Vienna and Zurich

One bad thing about living in Houston (as opposed to New York) is that I can't fly direct to Vienna....boooooo connecting flights!

Looking down at Austria....Hallo Osterreich!

To start the trip, I flew from Houston to Amsterdam...then from Amsterdam to Vienna....ahhhhh home!

I didn't waste anytime getting back into the groove either. Richi picked me up at the airport, we hung out at his house (my home away from home in Vienna), then we went out to Schloss Neugabaude.

Schloss Neugabaude is a mid-16th century imperial hunting lodge/castle within walking distance to Richi and Anita's house. Kelly and I have been there many times with R and A....there is a great beer garden and good food!

Richi and I had some chicken, potato salad, cabbage and beer....we caught up and discussed our plans for the weekend. A great first night in Vienna.

...did I mention September is also the Sturm season? Oh yes....young wine, rapidly fermenting giving it a slight carbonation.......yummy. Nothing goes better with hearty, rich or savory food like a cool mug of Sturm!

Over the weekend, I had National Team camp, got to see a lot of old friends and, as expected, I spent a good bit of time at the pub of friends Gary and Inge.

On Sunday night, I hopped the overnight train for stop #2.... Zurich!

Its been a year or more since I have visited cousin Michael, Gabi and the kids, so I was looking forward to this leg of my trip.

As everyone knows, they are no fun and very, very boring.

I spent 3 days with the Swiss Haltigans enjoying every minute of their company. I always enjoy sitting and chatting with Michael and Gabi....and eating all the good things coming out of their kitchen.

...and of course, playing with the kids...holy cuteness with their little swiss accents.

Michael and I got to spend a lot of time together which was nice.

Goodbye Zurich and Swiss Haltigans...hope to see you soon!

Next up were two countries I had never been to! Stay tuned.

Vienna

Its no secret that Vienna is one of my favorite (quite possibly my favorite) places in the whole world. The year that Kelly and I spent in Vienna was a wonderful year full of great memories.

After 2 weeks of traveling through SE Asia and then a few days in Egypt, I couldn't wait to get "home" to Vienna.

Our good friend Richi met me at the airport and took me back to his apartment where I would be staying. Anita was at work, but she had made chili for me...isn't she the best?

(Warning: This post will contain many pictures of food...and many blurry pictures of people...you have been warned.)

Ok so, as if I needed more reasons to look forward to my Vienna trip....my bestest buddy Clayton flew in from Florida on day 2.....let the tomfoolery, horseplay and shenanigans begin!

Richi and Anita are awesome. Clayton and I had planned on staying at a hostel with friends Mike and Barbara, but when the hostel screwed up the reservation, we had to impose on Richi and Anita for a few nights.

They didn't seem to care at all...in fact, they cooked every night...

...and broke out the board games

Clayton and I were in Austria to coach for National Team weekend but we planned a lot of sightseeing for the other 4 days.

......then we decided we should probably stay in the hostel right around the corner from our favorite pub in Vienna....in fact, our favorite pub on Planet Earth.......Gary and Inge's.

Clayton and Gary

It was great to see our favorite pub hosts....but as it turned out, we spent WAY too much time there. In fact, the duration of our trip became a food and beer fest....I suppose it didn't help that all of our local friends were happy to hang out at Gary and Inge's as well...in fact, they were way too happy!

Stefan, Nicole, Gary, Henning, Peter, Melanie, Inge, Chris and Clayton....what a crew!

Always good to hang out with Stefan and Nicole...who as we know, will go to any party...anywhere...anytime...

Peter and Melanie....these two are perfect for each other. She might even be crazier than him!

New team manager and Old team manager.....

 This crew can only accomplish one thing...mayhem.

Having a hostel right next door didn't encourage any sort of discipline...thats for sure.

We did learn many valuable lessons though...

We're not as young as we used to be.

Holy Crap...is this trip over yet, I feel like Keith Richards near the end of a Stones tour.

I might be exaggerating. We did actually squeeze in plenty of sightseeing.

View of the Hofburg from the Graben

We walked around the inner city...and we sat around the inner city.

 We explored all the fancy buildings inside and around the Ringstrasse

We ate....alot.

Lunch at the Naschmarkt

Roast Pork with Dumpling and a giant Schnitzel

Clayton full....owwww my belly.

We stopped at the Kangaruh pub for some delicious Floris Honey beer...so sweet, so delicious!

 ...and, of course, we hung out with all the local lacrosse wackos as much as possible.

Clayton likes schnitzel and beer....alot.

Peter loves anything and everything American...he drives a Suburban and eats wings by the platter.

It was a fantastic week long vacation in Vienna.....and I, as usual, can't wait to go back.

Only one more stop on the summer trip....next up?  DUBLIN!

Reason #132 to Love Vienna

The Naschmarkt. In the running for My favorite place in Vienna. More than three long blocks of farmers' markets and eateries.

One aisle is all cafés. Plenty of outdoor seating. Great people watching spot.

There is no better place to sit and read the paper over a cup of coffee in the morning, but the place also bustles at lunchtime and comes alive at night with a chilled-out, dj-spinning, beautiful-people vibe. With a range of options from Asian to Turkish to Austrian cuisines, it's impossible to get bored. There are fancy seafood restaurants next to take-away kabob windows. Wine pubs, schnitzel shops and the best hummus I've ever tasted.

And if that's not enough for you, feast your eyes on this...

...this...

...and this...

I mean, seriously, there are acres of fresh produce here...

...and these are just the fruits I'm showing you!!

Wanna make a salad with some of your fresh greens? You might want to stop at the vinegar shop. Look at all those flavors!! Makes the mouth water, doesn't it?

There are nuts and dried fruit and these little cones of sweets that look like semi-precious stones. What's that? You're more of a savory type?

No worries. Roasted sweet peppers filled with sheep's cheese? Yeah, they got that. Kalamata olives stuffed with garlic? Uh-huh. Prosciutto wrapped figs stuffed with almonds? Yup.

The Naschmarkt has fresh, handmade pastas...

...a great selection of cured meats, fresh meats from the butcher a few counters down...

...and every spice, herb and seasoning known to man.

From the mundane to the exotic, this place is a hausfrau's dream. And we haven't even covered the fresh baked breads and the flower stalls! But alas, I think I have used my weekly quota of the word "fresh" in this post so I will leave you with one thought...

This hausfrau is going to the Naschmarkt for breakfast & a shop tomorrow morning.

-k.

A great Vienna weekend

Ok, so with only 2 more weeks left in Vienna, Kelly & I decided we needed to get out this weekend and jam pack it full of Vienna stuff.

We started out on Saturday mid-day by walking downtown in the old city, with a particular Italian restaurant in mind for lunch. Kelly has been there once with a friend of hers and said it was excellent.

We had some beef carpaccio with garlic bread as an appetizer, and then a quatrro formaggio pizza.......delicious.

Unfortunately Saturday was a bit rainy, so it was nice to camp out, drink some wine and laugh our asses off.

Kelly laughing her ass off.

After lunch, we walked through the old city some more, until the rain picked up...then we hopped on the subway and went to?...you guessed it, Gary & Inge's

It was a quiet day at the pub, so we got to sit and talk with Inge for a good long while. When I was in England (and Kelly was in Paris) we missed Inge's 70th birthday party...so we promised to come back next week to celebrate.

Next stop was the movies. We saw Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It was very good and a good way to escape the rain.

After the movie we stopped at Starbucks for coffee-to-go and walked down to the Rathaus (City Hall).

They have a bunch of bars and eateries setup in the summer outside the Rathaus AND have a free outdoor cinema...but on this rainy Saturday evening they had a special treat showing on the big screen.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing a bunch of Austrian favorites.

After a while we walked back through the Hofburg and made our way home...a good day indeed.

On Sunday, the weather was beautiful...perfect even. We headed out to the Prater, a large public park formerly the royal hunting grounds, which is only about 20 minutes from our house. Its a great place to walk around...and its ginormous (20 times the size of Central Park) but we went there to eat at the Schweizerhaus.

The Schweizerhaus (Swiss House) is the place to eat in the Prater. There has been a restaurant here since 1907 and actually has nothing to do with Switzerland. There used to be a Swiss dairy nearby and in the time of the emperors, Switzerland had been, for centuries, associated with opulence and sophisticated gastronomy.

They serve all sorts of delicious (and overpriced) food, but its also all about the atmosphere. They have a huge beer garden, divided and named after parts of the city. On a nice day, its a great place to hang out.

They are also famous for one particular dish, Stelze. Depending on who you ask, its either a ham hock, a pork knuckle or a shin shank....either way its a giant crispy skinned, juicy, fatty, hunk of pork rubbed with coarse salt and served with horseradish and mustard. Yummmmmmm.

I looked it up. I think its a ham hock.

So as if that wasn't enough for a great Sunday....there's more!

Our friends and Richi & Anita called us and asked if we want to go for dinner and drinks at Schloss Neugebäude! So after a brief stop (and nap) at home, we hopped on the train to Simmering.

Schloss Neugebäude is a castle built in the 1560's on the spot where the Sultan Sulyeman had his tent during the Siege of Vienna in the 1530's.

These days in the summers, it has...you guessed it, a beer garden, small eateries and an outdoor cinema.

We had a few drinks, some food and relaxed.

A great ending to a wonderful Viennese weekend.