Hello, Hello!

Today we got to see more beautiful art, opulent buildings, and Christmas markets. But this time we got to do it with friends!

My friend and frequent travel buddy, Melissa arrived, and she brought her mom and friend Andrea with her. And they have all agreed to be guest stars in the blog!

It was particularly fun to see Andrea, as the last time I saw her was when we met up with Melissa in Paris 5 years ago. We joked that we are now each other’s American-European friends. We live the States but only meet in Europe.

We met at the metro and headed out to beautiful Belvedere Palace

Spoiler alert: it’s not actually a Palace where royalty lived.

It’s actually a giant McMansion built in the 1700’s by a very wealthy man (origins of wealth unknown) to rival the palaces of the Hapsburgs. He was single and died with no heir, so his palace was inherited by the government and turned into a museum.

Today it has a wonderful collection of art, including the famous painting The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.

When we got off the tram, there was a lovely old building in front of us. Apparently it gets mistaken for the Belvedere so frequently that they had to put up a sign.

It’s a beautiful university.

Once we saw the Belvedere, though, it felt silly we had thought the university could have been it.

Mainly because this is what it looks like:

The grounds are really beautiful , and they have a slight gradient up to the house so you get amazing views. It would be truly spectacular in the spring.

Here’s the view from the entrance to the museum.

The weather looked very moody and hazy, but it actually rained a few minutes when we were in the museum. The rest of the day was dry but cloudy.

Here’s a pic of the grounds from one of the windows of the museum.

The museum itself has 3 different sections, which require 3 separate tickets, so we chose to focus on the Upper Belvedere because that is where the Klimt is housed. If you visit them all it would be easy to spend a full day here.

Here are some of our favorite pieces:

This Monet painting is one I really enjoyed. He looks so friendly.

And this one I just enjoyed imitating

And here’s the famous Klimt picture, The Kiss.

It really is beautiful

Here are some pictures of the inside of the museum:

And some more pics of the outside:

Like every major sight and square in Vienna, the Belvedere has its own Christmas market. We were all in need of snack, and this was the new crew’s first Austrian. Christmas market experience.

Jimmy and I got Kaiserschmarrn, which is like a very fluffy pancake cut into bite sized portions and served with applesauce or plum jam. We got the applesauce.

Everyone in the got some kind of snack, and then we all shared them together.

Here’s the group minus Jimmy who took the pic:

I also got some roasted chestnuts, which I have had in France but this my first time in Austria. I think they pretty much taste the same, which is very tasty.

After that we headed to the Naschmrkt, which is an open air market focused on artisan foods. We shopped around here market, picking up cookies, cheese, and other fun snacks for later. Jimmy even found a dried truffle sausage which he was very excited about.

Despite all the snacking we’d been doing, we decided it was time for lunch. Some friends had recommended a place called Nemi, which did Israeli food. It was such an awesome recommendation, as the food was stellar, and the owner was extremely friendly. They are cash only, but there’s an ATM only a few feet away.

we had a great time at a cozy table in their attic.

After lunch everyone was tired, so we all went back to our European homes for a bit of rest.

Apparently other people need rest on vacation. Who knew?

After a brief rest, Jimmy felt like he was in need of a longer one, so he stayed behind and I met up with the group for a classic Viennese December experience: coffee and cake, followed by a Christmas market.

This is our variation on one of those obligatory pics you have to get in Vienna at Christmas time: the Christmas bow.

cake first. We went to Gerstner’s near the opera house, as it is a famous cafe in a beautiful building. In the lower level is a lovely shop with things you can take away.

The second floor is a bar, and the third floor is a restaurant that looks like something out of the Beast’s castle from Beauty and the Beast.

The cake was gorgeous

And honestly a bit drier than I’d expected. We looked it uk and the Austrian Torte cakes use ingredients that do make them on the dry side. Still very good and decadent.

I also got my first Austrian Melange, which is a coffee drink with espresso mixed with water, and foamed cream on the top. I don’t caffeine, but Viennese cafes have been great about having decaf options.

The market was by the far the most unique market experience we’ve had so far. It’s called Art Advent, and in order to have a booth you have to prove that you hand make all of your items. We loved it because it was very quirky, and if you have kids this is the market they would most enjoy. They had art tents for kids to do crafts like candle making, a huge area full of hay(?) that kids were playing in like a ball pit, and very quirky carousel and go car track and cars that also looked hand made.

As we were walking around, we saw a guy on an electric power platform with an old fashioned divan on it.

He was calling out to the crowd inviting people to take a ride on his divan. Melissa’s mom was watching it but was too shy to go. I thought it was absolutely fabulous, and since no one was taking him up on his offer I volunteered and dragged Ruby along with me.

He gave her a hot water bottle hand muffler, and wrapped us in a blanket, then puttered around the market telling us about different stalls and cracking jokes.

He was very funny, and when I asked him for the best punsch stall he asked some questions about what I liked, then dropped me off at the stall he thought I’d like the best.

I had quite a few sweet punsches, but the one he recommended was spicy. It had lemon grass, lime wedges, and chili in it, and it was stellar. It’s called Thai punsch if you ever make it there.

After the market I headed back to our room to get fancied up, as Jimmy and I had dinner reservations at a nice restaurant run his local chef.

The restaurant is called Deval, and it was a very intimate restaurant with only a few tables. The experience was really unique as the chef does his own preparation and cooking, and comes out to present each dish and tell you about it. It was so clear how passionate he was able food, and his co owner is a sommelier who recommended wonderful wine and non alcoholic drinks.

The service was nice but not stuffy, and the food was delicious and creative. You could tell the chef puts a lot of thought and work into everything he presented.

One of the dishes was a trio of wild hare, which was a new one for me. The chef said he had a friend who hunts them, and they are only legally allowed to hunt them for one month each year, so you can only get it between November and December. He said he gets them whole and does all of the preparation, doing his best to use the whole animal for all the meat he uses.

I know wild hare may not sound super appetizing, but he made it really special.

The dinner was definitely one of the best meals we’ve ever had, but I had planned for it to be about 2 hrs and we ended up being there for four hours. The time actually flew when we were there, but we have an early day tomorrow so I think we’ll definitely feel it.

On our way back to our room I saw this sign. I have no idea why it was on the building, but it felt apropos

Goodnight