pink:

Posted in Italy, Living Abroad, Travel | 1 Comment »

Das Auto – Part III

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

I spent a lot of time writing about the car, but then again I spent a lot time dealing with it.  While the last two posts were all about the process, they didn’t give me quite enough space to really talk about the experience.    If you’ll indulge me, I thought I would take one more post to reflect a little.

One thing I learned during our move is how much I took for granted in the US.  Back there, I know exactly where to go, how do things, and who to call and ask if I don’t.  Here I’m never quite sure if I’m buying the right thing, asking the right question, or even understanding the answers I get.  It’s not that things are actually that much more difficult to do.  The few local people I’ve talked to seem a little surprised that we think things are complicated, but then again they are as comfortable here as I am in California.

This point was driven home to me when I was back in the US last month.  I talked with two people from the UK and Europe who moved to the US.  They both had similar stories to mine…  didn’t know how to go about getting utilities turned on, couldn’t get a cell phone contract because they didn’t have a local bank account, or had to find out which forms to fill out to get a new driver’s license.  All things that I wouldn’t think twice about in the US, but struggled with here (still working on the driver’s license!).

Anyway, I’ll wrap up with a few quirky things we’ve learned about Austria that relate to the car:

-I mentioned before that from November to April you need snow tires.  However, the dealer or garage where you buy them will store them for you.  They call you up in October and make an appointment to swap them and then store the regular tires during the Winter.  All that for a *small* fee.

-Living on the pedestrian zone of the Hauptplatz has its advantages – no traffic noise for one thing.  However, the downside is that you can’t drive up to our apartment building except for “illegal” quick dropoffs of groceries, skis, or suitcases.  The other downside is that there is no where to park.  We checked a bunch of garages and parking lots that supposedly rented out spaces, but they turned out to be “voll” (full) or only charge by the hour/day.  Finally a rental space opened up in a basement garage and we snagged it.  It’s a bit expensive (but everything here is) and it’s tight fit (but the car has a button that automatically folds in the mirrors).  The bimmer now has a home, even if it is just as far to walk to the garage as it is to the grocery store.

-The autobahn/autopiste/autostrada/autoroute or big highways in many European countries have lots of tolls.  Aside from being an annoyance when you have to keep stopping, they can also get pretty expensive.  Austria has a different system.  Instead of paying tolls every time you use the roads, you just buy a one time pass called a vignette.  It’s a little sticker that you put on you windshield and you can drive anywhere you want without having to pay. They sell them everywhere and you can get a year, a month, or a week.  They can be a little pricey, but the fines for getting caught without one are much worse.

Here’s one of the incredible mountain roads that makes having a car here so much fun:

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad | 1 Comment »

Das Auto – Part II

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

When we last left our heroine (me), she was informed by her husband that he was leaving for a business trip and she would need to pick up the new car in Munich by herself.  And drive it back to Austria.  And take care of a few details to get it registered… Let’s re-join the story in progress.

I arrived at the dealer in Munich more than a little worried that we had forgotten some crucial item and wouldn’t be able to get the car.  I shouldn’t have been concerned because everything ran smoothly and within an hour I had the car, keys, temporary insurance, and temporary license plates, and was on the Autobahn heading south.

The drive home to Austria was great and I started to think about how jealous Eric would be that I was driving the car.  My excitement was short lived because I soon found out all the steps I needed to complete to actually finish the process.  My temporary plates and insurance expired in 4 days, but I had a naive confidence that I could get the car registered in that time.

The first  step in “importing” the car to Austria is to get it inspected.  I took it to a local BMW dealer and they told me it would take a few days to get all the paper work done.  At the time this seemed unreasonably long, but later on I saw the test report and understood.  It’s a four page document with every conceivable specification of the car listed, from carbon emissions to cubic engine capacity.  The car is not new, but it’s in great shape, so the only snag I ran into was that it didn’t have snow tires.  While they are technically not “required”, if you don’t have them between November and April, your insurance is invalidated.  That option didn’t sound very good, so I got out my wallet again and plunked down 900 Euros for the cheapest tires they could offer.  (Eric probably wants to go on record that he was horrified by the steel wheels I put on the car, but the pretty aluminum ones were 3x the price and I was horrified by that.). So after four days, I had the paperwork to go to the next step.  However, the temporary plates had expired, so I couldn’t drive the car and it was stranded at the dealer.

The next steps were several visits (on foot) to the state Finance Office, where I presented the inspection forms and was asked to fill out a bunch of paperwork.  While I’m feeling pretty good about how my understanding of German is progressing, the forms nearly brought me to tears.  After I filled in my name and address, the rest of the words were completely incomprehensible.  I have a whole new respect for immigrants, as well as huge gratitude to the patient lady at the office who sensed my desperation and helped me complete the paperwork.

After the Finance people got all the information, they took a few days to calculate the amount of tax we owed.  The tax rate is based on some secret formula that includes the price, the number of grams of CO2 emissions, and extra fees for each horse power over 115.  At the end I got a whopping bill for 3000 Euros, which I had no choice but to pay since the car was at the lot waiting for me.

With the tax receipt in hand, I met with an insurance agent who asked for yet more Euros.  After we finished more paperwork, he disappeared for an hour, but returned with the crown jewels… my new license plates!  He was also nice enough to give me a ride to the dealer who helped put them on.

At this point I drove off happily into the sunset, the proud owner of 2007 BMW 325xi sedan.  Of course, I don’t have anywhere to park it yet…  but that’s a story for another time.

Here’s the obligatory picture:

Posted in Austria, Germany, Living Abroad | No Comments »

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