Jerry has been asked to present at a conference for the international division of his company which is being held in Vienna, Austria! We decided to treat Danny to a special twelfth birthday trip, since this year, with 12/12/12 being his 12th birthday, is pretty cool and calls for a special gift. So 12 days in Europe it is! 7 days in Vienna and 5 days in Rotterdam for Jer to do some follow up work at his Dutch office. Notice how Jer is working through all of this? and I am not?! How great is that! Though at times, getting ready to go was so stressful that I wanted to stay home! If you plan family vacations you know exactly what I mean, don't you! My good friend Roseanne is staying with the girls, spending some nights at the house, leaving them some nights to practice independence, but checking in every day o keep the ship afloat. God Bless her! Without her generous help I would be at home right now, not in my fancy hotel in the historic district of Vienna's old city. And so, I will blog about the trip over the next few days, and I hope you enjoy the posts.
Our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam on Thursday afternoon was fantastic! After hanging out in the VIP lounge(thanks Jerry) we boarded to find the plane only half full. I actually had all four seats in my middle row to myself, after Danny and Jerry moved to empty 2 seats on the window side. So I watched a movie, read, and slept like I was in my own bed! Crazy! We landed in Amsterdam at 5:30 am and boarded immediately for our next flight to Vienna. That is only 1hour 10 minutes, so we were up and down in a blink.
Grabbed a taxi to the hotel(again, love this business travel!) and we were checked in and on our way out into the city by 11am. First stop, Cafe Hewelka, said to be the oldest coffee house in the city. Vienna is said to have more coffee houses than Switzerland has banks, so this is my kind of city! Cafe Hawelka is a shrine, practically a museum, and has hosted the likes of Andy Warhol,Tony Blair and John Irving, ho mentions it in his book Hotel New Hampshire. The place is dark and velvety, and has a great art collection, the requisite tiny tables, and no menu. The owner, Leopold Hawelka, comes up and asks you,not in English, what you want. We said coffee and he said "and cake" so we said yes! Danny and Jerry devoured the torte and apple pastry that was served. We payed the very steep bill, no menu=no prices, and left. It was an experience to be sure, and a great way to start out!
We strolled across the large square to St. Stephans Cathedral, the first must stop in all the guide books. St. Stephen's Cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral, seen today in the Stephansplatz, was largely initiated by Duke Rudolf IV (1339–1365) and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first a parish church consecrated in 1147. The most important religious building in Austria's capital, St. Stephen's Cathedral,with its multi-colored tile roof, has become one of the city's most recognizable symbols. We climbed the 345 twisty narrow steps to the top of the tower, der Alte Steffl, for a great view of the city. In one direction you can see three countries, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. But the birds eye view of the city is really worth the climb. One crazy thing, the steps are only about 20 inches wide, and people are going both up and down the staircase! I would not want to be trying to climb during the tourist season!
On leaving the Cathedral we wandered around all the streets surrounding it, and poked into several gorgeous churches and neat little shops. Jerry and Danny got a giant sausage from a street vendor and ate standing up like the natives were doing. The air around the stand smelled amazing! More walking, more churches, and a trip to the butterfly house, Schmetterlinghaus housed in an antique glass building, which Danny picked out and then a brief sit down at the hotel.
We then headed out for an authentic Austrian meal to finish off our first day in Vienna!
Down a winding cobblestone street(good thing I am not the stiletto wearing type!) We went to Gosser Bierklink- a restaurant in an old world house that has been there for four centuries. It has all the arched doorways, quirky gates leading who knows where, dark wood trim everywhere and Gothic stained glass windows. A favourite spot for beer connoisseurs, it serves dunkeles(darks) and helles(lights) and Jerry sampled both and pronounced them wonderful, thought the dark was better! Danny, who by this time was practically falling asleep at the table, opted for the apple dumplings, covered with powdered sugar and swimming in a cider sauce. I tried the kas'nocken, little pasta dumplings topped with melted Tyrolean mountain cheese and crispy fried onions-think of the best mac/cheese ever...then multiply by 3! Jerry had a Bauern-something or other, which was a platter of potato dumpling, sauerkraut,schnitzel,sausage and ham. He could fell his arteries clogging as he ate-but it was delicious! We strolled back to our hotel through the empty streets, lights shining down from the beautiful palaces and churches that are all around us. Wow!
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