Wien

I am an academic – there is no getting around that one.  I tend to research things pretty seriously before diving straight in.  Overall, this has served us quite well – but we certainly have encountered a number of things that run counter to conventional wisdom and travel guidebooks.  We spent three weeks in Sweden, and were pleasantly surprised by the reasonable and manageable prices there.  We spent two weeks in Eastern Europe and were repeatedly shocked by the outrageously expensive costs there.  In Sweden, having ready access to laundry facilities at the folk school, our friends’ home and the hostel, spoiled us.  During our week in Prague we just washed things in the bathroom sink because we couldn’t find anywhere close to our hotel to do laundry, and couldn’t find anyone to ask.  In Slovakia, the person at the front desk did some Internet research for us, and while she could not find anything like a laundromat, she did find a place in the neighborhood where you could drop laundry off to be washed.  Unfortunately, they charged per item.  Our small load of laundry ended up costing us 40 Euros, or about $54.  Needless to say, here in Vienna, we are back to running our bathroom sink laundry service.

I didn’t have a lot of preconceived ideas about Vienna.  To be honest, going to Vienna was never really high on my “to-see” list.  We ended up here more out of convenience than burning desire.  However, after spending two weeks in Eastern Europe and reading so much about the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Hapsburg Empire), I was intrigued to see the city that once ruled such a giant kingdom.  The evidence of its elegant past is everywhere.  And while I thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the lavish Imperial Apartments and looking at the gorgeous clothing and jewels in the Imperial Treasury, I have become a little numb to all the gothic grandeur.  (Though I have to admit part of me still expects to see the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, whenever I look up at Gothic spires.)

While there were times in both the Prague and in Košice, where Josh and I had to walk an incredibly long distance to find a restaurant or a grocery store that was open, we knew right away we would rarely be hungry in Vienna.  While restaurants here are plentiful, and there seem to be grocery stores on every block, I have to say Josh and I are becoming connoisseurs of street food.  Würstelstands are abundant and they offer far more than hotdogs.  Josh has become a fan of the mustard horseradish mixture the serve with some of the “dogs.”

Josh also discovered “gelato” here in Vienna.  Yesterday he ordered a large gelato with four different scoops of four different flavors.  Today, in spite of a darn cold wind, he ordered a large gelato with two scoops of what he thought was “cookies and cream” and two scoops of “nutella.”  He enjoyed the nutella scoops, but he was less thrilled when he got to the two scoops of “mohn” and discovered that what he thought were cookie bits were, in fact, poppy seeds.  While I would most likely not select “poppy seed” as a gelato flavor – I was happy to finish off what Josh rejected.  He will have many more opportunities to refine his gelato preferences in the weeks ahead.  Tomorrow evening we will catch the night train to Venice, Italy.  I believe pasta will replace turkey on our Thanksgiving menu this year, but thankfulness will in abundance.