Recently, Hubz and I heard tell of a fancy little trick that one of the airlines over here does called “Blind Booking” – or as we like to call it “Weekend Surprise”. This is a pretty neat trick where, basically, you pick your dates and a pre-arranged list of cities – and for 20 Euro each way the computer comes back and tells you where you will be flying for 40 Euro one weekend. The lists are organized by category: “Party Cities” or “Culture” or “Eastern Europe” – and there are about 6 cities per list. For an extra 5 Euro, you can eliminate one city from the list. So, when Berlin or Cologne are on the list, we’ll pony up to have them eliminated, since we can get there using our fancy train passes or, as in the case of Cologne, we were just there.
Recently, we had a four day weekend, courtesy of Dr. Martin Luther King, so we and our friends, Jack and Jane, decided to book a Weekend Surprise trip for the weekend. Our magic eight ball came up with Vienna – so off we went.
I didn’t know a whole lot about Vienna, although I had been there once before (It was one of those “Fly in and fly out for a business meeting kinds of trips – not a highly cultural experience!). I knew it was famous for its waltz, Sacher torte and opera. Other than that, I knew I was going to have to lean on the ole guide book pretty heavily. However, our friend Jane had been there before – AND her father had as well. Jane’s dad, it turns out, has an encyclopedic knowledge of all the places he has visited (seriously, including addresses and costs – it’s quite impressive). So, armed with guide books and Jane’s Pop’s email, we set out to explore the city with our dear friends.
Our trip included a mass at the palace chapel, with – no kidding – music by the Vienna Boys Choir. They were perched up in the highest choir loft and we could not see them during the Latin and German mass, but their height gave them a very angelic sound. After mass, they did come down to the front of the chapel to perform one song (which I attach below for your enjoyment). They were so dang cute that Jane and I seriously entertained the idea of taking one home (the littlest one with the larger ears, if you’re curious!). In the end, we refrained from kidnapping; deciding that, being in the House of God – at the King’s house, no less – shoplifting a choir boy probably wouldn’t get us an invitation to come back. We would have given him a good home though, for sure :) PS – we were told that we could take photos during the performance, but not the mass – see….I’m not COMPLETELY blasphemous!
Jane’s Dad’s email directed us to a cathedral that had recently undergone renovation of its ceiling frescoes. The church had left the scaffolding up after the renovation and allowed tourists to climb all the way up into the cupola to get thisclose to the newly freshened frescoes. As you can imagine, the cupola was HIGH up. I am not one to really fear heights, but as I climbed and climbed and the pipe and wood scaffolding would wiggle and sway a little more with each level I reached….I was admittedly a bit shaky once I got to the top. I stood there for a second, looked closely at a fresco, peeked out the window of the cupola and saw just how far above the skyline I was…on a scaffolding….with 10 other brave souls taxing its strength….and looked at Hubz and said, as casually as possible “I’m going to head down, I think” . (He of course saw right through me, to my knocking knees and yellow heart). And down I went! However, the frescoes on both the ascent and the descent were certainly lovely – and the opportunity to see them up close and newly refreshed was nothing short of once in a lifetime status! A very good recommendation from Mr. Jane!
Our wanderings took us to a few museums, a palace tour which included the crowned jewels, and royal carriage museums (very cool). We saw Klimt’s “The Kiss” up close and in the flesh – and even got to see a really neat painting renovation in process. The painting being renovated was seriously as big as my living room. They had taken the canvas from the wooden frame and laid it flat on the floor, surrounded by big lights and lots of plastic. The renovation artists, in street clothes, but special booties on their feet, laid on their stomachs on large foam blocks that absorbed their weight, as they touched up this mammoth painting. It was really neat to watch how that was done.
Of course, each day we were required to have coffee, like the locals, at a city café which featured Sacher Torte. I have learned that Europeans don’t value sugar in quite the manner that Americans do. Nor do they feel that moisture is a good attribute for a baked good, in many cases. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll marvel at the beauty of a French pastry for hours on end, and when I’m in the mood for a breakfast roll of some sort, a German bakery is my first choice….but cakes and pies?? Meh….I’m kinda more inclined toward Betty Crocker. So Sacher Torte, is a chocolate cake, covered in a thick chocolate grenache. It has all the makings of a chocoholic’s holy grail...but I was wary and passed it up for a pomegranate mascarpone tarte (turned out to be an excellent choice). Hubz however, embraced the local culture and subsequently was a little disappointed. However, fear not, my American friends, I happen to know that Costco sometimes features a Sacher Torte in their bakery that LOOKS just like the one in the Vienna Tourism ads, but has all of the chocolatey goodness that warrants a big glass of cold milk chaser. So, you can have the best of both worlds…and in the meantime, I’ll stick with my breakfast pastry and count myself among the lucky :)
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