Vienna was fun! We got there, exhausted after 4 flights that started for me om Friday at 6 am from Vermot, to LGA, to ORD, to FRA, where we arrived an hour late at 6 am Saturday, then spent the morning wandering around, eating frankfurters and visiting the market, the cathedral and the female impressionists exhibit. Around noon, it looked like it might start raining… we thought we could head back to the airport for our 4:30 flight… but we got distracted by Leondardskirche near the river, and then the dragon boat races… until it started pouring rain! So we RAN back to the station and dried off in the Lufthansa Senator’s Lounge before our flight.
When we arrived in Vienna Saturday evening, it was sunny and warm. We walked to our hotel, which was at the Stadtpark, and noticed the GenussFestival going on and decided to come back after a shower and nap to check it out. We made it back in time to sample deer sausage and beer, and then some apricot spritzer and cake. Wandered around the central area and ended up at Traumland.
Sunday we went back to the GenussFestival for breakfast, walked over to Prater Park to ride the rollercoaster and ferris wheel, then met Johannes and his friends at (gasp) Starbucks, and finally ended up at the Weinerberger lake for a swim in the sunshine! Made to our Florence flight with plenty of time to spare, but just as we were about to board a big thunderstorm rolled in and delayed us by 2 hours. But, it was all worth it — they served foie gras on the flight!
Can it be?? And soooo close too!
The World’s Best Chocolate
Finally found a pretty good restaurant in Rome tonight! The hotel clerk said via Travestere was the place, but we didn’t make it that far. Instead we stopped at this place in Piazza Venezia. It probably helped that we were pretty hungry, having only had truffle finger sandwiches all day. The food wasn’t amazing, but it was tasty enough, better than anything else i’ve ever had in rome. This wine was excellent. And dessert was fabulous! Especially the Cassata Siciliana…
Bella and I gave patricia the 2-hour firenze tour: hertz office to train station, to duomo, to ponte vecchio, to santo spirito and the truffle sandwich shop.
I hadn’t been in Santo Spirito before, and we were particularly impressed by this painting:
David & I picked up this wine at the market in Zagreb last month for a few kuna. Honestly, I was a little afraid to try it… the old guy selling it just had a few bottles and some random junk on an otherwise empty table. All the bottles were different. Not even a real wine cork… it was some plastic screw-in thing. Surprisingly though, it’s quite good. A perfect dessert wine with a slightly tangy but heavy blackberry taste. Now I’m wondering where I can get more of it!
After wandering around the Lucca market in the freezing cold sunshine today, we made dinner at home: tuscan sausage, zucchini, pasta, tomatoes, basil, mozzarella…
Another hair dying session here! We got it up to 21 C inside with the fireplace and boiler. I just got out of the shower and am comfortably sitting here naked 🙂
