Vienna: Tortes, Cakes, & Pastries

I am guilty of gluttony. Terribly so. It happened in Vienna when I realized they had a ton of yummy food! Tortes, cakes and pastries; pumpkin soup; emperor's pancakes; bratwurst; and delicious baked goods! The food and the eating were definitely my favorite things in Vienna, Austria.

Some of my other favorite things are:

• The metro. I seriously love metros, subways, tubes, whatever you call them! They are so convenient for getting around town.
• Discovering that the Austrian Empire was a seriously powerful empire for a very long time. Did you know that Marie Antoinette was Austrian? She was one of 16 children of the Empress Maria Theresa, who reigned for 40 years. Many of her children lived to adulthood and all but one were married off to other countries as Maria Theresa's crazy way of building her empire and making peace. The Austrian Empire included Hungary and the Czech Republic and I'm sure a lot of other parts of Europe. The Habsburgs Empire, that lasted over 600 years, didn't end until they were exiled in 1918. So fascinating!
• The Marie Antoinette Ballet we attended. I think I could really get used to ballet. I really enjoyed it - more so than the symphony in Prague. Ballet tells a story!
• The funky tree trunk statues in the Schonbrunn Palace grounds and on the Hofburg Palace.
• Discovering the difference between a maze and a labyrinth - the hard way. They had both in the Schonbrunn Palace gardens. The maze was fantastic and it took us a while to figure it out. Then I went into the labyrinth and as soon as I realized the difference I was regretting getting into it! You don't make any decisions in a labyrinth - it makes you go only one way and that one way takes a long time to go.
• The Nashmarkt and their falafel sandwiches! Vienna's downtown farmer's market was amazing with all the fresh vegetables, packages of spices, olives, and dried foods. The falafel sandwich was super yummy. I can't really say what falafel is, but it is good.
• The Bataan-Death-March day of some serious walking, walking, walking, and walking .... and more walking. That's the day we did Schonbrunn Palace, Naschmarkt, State Treasures in the Hofburg Palace, Belvedere, and Prater Park. It seems like there was more we did that day, but that's all I can remember.
• The crazy, wicked swing ride at Prater Park. I've always loved the swing ride at the Western Idaho Fair, but this swing, in Prater Park - which happens to be a 100-year-old fair that stays open for most of the year - was crazy, wicked. The ride takes the riders way, super high into the air. Be sure to see the photo.
• Melk Abby's dressed up skeletons. That's crazy! They dug up these saints from some other cathedral/cemetery and brought them to Melk Abby and dressed them up.
• A cruise down the Danube River in the Wachau Valley. This was a blessed day of rest in the country-side and small towns after our Bataan-Death-March day. 
• Discovering my cafe - Cafe Jesika - so they maybe misspelled my name, but it's still named after me!

Randa and me outside the Hofburg Palace

Hofburg Palace

Some very cool, painted stairs up to Hofburg Palace.

Outside Stephensdom church.

In the performance hall where we watched the ballet.

Cafe Weimar - first of many cafes and pastries.

Waiting for the metro with breakfast in hand.

Outside Schonbrunn Palace

On the veranda of Schonbrunn Palace overlooking the grounds.

Behind Schonbrunn Palace

On the veranda of Schonbrunn Palace

One of the funky tree-trunk statues

The Schonbrunn Palace maze

Randa, Melanie, and Jenny in Naschmarkt

Enjoying my falafel sandwich by the spices in Naschmarkt

Exhausted at the Belvedere on our Bataan-Death-March day

The crazy, wicked swing ride at Prater Park

All of us at the famous Cafe Central

Outside Cafe Central

My cafe!

Melk Abby up on the hill

Melk Abby

Melk Abby

Dressed up skeleton in Melk Abby church

Under-side of a really cool spiral staircase in Melk Abby

Cruising the Danube River in the Wachau Valley

Cool castle in the Wachau Valley

Darling country-side Austrian town in the Wachau Valley

Another view of the same town.

Inside the Vienna Opera House

Prague: Street Performers, Old Cars, and Fog

My top three favorite things about Prague were:

• All of the street performers all over the city, on Charles Bridge and on Castle Hill, playing instruments, singing with a boom box, and playing some fun contraption with a monkey on it
• An army of old school cars offering tours of the city - we didn't take their tours, but they were cool to look at
• Some serious fog on Castle Hill which made for some fabulous photos, but a very cold Jessika 

 Here are a few more of my favorite short stories about my time in Prague:

• Our apartment was awesome! We had a view of Castle Hill and St. Nicholas church, which happened to be our next door neighbor. Charles Bridge was only a 5-minute walk away from our apartment. 
• We toured a lot of churches, mostly in Prague but a few in Budapest too, so I became fascinated by the pulpits and the statues in them. Especially the little friar-looking one in St. Nicholas that had a lot of photos at its base. I wonder why people put photos there?
• The architecture of Prague is amazing! I just love how beautiful most of Europe is. 
• The skeleton that rang the bell on the Astronomical Clock on the hour fascinated me - more so than the apostles that passed by the windows scrutinizing everyone. Why does a skeleton ring the bell? Does it remind us we are mortal and affected by time?
• On our first night in Prague, we attended a symphony performance. About 45 minutes into the performance, they finished their piece, the audience applauded .... a lot.... and they brought flowers to the first violinist who then left. So we assumed the performance was over since everyone left the concert hall. But when we approached the doors to leave, we realized no one was leaving - they all stayed up by the concert hall to socialize and get something to drink. Ha! We were so hungry that we decided to go ahead and leave. It was probably for the best anyway since I'm sure I offended the woman next to me because I practically slept the entire time and she was very enthralled by the concert. At least, I assume she was since she sighed in ecstasy at the end of the first piece. Ha!
• Our first of many European hills to climb was Petrin Hill in Prague where we found a pretty, little, secret garden and a Eiffel Tower look alike that two of the girls ascended to take pictures, but not I. The hill was enough to climb for me. I think I've turned into a pansy. 
• I think we also saw the library that was the inspiration for Disney's Beauty and the Beast library at the Strahov Monastery. 
• Food I ate in Prague: the meal of pork, sauerkraut, and dumplings, dessert "pancakes" (which were crepes), black forest chocolate cake, and goulash

View of Castle Hill from our apartment's front door.

Looking out the window in our apartment's living room.

Jenny & Randa in the main bedroom of our apartment.

The outside of our apartment building in Malostranske Square. The two little windows on the left were our windows.

At the symphony.

Strahov Monastery behind me.

The Beauty & the Beast library in Strahov Monastery.

I just love window flower boxes (near Strahov Monastery).

Inside St. Nicholas church.

The friar-looking statue with the photos.

The pulpit in St. Nicholas.

Definitely wouldn't want this pope looking down on me. St. Nicholas.

On the start of Charles Bridge.

Looking on the canal that separates Kampa Island from Mala Strana part of Prague.

Old Town and Our Lady before Tyn church.

The Astronomical Clock on old town hall in Old Town. Notice the coverings on the windows above the clock.

Randa and me at the clock.

Now notice the windows again - this time with the apostles staring you down. And! Notice the skeleton on the right. He's ringing the bell.

View of the city from the clock tower.

View of Old Town and Our Lady before Tyn from the clock tower.

Randa, me and Melanie in Old Town.

We attended a marionette show too!

The fog! And a cool lamp post near the Castle complex.

Behind St. Vitus's Cathedral in the Castle complex.

In the Castle complex.

Way, way too cold.

One of my favorite stained glass windows in St. Vitus's Cathedral in the Castle complex.

Interior of St. Vitus's Cathedral

Pulpit in St. Vitus's

We bought crepes from this little shop that was right off the staircase down from Castle Hill to the city.

Enjoying my very large crepe.

Climbing Petrin Hill and the view of the city.

The secret garden we found at the top of Petrin Hill.

Rumor has it that if you touch the relief on this statue you will return to Prague. :)