One week

On Wednesday 23^rd Kiran, a friend from England arrived in Vienna. A few days before he came, I kindly composed a teaser poster to get him psyched up for his visit.

Kiran arrived in the evening so we dropped off his bags at my apartment and went to Travel Shack to meet the guys. Whilst waiting for the pool table a fairly drunk Austrian girl popped up beside me and mumbled something in German. “Sprichst du Englisch” I instinctively replied. “Yes… well no, not very, where are you from?” she asked. “England” I said, “Oh so it’s true!”, “What’s true?” (no answer) ”Can I give you my sister, she wants you?” she said next (very good English indeed), gesturing over to a less drunk, but far more embarrassed looking girl at another table. I smiled and replied that her sister should have come over herself and that I was here to play pool with my friends. I’m still curious what was “true” about the English.

Arriving home I got to work editing some film Şefkat had helped me shoot earlier for a project due in the next morning – I shouldn’t have procrastinated, but I didn’t compromise on quality and even had 1 hour left to sleep!

Still from the film project which had to include a transportation effect

Obviously architects use this all the time

On Thursday morning Kiran came with me to a Diagrammatische und Hybride Entwurfsmethoden lecture (film editing class) and that night went to Prater Dome. The next day we joined a BBQ at Donauinsel and went for a swim in the river before rushing home early to prepare food for a dinner night I was hosting.

Donauinsel BBQ

I cooked cottage pie with vegetables and gravy. It was a very difficult task to prepare the meal for 12 people with only two hobs and a microwave so the food was ready an hour later than I had initially promised. I had never before made cottage pie – or anything similar – but the result was edible and more importantly everyone had a good time! After the dinner we went on to Gasobar where Kiran and I formed an unbeatable team at pool.

Kiran, Marco and Federico at my English dinner party

On Saturday 26th Kiran, Mỹ-Lan and I went to Heldenplatz to attend the solidarity rally for Tibet and see the Dalai Lama who is travelling around Europe to create awareness for the situation in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama at the Solidarity Rally for Tibet

That night we went to a fancy dress party in the Molkereistraße party room organised by some Spanish students. The party was very boring so we decided to go to Dick Mack’s Irish pub at Schwedenplatz for a foosball tournament with Kiran and Federico against Guillaume and I. The next day I took Kiran around the city center to see the tourist sights of Vienna. In the evening we went out in a group but gradually lost each other at different clubs and pubs until it was just Kiran, Loïc and I in a bar.

Stephansdom transformed by coloured canvas covering the windows

On Monday 28^th Kiran and I visited the Hundertwasserhaus, an expressionist landmark and working residential building in the Landstraße district. We then went to the Schloß Schönbrunn and dragged ourselves around the large landscaped gardens. That night we decided to give ourselves an easy night and went to the Salm Bräu restaurant (very recommendable) in the Belvedere vicinity with Fabian.

Hundertwasserhaus

Tuesday 29^th was Kiran’s last day in Vienna. We left in the morning to get to the City Airport Train at Wien Mitte. Unfortunately we forgot to get a U-Bahn ticket for Kiran (€2 for a single journey) and got checked by the ticket men. They issued a fine of €100 Euros - not likely to be paid by a student leaving the country that day – hopefully Kiran enjoyed his first and last visit to Austria!