Week five... "You will never leave!"

People we meet absolutely love living here! They say it's such an easy place to live; that it just gets under your skin. They say we'll never leave...! (But they've never been to Lorton). One thing that so transparently contributes to this enthusiasm, is that it is a place designed around it's occupants. The infrastructure is so clearly thought through with the intention of making it an easy, pleasant and enjoyable place to live, whilst not in anyway feeling regimented or constrained.

Parks have specific areas for kids, for dogs, for sports and barbeques and sometimes for relaxing (a lounger or hammock anyone?). There are facilities casually dropped into spare spaces - this week I sought out the white-water course in anticipation of future fun. The public transport goes where you need it to go - trains go through, trams go in-and-out, buses cut across and the U'bahn connects districts with its beautiful stations. Bike lanes are everywhere and the commitment to them really makes you stop and think. This week I passed a massive construction site over one of the main railways that, as far as I could tell, was for pedestrians and cyclists. It was a huge undertaking, for cyclists and pedestrians...not cars, to give people access to the river from a new-build complex in the city centre. And if a bridge is too high for a gently sloping bike path, then you build a bicycle helter-skelter at each end of course!

Of course people want to stay here! You can just feel how the city is for them, rather than for business or for commerce (no doubt this is careering along quietly in the background). There is much that other parts of the world could learn.

One thing that I have found challenging is the graffiti. It is pretty much everywhere and one could easily see it as a problem. That was certainly my first thought. Many a surface in one of these carefully designed places is tagged and defaced. Often it's ugly and messy. However, if you look carefully past the rubbish, there are some real artists out there and some otherwise dark grey concrete is turned into creative space, adding colour and fun to the city. I've put some examples here, which I'll try to add to when I see something good - see link left or down or somewhere...

I said in the last week's blog that I knew we'd go back to the Wein Vierterl... A little secret, I knew this was true because we already had (taking advantage of my blogging tardiness!). No wine tasting on the second visit, so I suspect we'll be back... and this time, we haven't done that yet! We're planning to return with our bikes. It's awash with cycling tours including the, somewhat contrasting in name, "Chardonnay Trail" and "Iron Curtain Trail". Another example of the desire to create spaces for people to be in, not just look at, which clearly stretches far beyond Vienna's city. Bring on rivers and mountains!

The bullets:

• One cake victory, one cake collapse; bread continuing to im-prove

• Apartment hunting continues - some good progress this week, but nothing quite singing enough to make us take the leap - getting a bit confused about what is and what isn't a priority... bike storage vs balcony for example...

• Commenced learning German with Duolingo, which I'm finding sehr gut

• Apparently the weather we are experiencing is April weather not May weather... we assume we brought this with us.

• Lockdown easing! (But haven't really gone anywhere just yet...)