A Klimt Kind of Day

Today I went on a search for some of Klimt's most famous paintings.  Well a mix of his most famous and my favorites.  Although I do love The Kiss, it is not a favorite painting of mine.  There are a couple of others I personally like more and those are here in Vienna as well.

I got up late again.  Big surprise.  I cannot sleep with this breathing thing!  Anyway, got up, posted the Strudel thing, showered and had some of my lovely organic bread with butter for breakfast.  Coffee too...of course.  Despite plans to the contrary, I haven't had breakfast in a coffee house.  I plan to change that Friday (on my birthday).

So, I headed out to the Vienna Museum (Wien Museum)http://www.wienmuseum.at/index.php?id=122 which, while not an art museum does have examples of art important to the history of
Vienna. Of course, Klimt is one of the most important modern painters to come out of Vienna.  The personal favorite painting of mine that is there is the Portrait of Emilie Flöge.I just love his use of blue in that painting.  It was powerful to see it in person (as I found seeing most of his work), but I was disappointed by how *dark* it was. I think that when we see photos of it, the image is lightened to make it more blue.  Although there is a lot of silver in the painting as well (as opposed to the gold that we are used to seeing in most of his works) it doesn't seem to brighten it any.

Hanging right next to it is Klimt's Pallas Athena.  Despite the fact that this painting is even darker (and it does use a lot of gold) I was arrested by her eyes.  Light green and piercing, they really drew me in and made me want to buy a poster...which, unfortunately, did not exist in their gift shop.

There were lots of other very interesting things in the Wien Museum.  Mostly a historical museum, it was very cool to see Medieval statuary, normally high up in a cathedral, right in front of you at eye level.  Quite a few pieces of St. Stevens ended up in this museum when the cathedral was restored.

Gotta say, not impressed with the museum gift shop.  Not a Klimt poster to be seen and no tacky souvenirs to be found at all.  You know it's a strange day when Donna buys nothing in a museum gift shop.

Before go on to more Klimt, I was distracted by St. Charles Church (Karlskirche)   http://www.karlskirche.at/index.html right next door to the museum.

There is a nifty park area in front of the church and, as it was a nice day, there were people sunning themselves, children playing...

and an accordion player serenading us.  Tell me the truth, this is exactly what you thought my trip to Vienna would include, didn't you?

Anyway, I spent a few minutes wandering around the outside of the church taking pictures...

I decided to go in as I've never been inside a Baroque Church...plenty of Medieval cathedrals, but I've never been subjected to the splendor of a Baroque church.

And very splendiferous it was, with all of its gold Baroque-ness.  Of course, renovations were going on and I did my best to shoot around the scaffolding.  I opted not to take the elevator up to view the ceiling paintings close up.  I know, someday I may regret it, but the height on scaffolding I was not happy with.  Besides, I have a zoom lens on the camera.

See, lovely ceiling painting, no scaffolding required.  It was lovely inside, and smelled of candles burning (yeah, I lit a couple myself) and I got time to shoot several lovely photos. 

Of course, this is all after I climbed up an unending spiral staircase to a "museum" that consisted of the traveling clothes for some crazy 18th century bishop. Not worth the climb..no no no.

Still, church was very pretty and shiny...so I wasn't too upset.

After wandering around the area of the church a bit, taking a few more photos of some interesting buildings

It was off to the UBahn for the Belvidere and more Klimt.  I need a break now, but I'll do a separate post for that in a few minutes...stay tuned!

It's Apfelstrudel Time

Hello everyone, this is Michael and he is going to teach us to make The Original Wiener Apfelstrudel.

Dough ingredients:

250g fine white (pastry) flour (a little over 2 3/4 cups)

2g salt (about 1/3 teaspoon)

1 medium egg

100g lukewarm water (a little under 7 Tablespoons)

20g sunflower oil (1 1/2 Tablespoons)

For the Apple Filling:

150g butter breadcrumbs (about 1 1/4 cups) recipe below

150g cinnamon sugar (about 3/4 cup) recipe below

170g raisins (about 6 oz)

10g lemon juice (about 2 teaspoons)

1Kg peeled sour apples (a little over 2 pounds) cored and sliced

Shot of Rum

Make the dough by mixing all of the dough ingredients together together to a soft dough and knead it until it looses from the hands and table (or, if using a stand mixer until it forms a ball on the dough hook and no longer sticks to the bowl).  Form it into a ball and place it into a bowl of vegetable oil (it should cover the dough) for 30 minutes.

The filling:

Butter breadcrumbs:

Melt 50g (about 3 1/2 Tablespoons) of butter in a pan.  Add 100g plain breadcrumbs (about 8/10 of a cup) to the pan and roast until they take on a golden brown shine.

Cinnamon Sugar

Mix 140g (a little under 3/4 cup) sugar with 10g (about 4 teaspoons) cinnamon.

Strudel Filling

Anywhere from 1 hour to overnight, soak the raisins in the rum (so that you get drunken raisins). Then mix all of the other ingredients together in a large bowl.

Making the Strudel

You will need a linen or cotton cloth about a square yard or so.  Flour it well.  Place it on a flat surface (The Strudel bakery had a nifty marble slab on a turntable that I would love to get my hands on.  It was about 3ft X 2 ft).

 Place your dough in the middle of your cloth.

 Roll it out flat in a close to rectangular shape.

Begin to stretch it with the backs of your hands (after flouring them well)

Stretch it bigger and bigger...slowly as to not to rip it

This is Michael showing off.  It is not recommended to do this unless you are an expert...LOL.   I also wanted you to see the cool vaulted ceilings of the bakery...cool, right?

The strudel dough with get stretched very large and be paper thin.

You will know it is the right thickness when you can read through it.

When you have carefully placed the dough over the board and cloth, put the filling to one end, shaping it like a loaf. You will then fold the one edge over the filling and brush it with melted butter.

Use the cloth to then roll the strudel across the dough. 

Twist and pinch off the ends, tucking them under.

Use the cloth to gently lift the strudel and carefully roll it onto a buttered baking tray.  Brush it with melted butter. Bake at 190 Celsius...which is about 375 Fahrenheit (for those of us in the US) until the strudel takes on a golden brown shine (I think I remember him saying about 20 -30 min...but just watch the oven).  Take out and brush with more butter.

Important! Wait about 1 hour to cut your strudel.  If you don't give it a chance to cool and firm up a bit, it will liquefy and make a hot melted apple mess.

Many thanks to Strudel Chef Michael and the Cafe Residenz at the Schönnbrunn Schloβ

http://www.cafe-residenz.at/en/cafe-and-rerstaurant-residenz/

Schönnbrunn Schloβ

Oh man...am I tired.   And I didn't even get up early, like I wanted to.  Couldn't sleep again last night due to the lack of breathing properly.  Got up around 10...then futzed around again until almost noon.  Caught the UBahn U4 to Schönnbrunn and spent the rest of the day in wandering mode.

I have so many photos that I won't be able to put them all in the blog, I'll have to put a link to an online album in a bit.  The ticket I got was called the "Classic Pass Plus," the plus being getting in to see the Apple Strudel Show.  That was so awesome, I'm giving it a separate blog entry.

I actually paid for two things I never got around to doing...viewing the Privy Garden and hiking up to the Gloriette.  But I did get to see the Grand Tour of the Palace.  This included rooms not on the regular tour (18th century rooms from the time of Maria Theresa...who I think was much more interesting than Franz Joseph and Elizabeth). Photos could not be taken of the interior, so I bought a CD of interior images.  Netbook does not have a CD drive, so we'll see those when I get home.

In the meantime, here is the view I got when I walked in the front gates:

I'm not going to go all into the history and whatnot of the castle, just mentioning that it was the Summer retreat of the Hapsburgs.  If you want to know more http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/international.html

I spent a lot of time wandering about the courtyard before going in to get my tickets.  There are renovations/restorations going on (of course, no matter where I go, there is *some* work going on) but there was plenty of palace to see where there wasn't scaffolding and construction.

Quite a few of the fountains on the grounds had been drained for cleaning.  This is one in the courtyard.

I took tons more photos...but let's save those for some other time (mostly when I have time to clean them up and post them properly).

After my time in the courtyard, I paid for and took my tour of the 40+ rooms that are open to the public.  More importantly, I got to visit the gift shop! Don't worry, I didn't go nutso.  I did get a snow globe for the world's largest collection...can someone in Austin check to see if we have one of the palace already?  If we do, I'm keepin' it...LOL.  In addition to the aforementioned CD of photos, I also got my Christmas tree ornament (I get one everywhere I travel) and a brocade change purse..just 'cuz.

The Apple Strudel Show happens every hour on the hour...and it was about 20 of...so I walked about the gardens a bit.

Notice how straight the line of trees is?  They're specifically trimmed that way.  More on that later.

Here is a fountain that WAS working.  Again, there are more photos, but I don't have all night (it's actually almost 10 now).

I then rushed back and was the last one in for the Strudel show and I got lots of fun pics of that.  Got a free sample too and that was yummy, even if it did have raisins in it.

Afterwards, more wandering around the gardens

This is the "Roman Ruin" also known as the "Ruin of Carthage" and is a totally fake ruin. Now, the trees along the walkways.  They are ruthlessly forced into shape and have a completely flat face and top.  It's kind of weird.  Now, spring is not as far along here, not all of the trees have all of their leaves yet, so you can see exactly how strict the trimming is.

Can you imagine the amount of work involved?  These are extensive gardens, if you check out the website, you will see.

This is the famous Poseidon Fountain, which was shut off shortly after I took this photo.  There are pathways up behind it to the Gloriette.  I did not feel like the hike...lol

Instead, I went to the maze and labyrinth.  I went through this maze to get to a raised platform to see where I'd been.  I then had the option of trying to get out through the maze, or taking the shortcut.  I am a wimp.

Interestingly, everyone in Austria seems to still be dressing for winter.  While it is cool, I got by with my denim jacket and cool sparkly scarf.  

This photo is taken from the Palace...see the Poseidon Fountain there?  That structure WAY back there is the Gloriette.  Yeah, no hiking for Donna today. As you can see, they are still planting the gardens for the summer.  Those black swirly designs will be filled with color once the plantings are done.

I bet this all is super spectacular once it's all grown in and blooming.  Not too bad right now actually.

Anyway, legs are screaming at me and I was hungry, so I headed back.  Things were winding down for the day anyway.  Most attractions close down around 5 or 6 anyway.  The Marionette theater I was so enthused about before I arrived is at the palace as well, so I may go back to see it.

I got back, dropped off my stuff and reviewed my pics for a bit.  I then went online to find a place to eat and, again, the Nachtsmarkt to the rescue. Found me an organic restaurant called Tewa http://www.tewa672.com/. Good food and very reasonably priced. I was insane and sat outside so I could watch the world walk by on the Nachtsmarkt.  I did wear my heavy coat and scarf, which likely kept me from freezing to death.  The outdoor heaters they had running only kept my right side warm and not so well when there was a breeze.  Still the grilled chicken strips over a bed of tomato and cucumbers with a ring of hummus around it was amazing.  It came with a loaf...yes a loaf, of bread.  I could not finish it all.  Only thing is that it took forever to get the check and I almost experienced frostbite.

Now, I'm back in the room and about to go to sleep. Tonight, I think I will get to sleep on time.  Breathing better and REALLY tired.  I'll post the strudel lesson in the morning and I think tomorrow will be my Klimt day.

It can only get better from here...

So my head is still a mess and I'm coughing like a lung is going to come up.  I am still determined to save part of my first day of vacation! As proof, I am sitting here at the table in my apartment with a cup of coffee and a slice of organic (yes organic!) apple strudel from Gradwohl Organic Bakery http://www.gradwohl.info/.   And it's almost as good as my Oma used to make it - very, very close.

No, I didn't eat the whole thing, just about a third of it!

I slept late due to the fact that I took a 6 hour nap...stayed up about 4 hours, then tried to go to sleep.  I woke up around 9:30 and messed about the apartment blowing my nose, drinking hot tea and feeling whiny.  Oh it is also cold-ish and rainy (not supposed to get higher than 50) today.  I finally motivated my lazy and cranky ass into the shower, which made me feel marginally better.  Did I mention the lovely hot shower here?

It was almost noon when me, my camera, my umbrella, and I headed out.  Luckily, the Nachtsmarkt starts as the end of my street here, so it was almost impossible for me to get lost.  I walked down to one end and up the other side, overwhelmed by all of the shops and stalls.  Lots and lots of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food as well as Asian (the Asian wait staff are very aggressive in trying to get you into their restaurants) as well as lots of places to buy Wienerschnitzel!

There are a couple of your basic tourist trap places (good place for those shot glasses!) and lots of places I needed to find...LOL.  I found a health food store with Echinacea cough drops and an organic bakery or two.  I got my strudel and a loaf of bread...woohooo. Lunch was grilled calamari in a nice seafood place.  The calamari was yummy but the starter I had of the house fish soup was AWESOME.

Walking down the street, I found that Vienna also has some totally awesome architecture.  I haven't been this excited about a building since I was in Glasgow.  Check this Art Deco Nouveau building out:

Edited later to add:  This is actually a very famous Art Nouveau building designed by Otto Wagner called The Majolica. 


Of course, the building next door was just as impressive, with it's gilt medallions:

This is the same building from the corner:

I especially liked the statuary on the roof:

I think this is a much better view of one of the ladies:

Then, I also like relief carvings on building facades as well

These were all the second tries at taking these photos.  I took the first batch before going to lunch and after I finished eating I was playing with my camera at the table and found that all of them were marred by a raindrop that had landed on the lens.  I had to go all the way back and retake them.

While I was re-taking them, I dropped my umbrella and an overly friendly man picked it up for me.  He ended up being one of the vendors at Nachtsmarkt and tricked me into buying WAY too much of his dried fruit. He and all of his little Russian buddies kept yelling at me "Hey Amerika" until I came over to their stall.  I came away with a giant bag of dried strawberries, pineapple, coconut...and a few offers for dates.  I'm a sucker, but not that much of a sucker...LOL.

I still have to buy a SIM card for my phone.  My landlord told me I could get them at the post office across the street, but they only have cards for minutes.  The postman at the counter with his "little English" and I mit meine "nur ein weinig Deutsch." muddled through nicely.  Tomorrow I will find a SIM card...that's what Google search is for.

I also took a trip to the local Billa grocery, where my credit card decided to give me a hard time.  It didn't seem that the cashier or any of the people in the line that backed up seemed to get upset...thank goodness for small favors.   I have my Milch, Butter, und Kaffe now, so the world can get back to spinning

Here I am...one piece...barely

It is 3:45pm local time and I am exhausted.  Made it to Vienna early...got the luggage, got my train and the underground...got a lil lost walking the two blocks to the apartment.  blah.

In my defense, today is the Vienna Marathon and this place is a nuthouse. Well, it was actually winding down when I got here but the foot traffic was crazy.  It had been raining and it was chilly and damp but I was sweating my butt off hauling my luggage through the lovely streets of Vienna.  Really can't wait to try out the new camera.

Then, I had to take a cash advance on the credit card cuz my bank wouldn't let me withdraw the full amount I needed to pay for the rental..urgh.

They let me pay most of it and I should be able to get more cash tomorrow   I am beat and my head feels like a box of snotty marbles.  Grocery stores are closed here on Sundays and I swear I would have sobbed like a baby if the landlords didn't have teabags in the room.  Good ole black Lipton tea...I might cry anyway.

Everything is put away and I took a hot shower.  Man, did I feel gross. Apartment is cool, bigger than the London one last year and has a typical European bathroom setup...separate toilet room.  Toilet room on far side of kitchen, so I have to walk through the kitchen to get to it and I will probably be washing hands in the kitchen the whole time. 

Good shower, hot and decent water pressure.  Lovely tub and I will have to take a bath this week.  I flooded the floor a little because of the ridiculous folding door contraption thingie. 

One thing I am totally beginning to realize...my German REALLY sucks.  I can't understand anybody and I know they are speaking proper German...I recognize that much.  I will practice when I get home!

OK tired...going to bed at 4pm...don't care.  Need to fight ick.

Notes from an airport in Switzerland

I’m sitting in the Zurich airport waiting to see if I can get the free public WiFi to work.   I am not optimistic.  I have no luck with free WiFi in US airports…I have no idea why Europe would treat me any differently.

Flight was pretty uneventful.  Seatmate was a nice young woman who was not overly talkative, but friendly.  Movie selection sucked and I watched most of the Merryl Streep movie about Margaret Thatcher (Iron Lady, I think) and tried to sleep for most of the flight.  Food on the flight got mixed reviews from me.  I always get the vegetarian option, which can sometimes backfire.  Dinner was good…some sort of Middle Eastern trio with an eggplant dish, couscous, and a chickpea dish.  Yummo.  Breakfast, OTOH, was not so good.  This is the Vegan backfire.  Airlines often make vegetarian meals vegan, to cover a larger group.  Instead of the yogurt and cheese and berry filled roll thingie, I got an applesauce cup and two mini slices of rye bread with margarine.  And the rye bread…not so fresh.  It ended up being a blessing in disguise as anything dairy would have probably tipped me over the allergic edge.

Yes, I am traveling with the beginnings of a sinus infection.  Awesomeness….Luckily, I’ve kept it under control by drinking lots of hot black tea and orange juice.  Avoiding dairy is also good, although I could not resist an apricot almond croissant (buttery goodness) and a milchkaffee (similar to a latte) in the airport here when I landed. 

When I landed, I had to go a mini-security screening and found that they hadn’t assigned my gate yet.  Due to this I was forced, yes forced I tell you, to hang out in the duty-free shopping area.  I managed to find an eatery….but shopping called.  Scearce,  I found 14 dollar Swiss shot glasses.  I’m taking the chance that you would think that was as ridiculous as I do, so I did not get one…despite the fact that they did have them shaped like bier steins…lol.

However, I did get myself a Swiss birthday present.  It was like I was 20 years old all over again.  I bought a Swatch (yes Patti, I can see you laughing).  But it’s KEWL.  It is purple (of course) and larger than the old ones I have AND you can see the multi-colored innards.  When I get to the apartment and unpack the cameras, I’ll take a photo.

Oh look, they want money for unsecured WiFi in the Airport.  Cheap buttheads.  No thanks, I’ll upload this when I get to Vienna.

Anyway, this is my first ever time standing on  European soil, which is pretty awesome.  I saw the Alps!  I am so easy to impress…lol.  

Well, this teeny tiny keyboard gets on my nerves at the best of times…and I’ve really had no sleep, so I am going to end this now.  It is 9:40 am local time (I don’t even want to think about what time my brain thinks it is) and the Vienna flight leaves at 10:25.  Less than an hour to go before I’m Vienna bound!  Auf Wiedersehen!

And awayyyyyyyyyyyy we go

Tomorrow I leave for Vienna, Austria with a side trip (you know I love those) to Budapest (both Buda and Pest) Hungary.  Coffee, chocolate, opera, museums, shopping...oh MY!

I am going to try to find the statue of Falco (yes, Rock me Amadeus).

Bookmark or Befriend or whatever to follow along.  It will be a fun ride!