Alsergrund Kinderfest

In my mental map of Vienna (which we had to write down for Frau CrazyCat), the hubcap of the wheel is the first district of Vienna, and the next two dozen fit around it, spiraling outward. We are living in the ninth bezirk or district, called Alsergrund. We're still getting to know it, but it is famous for having been the birthplace of Schubert as well as the home to Freud's apartment at 19 Berggasse (now a museum, and if you're able, you should go to the one in London rather than the one here, since he fled Vienna on the eve of WWII and took his famous furniture with him). There are buildings here of the University of Vienna, the Votivekirche or church, and the biggest hospital. Alsergrund also houses the Fernwaerme Wien by Hundertwasser which is a landmark visible from lots of points all over the city. During the month of June, Vienna is having parties for each of its districts. Ours has lots of events, and today we decided to take the kids to the neighborhood party.
It was very typical. There were a couple of bounce houses, a boxing ring with big inflatable gloves for the contestants, face painting, picture taking and neighborhood folks who had made food for the event. In case the boys' choices aren't obvious, Will wanted to be Darth Maul, which was unfamiliar to the artist, but made quite an impression on his peers; Sebi wanted to be a rabbit, and he got a Marc Chagall version. Rob had come straight from the library, hadn't eaten lunch and didn't have a nickel. I gave him eight euros of his own pocket change (I collect it and use it for my spending money). He came back with some organic cherry cake from the ButterBrot Kinder co-op and before we'd even finished that, he had bought a plate of food like the one in the corner of the collage. He liked it so much he went back and bought four more. It was great. He bought it from a woman in a head scarf and he was being too tactful to ask where she was from, so it is Mediterranean Fare of Unknown Origin. There was a potato salad of sorts, a lentil salad flavored with dill and other things, and a bulghur salad with tomatoes and peppers and green onions. There were savory rolls with a cheese filling, and a berry topped cake and coconut squares. I was ready to hire her as cook for the rest of our stay here.
After eating, Rob had an appointment to keep. See, Rob is a phenomenon. Some of you have seen it in the classroom. Some of you have seen it in Primary singing time. Nowhere is this more in evidence than on the playground. He is a veritable pied piper. We have visited this park once before, a week or so ago. Rob took Joss over to the sandbox, and by the time I'd finished opening the mail, he had half a dozen little kids playing around him. In another ten minutes, he knew all their names and they were playing a multinational game of tag. They were beside themselves, squealing and running around, and they played until it was bedtime and we had to go.
As soon as we walked up to the park this time, Lucas and Marcel came out of the playground and asked Rob to play tag with them. He told them he would after he took his kids to the fest, and they held him to it. They watched him the whole time he ate (had probably been watching all through the line waiting and face painting too), hanging around the gate waiting for him. Finally, he came in and played with them, and they were ecstatic.
I took Maddie and Joss home around 5:00pm, and Rob took the boys to the local library where each kid can check out 25 books for a month at a time (this is going to be so helpful!). The party moved on from kids to teens at 5:00, but alas, we didn't stay for the "frucht-coctail bar" or the "soft tattoos".