Schenk ein den Wein - as autumn comes to Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

Der Nebel steigt, es fällt das Laub;
schenk ein den Wein, den holden!
Wir wollen uns den grauen Tag
vergolden, ja vergolden!

A thread for all those living in Germany and Austria, and anyone else who would like to chat.

Always good to have an excuse to open some , and this poem seemed quite appropriate!

Hello again everybody. It was so many months ago that I briefly popped my head round the door that I'd better re-introduce myself- I'm 37, married to an Austrian, DD of 15 months and we moved in June from Amsterdam to Perchtoldsdorf/ Vienna. Although we have been here quite a while, I'm finding it slow work to settle in as I'm working full time- which doesn't leave much space for recce trips and getting used to the place. My BIL/SIL live in 6. Bez so we have made some trips into town and my next goal is to elbow out enough freetime to take some German lessons.

admylin that's really sad for your family, I hope the wife has lots of local support too.

hupa you mentioned marmite- is there anywhere easy to get it near Vienna? I didn't find any in the Spar so far. My sister comes over at the end of the month though so I can just ask her to put a jar in her suitcase. I'm still not sure exactly what I can/ can't get locally.

We're a way off potty training yet but I hope I remember your gummibears/ stickers ideas!

Marmite in Vienna.

Hi C4ro, good to see you again. We're only about half an hour from Perchtoldsdorf - the DDs used to go to swimming lessons there.

I don't think you'd be able to find Marmite in normal shops here; the only place I can think of that would have it is Bobbys in the 4th district - it probably wouldn't be cheap, though. If I'd known, I could have brought you some over as we've just come back from a shopping trip to London.

Oh, and if you're missing British food, have you discovered the delights of M&S in Bratislava? It's one of DH's our favourite destinations on a rainy Sunday. They only sell M&S brand goods though, so wouldn't have Marmite. There's a very small chance that you might find it at Tesco, although their British food section had shrunk to minuscule last time we were there so probably not.

admylin - thats so sad about your nephew - so horrible when people die too soon. Had he been ill? Hope your tummy is a bit better today - have packaged up 17 DVDs to send you while you recuperate.

Linzer - i'd love some more DVD's. But only if the postage isnt too expensive. Thanks. Glad you had a good trip. Jealous of the shopping! ANd glad you had a good meet up withe coco - did the baby make you broody?

silken - sounds like the potty training is definitely going in the right direction. There will be accidents but if she's dry most of the day then she's doing well.

hupa - sounds like your ds was def ready for school. Glad he's settling in so well. Mine is happy too - and still happy to do the homework. But still absolutely not interested in reading apart from what the teacher tells them to do. And he can read what she sends but he refuses to pick up any other book. I'm sure it'll get better (well thats what I keep telling myself!).

later - loving the sound of those daytime cuddles but not the sound of the infected nipple - ouch! Have a fab time with your parents. Enjoy the rest.

Off to take ds1 to a party soon then dd is going to a dance practice in the village hall so it'll just be me and ds2 for a few hours. Sadly I'm going to have to take him food shopping -got no yoghurts in the fridge which is a disaster in our house! Been to the local mall this morning - needed some bits & bobs but wanted the chinese food from there more! its so fresh and delicious. well worth the 30 minute drive.

So sorry about your nephew admylin. That's really sad.
Would reply to everyone but dd is about to get hyper so got to go. Will say hi tomorrow.

Canella OK, will package some more DVDs up for you! The postage shouldn't be too expensive as the parcel will be quite flat - according to DH, anything that won't fit through a certain-sized slot has suddenly got extortionate to send.

Definitely no more broodiness from me, as adorable as coco's DS was - I feel like I've done my time! I think the DDs would have liked to keep him, though; they were absolutely fascinated by him and giggling away at the faces he was pulling.

We're off to my ILs later on today for DH's birthday - I only remembered after he'd left for work that it's his birthday today. Have to take a book of fairytales for his niece as she's chosen English as one of her Leistungsfächer (or whatever they're called in Austria) for her Matura and she's decided to write an essay about fairytales. SIL didn't want anything too "childish"/easy so we spent ages scouring bookshops in London for something suitable - well, I hope it's suitable anyway.

Thanks for the marmite sourcing suggestions!
This weekend DD has the third tick jab and I desperately need a haircut so, that's a thrilling Saturday in store for us all! M+S Bratislava could be a real option for Sunday though- I promised I'd try and find MIL a Christmas pudding and they are bound to have them.

Yes, I'm sure I've seen Christmas puddings there before. The M&S in the Eurovea shopping centre is bigger than the one next to the airport, although that one now has food (but no cafe) too.

We're at my ILs atm, but I forgot to pack DS's inhalers and he's really suffering with his allergies and struggling to breathe. We were able to get an emergency inhaler from the chemist's (MIL has to take a prescription in on Monday) but it's only helping to a limited extent, so we'll be going home later today instead of tomorrow as we'd originally planned.

C4ro - you need to make friends with someone who has access to the UN Commissary.......it's a treasure trove of goodies you can't get in Billa.

...and even ones that you can't find in the UK - we get our US Cheerios from there (I find British ones far too sweet). A lot of products (esp. make-up, I think) can be significantly cheaper too. Mind you, was quite when a friend told me recently that she rarely goes there without spending less than ?500!

Just saying hello really! I'm sorry your trip has been cut short, Linzer and I hope ds feels better soon. I spent $6 on marmite the other day, so I am in no position to talk about spending money on British food! Have a great weekend, everyone!

LinzerTorte - does Hofer have an own brand version of Cherios? Aldi (UK version of Hofer, as you know) sells own brand version called "Harvest Morn" which are the best non sweet version I've found.

Must admit I haven't looked in Hofer, orienteerer - I'll check next time I'm there. I'm sure the DC would eat a sweeter version but their teeth are sweet enough as it is (no doubt partly thanks to them being given Zuckerl everywhere we go) so I'm trying to avoid overly sweet breakfast cereals. Are you an ex-Vienna inhabitant btw?

Sigh......yes, 5.5 years in Wien, sadly now back in UK. I left part of me back in Wien....even though I never cracked the Deutsch.

Evening. Well, it was MMR not tick jabs today but she took it OK. M+S tomorrow very likely unless she has a very bad night of it but I will need an early night- Monday, I've got a work trip to Milan which means getting a taxi to the airport before 500 am.

orienteerer do you have advice on which cafes I can hang around looking to accost people with British newspapers!? It feels like I'm going to be terribly slow meeting new people here but I will keep ears open for Un-ers.

In Amsterdam there were two excellent Brit/ American shops which, by luck I lived only walking distance from in both the places I lived while I was there. This probably colours my expectation on what normal access level to expect to Brit food. Mind you, they also wanted the best part of 20 Euros for a large box of PG Tips, no real mark-up difference in what I saw online on the Bobbys website but it's coming a lot further, seems odd to me. Marmite is in normal supermarket too and not "special order"!

orienteerer I thought I'd cracked German (was studying it when I met DH) and then came to Austria and discovered I virtually had to start from scratch (with mühlviertlerisch, at any rate).

C4ro Have you joined the Vienna Babies Club? I e-mailed them and asked if there was anyone near me (but there wasn't); I also joined the south of Vienna group, but it seems to have petered out now. Apparently I am too far south of Vienna even for the south of Vienna group (even though we're only about 25 minutes by train from the city centre)!

C4ro & LinzerTorte - don't give up on the VBC (Vienna Babies Club), first of all ignore the "babies" bit, it tends to cater up to age 6 at least. Even if you can't make a local group you might make a monthly meeting in central Vienna.........should confess I found it a lifeline and ended up as a committee member! I have now ended up with another ex member living close to me in the UK and 4 of us recent had a UK reunion.

.....even if you only go to the Christmas Party
Date: Sunday 11 December 2011
Time: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Place: Renaissance Hotel, Linke Wienzeile/Ullmannstrasse 71, 1150 Vienna
Goodies: Craft activities for kids, face painting, Raffle, Photo with Santa, Sandwiches, Cakes & More...

Hello C4ro - I can imagine it is hard to settle down if working full time. I am also in Vienna, this place also has lots of British food. www.prosi.at/ and is probably not far from where your BIL and SIL live. Also, smaller Asian shops have some food, for example PG Tips. But don't know any near the 6th, but some in the 20th and 9th if you are interested (though if you are making a special trip, I would go to Prosi, across the road from the main Vienna public library, which also has lots of material in English)

Have you seen this link from the British Embassy in Vienna? ukinaustria.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-austria/tips-on-living-in-austria/british-clubs-associations though I don't know how up to date it is.

Also this place used to run bilingual sessions, and some sessions on a Saturday, www.leta.co.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=53

Hello everyone else! Got a morning of housework ahead of me, but shall try not to think about it and get on with it so we can do something more exciting this afternoon. Hope you enjoy your Sundays!

orienteerer Yes, the VBC was great when we first moved here and I went to both the weekly and monthly meetings with DD1. However, it was trickier with DD2 and DS as getting back from Vienna in time to pick up the older one(s) from school/kiga was a little stressful and I limited myself to the Christ Church toddler group, which I could get straight to by train.

Now that the DC are all at school/kiga, the morning activities are out and I'm too tired for the evenings ones. (I did try the bookclub once, which was nice but just too much of an effort in the evenings!) I've never been to the VBC Christmas party but we've been going to the Christ Church Christmas bazaar for the last nine years. We've had a photo taken of the DC with Father Christmas every year, which is a nice record of them growing up!

Hi platanos, will think of you doing the housework while I'm working (have a job to finish by Tuesday)! You're right, I'd forgotten that Asian shops sometimes have British food (not that we have any out here). Also, Merkur has a fairly good range of Indian food - did you see my post on Facebook that they now have proper poppadums btw?

DH has just got back from the baker's with rolls for breakfast but no bread for me - they'd already sold out of my two favourites by 8.30 am.

Hi everyone hope the weekend was OK.

Ours was sad, dd's favourite Gerbil died. Waiting for the vet to come and check the other one over now. She was so upset, it died in her hand of some sort of haemorrhage as loads of blood came out of the nose then it jerked a couple of times and was dead.

We got a wake up call at 4am too as it's Eid festival in Bangladesh so dh's old friend decided to wish him happy Eid without thinking about the time difference!

So sorry to hear about your DD's gerbil admylin, it's always very upsetting when a pet dies. Hope the other one is OK.

I've just been out for a run but my knee seems to be getting more painful each time, so I'm a bit worried I might have to give up running - it's the only thing I've ever managed to stick to for more than a few weeks, so I really hope not.

Anyway, I've finally got round to making appointments for my annual Vorsorgeuntersuchung and then mammogram, so I'll ask the doctor about it next week. Now I just need to make an appointment with the optician. The fact that I have to wear glasses for 24 hours before my eye test puts me off a bit as I hate wearing glasses; I just can't get used to the blurry bit around the edge!

We've just booked a hotel in Munich, or rather Erding, for just before Christmas as we fly back to my parents from Munich early on the 23rd. We were going to stay overnight at my ILs' but after DS's bad reaction at the weekend decided that we didn't want to risk staying with them just before flying, so will stay near to the airport instead. The reviews on holidaycheck aren't great but it's only for a night and is one of the few places we could find that had a room for all five of us.

Must get on with some work now as I've only got 20 minutes before I have to pick up DS for his speech therapy session. He's improved a lot recently so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll only need one or two more sessions.

You've done loads of travelling this year linzer! You're getting good at the booking hotels thing too - how was your hotel in London? Were the shops in walking distance? Did you get any good bargains?

We just heard my niece in London will give birth to her 1st baby in March so we might try to go over for a weekend or longer if the dc have holidays.

Still waiting for vet, other gerbil seems weak but if it survives it needs a new friend as they can't be kept alone so that's another problem to solve. Dd slept with it in a small cage right on her bedside table last night. It won't go in the big cage even though it's cleaned out.

The hotel in London was great - we had a nice light room in the basement and DH was particularly impressed with the bathroom, which was very clean and new, not at all schmuddelig like he would normally expect from London! It was only a few minutes' walk from the British museum and very handy for public transport too, as it was only a few stops from Liverpool St (for the Stansted Express) and there was also a bus that took us straight to Trafalgar Square.

We did buy a lot more than we were intending, but got quite a few bargains, mainly Christmas presents (3 for 2 at Boots, for example). The only thing we didn't manage to buy was cheese, but a friend of mine is coming over at the weekend and has promised to bring us some.

A new baby is definitely a good excuse to go and visit London! I don't really know anyone in London any more as most of my friends there have now moved out/away, but I did manage to meet a couple of MNers for a coffee, which was really nice.

DS has just had his last ever speech therapy session - hooray! The speech therapist decided he'd improved enough not to need any more work on "sh" and initially said he should go back in 3-4 months to work on the "s" sound, but then said that he could go to the Sprachheilunterricht at school if I preferred as it's not serious enough for him to need speech therapy. So I went for the school option, as it's far easier all round - and I get my Monday mornings back.