Mozart Balls - Vienna

Throughout Austria, the sweet treat to eat is Mozartkugeln. A small ball of pistachio and almond marzipan covered in a layer of nougat, and then enveloped in layers of milk chocolate. First produced in Salzburg by confectioner Paul Furst in 1890 and named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The phrase hyperdeliciously mouthwateringly splendidly mindboggling comes nowhere near describing the taste, believe me.

Sadly, Mozart himself never got a chance to taste these delectable sweets, as he died a century before Paul Furst produced them. But just imagine the inspired music he might have written with a bowl of Mozartkugeln beside him on the harpsichord!

Naschmarkt - Vienna

The Naschmarkt stretches along Wienzeile Street. There has been a market here since the 16th century. From 1793 onwards, all fruit and vegetables brought into the city by cart had to be sold here. The current location was created to cover up the Wien River in 1898. It's a long wide square filled with a busy produce market with over 120 market stands open every day except Sunday. Vienna's top chefs come here for fresh ingredients for their restaurant kitchens.

A selection of seafood, whatever your heart desires.

Renart Boulon Dutch oysters fresh from the North Sea coast.

The gourmet vinegar stall, where you can sample the aromatic vinegars with a drop on your wrist. If you are looking for a special flavour, you are certain to find it here. 
There are 11 different basalmics, and more than 20 fruit vinegars.

Wonderful cheeses, so many I had never heard of. I just wanted to sample them all. 
I'm a confirmed cheese freak!

A dizzying selection of dried fruits and nuts. 

Lokum.... a confection made from a gel of starch and sugar or honey, and delicately flavoured with rosewater, orange, pistachio, dates or lemon, otherwise known as Turkish Delight.  
Also known as Rahat in the Romanian language.

Naschmarkt is the perfect place for browsing, strolling, people watching, or buying lunch at one of the outdoor market cafes, which is what we did. Our friendly "chef" told us he had lived in Vienna only for 3 years and hailed from Tunisia.

I chose chicken schnitzel, which was so large that it was more meat than I would normally eat in 3 days!  But definitely delicious. We sat outside and watched the people go by.

More pictures to come.
If you have visited Vienna, leave a comment and tell me about it.

Shoe Shopping - Vienna

Ahhh... shoe shopping when I'm on vacation.... one of my favourite pastimes. Especially in Europe. Just wandering and looking in the Viennese store windows, and yearning after more and more shoes. I've been blessed with large... um, let's say usefully big feet (I won't blow over in a strong wind!) so if I find shoes I love, and in the right size, and they actually fit and feel good.... I just have to buy them.

Nope, I didn't buy these....

I don't think I could actually navigate my way across a small room in these. I haven't worn heels like this for many years. But they are so gorgeous!

These might be a little easier to walk in, but I couldn't possibly wear them out in the rain in case I got them muddy.

So I'll have to stick to wearing my "old lady" fancy running shoes with the bright neon pink shoelaces. Fun and comfort at the same time for my sightseeing.

It's true.
How many pairs of shoes do you have?
I just counted. Oh dear.

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna

St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) is visible everywhere in the downtown area of Vienna, and is one of the tallest churches in the world. It is HUGE! If you have lost your bearings in the small streets, just look for the tower. Construction started in the 12th Century on the ruins of two earlier churches. It's the most important religious building in Vienna. And it's shown on Austrian 10 cent euro coins.

St. Stephen's Cathedral is just over 107m long and 34m wide. The tallest of the four towers is 136m high and to get to the top requires climbing 343 steps. Warning: don't attempt it if you have bad knees. The towers are home to 13 bells. The bell called The Pummerin was cast from a cannon captured from the Turks in the 1600s, and is the second biggest free swinging chimed church bell in Europe.

The north side of the roof shows the coats of arms of the City of Vienna and the Republic of Austria. The Imperial double headed eagle of the Hapsburgs appears on the other side. 230,000 glazed ceramic tiles make up the steep roof. 

At the Capistran Chancel, an 18th Century sculpture shows St. Francis trampling on a beaten Turk, under a golden sunrise. St Francis looks pretty happy. I feel rather sorry for the Turk.

There's the Imperial Hapsburg double headed eagle on the roof.

Stephansplatz at night. 

More pictures to come.
If you have visited Vienna, please leave me a comment and tell me about it.

Rabbits! It's September!

A Pinch and a Punch,
the First of the Month
and no returns......
and to bring a month of good luck, my first spoken word this morning was "Rabbits"!

Which brings me to this delightful pink bunny.

Actually not a rabbit, but a hare. A magnificent pink bunny by sculptor Ottmar Hörl. It pays tribute to German artist Albrecht Dürer's 500 year old painting "Young Hare" which hangs in the nearby Albertina Museum in Vienna.

Bad Tatzmannsdorf - Austria

Bad Tatzmannsdorf is a small spa town of approximately 1500 people in the Oberwart district of Austria, and is one of Austria's leading health and wellness resorts.

The area was ruled by a Hungarian noble family as early as 1378, and has been settled by Germans, Turks and Croats through the centuries. It became a favourite health resort for "cures" for the Austrian aristocracy from the 1700s onwards.

We stopped for an afternoon for the Men of Note concert that was scheduled at the Kurzentrum Concert Hall in Bad Tatzmannsdorf.

One of the Men of Note members was born in Germany and is fluent in German, so was able to introduce the choir and the musical numbers to the mainly German speaking audience. Good idea, as the current repertoire is sung in English or Latin.

The Kurzentrum at Bad Tatzmannsdorf hosts a variety of cultural and recreational events including lectures, readings, recitals and concerts, as well as providing running and walking trails and spa and wellness activities for guests.

The gardens were filled with fragrant lavender, and we noticed some very large hovering insects who were enjoying the flowers' nectar. They looked like what I imagine a baby humming bird would be, but they were hoverflies or hoverbees. 
Edited: I have been told that this is a hummingbird hawk moth. A fascinating creature.

After the concert we stopped at the nearby Weinstadl restaurant for an Austrian buffet dinner. Lots of meat and potatoes!

And of course when in Austria, one has to sample the local brew. Puntigamer is a traditional beer from Styrias provincial capital Graz, and famous in Austria for its football sponsorship. Puntigamer supports Austria's First League football club "Sturm Graz". 

More pictures to come.
If you have visited Bad Tatzmannsdorf, leave me a comment and tell me about it.

Panda-monium! (updated)

A break from travels in Europe to visit the Giant Pandas at Toronto Zoo.

Er Shun and Da Mao arrived on loan (an 8000 mile journey via FedEx MD-11F cargo plane) from China in 2013, and will be here in Toronto until 2018, when they are scheduled spend the next 5 years in the Calgary Zoo. But if a sweet little baby panda should arrive, those arrangements may change. Toronto Zookeepers are keeping their fingers crossed.

Er Shun - female Giant Panda. Born at the Chongquin Zoo on August 10 2007 and was raised by her mother. Her name means Double Smoothness.

Da Mao - male Giant Panda. Born on September 1 2008 at the Chengdu Research Base of Panda Breeding. His name means First of Mao.

Giant pandas diet is 99% bamboo, eating around 100lbs of bamboo a day, and at the zoo they are also offered biscuits, dog chow, apples and sometimes sugar cane or icicles as a treat. And something you've always wanted to know.... they poop about 40 times a day.

The fresh bamboo is shipped to Toronto by FedEx two or three times a week from the Memphis Zoo bamboo plantation.

Er Shun and Da Mao live in separate enclosures most of the time but they have met and investigated each other. Apparently Er Shun was more interested in making friends than Da Mao, who just wanted to go to sleep. Typical man! Giant Pandas only have one short reproductive cycle per year between March and May, and gestation is about 45 days. Newborn pandas are pink, no hair, and blind, and very tiny, weighing less than 200 grams. If twin babies are born, the mother only cares for one, so the keepers have to swap the babies between the nursery and the mother every couple of days.

It would be lovely to have a baby Giant Panda born here. I hope you have a naughty twinkle in your eye, Da Mao!

Update October 13 2015: Er Shun gave birth to TWO baby pandas this morning! Too early to congratulate Da Mao as Er Shun was artificially impregnated too.....