Working for the weekend

I play tourist on the weekend since the city pretty much closes up shop about 6 or so here. The weekend(okay Saturday) is when you can hit the tourist sights and really enjoy the city. Sundays, only the tourist areas are open and not a lot of shops overall. The grocery stores are closed too on Sundays, which to this city kid is odd. Have to plan ahead for Sunday dinner here.
Have made a list of things to do. I crossed off the Festung today. Also I got to tag along on a walking tour of Salzburg for the new session participants. That was very interesting. I really enjoyed walking through the mountain and seeing St. Peter's cemetery. For all you SOM(Sound of Music) fans that's the inspiration for the scene in the movies where the family is hiding in the cemetery in the locked caves. They recreated that on a soundstage, 'cause...cemetery. It's still used to this day. Wonderfully peaceful and artistic there. We even saw the archbishop today.
I like the Geteridegasse as well. The main shopping street in Salzburg from way back. Now there's places like Hermes, Vuitton and McDonald's, but they kept up the wrought iron signs that advertised the business. Probably the classiest Mickey D's sign you'll ever see.

The library dayz

Been spending my days in the library, of course. Tuesday I cleaned out some more stuff in the library office. Found some interesting stuff, but nothing valuable and historic. Although there was this little crystal cat...and of course the photo of the Prince of Wales. Signed I might add. Dusty, dirty stuff.
Then there was the books. I'm really not a fan of Dewey. I so miss LC. Ah well. Nothing's perfect. I can cheat a bit on some of the things, because they already have records, so I can hijack the numbers. Others go into a 'later' pile. Also sorting out filing cabinets, archive stuff, and adjusting to a routine.
The thing I miss most right now is a real book truck. I have a stopgap measure someone found today. It's more of an AV cart but at least I can stack things on it. Saw some of the archives stuff. It's not as bad as I feared. We need some boxes and folders so I can start getting control of it.
Found some dupes of stuff that I have to find homes for. And I still don't know where to put the new books.
I want it near the library office, but that's gonna be a major shifting project. Problem is the first level is pretty full to begin with.
Ah it'll come. Only my 3rd day, so I have to be patient. I can't do everything at once.
Went for a walk after work to relax. Circled the lake. It's kind of a nice view from across the lake. Lots of guys fishing the lake. And the ducks were out. Did I mention the ducks yet? Lots of them here. Different ones too.

Tuesday afternoon

We took a break when we crossed the Charles Bridge. Lunch, wine, relaxing. I had garlic soup with croutons. Yum. And Czech wine. I really like Czech wine. Sort of smooth and dry but just enough fruit to not be pucker-y like a chardonnay.

The garlic soup was good. It was a cool day to start with so it seemed like a good idea. And it wasn't too heavy. I have been seeing a lot of meats and potato heavy stuff on menus. Which is good. I love potatos and bacon. I mean hello, Irish ancestors! But not for today. Downside is my breath smells like garlic, but tough.

We took the tram up the hill to the Strahov monastery library. The tram is cool. A bit like the T in Boston. Except they are more relaxed about paying. You buy a card, they check it on occasion. You have it, sure. You don't...uh-oh.

Strahov was great. The old books and the art. They are renovating one hall of the library, so we saw the Theological Hall...I felt right at home. It was amazing. THey have some interesting artifacts as well. The monks collected all sorts of stuff so it's like a museum too. Dried sea life, shells, armour, weapons, and cannon balls. And narwhal tusks and penis. Those were fun.
I think my two favorite things were the portable library desk. It is a desk and the chair folds down to fit inside and on the other side was a mini stepladder to reach the books.
And the second thing was a huge book holder that turned. You placed your texts on it and could spin it so that you were reading what you need to interpret the texts. I know a few exgesis classes that would want that.
The librarian at Strahov had to have me explain exegesis, but he got it when he knew what I was talking about! He laughed and agreed that's what it was for.

After leaving the monastery we had great views of the city. Which reminded me of Edinburgh castle actually. Being so high up and seeing all of the area.
Some of us walked down back to the hotel. We did stop for wine. Martin, one of the coordinators, knew a place. It's very good wine. So we did Happy Hour Czech style.
And of course we found a gelato shop. I had nutella gelato. Oh yummy. But the strawberry was good yesterday too.

I found the John Lennon wall. I had read about it, but didn't think I'd see it. Very cool.