Graz: Dec. 8, 2025–Dec. 14, 2025

2025-12-08

A few miscellaneous pictures...

Christmas tree with a large number of gold and silver balls hanging from it.

This is the tree at Mariahilferplatz; I think it looks better in the daytime.

Two gnome figures made from evergreen tree branches. They are wearing Santa hats with lights in them and have Christmas ornament balls for noses

Carved wooden chickens as part of display outside a restaurant

An advertisement for a radio station. This is in Steiermark German dialect, and it rhymes. In standard German, it would be „Egal, wohin ich fahre, meine Hits habe ich immer im Ohr.“ (No matter where I drive, I always have my hits in my ear.)

The subhead is standard German: “I listen to antenne Steiermark.”

Egal, wohin i fohr, meine Hits hob i imma im Ohr. / Ich höre antenne Steiermark

2025-12-12

Saw a juxtaposition of modern technology and religion/superstition today that I found somewhat humorous.

The „Koralmbahn“, a new railway line, opened in Austria today between Graz and Klagenfurt. It’s really an amazing technological feat that took 27 years to build, with one tunnel on the route being almost 33 km long. This new line shortens the trip from two hours to 41 minutes, going 250 km/hr at its fastest. I was watching the opening ceremonies on a big screen outside the Graz station. Before the inaugural trip, four Christian clerics said prayers and one of them splashed holy water on the train. Inappropriate though it was, I literally laughed out loud when that happened. This was followed by the christening with a champagne bottle (or sparkling wine; not sure what the provenance of the bottle was). So far, totally typical.

There was a live feed from the train as it was going, and an interviewer was talking to some politicians and the person who was the director of the project. Again, typical of what you’d expect. Then the interviewer talked to an astrologer who had cast a horoscope. Again, inappropriately, I started laughing. Whether the horoscope was for the railway or just a generic one for that day, I’m not sure; my German isn’t good enough. Not surprisingly, the horoscope predicted good things.

My immediate thought was: “What’s next? Are they going to slaughter a goat and read the entrails?” Luckily, this did not happen. The train arrived in Klagenfurt, on time, followed by further speechmaking. If they save the livestream, you can see it all on YouTube.