Hello! It has been a very very very busy week but I am back stateside. Big week for little Hattie: I did not cry on the flight home OR at the doctor’s office this week when they stole my blood!
Dottie missed me.
This one is going to be mostly photos of Austria. So…I hope you like those. But next week we’ll go back to Me, Writing Things! Oh, speaking of.
Paid Subscribers, Be Alert
Tomorrow I’m turning paid subscriptions back on. If you’re a paid subscriber, this means you’ll go back on the charge schedule you set up when you first subscribed. It means you’ll also start getting briefs from me with novel progress. Remember National Poetry Writing Month, when I emailed you incessantly about poetry? Well, now I’m going to be telling you all about my book in progress. Okay! Thank you.
Aldi Details About Austria
(This subhed is a pun, I promise. Keep reading!)
So, I was in Austria for a work trip. That means I got to wear work clothes, or the proper title, Little Work Outfits. Here’s me in, of all things, practical flats, hoisting my big-ass laptop bag, my heavy-ass water bottle, and a huge-ass camera kit.
And here is a photo I took moments before learning I was in the mens’ bathroom!
A man walked in, saw me, apologized, stepped out, read the sign, looked at me, looked to the side, looked back at me…at which point I followed his gaze to the side wall of urinals. Oops. Well, whatever, I left plenty of room if he wanted to check HIS lipstick.
Waiting for a cab each day was torture, but not as torturous as trying to get my camera kit on the train. When people commented on it, I joked, “I knew I’d gain weight in Austria, I just didn’t think it would be 40 pounds on the first day!” To make the most of my time, my routine was to hoof it down the block to Hofer – we Americans call it Aldi – and call my cab, then shop as I waited.
I ate many delicious foods in Austria, including (but not limited to) mysterious spicy meat sticks, fun flavored chips, bread with dip on it, schnitzel, spaetzle, Würze sauce (vinegary and kicky – I said I liked it at one restaurant and the waiter brought me a whole bottle to take home), a truly bizarre basket of “fingerfoods” which included the best chicken wings and blandest fish sticks of all time, a Hugo (this is a prosecco and elderflower spritzer with MINT!), a whole pizza, and Milk Mice.
A bag of strawberry milk mice came home in the suitcase.
In Austria, they really should call Hofer by the name Aldi, because it has all the things. Hardee har har! I told you that subhed would be a joke – I never said it would be funny. I got a cool floral T-shirt and some kinderplasters (kids’ bandaids) at Hofer, but I passed on the knockoff Crocs and €1.50 cans of sparkling wine.
On the last day of the trip, I squeezed in a little tourism.
First was the Schmetterlinghaus (butterfly house!) at the Hofburg Palace, which was a huge greenhouse. There's been a greenhouse in that area since 1823; the one that now encompasses the Schmetterlinghaus was constructed around 1901. There are hundreds of butterflies, approximately 150 different species, and they will happily swoop at you if you're between them and a feeding station.
Also in the palace? Horses. Freakin’ fancy famous horses. The Lipizzaner stallions are world-famous, the "dancing" horses from the Spanish Riding School. Like the Clown Museum, the Spanish Riding School's training sessions did not coincide with my trip. But I got to peek at these royal horses during their morning feeding time. Celebrities, they’re just like us!
Noted Horse Appreciator Hattie J. Hayes.
There were also some horses hard at work in and around the palace, giving tourists rides and deftly navigating the horse/car/bike/streetcar traffic in the city.
I’m looking forward to my next trip abroad, wherever it may be. And I need to renew my passport before that happens, so any hair/makeup/outfit tips are much appreciated!
And now, we return to some…well, fairly regular programming.
What I Didn’t Buy This Week
At Shakespeare & Company, I was captivated by a set of teeny-tiny books. I had a tiny, matchbook-sized dictionary as a child; for a time, I carried it with me everywhere. The bookstore had miniature editions of famous novels, including a four-book set that comprised the entirety of Moby Dick. I asked the bookseller how much they cost, though, and the tiny books started at €25 each – so the set of Moby Dick volumes I wanted to buy my brother would’ve been over $106 USD, and I was scared it would get damaged and/or lost in transit. Next time!
Hofer had some knee braces for just a few euros, and I regret not buying one. I just got back from my first post-trip roller skating session, and…yeah. I’m gonna need some knee wraps, some joint supplements, and some new cute yoga pants.
Why the hell didn’t I buy this children’s horse art kit from Hofer? Just because I was “out of room in my suitcase” and “definitely going to be assessed with an oversize bag fee?” Shush!
And with that, we come back home. Be prepared to be annoyed, paid subscribers, by my regular novel updates. Come October, we’ll take a look at creating a new normal for my content schedule. But in the meantime, I hope you have a great weekend ahead.