Mom & Dad Come to Visit

This past week I was lucky to be able to spend some time with my mom and dad. They came out Tuesday night and arrived on Wednesday morning from New Jersey. John unfortunately wasn't able to come, despite my pestering him to buy a last minute ticket.

Me and Dad at AugustinerKeller

On Wednesday, I met up with my parents after my finance class and we went to lunch at the Hofburg Cafe near Hofburg Palace. We had some austrian goulash and a few flatbreads. I really liked the austrian version of goulash, it was much more of a soup/stew. Then we went to see the Imperial Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum (of Empress Elisabeth), and the Imperial Apartments. The silver collection had the most china, silver, crystal and gold I had every seen, it was incredible. I really enjoyed the Sisi Museum for the second time. It was all about Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) and how she became an icon and her life in the palace. The Imperial Apartments were also beautifully decorated and so interesting to see the beautiful rooms they lived in with the drapery, paintings, and wall hangings. Then we went to Cafe Demel, one of the oldest cafe's in the city, to try a few cakes and coffees. We had a chocolate truffle cake as well as a cream cheese raspberry vanilla cake. They were both delicious. I had a melange and had my dad try one too, he seemed to like it. I love melanges now, they're like cafe lattes or cappuccinos but with different ratios of milk to coffee to foam. Then we walked around Stephansplatz, window shopping as well as a little actual shopping, and made our way to Onyx Bar in the Do & Co Hotel which has a fantastic view overlooking Stephansdom. I had a delicious champagne cocktail that was called Red Carpet or something fancy, and my mom had something similar whereas my dad opted for a german beer. After our drinks we went to AugustinerKeller for a typical austrian meal. It was so delicious and in a very cool atmosphere, very cave like. We had wiener schnitzel, the mixed salad with german potato salad, pumpkin soup, the beef broth pancake soup, and a beef dish. Everything was delicious with compliments of some austrian wine.

Mom, Me and Dad drinking some austrian beer

On Thursday, we woke up and headed over to Belvedere which is a palace turned into a museum near the hotel we were staying at. We walked from Lower Belvedere to Upper Belvedere, through the gardens, and then walked around the art museum looking at paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, and Gustav Klimt including his famous work "The Kiss". Then we headed to Karlsplatz and Naschmarkt for lunch. We went to Stadthaus, a fish restraunt in Naschmarkt. It was absolutely one of the best meals I have ever had. We shared a salmon carpaccio, and then shared a grilled calamari dish, a grilled mixed seafood dish, and a seafood spaghetti dish (which had all the best fish in my opinion: clams, shrimp, mussels, octopus, squid, and lobster). It was a fantastic meal. My dad was on the phone for most of lunch and our waitress yelled at him saying he couldn't actually taste how fabulous their fish soup was if he was talking on the phone. It was pretty funny. Then we went and toured Stephansdom (the huge cathedral as well as its catacombs). The catacombs were pretty cool, there were mass graves under the cathedral where you could see bones and skulls! The cathedral is a beautiful gothic cathedral and we ran into my friend Elizabeth and her dad touring the cathedral at the same time! Then we took the lift up to the top of the North Tower for a fantastic view of the city. It was so windy up there though, it was freezing! Then we made our way to Hotel Sacher, famous for the "original" Sachertorte. We tried the sachertorte, apfelstruddel and these pancakes with chocolate/hazelnut sauce in between with plums and plum sorbet, it was so delicious. Then we went to the Kunsthistoriches Museum, the fine arts museum, and toured the gorgeous building and all of its art including Monet, Caravaggio, Valesquez, Klimt, and more. There was also an exhibit that was on winter paintings which was a perfect way to get in the mood for the season. Which was also helped by the Christmas markets being set up all over the city! I cannot wait to explore them all! After the museum we went to an italian restaurant, Cantina la Norma, which was very delicious. It only had about 12 tables which made it very cosy and interesting. We had delicious pasta dishes, carpaccio, soups, and wine of course.

On Friday we caught a train to Salzburg, literally running after it because we bought tickets and then it was leaving 5 minutes later. The train ride was about 3 hours and we chatted and read on the way there. Once we got in we checked into our hotel and then took their advice to walk down the road to this restaurant, Zwitter, that had great austrian food. We had schnitzel and pumpkin soup and a beef dish (starting to sound a bit repetitive but they all taste so delicious and different....also this blog should clearly be a food blog because that's half of what i write about). Then we went up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress which was built in the 11th century and sits at the top of the city. It was a steep climb to get up but the views were totally worth it, they were incredible. We had a beautiful weekend for our trip so the sky was clear and we had a great view of the city and the mountains. After walking around the fortress for a while we decided to stop for a drink at the Panorama Cafe which had a beautiful view of the country behind the fortress. We got a few glühwiens to try (the hot wine that is so delicious), it was perfection. Then we headed down the fortress and went to see the beautiful Salzburg Cathedral. It had no stained glass but had little naves, each beautifully decorated. Then we walked around the old town looking at the shops and the fancy shop signs that Salzburg is famous for. We went to stiengasse to a pub for a few beers before dinner. The pub was in a cellar and was super grungy looking but the waitress was really nice and served us patte and was playing 60's American music, we were loving it. Then we went to an italian place for dinner in the old town.

Beautiful View from the top of the fortress

Mom & I with our glühwien

Dad, Me and Mom with the beautiful Salzburg lakes in the
background from the Sound of Music Tour

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to be picked up by Bob's Sound of Music Tour. Since it was the off season, we were the only ones in the van so it was a private tour! We drove by where they filmed some of the abbey scenes, as well as stopped at the house where the filmed the lake scene and the back of the Von Trapp house, then we went to a Castle which they used to film the front of the house, as well as the yellow wall where Maria sings "I have Confidence". We also got to see the famous gazebo! We then took a trip into the lake region of Salzburg where there were beautiful views of the lakes, hills, and mountains that they show in the opening of the movie. It was a great way to see the countryside of Austria. Our Tour Guide, Rosemarie was great and told us all about the filming as well as the real Von Trapp family. I plan on watching the movie tonight to see if I recognize all the things I saw. Then we stopped in Mondsee, a little town in Salzburg with a beautiful church where they filmed the wedding of Maria and Captain Von Trapp. Then we went back to Salzburg and saw the Mirabell Gardens which were absolutely beautiful with the leaves all orange and yellow. Then we grabbed some lunch at the Salzach, where i had pumpkin soup of course and the duck with cranberry red cabbage and pumpkin dumplings which was delicious. My mom and dad opted for the burgers, missing home a bit I suppose. Then we all split a chocolate raspberry truffle cake for dessert. After that we went to Mozart's Residence and learned about his life and music and then hopped on a train to go back to Vienna. After we arrived Cori and Louise met us for a beer at the Hotel Sports Bar before we headed to a austrian restraunt, Wiebels Wirsthaus, that was so delicous. We had schnitzel, pike, venison, goose, pumpkin soups, and pancake soups as well as some austrian wine of course. Then I had to have the Bailey's tiramisu after the waiter said it was their special dessert of the night and my mom and Louise had apfelstruddel.

Beautiful Fall Colors in Schönbrunn Gardens

On Sunday, my parents and I walked around Stadtpark which is a huge and beautiful park right on the ring which was where we were staying. The fall colors were just beautiful there. Then we went to Schönbrunn Palace to see the staterooms, all beautifully decorated. Afterwards we wandered around the palace gardens where the fall colors were the most beautiful I have ever seen, it made me so happy to walk around there in the crisp autumn weather. Afterwards we went to Tenmaya for sushi near the Opera. After lunch, we went to see the Imperial Treasury which had some pretty incredible jewels, robes, and tapestries. Then we walked around the ring so I could show my parents Parliament, Rathaus (the town hall), and the University which are all beautiful buildings. Outside of Rathaus a HUGE Christmas market is being set up, I cannot wait to explore that one! Then we went back to the hotel before heading out to an Australian Bar to have a beer and then went to Huth, nearby our hotel, which has fantastic austrian food. We had schnitzel, tapfelspitz, pumpkin soup, salad, dumplings, and another beef dish and of course some austrian wine. It was all delicious and a great way to end the last night.

Me and Mom in front of Schönbrunn Palace

I was sad to see my parents go but it's pretty shocking that I will be seeing them in only 6 weeks! This week I begin my Economics Class which ends next Tuesday (its an intensive class, i don't know, classes here are weird!) But I will hopefully do something exciting to blog about in a week or two.