A question of Gs (one of my sisters) just reminded me of something else I should have written about. Before the trip, she and I debated over which side the Belgians start their 3-kisses greeting. She sent me a note saying, dont forget about the 3-kisses greeting, left-right-left. And I said, oh good. I was thinking about the greeting but couldnt remember which side you started on. She sent me a note back saying, maybe its right-left-right. I replied back saying, Youre no help! Anyway, when we found B in the airport he just gave each of us a hug. I said, what about the 3-kisses greeting? And he said, not you, but I will for Judy, and he gave her 3 kisses. I still dont know which side he started on, it happened so fast. I think it was the left
but, it could have been the right!
Okay, lets get back on track. I left off with the concert and everything on Wednesday night. Judy and I got up on Thursday, had our standard big buffet breakfast provided by the PChef.
Then we took the U-bahn to the Naschmarkt. There are a lot of vendors there selling fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, wine, fish, pastries, hats, belts, shirts, watches, etc. All the vendors try to get you to come over and look at their stuff. I looked at a watch and the vendor said, today, everything half price business very bad. I wanted so bad to say, youre so full of it! He continued his line saying, that watch, 10 Euros. We said wed keep looking and he said, for you, 8 Euros! We said that maybe wed come back and he said, you Americans are all the same. We laughed.
As we walked along, food vendors would try to give us samples, especially things like cheese-stuffed olives. After I took one I said Ive got to stop doing that because you feel guilty at not buying anything, and theyre high-pressure enough as it is.
Nearby, we stopped in the café at Theater an der Wein to warm up with some coffee and hot chocolate. From there, we took pictures of the Wagner Haus and Majolica Haus, a couple of pretty buildings up the street.
Then, we moved a couple of streets over to Mariahilfer Strasse, a busier street with some shops and modern stores. Judy finally found a good charm to represent Vienna a violin. Yeah! (Now we can stop looking in every jewelry shop!) She got one of the statue in the Grote Markt in Antwerp (the guy throwing the giants hand).
We took the U-bahn back to our hotel and I got a sausage from a wurstelstand across the street from our hotel. It had cheese in it and was served with mustard and a roll yummy! I ate it back in our hotel room, and Judy lamented the fact that she didnt think to buy any fruit at the Naschmarkt.
She went to the café across the street, Oberlaa, to find something, while I asked the concierge to make reservations for dinner for us at Gasthaus Ubl. I caught up with Judy having some chicken salad. I ordered apfelstrudel and kaffee mélange (its a little less potent than their regular coffee, made with half espresso and half frothy milk). The dessert and coffee were absolutely delectable. I told Judy, you know how people say, if you could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? this would definitely be in the running.
We took what was left of Judys chicken salad back to our room fridge, we could have it for lunch tomorrow (and they talk about the portions in the U.S. restaurants being too big), and we got ready for our Mozart walking tour.
Link to next chapter
Oh, you've been to Toronto? How long ago was that? Was it before or after they installed flamboyant LED lights in the CN tower?
I'm just now making it over here.
tingurl! No worries...believe me I know - so many threads, so little time. Well, for example, just look at my score on the games you hold on your thread. I've got like 7 points and others are up around 30 or something. I came in late.
