It is nice to visit a city and not feel rushed to do everything the instant that you get there. Since I have been here before I know the places I want to go and to eat. I know the most efficient way to get around so it is nice to not have the pressure of figuring out how to get places. It was great to visit Schoenbrunn today and just take a book and read some. To not be in the pack of tourists trying to get a photo of the same fountain is a good feeling.
The sun is now rising at 5 so it made getting up this morning a lot harder. I managed to get out and take photos but this was the first time on this trip that I saw many people just heading home from a night out. I thought how I would way rather get a good night sleep and just be starting my day rather than be one of the many people I saw stumbling home.
There are many foods from Vienna that I really miss when I’m in Portland. You can’t get the schnitzel or potato salad that you can here. You can’t go to the vinegar stand at the farmers market and have a choice of 50 different varieties of vinegar and sample every single one of them. There is even a Mexican restaurant in Vienna that I always wish I had in Portland. I was pretty bummed to learn that they are closed for the holiday weekend so it looks like I will have Mexican for dinner tomorrow night. I must say though that there is one beverage in Vienna that I always miss and there isn’t really anything Austrian about it. If anything it is very American but I have never been able to recreate it. It is simple. Ice, milk and Ghirardelli chocolate all blended up. I have tried at home but it is never the same. Maybe I need whole milk to make it delicious. It doesn’t matter if I get a small, medium or large it is always gone by the time I get to the subway. Ten years ago I used to get one after class and see if I could make it home and still have something in my cup. I always failed to have something in my cup by the time my train came. Some things just never change.
Fletch Travels 