Another day, another walk.
Since last Tuesday small stores are allowed to re-open here in Vienna so I thought why not walk over to my favorite camera store and get a wrist strap for my Leica M2.
I could order the strap on Amazon of course, but I always like to support local businesses even if I have to pay a little premium sometimes.
Note: Almost all photos of this blogpost were taken with my Fuji X-T3 and Fujinon 23mm f2 (all photos that are not, feature a corresponding caption).
The store is open till 12 am on Saturdays, so my wife and I decided to swing by shortly before noon. Unfortunately, I forgot to wind my mechanical watch so it was running 20 minutes late. It was only when I looked at the clock on my smartphone that I realized we couldn’t make it in time. I guess I have to pick up that strap at some point next week. I don’t need it that badly anyway.
We decided to walk to the store anyway to do some window shopping 🙂 Here are some pics I shot along the way…
On route we took a short break at Vienna’s Museumsquartier which on a normal day is bustling with activity. Come spring there are colorful plastic benches all over the place with people lounging on them.
Times are different now of course. Some people were sitting on the wooden benches, keeping a safe distance. We also saw a couple who seemed to have a rendezvous, sitting on two different banks with beers in hand. Actually, taking an aluminium beer or soft drink can and drinking it out in public seems to have become a thing. The Viennese, it seems need to have their outing and if coffeehouses remain closed they look for an alternative.
Usually, when I walk by this window there is somebody with a computer and a cup of coffee behind it, doing some work or studying.
Truth is, we not only wanted to go to the camera store yesterday, we also wanted to buy some ink for our fountain pens. Good thing, one of the pen and paper stores we like to go to has longer opening times so we were in time for that.
We bought an ink bottle from “Graf von Faber Castell” (Color: Deep Sea Green) and the talkative and engaged young employee who helped us also talked us into trying a new limited edition color called “Yozakura” which means “Night Cherry Blossom”.
I love meeting people who enjoy their profession and my wife and I talked with the young man for several minutes (about ink, fountain pens and paper of course).
The design of Graf von Faber Castell’s ink bottles is truly beautiful and not only does it contain great ink, it also is quite an eye-catcher.
Do you use fountain pens? If not you should give it a try. There is so much to discover (pens, colors, paper) and it really improves your handwriting. If you like nice things you will like fountain pens.
I can recommend Faber Castell pens, because they start at a reasonable price range. You can always upgrade to something nicer later 😉
After our “shopping spree” we walked down one of Vienna’s most famous shopping streets (Mariahilferstraße). Seeing the small shops open and the big ones closed felt strange like Saturday and Sunday mixed together if you follow.
Walking home my wife and I felt sooo tired. We have stopped using public transportation because of Coronavirus so we basically walk everywhere.
Another thing we noticed: masks are all the rage right now. Every clothing store seems to offer them and people really like to express themselves through different designs. If you have to wear them you might as well make the best of it, right?
I hope you enjoyed this post. More to come…
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