Thursday, August 26, 2010

Day Five In Austria

At this point, our Jet Lag had completely caught up with us, and we were POOPED.  The following pictures were taken in a couple hour span that we did some neat things.  The other hours of the day, we were in our hotel room zonked out.
We had been on the go so much, we just needed a down day.
So we took it.  And thoroughly enjoyed it!!

We started the day with breakfast at the Demel, acclaimed as the most famous pastry shop in all of Austria.

cafe demel

Rob and Jamie were with us-  they were quite the troopers and had stayed up all night watching the gamecocks compete for the national championship.  The game STARTED at 1:00 am, austria time.

rob and jamie at cafe demel

You do not like them. So you say.
Try them! Try them!And you may.

try it try it

It was interesting to me that they served is water in glass bottles and gave us glasses to pour it in.... it was this way everywhere we went.  And "water" as the drink of choice, was NOT free.

breakfast at demel

After breakfast, we walked down the road to the Spanish Riding School to watch the Lipizzaner stallions  in their morning exercise routine.
I snapped this picture before realizing that photography is strictly prohibited.  Whoops.

lipazzon stallions

These people love their dogs.  At first glance, it might appear this man is pulling a child behind his bike.... nope.  It was his dog in there.
Also, please do note the sign on the bike rack.
"Gute Fahrt" means, "have a good trip!"
Much like WeinerWald, we had fun with this one.


gute fahrt

You can also, Parkeinfhart, if you wish.
Actually, that means, DON'T park there.
Confusing, I know.  But funny.  :)

parkeinfahrt

Dogs in the bookstore?
Sure.  Why not?

dog in the bookstore

Dogs going into a ritzy restaurant?
Absolutely!  Let me get that door for you!

dog in the restaurant

Inside McDonalds.
Don't judge us for going to McDonalds in Austria.
It was the only place that had FOUNTAIN coke.  WITH ICE.
(although, you did have to ASK for the ice!)

inside mcdonalds

Benjamin and his giant fish.
Ok, not really.
It's a calzone.  But I think it looks like fish.  Ew.
It was really very good though.

calzone

We ate at Danieli either two or three times while we were there.  
This was another Jamie Find for which I will be eternally grateful.  

pizza at danielli

Inside St. Peters Cathedral

inside st peters cathedral

And below:  the back of St. Peters (this pic was from day one, they were doing renovations on the front, hence the unconventional angle)

B and Lula in front of the cathedral

And this one's actually from day six.
This incredibly talented artist was in the the town square sketching famous places and then painting them with watercolor.  I ended up buying two prints.  The Vienna town hall (where we date on day three  and the Hoffburg Palace where we were privileged to visit and dine on day six.
Souvenir Cool Factor: just slightly below my little cup and saucer.

watercolor on the streets


vienna town hall in watercolor


watercolor paints




And tomorrow, last but certainly not least, day six in Austria.

2 comments:

  1. Did you see any exit signs? Now that my friend will make you laugh!
    And water is like that here too. They are in liter bottles though but still are in glass and actually are more expensive than a glass of house wine! Which to me is crazy! It is funny you talk about the fountain drinks and ice. I finally have learned to drink a coke without ice but they are always pretty cold so it is ok! Did that McDonalds have weird things? Here they have a shrimp dinner, greek and Italian hamburgers, mozzerella/tomato salad, and curly fries which are yum (regular fries too though).

    Your pictures are just beautiful and I have enjoyed seeing them and hearing about your time there!

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  2. Melissa...
    YES! LOL... the exit signs are hilarious-- I have one on the "all pictures" section at the end of one of the posts, but I decided against featuring that one on the blog. I aim to keep it PG :)

    I couldn't get over the whole water thing... that was just so different than here... and I can't believe that you've gotten to where you can drink coke without ice. I felt like such a spoiled American asking for ice at every meal. And then, when we DID ask, they would only bring us like, two cubes. :)
    And Yes, that mcdonalds DID have different stuff. Shrimp wraps, potato "stripes", mozzarella sticks-- not the typical McDonalds menu.

    I still think it's just incredible that you give to LIVE amongst such beauty. I know there are probably lots of frustrating times and things that just aren't like home, but it's only for a short while and it's just awesome you get to LIVE there. What an experience!!! :)

    Thanks for reading through the marathon posts about our trip- I just didn't want to forget anything about it :)

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