December 2006 Archives

Just as in the past, newkai.com is going to cover this Winter Break in Vienna, from December 29 to January 16. Here are some of the highlights:

• In addition to hundreds of photos throughout my time in Vienna, there will be video coverage of New Year's Eve and possibly other nights as well.
• Like this past summer, photos on newkai.com will be in a sharp, minimally compressed 800x600 size on newkai.com. While photos will also be uploaded to Facebook, on newkai.com you can view them larger and in much better quality.
• Also introduced last summer is the new photo gallery, which is extremely orange user friendly, and has a ton of options. If you are interested in uploading your photos of this break to the newkai.com Photo Gallery, simply let me know and I'll set up an account for you.
• New: Photos can be downloaded as a single zip file for each evening. This has been highly requested, as it makes it much easier to add all of my photos to your computer, for printing, sharing, screensavers, etc.

The first media will begin appearing on December 30. Enjoy!

Here's my receipt from Wal-Mart this past day. 14 protein bars for $1.40... That's 10 cents each! Insane! They were hidden in some clearance corner by the pharmacy and didn't have any kind of price listing.

This past summer I began posting examples of botched translations I stumbled upon around Vienna. First there was the city's public transit operator, Wiener Linien, which posted thousands of signs in ugly English. There was also the city's international tennis tournament that "went a noun."

Today my friend Kathi sent me a photo she took with her cell phone of another translation that obviously did not pass too many English-enlightened copyeditors before hitting the streets. It's a poster advertising a special tram service run or sponsored by a bakery chain during the holiday season. What should read "The 'Christmas Tram' Stops Here" has been sloppily translated to "Here stops the 'Christmas Tram'".

Many Viennese speak great English. Had this ad passed through more than two or three hands before it was posted all around town, someone would have probably caught the mistake. But apparently that would have required too much effort.

Update: It turns out the Wiener Linien are responsible for this sign as well... Who would have thought!?

I've been throwing a bunch of dates around as to when I'll be in Vienna. I finally decided to check my tickets, so I can now officially announce I'll be in Vienna from December 29 to January 16. And I also can announce I've never been more excited to travel anywhere my entire life. That's probably due to the fact that I'm currently stuck in Vestal, New York by myself.