tuxette's Journal: Trip Report - Vienna Day One

Day One - 1st of April, 2006

Getting there: Getting up at 4:30 in the morning sucks sour balls, but it has to be done. It's a pain in the ass getting to the airport and logged in and all, but once that's done, it's possible to relax. Even though we thought it was a bit early for a drink, there were some guys on the shuttle bus to the plane that obviously didn't think so. They were rather loud and obnoxious (though quiet on the plane). We flew with Tyrolean Airlines. A tiny-ass plane (not too many people on the flight). The only real disappointment was that the staff was not dressed in Lederhosen ...

Arrival and hotel: Pretty straightforward, though the train between the airport and the city wasn't too impressive. We took a taxi to the hotel from the train station. The fare meter was in the rearview mirror. Pretty cool. We stayed at Hotel Harmonie. Friendly staff, decent breakfast (will talk about that later), centrally located yet remote enough to be able to get away from a lot of "touristiness." Our room was spacious, didn't stink of smoke ("everyone" in Austria smokes and smokes anywhere and everywhere), and we even had a big bathroom with a good-sized tub...

(And yeah... one of the things I liked least about Vienna was the smoking in most places. I'm too spoiled here in Oslo, especially with the smoking ban in serving establishments...)

Lunch: Zum Leupold. Das Wiener Restaurant indeed! We started by drinking a Radler each. Kaiser Premium Radler - Limette Citrus Lemongrass to be exact. This is a drink where lemon pop and beer are mixed together. Very tasty and refreshing! I ordered pork medallions in beer sauce, served with some kind of potato hash/mash with bacon and salad. Boyfriend of tuxette ordered roast duck breast with cabbage. Both (I tried his food of course!) were delicious! We finished with a beer - Starobrno Alt Brünner.

The staff was rather interesting. They were dressed in Lederhosen. I kid you not...

Saturday afternoon: After lunch, we tried to find this martial arts shop I found out about via a martial arts message board, but it was closed. We walked down this big shopping street (Mariahilferstraße). We bought some wine and chocolate (see below)...

We continued walking and ended up in the MuseumsQuartier and took pictures of the Kunsthistoriches Museum and then walked towards the Parliament building.

We walked along some more, and stumbled upon this park that seemed to be having some kind of wine festival. They even had a Lederhosen band! Scary stuff...

We ended up where we started - at Zum Leupold. We ended up having a snack in the area at this Irish pub called Molly Darcy. We had some beer and snacks (deep-fried cream cheese-filled chili peppers) and watched a rugby match (one of the few sports boyfriend of tuxette enjoys watching)...

Cycling in Vienna: It may have had something to do with the nice weather, but I noticed lots of cyclists. They even have a special traffic light. The red light displays a cyclist stopped, with one foot on the ground. The green light shows the cyclist cycling. You can even rent bicycles all over the place. The sign on the cycle stands is Weg mit dem Speck (loosely translated - blubber begone!). Which is useful if you stop at these stands ;-)

Back at the hotel, we rested a little, and then decided to try one of the chocolate bars. On the plane ride over, I read about Zotter's chocolate. About all the unusual fillings. Of course I got curious. So we tried one of the 3 bars I bought - Weißer Mohn mit Zimt (white poppy seeds with cinnamon cream). Oh. My. Flying. Spaghetti. Monster. What made this more dangerous was that we decided to open the bottle of red wine that we bought. The red wine and the chocolate were a perfect combination!

About the wine: Pöckl Zweigeit Classic Burgenlund 2004. Color - deep red-violet. Nose - raisins, prunes, vegetables. Palate - fruity and well-rounded with light tannins. Flavor of prunes and berries, especially blueberries and blackberries.

Dinner: We were so stuffed from lunch and the snacks and the chocolate and wine that all we really wanted was soup. Luckily, one of the places we walked by was just that place. (And another bonus was that one of the guys that worked there was cleaning up their outdoor seating area when we walked by looking at the map, and he kindly offered to help us orient ourselves.) It's called Oh Pot Oh Pot and specializes in stew-type meals. The menu was rather interesting, and included a respectable amount of vegetarian and gluten-free choices (you hear that Sol? You have to go to Vienna!). And soup of course. Excellent soup. I ordered "Bolivian quinona soup" with meat, potates, carrots, peas, celery and quinona, and boyfriend of tuxette ordered "Spanish garlic soup" with chicken, almonds, garlic and sherry. They fux0red my order (they were understaffed and very stressed) and gave me the wrong soup (some kind of creamy soup with feta and avocado - nice to taste that one too) but quickly fixed up my order. And were nice about it. Despite the one guy's stress (the one who helped us with reading the map), the general feel of the place was relaxed and pleasant, yet bustling. We later found out we were very near the university, and that this place is popular with students (which explains the young crowd heh).

German-language EuroSport: they were showing some kind of lumberjack competition, for men and women. There's a Norwegian expression that sums it all up nicely... ganske harry...

Number of steps: 10386
Kilometers covered: 5,1

RoF perspective

Where's the food? Why aren't you buying breakfast at the airport? Why aren't you buying food on the plane? You're killing me!

What? Lunch! Yes! Give me Radler! Give me Radler now! And pork! Mmm...nice, tender, juicy pork! In beer sauce! Why don't you ever cook pork in beer sauce?

Hey, why aren't you ordering dessert?

Hey! Stop walking so much!

Go into that Irish pub! Go in now! Good girl! Now drink and eat! Drink and eat now! Oh yes, deep fried goodness!

What did I say about walking? Stop! Sit down! Sit down now!

Mmmm...chocolate! And wine! More! More! More!

Mmmm....tasty soup.... What is this? Only soup? Are you trying to kill me?