Daily Life: Grocery Shopping

I will try in some of our posts to give you a glimpse of our "daily life" here in Vienna. It seems only natural to start with grocery shopping, since I seem to go to everyday! A few things are different than in the states...first, I walk to the store. Fortunately I have 3 grocery stores in walking distance. I also use a trolley. It is sort of like a piece of luggage with wheels that can fit LOTS of groceries in it!



Here as you walk to the store, you may only cross the street when the signal is green. This is taken very seriously...even if absolutely no cars are coming!
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Here is Abby riding her scooter. This is their main mode of transportation to and from everywhere when they get the chance.


Have you ever seen this many Kartoffel? (potatoes)


Another thing that is different is that you must pay for your cart. It is only one Euro, and you get it back, but I seem to never leave the house without one in my pocket just in case I need to make a quick trip to the store. Here is Abby weighing our Trauben (grapes) and punching in the code so they are priced correctly.


A staple in our house is the semmel. Semmels are yummy rolls that you can eat plain or with meat, cheese and butter. Just make sure they are fresh, as they can get very hard. Abby's confidence with trying her German out is increasing, and today SHE asked for the semmels!


What seems to be the most stressful part about shopping here is the check-out. You must be aware of your surroundings at all times and be on your toes, as they don't take their sweet time! Instead they scan your items as fast as they can and you are responsible for putting it back in your cart and then packing your own bags (or trolley) that you brought from home or purchased at the store. After your total has been given, you frantically try to look at the cash register screen, so you can figure out what they just said...obviously I still have some trouble with numbers;)Often I have broken a sweat with this process!

One helpful hint that a friend of mine told me (thankfully) is that if someone behind you only has a few items, then it is common courtesy to let them go ahead of you. It seems to score some points with the locals too!

Here is Abby getting our Euro back...


Be sure to think of us the next time you are at Publix and they are bagging your groceries and then TAKE them out to your car for you!