Where to begin??

Vienna is perfectly gorgeous.  The old city, where I have been poking about for the last couple of days is as magical as the pictures you see.  Old, incredibly clean, and just plain old picturesque   There is history around every corner.  Yesterday, I happened down a side street and came upon a plaque on house announcing the composer, Robert Schumann, lived there for several years.

I've been to several churches, with the exception of the big cathedral, which I am saving for later in the week to go with H.  My favourite is St. Peters.  It's not very big, but the frescoes are stunning and the gold work is so intricate.  It also has one of the oldest organs in Europe, and on Monday, I went to a free concert there in the afternoon to hear it.  One can't help but be immersed in classical music here, whether you like it or not.  It is everywhere.  I stumbled across the men's choir practicing in another church and stayed to listen to them.

My absolute favourite thing that I've seen, and thanks to my mom for recommending (insisting) that I go, is the crypt where the Kaisers are buried.  The coffins are just lined up in these dim, underground rooms. How elaborate they are is a true sign of how austere the particular time or Kaiser happened to be.  Some are so detailed and so over-the-top and are covered with guards with skulls as faces or veiled mourners.  There are some tiny coffins that belong to children and babies, but for the most part, most of these people lived to their old age.  The pictures show very plump people who looked rather pleased with themselves, so it's no wonder they got old.

Of course, this visit wouldn't be complete without a visit to the the Christmas markets.  There are five, and I've been to three so far, and there is one that is just so touristy I am not going to bother.  Last night, I went to one of the larger ones, in front of the Rathaus (city hall).  A lot of pretty decorations, a LOT of food and drink, and a lot of junk, too.  You certainly need to be selective when purchasing anything, as it is both expensive and not necessarily made in Austria.  Tonight, we will go to the best one.  It's small but is known to have the true, hand-made decorations.

If I lived here, I would slowly become an alcoholic, at least in December.  I find I am addicted to the punsch stands that are everywhere.  Punsch is a mulled wine that is so very, very delicious   The local Lion's club has stands set up and the proceeds go to charity.  A cup is three Euros and few things are as pleasant as standing in a square, and feeling the warmth spread through my body.  It's quite chilly here and after spending the day outdoors, it is very welcome.  At the Christmas markets, there are different varieties, and I had a particularly yummy one made of eggnog with whipping cream on top.

Unfortunately, I can't post any pictures, as H's Mac isn't recognizing my camera (For the record, I wouldn't have these sorts of problems with a PC :P), but will add a bunch when I get home.

H and I are about to start our day here, very late today.  We both had long days yesterday, and I'm battling a bit of a cold, so we opted to have an easy morning and sleep in.   I'm not sure what we'll see.  I am hoping to get to the Albertina.  Which is a museum that was a private palace, and they have kept much of the residential feel of it.

In lieu of pictures, here is a recipe for Punsch.  It makes 24 cups--probably what I will drink in the course of the week. :)

3 litres of red wine

1 litre of water
0,12 litre of Austrian rum (80vol% alcohol), if you have to use carribean rum, take 0,25 litre
0,75 litre fresh orange juice
250 g sugar
2 sticks of cinnamon, a few cloves
some orange peel

Put everything into a big pot, just heat, do not boil.

Bread, it's that good here

This actually deserves mention.  We had picked up some rye bread that smelled so delicious, it was irresistible.

We just had that bread, butter and cheese.  It's not just delicious because of where we are enjoying it, it is really that good.  Why does bread that you have to cut yourself always taste better?  And back to the price--90 cents!!!

V is for Wien!

H and I arrived safe and sound in this lovely city.  The trip was uneventful.  Luckily for us, our connection in Frankfurt was delayed by a half hour, so we did not have to do the two kilometre run from one end of the airport to the other.  

It was great to see snow falling in Frankfurt.  Sadly, no snow in the forecast here, but I remain hopeful.

Our tiny little flat is right by the Prater, which is a very old amusement park here in the city.  The ferris wheel is the oldest operating ferris wheel in Europe, if not the world.  It's an ancient, rather rickety structure that looks totally unsafe.  I can't wait to go on it.  It's huge and the view must be spectacular.   In anticipation of being here, I had a wonderful evening watching "The Third Man" Friday evening.  There is a great scene in that movie that takes place on this ferris wheel.


The woman who greeted us at the flat was kind enough to show us where the local grocery store is and recommended a great little restaurant, where we polished off meat and gravy and spaeztle, oh, and a bottle of wine.  We were starving and so everything was especially tasty.  

Pleasantly full, we wandered over to the grocery store.  Both H and I love visiting grocery stores in foreign places and this was no exception.  We stocked up on the basics, but also threw in cheese, some lunchmeat, chocolate pudding from the dairy case and a bottle of prosecco.  Some things are so ridiculously inexpensive.  Our litre of milk was just shy of one Euro, the aforementioned chocolate pudding (which was delicious and tasted like I had made it at home--crappy Jell-o pudding take note) was about 75 cents each.  The prosecco was less than four Euros.  I can't wait to go back again.  It was extremely busy this afternoon.  Shops here are closed on Sundays and I think that's why this place was so crazy.  Walking around our neighbourhood was great.  It was so very quiet, it was almost eerie.  Apparently everyone was at the grocery store. :)

Lots of building photographs to come.  The building this flat is in is very old, with the kind of crumbling walls and wrought iron bannisters that would be condemned in North America, but here just hide very cool, very modern apartments.

A few snaps from earlier in the day.  We are very, very tired and will be having an early night. We both adored the restaurant dog.  He wandered out, checked out the people who were eating, barked at the table who decided to leave and then flopped down and snoozed in the middle of the restaurant.  Everyone just smiled and stepped around him.  I wish we were more relaxed about these sort of things where we are.