(no subject)

[vicarz]

Wed, post-sex club night
I blame the espresso

It's after midnight local but I can't seem to feel tired - despite being tired a bunch today. The windows are open for a gorgeous night, and some rap music is playing in the distance while I hear glasses clinking and a loud female voice echoing up the courtyard.
(I later slept to the sound of that voice...it was a lovely droning on warm voice, but not understanding the language it didn't distract me - like a lullaby)

So tonight we didn't actually go to the sex club so much as we wound up there. I met my friend at the market - I really wanted to check out the fake and ripped off chinese made crap they were selling there (rolex anyone?) but instead we hit the Savoy. I had said I wanted to hit gay bars and goth/ind clubs, and this was a nice in between I remember that my first night here Karin walked me by a few places that were closed - one of them was the "SMArt club" (read s / m art club) which had a lovely sign of a tall fetishy boot that said "No prostitutes."
(see pictures - I confused the no ho sign with the wrong club)
The Savoy was almost incredible - it was filled with classic décor including mirrors that must have measured 20x30 feet, reaching nearly to the high ceilings. I had been there before, but it was much nicer in the day when you could really see everything, and it wasn't January and filled with smoke. Oddly though, the brands of liquor and beer they had were rock bottom - so you could rot your gut while in gorgeous surroundings. When a few smokers came in we left - I have been spoiled by losing my air-abuse tolerance.

Vienna is going smoke-free, but it's still a mix of smoke and not smoke. Green signs mean you can smoke, red no, and both if there are areas of both (depends on size and clientele I think).

Christiana and I went to a tiny café (one of what, 1100?) that was reputable and had some espresso to mix with the drinks we had in the Savoy. You can't get giant cups of coffee in Wien for some reason - they keep giving you nice frothy coffee in cups the size of thimbles. I may break down and use a starbucks for 20 oz of caffeine fuckery. Oh, and chocolate has been a strike-out as well…but then we went to another gay bar, whose name I now forget (Mango). It was pretty inside with a disco ball, but tiny and … it looked like a dance club with no dance floor. They played good techno and house (they played internet radio in the club, when the bartender got bored he grabbed the mouse and switched stations)and we talked our way through more drinks while I noticed the bartender cutting lemons and limes with his hands and then putting them in bowls - when he served drinks later he only used tongs on the fruit. As we got carried away in conversation, more people showed up and started smoking.

We had actually stopped by the sex club, on hot and rocking…tuesday…but I turned it down because it was too smokey. So, after being smoked at in the gay not-dance club, I figured why not do our last drink in the sex club. Now, I was actually kind of impressed by it in a way. I was about the size of the depot, maybe smaller, and we sat a the bar where a b&d "lesbian" (fake nails make-up male fantasy "lesbians") porno was playing behind the bar. The crowd was mostly "not what you'd expect in a sex club," but the bar had a giant vase full of crops, sticks, and even a sparkly wand (how did they know I was going to be there!?) There were also whips of various types about the bar. We mostly just talked, pausing rarely for little things like "Oh, that's her own shoe in her mouth. Now that was rude," or "She's quite the gymnast, huh?" They served food there - I question the taste of the girl that was eating breaded fish. By the time we left some old guy was pants-down getting smackerooed in the back room. I mean neat I guess, but…I just wanted to say I went. Sill, that it was fairly full on a Tuesday and is a 100% fetish club 24/7 is kind of neat.

But about hours…there are several places I keep going that are never open. It turns out many shops, when the owner takes his or her month off for vacation, just shuts the place down. Austria is nutty though - for Eurpoeans they work really hard - full time is 38.5 hours a week (other places are more like 32) though they get 4-5 weeks vacation. They are heavily unionized but the unions are losing power.

Other fun things:
They are still using actual key-hole keys, using those keys we wear as antiques or curiosities. I may scout to see if I can get one to work with my home (the configuration is very different though, unlikely to find one that fits or even comes close) (I failed in that venture). I was wondering why everything was so expensive…forgetting that once the dollar topped the eruo, and the fact the euro price looks like a dollar price is no oddity, but my expense is due to the crappy exchange rate.

Now the voice stopped and someone is playing an electric guitar…I'm going to try and crash because tomorrow we're going to try and hit clubs, and if I can get up early enough in the morning I'm hoping to internet and coffee, then crawl through the market of crap to find crap to buy.

Christiana and her guy went to a place in Berlin called "Kit Kat club" which was an actual sex club - any night, just...lots and lots of sex.

Random notes
Coffee is always freshly ground but never large. These people don't understand gluttony. There is no large, no large anything really. All the foodstuffs you can buy seem to be in little packages - the entire country seems a bit like an Ikea kitchen. The grocery stores are tiny. Everywhere you look there are "cafes" and lunch counter type places - not so many actual restaurants. Compared to USian portions I suspect the restaurant portions are tiny. Sodas are small. Exception: beer, good size. They also don't mind walking. Everywhere.

EUROPEAN HYGIENE
Yup, said it again. People don't necessarily wash every day. It's not like people stink or anything - but you can smell many more people's day old shower than in the US. I wonder if it's because they are about 10 deg F colder than us - but cold areas of the US and Canaydia don't seem to have that effect on people's washing. It's just cultural? I wonder if we're the weird ones. Funny to me that my Austrian friends still remember and loathe the roommate they had in the US whose entire room smelled like feet. He was USian and an anti-gay conservative wacko with misogynistic leanings, but his room stank like socks in a bad way. I wonder if people smell feet and think "USian hygiene."

Later note - on the airplane, Air France, the attendant STANK worse than anyone in Austria. It seems the French really do set the bar on the hygiene issue. The plane to Paris was quite fucking unpleasant. I ate altoids and chewed gum to try and mask the stench.

Full of fail -
Tried to walk home, by myself, instead of taking the train, to make up for the fact that what I ordered turned out to be pasta-wrapped cheese in melted butter…with beer. After an hour of not finding the giant fucking cathedral in the middle of town, Stephanz, that otherwise should be visible above the skyline and is obvious on the map I have…but I cannot, not once, not with maps to guide me on bus stops, tourist attractions, or even subway stations - I cannot find the streets I am on in the mapbook in my pocket.

Plus - bank gave me 200 euros for my atm card. Minus - cost 10 euros, to take a taxi to the flat after getting lost. Plus - walked a lot. Minus - toe blisters.

Tired now - may write more later or may not. I still haven't pulled myself together with regard to the time change / diet of alcohol and coffee.

Comments

[desiringmachine.livejournal.com]

sounds like a good trip!

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

i sometimes think USAians shower too often; unless you're doing heavy workouts every day or something like that it seems like as long as you don't smell bad and aren't dirty, why waste the water and power

of course i'm greek, don't really sweat other than my face (which i do cleanse daily), and on days when i don't shower i usually smell like coco butter lotion

otoh, more than 3 days; smelly; dirty - ewww

[vicar.livejournal.com]

My rule of thumb is 24 hours. It's not just about sweat - the human body is covered with bacteria and washing kills it. Too long without a shower and you do smell, though because it is you it's hard to tell because you're immersed in it yourself. Sweat just makes it more likely because bacteria feeds on water as well (hence why the pits and other crevices are likely to stink first).

[djpsyche.livejournal.com]

Europeans do consider Americans unduly obsessed with bodily hygiene. You can't readily buy douche. They think only people with weird diseases would want to use such a product. As it's not deemed socially necessary I now shower every other day (unless I get sweaty; not something that happens often in British weather). It's mainly to preserve the dye job just that much longer. My Italian other half is not so industrious about showering. He does not smell, but his hair gets greasy after about four days so I nag him to shower.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

See as a couple this gets important. As much as I like salt on my french fries, sex happens before and after a shower...some things are more important than your smell at 4 paces!

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

yeah - i do the every few days thing as well; maybe it's the meditterranean thing not to smell (but it sooo saves on hair dye to only wash it twice a week)

[djpsyche.livejournal.com]

My hair gets greasy by the end of the second day, I couldn't possibly go a third.

[djpsyche.livejournal.com]

Compared to US portions, restaurant portions ARE tiny. Europe has no concept of a doggy bag. They serve you a serving. Not more than enough for gluttonous dinner and lunch the next day.

I like Europe. It's Psyche-sized.