Tanya has done such an amazing job of planning out our trip. I can't believe all the things we've seen so far, even including some of the items on next week's itinerary upon our return to Vienna. I don't think there was anything on the list I sent her that got eliminated (unless she didn't think it was worthy of our time and attention). The trip has been completely action-packed and so much fun!
Anyways, let's return to Tuesday. We had to get up a little earlier than usual as we wanted to be heading out of the apartment by 8:30 a.m. to give us lots of time to get to the Spanish Riding School. No, we didn't get to ride any horses. Vienna, though, has been home to the Spanish Riding School for 450 years. They are special Lippanzaner Stallions and are trained to perform dances, jumps, etc. for special performances that occur weekly. Since none of us won the Austrian lottery on the weekend, we elected to attend the Morning exercises instead of a performance as it is approximately 1/4 the price. There were no pictures allowed but we may have snuck in a few...
Did you know that horses could waltz and skip? It was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wish there was a way to capture it on video without getting caught.
Following that, we headed to the uppity shopping district in Vienna where we window-shopped for the most part all though we did ogle some of the crystal in Swarovski (did you know that it was Austrian? I don't think I had realized it before.) We also bought a few chocolate and biscuit treats from the large Manner store on Stephensplatz.
We visited the famous St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Vienna according to wikipedia. We didn't pay extra to visit the catacombs or the otherwise off-limit areas along with the thousands of other tourists.
We lunched at Aida, which is apparently very typically Austrian, though the cafe we went to was in a primarily touristy area. I attempted to order my own meal in German but then the waitress proceeded to yell at Tanya and I. I didn't even know what she was saying but apparently I was taking too long and she didn't like that Tanya helped me pronounce my order correctly. Robert and I made some typically Austrian choices according to Tanya so Markus was quite proud when we told him later.
The whole day was pretty spectacular but I think the highlight for me might have been our afternoon tea. Tanya took us to Gerstner which was simply fabulous. There were 3 levels - the main level was a shop, filled with chocolates and cakes and petit-fours, the second was a bar and the 3rd was this amazing cafe. I could just imagine us there in big gowns. Robert and I had champagne with our cakes; I had the Gerstner torte which was pretty chocolatey and rich. Robert and Tanya both had the almond cake which was light and heavenly.
And then, if all that wasn't enough, Markus wanted to try Filipino food for supper. Robert messaged a friend who had been to and raved about a Filipino restaurant in Vienna last fall and we headed there for dinner. The restaurant was very quirky and retro with a fabulous courtyard (it was too cold out there for the Filipino and African members of our contingent). Robert proceeded to order a number of dishes but when the owner's mother, who creates the menus and apparently makes her own longanisa and tocino from scratch, discovered Robert was Filipino, we suddenly had extra dishes, desserts that will be on the summer menu and specialties that only Robert and Tanya were brave enough to try (dinuguan for those of you who know Filipino food). It was such a special evening.
Tanya and Markus are eager to head back for Sunday brunch in May.
Bright and early Wednesday morning, Tanya uber'd us to the train station where Robert and I boarded our train for Budapest. It felt very Harry Potter-esque with trying to find our platform and then finding ourselves in a little cabin on the train. It was quite fun.
And now we are in Budapest but that will have to wait for another blog, another day.
Did you know that horses could waltz and skip? It was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wish there was a way to capture it on video without getting caught.
Following that, we headed to the uppity shopping district in Vienna where we window-shopped for the most part all though we did ogle some of the crystal in Swarovski (did you know that it was Austrian? I don't think I had realized it before.) We also bought a few chocolate and biscuit treats from the large Manner store on Stephensplatz.
We visited the famous St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Vienna according to wikipedia. We didn't pay extra to visit the catacombs or the otherwise off-limit areas along with the thousands of other tourists.
We lunched at Aida, which is apparently very typically Austrian, though the cafe we went to was in a primarily touristy area. I attempted to order my own meal in German but then the waitress proceeded to yell at Tanya and I. I didn't even know what she was saying but apparently I was taking too long and she didn't like that Tanya helped me pronounce my order correctly. Robert and I made some typically Austrian choices according to Tanya so Markus was quite proud when we told him later.
The whole day was pretty spectacular but I think the highlight for me might have been our afternoon tea. Tanya took us to Gerstner which was simply fabulous. There were 3 levels - the main level was a shop, filled with chocolates and cakes and petit-fours, the second was a bar and the 3rd was this amazing cafe. I could just imagine us there in big gowns. Robert and I had champagne with our cakes; I had the Gerstner torte which was pretty chocolatey and rich. Robert and Tanya both had the almond cake which was light and heavenly.
And then, if all that wasn't enough, Markus wanted to try Filipino food for supper. Robert messaged a friend who had been to and raved about a Filipino restaurant in Vienna last fall and we headed there for dinner. The restaurant was very quirky and retro with a fabulous courtyard (it was too cold out there for the Filipino and African members of our contingent). Robert proceeded to order a number of dishes but when the owner's mother, who creates the menus and apparently makes her own longanisa and tocino from scratch, discovered Robert was Filipino, we suddenly had extra dishes, desserts that will be on the summer menu and specialties that only Robert and Tanya were brave enough to try (dinuguan for those of you who know Filipino food). It was such a special evening.
Tanya and Markus are eager to head back for Sunday brunch in May.
Bright and early Wednesday morning, Tanya uber'd us to the train station where Robert and I boarded our train for Budapest. It felt very Harry Potter-esque with trying to find our platform and then finding ourselves in a little cabin on the train. It was quite fun.
And now we are in Budapest but that will have to wait for another blog, another day.
Such fantastic hosts!!!
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