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My life in Vienna

the year 2002
- first half -

Created 21 January 2002 ... Updated 5 June 2002

[ for pictures of Vienna check the photography section ]


My life in Vienna


January 2002

Waldviertel • 21 January
Not sure if I can still do that but A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!
Just came back from a 3 week visit to the Netherlands.

Two friends went to Australia for a 3 week holiday and asked me to look after their place and cats and plants. Since they provided me with a fully equiped home office I could work from Den Haag. Change of scenery. I've lived there in 1990 for 3 months but never really checked out the city so now I did have some time.

Well, had plenty of plans but it's been very busy again, not much time to see everyone again, seems to be the problem every time I go to the Netherlands. Haven't even taken a lot of pictures, went out cycling once and took some of sheep in the snow and the fog but apart from that, nothing. When I had time it rained or was dark and during the week it was working time... Need to get a 2 month stay in the Netherlands and without having to work, might get done more that way.

Of course Stella and Geert tried to make me jealous with where they were and what they were doing. They succeeded! Got some plans again (you might know me by now) and it could be that I'll end up in Australia by the end of the year, not for a few weeks but for a few months. Watch this space...

Also gave myself a few presents, an old folding camera (details can be found on my Agfa page), some old pre-WW2 books and some 1950s magazines. The old stuff is so nice.

A big THANK YOU to Marcia and Wilfried, Stella and Geert, Albert, Johanneke, BT Amsterdam and my family! See you all next time.


February 2002

• 25 February
It's been a busy month since the last update. A lot fo things had to be organised when I arrived back in Wien. Friends coming over during the week and not one weekend was spent at home.

One weekend was spent with Katrin's best friend. She got married and I was repsonsible for the photography. Was fun to do because it was very small, only 10 guests were invited and it got me into a different kind of photography. The pictures turned out quite nice, especially for a first-time wedding photog. :o)

Hardegg One weekend was spent making alcohol. Last year has been a good one for plums. Katrin's parents have over 100 plum trees in the garden resulting in over 700 liters of plums. Well, a lot were thrown away as well but these 700 liters were kept rotting away in big tons. To get more into Austrian culture I offered to help out during the distillation. A lot of waiting is involved but it's fun to do, well, I only helped out for 2 days and it took well over 4 days to get rid off all plums but... ah well... need to do the entire thing next time. Hopefully next summer won't be as good as last year's. :o)

Yesterday we returned from the Waldviertel where we spent a long weekend with friends at their parent's place. I've been there before and it's a really nice area. Not too many mountains but also not as flat as The Netherlands. We did some sightseeing, some relaxing and a lot of talking. When we decided to go back we took the tourist route. Seen a lot of nice little villages, a few castles and got some ideas for cycling this spring. I'll have to decide whether to cycle in Hungary or in the Waldviertel now. Difficult decision...

Also some news from the camera collecting front. Bought a few new cameras. After the first folding camera I found another small 6x6 folder. Took some pictures with it as well and it works perfectly. Want to blow some of them up now to see how good the lens is but since it's a pre-WW2 Rodenstock, it ought to be pretty good. It's of course entirely manual with lots of space for errors. It doesn't have a lightmeter either so it was time to actively look for one. Well, they turn out to be fairly expensive and big and I was looking for something small and cheap, easy to take with me on a hiking trip or so. Fortunately I found a 1960s Gossen Sixtar in perfect condition for not too much money so I bought that one. Very easy to use and with quite a few options.

Then one day I came across an old 10x15 glass plate negative camera. It's pretty large and is complete, with manual (only a double sided A4 sized sheet of paper), exposure meter table, 3 negative backs, etcetera etcetera. Even the bag is in perfect condition. Anyways, have tried to find info on the internet but couldn't find anything. So when you have more information on this camera, please contact me. Details and pictures can be found on this page.

Oh, another page is coming up soon. Something new, something exciting and something with its own domain name. The first version is already in the 'net but it's still pretty new so I don't want to announce it yet. When you want, just ask me and else you'll have to wait till the announcement is made here and on the front page of www.3106.net...


Rosi

March 2002

• 15 March
At work, manyf projects are coming to an end and unfortunately things don't always go as smooth as we would like them to go so the past weeks have been very busy. The good thing is that the weather has been awesome, 15°C (which is about 60°F) with a lot of sun so now it makes sense again to wear my summer jacket. Everyone wakes up again from their wintersleep so many evenings are spent with friends, going to the usual bars and restaurants, people coming over for dinner, we going to friends for dinner, very nice.

Earlier this week I was asked by a friend to take some passport photos for her. She's tried to get some but she was never happy with the results so now it was my turn. We had a lot of fun so decided to continue taking pictures and many turned out very well. <move a bit to the left, no not so much>. <Get your hair straight again>... Was good fun and I got rid of all films I took with me. We might have to give it a go again. Anyway, some pictures are on the soon-to-be-lauched new website. Some insiders know but since it's not been launched yet. Keep following these pages and you'll be one of the first to find out. :o)

April 2002

• 15 April
A month has passed, a month with lots of good weather and a lot of great weekends. We went to a friend who's a vet and I played her assistant for the weekend. Great to drive around to the farms, to help with trying to make cows healthier and to play a little with the calves when there was nothing for me to do. Could imagine doing that more often, maybe there will be some more times this year.

One of my good friends, Carla, came over for a long weekend. After having stayed at her place for 10 months in 1999, now it was her turn to stay at my place for 4 days. We had great fun, same kind of humour which puzzled other people. We have also breathed new life into her website and we're working hard to make it ready. Watch this space for the address.

Talking about websites, my other website have not changed a lot. Was too busy with work and other things to do anything serious on it. Hope to have more time to spend on it soon. The project is currently a bit in a neglected state. Time to get it going again, the time is right for it.

On the camera collecting front a lot has changed. Read that as:"spent more money on buying cameras than I planned to". Ah well, some nice new old cameras again, follow the link from my photo pages to see my new acquisitions. I have now stopped buying cameras unless they are really special to me. Still looking for a not-too-expensive wooden camera but it can wait, got no space to exhibit the cameras anyway.

Ferdi • 25 April
Wow, things are going fast. Last weekend I went cycling with a friend, first time cycling in Wien in a long time. So I fixed my old racing bike, checked the gears, could make 6 of them work and thought it would be enough for Wien. Thomas had already warned me that there would be a steep hill on the route and indeed, suddenly we came around a corner and *bam* a big wall in front of us. With my condition, too small bike and only 6 working gears I made it to 2/3th of the hill before having to stop and rest and try again and stop and try and stop... The last meters had to be walked. Afterwards things were flat and cycling went fine again. Then came the down hill part. My brakes were not too good, I knew that but hhmmm, kind of scary to go that fast with these brakes. :o) Afterwards we had a beer and a large brunch so that the weight we lost with cycling we put on again as well.

Then I decided to have a cycling trip in more-or-less flat Hungary. Took two weeks off per the end of May and now planning a route. Looking forward to 2 weeks cycling, two weeks sweating, two weeks to get rid of my slowly growing stomach...

• 22 May
After having spent a long weekend with some friends in Maiersdorf, it's time to pack by bags for the new cycling trip: 2 weeks Hungary. Just my bike, my tent, my sleeping-bag and myself. Katrin doesn't have time as she's doing her exams now and will work afterwards. Since I still have 6 weeks of holiday left, it's better to spend it traveling than to throw it out at the end of the year.

A friend of mine visited us for a long weekend. Was fun to see her again, last time was over 2 years ago, she must still be somewhere on my page :o) She asked me to photograph her wedding, mid July. Interested in photography as I am, it was impossible to say "no" so there I go, my second wedding. Hope the pictures work out as well, she will have a full-on wedding with over 50 guests, church, reception and all. A lot different from last time's minimalistic wedding.

My trip will start in Maiersdorf, the first night will probably be spent in Koszeg, the second around Lake Balaton and then everything is open. The plan is to go to the Ukrainian border. A quick look sais that's about 600-700km, of course cycling back as well so it should be possible in 2 weeks. Watch this space for more news....

• 6 June
Returned from a shortened cycling trip in Hungary. The country is nice but there was no much of nothing after the cycling. 5 hours busy cycling per day and the rest was being alone. No other people around or at least no other interesting people. Plenty of German pensionists on some campsites but nothing in common with them. Then my books were finished and what can you do then. Boring boring boring. So I came back home after 8 days cycling. Next time I either shouldn't go alone on a trip like this or should go a little later in the year, when there are more people on holidays...

Read more about the trip here.



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