19.1 Tour of Vienna

In the very vivid tour by Fiaker of the Vienna Ringstraße, we find ourselves passing the Hofburg to our right, and then "davorne" we're told is the Staatsoper, followed by Parlament and the Burgtheater. 
 

I know I'm splitting hairs, but when travelling clockwise around the Ringstraße, you've already left the Staatsoper behind by the time you're admiring the Hofburg on your right. 
 

Two other things: 

In Europe, with all its centuries of history, it's a bit ironic to talk about each building on the Ringstraße as having “so viel Geschichte." Deliberately chosen to emulate the architectural styles of bygone eras, they were all built around the same time in the late 19th century, and they're not actually drenched in the history that their styles would suggest. 
 

And your clue card for “Viennese horse carriage” leads to the answer “eine Fiakerfahrt," which actually means “tour in a Viennese horse carriage." The actual answer to that clue should have simply been “der Fiaker”

Still, I really enjoyed the tour. It brought back many wonderful memories.!

Hallo gottahaveajava,

Thank you for pointing this out! I will pass this on to our German team. 

Also thank you for letting us know about the translation. We have updated it in the lesson. 

Viele Grüße,

Julia

Hi Gottahaveajava

For a moment while reading this I was so envious  of you being in Austria, then read more carefully. 

Canada has just dropped its testing when you come back home, not sure when other countries have done this or already have, but I am so ready to go off on a trip.

Am still plodding along and hoping to finish level 1 soon.

Sebongela

Hi Sebongela,  

I lived in Vienna for around 3 years in the late 90s. Lived and worked right on the Ringstraße, so right in the thick of it.  It was memorable, vivid, and wonderful. My wife and I met there. We live in New Zealand now.  Her daughter still lives in Vienna, and there's now also a granddaughter on the scene, so we visit every few years.  

My German was good enough to get by as a visitor, but we're now thinking of moving back to Vienna permanently for our retirement.  And suddenly, I'm feeling a powerful need to consolidate and move up a level! Hence, the intensity of my current language learning efforts.

I'm surprised, Sebongela, to read that you're “still plodding along” when you've been sitting at the top of a pretty active leaderboard for two or three weeks now. I would have thought you'd be tearing through the levels!  

At any rate, all the best. You've clearly got the motivation to break through and become a skilled German speaker!  I'll be interested in seeing how you get on. 

gottahaveajava

Hi Gottahaveajava

I am making sure I get level 1 completely before moving onto to level 2. Am also using Play the Part, as that is everyday practical vocabulary and my confidence is growing in leaps ans bounds with that.  My Italian I was so anxious to get to level 2 and then found the basic grounding wasn't there for more complicated grammar. So am back to level 1 in Italian and going through that again. German grammar is even more tricky, so am making very sure I feel comfortable with the cases and also the genders, as so much hinges on that. I am also quite competive Not in a bad way, but really want that black badge, then will rest on my laurels a bit. 

We hold EU passports and now have health in Europe too. A huge plus when travelling there. We always take additional health care insurance anyway. So just an extra safety net. My friend is Austrian and is considering going back to Austria and Vienna. She misses family, but her kids and grandchild are here on Vancouver Island, so a difficult choice. I have told my husband that if he wants to go back to Portugal where his sisters now live we can go. They all left South Africa recently, as saw no future there.  Have found that even basic language gets you around. My POrtuguese is not perfect grammar wise, but would feel totally comfortable in Portugal. So I am sure you would do well in Austria.  I guess I have never been shy to speak Portuguese even if not always correct. 

NZ is beautiful When we were in Brunei visited there for 2 weeks. Just lovely! 

Sebongela (Sharon)

Zulu word for we give thanks or the likes