Before arriving in Austria, we knew about the traditional fare: sausages and beer. During our time there, we had a couple of dinners in an old wine cellar; one dinner was devoted to sharing a wiener schnitzel, nearly the size of the dinner plate.
What we didn't know about the food in Vienna, we learnt from our many (!) visits to Naschmarkt, which, thankfully, the hotel we were staying at was very close to. And on Saturday, a large flea market takes place, where vendors sell everything from dishes, war memorabilia, and lederhosen.
I enjoy eating and walking a lot. Not sure if I think that I'm burning calories while I eat or that I can sample a lot of little things all at one go. We sampled Turkish foods and more pastries than anyone would care to imagine. The diversity of the food available is astounding and gives Vancouver a quite a competition.
Another thing that we enjoyed about Vienna was the kaffee culture: coffee houses are to Vienna as pubs are to, say, any city in England. I, personally, would rather sit with a cup of coffee and watch the world past me by than sit in a pub on a beer-stained upholstered chair. The selection of caffeinated beverages was out of this world.
Before I leave the topic of this trip for the final time, the last thing I'll mention is the cakes. More specifically, the king of all chocolate cakes: Sachertorte. Now doesn't that word (Sa-chey-tort) sound absolutely glorious, like a spool of satin ribbon tumbling from the sky. When the waitress brought out one for us to share, my heart nearly skipped a beat at the sight of the beauty: a nearly flourless chocolate cake and cloaked in a discreet layer of apricot jam and an outer layer of shiny, ganache-like chocolate icing. Exactly what sinful dreams are made of.
Now whomever said, "let them eat cake", was right. We ordered a second slice right then and there, and many more slices thereafter.
Auf Wiederschauen, Vienna.
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