Kyo DOes Austria (aka Kyo's First Visit to Europe) [FINALLY FINISHED]

[Kyo]

zhoux: Thanks for your kind comments, I will try my hardest to finish off the last day of the VIE DO, within today.

stargold: My suggestions on 'must-eats' of SZG are back on Page 1 at these two posts: Here and Here

Enjoy your time there - you should try the 'Brettljause' and the 'Salzburg Nockerl'!

Although you should be warned that the second suggestion is really artery-clogging.

[Kyo]

City Sights (continued)

I wandered inside the Hofburg palace next, passing underneath the arch.


Ornate - The carvings (also gives a sense of scale about how big the arches are)

The place was crawling with people, as you can see...


Opera Performances - To the right (or so I overheard, but being morning, no time to watch one, unfortunately)


Sculptures in the recesses along the side - To the left


The Dome - From below, with shafts of daylight streaming through

Since I was rushing for time (lunch was pre-planned the evening before, and I had an hour left til 12pm!), I decided to keep roaming outside... and bumped into...


A bear loose on the streets! - Can it be true?!


Almost! - It's actually a giant Steiff bear

And right next door, a sunglasses boutique featuring a bear... with a remarkable likeness to Karl Lagerfeld (a personal fave fashion icon, I must admit)...


Lagerfeld - In bear form!

Around another corner, and suddenly, there is...


The World's Smallest Museum - I can't substantiate this fact, but it's a little booth, so contenders for the moniker should take note!

Somehow, I'd ended up somewhere near the Do&Co again, as I spotted it down a side street, so I decided to quickly pop back and refresh myself for the afternoon ahead.


Corner of my eye - The hotel

I'd mentioned to the Duty Manager the night before that I'd like to move to a room with a courtyard view (just to see what it was like), and as I walked in, they told me that they were able to accommodate my wish to a junior suite. Before they started moving all my belongings, however, I managed to quickly sneak two more shots of a performance going on outside.


Some performance - Wonder what it is?


Hooray for zoom! - I still don't know what it was celebrating, but there were alot of people in white dress and black hats (huge crowd watching naturally)


A performer with a silver-painted accomplice - Visible from the other window

As I was rushing to the Demel (where we were going to meet), I had no time to look around my newly-upgraded room. More pics of that later!

Up Next: The Demel

[Kyo]

The Demel, Hofzuckerbacker, Wien

I headed back towards the Hofburg Palace, as I'd seen the Demel there earlier.


The DEMEL Cake and Tea House - One of Vienna's fine (and famous) establishments


The Demel - Logo nicely emblazoned on the serviette

This place is an 'Establishment', in every sense of the word!


Cabinets displaying souvenirs - To the right of the entrance


'Princess in Praline' - The name of this masterpiece

This place is famous for dessert... and they make sure you're aware of that - as you go up the staircase to the tearooms on the second storey, you'll notice a little kitchen.


Where the magic happens - Okay, maybe not a 'wee' little kitchen


Cake! - Yummy looking morsels of delight


MORE CAKE! - Calories, calories!


PASTRIES! - More calories...

Did I happen to mention that they also have...


Deli Snacks - It's also a Delicatessen?

Just looking at all this is enough for a coronary!

Looking for something to distract me away from all the food, I found the table where the rest were seated (our gracious host, flo, had already reserved a great spot months in advance) and looked above...


Bling! - At the beautiful chandeliers filling the place with old-world charm

Anyway, time to settle down with some coffee


Like all good coffees - This 'Anna Demel Kaffee' (a long-winded Vienna) came with a huge amount of cream, but was very nice


Someone ordered an 'Einspanner' - I have no idea what's in here, but it looks creamy also and had some red hundreds and thousands sprinkled in for good measure

Disclaimer: The above could also either be a 'Gewurzschoko Vanille' or a 'Heise Schoko' - I may have this mixed up with the 'Einspanner' above, apologies if so

Well, we had not come here for just drinks, obviously! We were also here for lunch! Bring it on!

Coming Up: Lunch. At the Demel

[Kyo]

Lunch. At the Demel.

This 'main event' was one we'd all been anticipating. Our appetite whetted months in advance, we could have passed for starving hyenas (despite having eaten barely 2 hours prior)...

I must say, although I have had many opportunities to 'eat well' in Austria, this was perhaps the first real experience of dining in such a 'fine' European establishment.


Field mushroom, scrambled, with a side of potatoes - How on earth they make simple things look this good here, I don't know but I could eat that off my screen!! (no idea about the names but they are in the receipt below)


Gulaschsuppe - Goulash Soup (I'm quite sure I got this one right, hehe)


Schnitzel number... - I forget how many schnitzels I've seen by now on this trip... anyway, this dish is courtesy of jhm, who had not arrived until Saturday morning and was making up for lost time having missed out on schnitzel at Figlmuller's the night before...


Omelette with dark rye bread - I'm guessing this is an 'Eierspeis mit Schnit'

As earlier mentioned, this place is famous for dessert... so, I wonder what we have in store?

I'm sure zhoux can tell guess...


Sachertorte - Demel-style


There's lava chocolate cake - And then there's 'lava-covered' chocolate cake


Sacher logo - Take note - this is not the actual cake from the 'Hotel Sacher'

Oh - and they have ice-cream downstairs too (which you can buy from the side-counter without going inside, incidentally


Demel Eiscreme - Demelicious ice-cream goodness


Perhaps the 'Heidelbeer-Veilchen' - More to your fancy?

Anyway, only SQTalkers could spend EUR 135.30 on that much dessert!


Damaged wallets - Ouch! Someone ordered Coke Light... hmm...

We decided to sensibly regroup and head to our next destination out of the city centre, to try and give our stomachs a break


Emerging into the sunlight - An image of the fully-fed, with our fearful leader, flo (who has had plenty of practice downing this much food)

Next: Schloss Schonbrunn

[jhm]

Schnitzel number... - I forget how many schnitzels I've seen by now on this trip... anyway, this dish is courtesy of jhm, I believe, who had not had enough schnitzel at Figlmuller's the night before...

Eh ? I'd just arrived in VIE that day and had therefore missed out on Figlmuller! The one I had in Demel was the first - but by no means the last - schnitzel that weekend...

[Kyo]

Ah yes, you're absolutely right.. edited!

[Kyo]

Schloss Schnobrunn

Our official 'destination for the day' was to be the Schloss Schonbrunn, a palace reminiscent of the one in Versailles and similar, but more grand than that other famous 'Schloss', the 'Helbrunn' in Salzburg that you've seen earlier in this TR.


The local Stephansplatz 'MRT' station - No prizes for guessing our mode of transport


Confusion - Obligatory shot of a bunch of confused SQTalkers needing to buy (and validate, yet again) their tickets


Turn Left - Pretty rudimentary sign for such a prominent location


The other favourite form of public transportation - The bright red Vienna buses


Schonbrunn Schloss Cafe - Opposite the train station, don't be fooled - this is nothing famous

A little bit of a walk later and we're at the gates to the palace


Look for this steeple - And where the road winds, the palace entrance is to your left


The entrance - Into the largest gardens in Vienna

Rather surprisingly, almost the entire group decided to pass on this afternoon walk as the weather seemed overcast. The general consensus was to get even more caffeine at the Cafe Domayer (meant to be our next pitstop of the day). phaleesy, being the brave SQTalker that she is, decided to soldier on with the culture vulture *ahem, yours truly* into the Schloss Schonbrunn

Excuse me whilst I let the pictures do most of the talking - it's a magnificent place and my rambling along won't do it any justice


Greenhouses - We didn't go inside as the weather did look a bit stormy so we were moving quite quickly at this point


Equatorial Line - Most probably depicting the climate of the flora within these greenhouses


Lots of trees - Very orderly


First glimpse - Schonbrunn Palace


Schonbrunn Palace revealed! - Ever-happy photographer phaleesy taking the sight in

More Schloss, More Schonbrunn

[Kyo]

More Schloss, More Schonbrunn


Top of the hill - I love the way this building seems to 'glow'


The hillside - Facing the palace


The Fountain - The sculptures remind me of the same motifs in The Matrix: Reloaded


Poseidon? - He bears a striking resemblance to that other guy back in the city...


Horses - Great architecture reveals the musculature

We started climbing up the hill. Felt great to burn off those calories from earlier!


Looking back at the Palace - What's inside, we'll have to find out on another trip to Vienna (no time to go inside!)

Some gorgeous detail:












There's a pond - At the top of the hill, which you wouldn't think existed, from the bottom, which makes the hike marginally worth it! There's also a train ride, if the mere sight of hills makes you feel faint...

Next: Still More Schonbrunn

[Kyo]

Still More Schonbrunn

Looking back down the hill, beyond the palace, the city of Vienna can be clearly seen...


Palatial - This place, is huge (not *that* kind of HUGE)


The 'cafe' - I kid you not


Plaque - Commemorating Maria Therese (very famous and mentioned all over Austria, I might add)

We wanted to go inside but they were about to close for the day... so, we looked around the outside, which was equally fascinating






Look closely - On the underside, it says SPQR, which I believe has Roman influences (if the 'Asterix' comic books I read as a kid is any guide!)









The sun had already gone down as we started heading back down the hill, some two hours of heavy photography later... how phaleesy can carry three cameras (two being huge DSLRs), I have no idea



One last photo to forever remember the gardens of the Schloss Schonbrunn...


Kyo - Loves Schonbrunn (commissioned by that evil phaleesy, j/k )

Dinner and the Dommayer next!

[Kyo]

Dinner and the Dommayer

Myself and phaleesy emerged from the palace grounds something like 2.5 hours later than when we first entered. Hastily, we looked around for the meeting spot where the rest had adjourned to. It seemed our luck had held out as it hadn't rained whilst we were roaming around however we were unlucky in that everyone had left, save jhm, who had patiently stayed to wait for phaleesy. What a gentleman!

We looked around for a fancy looking cafe and spotted this...


A hotel!- Looks great, and seems to be decent to stay at. Beautiful building nevertheless

Alas, it wasn't the Cafe Dommayer, but a hotel - However, right to the side, was that elusive little cafe!


'Cafe Dommayer' - Home of that famous Emperor's Melange

Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, the famous drink had been taken off the menu. Bummer.


Latte - To the rescue

At least, it was an excuse to starve myself a few more hours until dinner.

These well-laid plans were for nought, however, as this establishment had a fascinating array of cakes, so giving into temptation, we bought a few... and did the Singaporean thing... we 'dabao-ed'...


Coffee cake? - Doesn't matter. It looks too yummy for words

Everyone had long left and went back for a shower or whatnot, and it was almost time for our 'Heuriger' (a sort of local pub) dinner. So we hopped into a taxi and off we went! This taxi ride has the dubious distinction of being Kyo's first taxi ride in Europe, by the way... Yay!!

Unfortunately, we were being so social that I forgot to take any photos with the attendees in the picture.

I was able to remember some of the food, however!


'Heuriger' cuisine - Here we have a mishmash of some pork-infused lard (tasted disgusting, I'm sorry to say), egg salad (far better) and unidentified orange goop which tasted far better than it looked (anyone wanna help me out here?)

Notice somebody tucking into pork loin above as that was also on the menu. I must say, Kyo is not a pork fan, so the lard was pretty much left uneaten.

Not to worry - as another house specialty was wild deer!


Wild Venison Stew - Official thumbs-up here! It was delicious and I only wish they'd been more generous! A scoop of mashed potato and that settled me for the rest of Saturday.


Almdudler - That drink of choice to wash the whole lot down!

It was at this point that an esteemed TPP/founder jjpb3 decided to materialise as well! What an honour, what an honour..!

The rest of the evening involved a whole lot of juicy gossip back in town at the rather fancy design Style Hotel.

I'm biased but I prefer the Do&Co much more... the location wasn't that central either, unfortunately.

KeithMEL shouted the first round of drinks as it was his birthday - what a champ! We'd brought along those cakes from the Cafe Dommayer in the hope of a little birthday celebration but somewhere along the way they disappeared that evening (it wasn't me either!)

Sunday Morning: The Search For Kaiserschmarren Continues

[jhm]

Myself and phaleesy emerged from the palace grounds something like 2.5 hours later than when we first entered. Hastily, we looked around for the meeting spot where the rest had adjourned to. It seemed our luck had held out as it hadn't rained whilst we were roaming around however we were unlucky in that everyone had left, save jhm

After the others had left, I had the opportunity to compare the Demel Wiener schitzel (above) against the Dommayer version which somehow appeared at my table by magic!



The Demel was a lot better (or perhaps it was just the first I ate that day)!

Everyone had long left and went back for a shower or whatnot, and it was almost time for our 'Heuriger' (a sort of local pub) dinner. So we hopped into a taxi and off we went! This taxi ride has the dubious distinction of being Kyo's first taxi ride in Europe, by the way... Yay!!

Unfortunately, we were being so social that I forgot to take any photos with the attendees in the picture.

[jhm]

The rest of the evening involved a whole lot of juicy gossip back in town at the rather fancy design Style Hotel.

... which involved a bus and then train ride. Unfortunately, no opup on the former so we were all stuck in the back:

[Kyo]

Sunday Morning: The Search For Kaiserschmarren Continues

Early the next morning, I'd decided to have one last shot searching for this blasted Kaiserschmarren omelette. But first, I snuck into St Stephan's Cathedral for one quick photograph.

Service was on, so I made sure to be unobtrusive...


Inside St Stephan's Cathedral - It is massive and awesome, all at the same time

petz had also turned up around that time - and graciously offered his services to come along for the search of this elusive omelette/pancake wannabe! We were armed. We were prepared. The flight was in 3.5 hours!

Along the way I saw a little shop I'd been seeing all over this mostly-landlocked country that seemed very poular with the locals...


Nordsee - Perhaps it subliminally impacted the choice for the famous DO we've been getting an overwhelming response for in OSL


In the display window - Plenty of seafood

petz suggested we try Cafe Griensteidl, to the side of the Hofburg palace and near the Demel


Cafe Griensteidl - Interior

It had...


Plenty


Of


Cake

But... NO KAISERSCHMARREN!

We decided to sit down and strategise... over breakfast


Cake

petz finally figured out where we'd find this glorified omelette - at a nearby cafe called Cafe Central. So off we went...


Cafe Central - It had just opened its doors


People slowly filing in - For a late brekkie


Cafe Central - Interior

Our search was over. The Cafe Central did serve Kaiserschmarren, but not for another 1 hour (which I didn't have!)!

Alas, the cake counter seemed to be laughing at me on the way out as I headed back to pack up my bags...


Mocking Cakes - This city will never run out of cake, as petz once said!

Finally - Sunday: Auf Wiedersehn, Austria

[Kyo]

... which involved a bus and then train ride. Unfortunately, no opup on the former so we were all stuck in the back:

<snip>

Some VERY TIMELY posts there, jhm! Well done! Yes - they fill in the missing bits perfectly! Unfortunately, no photos of the chinwag session?

Sadly, I had to leave with the first round of attendees as I had two bags to pack and a huge amount of clothing and shopping from Salzburg as well. I blame 60%-off Ferragamo sales, incidentally.

The TR, for the most part, is concluded and I will only post an Epilogue tomorrow as it's now officially after midnight in this part of the world. I.e. September. Well, I came close to finishing within August, but no dice in the end...

Anyway, the exciting finale to come in the next 24 hours... stay tuned!

[jhm]

One more photo from me!

petz had also turned up around that time - and graciously offered his services to come along for the search of this elusive omelette/pancake wannabe!

I understand petz had been up all night at a party he went to after us lightweights at the Style Hotel had decided to call it a day. But after seeing Kyo off and rather than going to bed, he then turned up at the Le Méridien Wien to check on us. What a star!