Eating our way around Vienna

If you haven't picked up on it yet, my traveling philosophy is that the best way to appreciate a culture is by eating lots of local food. I hope this doesn't come as a surprise to you, because as most of you know, I love to eat. I recently shared my traveling philosophy with Stella, and we have been practicing it actively! So far I am very satisfied with Vienna. I will relay the details of our trip thus far in terms of food/meal benchmarks.

One of my concerns at the beginning of the trip was my diet. I had been feeling sick for two days leading up to our departure yesterday, and I had restricted myself (mostly) to a diet of fruit, bread, and rice. I have NOT been sticking to this strict regiment since I have arrived, and so far I have been alright. Thank you Penicillin! After we checked into our hostel yesterday afternoon, Stella and I have been sampling the Viennese specialty foods quite liberally. Last night we decided to explore the city a little bit, not deterred by the cold or the dark. Our mission was to find and devour apfelstrudel-- Apple strudel, in English. Delicious, warm, and best when eaten with ice cream. Our night was complete when we ordered chamomile tea and it came in two separate tea pots. Nevermind how bad the euro to US dollar exchange rate is right now. Good food is always worth it. Right?

Today we woke up at our leisure and had the breakfast served at our hostel, which consisted of cereal and bread. Simple and yet very satisfying. Despite the light drizzle, we walked to the MuseumsQuartier in order to get our fill of Austrian art right off the bat. I can't speak for Stella, but I certainly got my fill! We went to the Leopold Musem to see works by the famous Austrian expressionists such as Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, and the collection was incredible. Not only do they have an amazing array of Austrian expressionism, but they also have an impressive variety of other 19th and 20th century art from Western Europe and the US, including pieces by Cezanne, Monet, Picasso, Warhol, and Lichenstein to name just a few. Excuse me while the Art History nerd in me freaks out a little. It was spectacular. To top it all off, the museum itself was recently built and has picturesque windows scattered around the galleries that show the Vienna skyline and all the other impressive buildings in the MuseumsQuartier. The real kicker was the rainbow in the sky over the already beautiful skyline. Really, Vienna? I get it. You're cool. Rub it in a little more.

All in all, I was exhausted after a couple of hours of visual overload. And what do you need when you are low on energy? Food! Stella and I went to a nearby cafe for salad, which did not merit any picture taking. Too healthy to be interesting. Never fear-- we chased this healthy lunch with some heavy desserts. I tried this cheesy strudel thing that was sitting in a puddle of vanilla sauce. Kind of odd, but still quite tasty. Stella stuck with a trusty crepe with chocolate sauce. We then decided to check out area surrounding the Museumsquartier, which included the Weiner Rathaus, which it turns out is not a church. It certainly had us fooled! It was beautifully lit up, and looked particularly striking through the bare branches of the trees in the foreground. Surrounding the entrance to the Rathaus was a Christkindlmarket, which is basically a Christmas market of little shops selling gift items, Christmas decorations (note the hundreds of hand painted glass ornaments at right), and lots of amazing Austrian street food. But wait- it's not even mid November! Can we really justify getting excited about Christmas already? Regardless, it was a really cool market, and we tried some of the spiced rum punch that seems to be a popular beverage here. Kind of like spiked hot apple cider- yummy!



After exploring the Christkindlmarket, we decided to put a hold on our spending for the night, cook ourselves a light dinner in the hostel and relax a little bit harder. Tomorrow we are planning to go to a flea market in the morning and follow it up by a trip to one of the old palaces in the afternoon.