Nobody likes you when you're 23

I have been waiting for pretty much as long as I can remember to be able to legitimately quote this song and now the time has finally come. While I am glad to be reliving my Blink 182 days, it does mean that I am getting OLD. So old. Having said this, it has been a nice weekend of Birthday celebrations. After the stress of Thursday, Boyo arrived and we went ice skating outside the Rathaus. It was brilliant, not least because we only had to pay for skate hire as it was the first day. I like ice skating anyway but when it's outdoors it's even better, and when there are different paths then it is like a dream. Maybe this is why they called it an Eistraum. Anyway, I would have taken about a million pictures but my battery was dead and I have not worked out how to use the flash when using the screen on the front of my camera. It's a shame, but it just means we will have to go again!

It is still cold in Wienna, so the only thing to do still is eating. On Friday we had falafel at the Naschmarkt but not from my favourite man (who now recognises me!) as he wasn't there. It was alright but not as good as Mr Man's stall. On Saturday Boyo and I did not really know what to do so we went to the Naschmarky again but this time we decided to be brave and get Japanese food, mostly because we wanted to use chopsticks. I am actually quite good at it now. 

 I think this picture captures Boyo's immense fear when he was presented with a plate of what looked an awful lot like sushi. It was actually tempura maki, whatever that means. We also ordered tempura vegetables and noodles and it was berry derishusu. Even the Boy enjoyed it, and until recently he has not been keen on eating anything even vaguely adventurous. Maybe he will not completely starve on our trip to the East!

 Sunday was my actual Birthday and although it was sad that I had to send the Boy back home (though luckily I didn't have to take him to Bratislava!) it was actually quite nice. Thank you all for the cards and presents and Birthday greetings. I am feeling very old. This is only counteracted by the fact that I received a Gruffalo. As I came out of the U Bahn at Stephansplatz, there was a parade:

 It cheered me up no end, I felt like they'd all donned their Trachten in celebration of my Birthday! It reminded me that I really need to look into getting another Dirndl, because one is never enough...
Anyway, I met some friends and went for some Birthday cake at Aida:

While the black forest gateau was delish, it was no substitute for a real home made cake from Mother. I am crossing my fingers for a belated one when I go home for a couple of days next week but fear that my hopes will be dashed, as she only seems to do baking when school is cancelled because of the snow these days. After some ice cream too (come onnnnn, it was my Birthday!) we went to queue up for opera tickets. We went to see The Magic Flute and it was fabulous. Keep your eyes peeled for a separate post about that later. So yes, all in all a good Birthday!