Europe Revisited: Vienna

 

The Gothic church of St. Stephen's 

Vienna is such a great town.  Ringstrasse brings you to so much as it loops around the city, separating the old from the new, but also joining them together.  There were so many modern elements to the city, the capital and cultural epicenter of Austria, but also so much rich tradition.  The old palaces and jewels remain from the Hapsburg Empire as a perfect shrine to their history. 

Schloss Belvedere.

Vienna is filled with beautiful palaces from the Hapsburg Empire including this one and Schloss Schonbrunn, each with beautiful baroque gardens.

Gee, which ones are the Americans...?  Look at all that Vera Bradley. Blech. 

On the way back we visited the beautiful town of Melk, Austria, known for the Melk Monastery.

Europe Revisited: Munich

Just a day trip!

The Englischer Garden has beautiful mixes of modern, baroque garden, and cultural areas.  A river that runs through it swirls in such a way that surfers can ride the swells.

 

Europe Revisited: The Ice Caves

A thirty minute train ride from Salzburg, and into the Alps we go!


These pictures depict the ride up the mountain, the hiking up that ensued, then the gondola to the top, and finally, the view.

The largest ice caves in the world were up there.

Totally worth it. 

Pause:

I know I'm interrupting the whole Europe extravaganza that I had planned, but I had to share these:

I will post more on this adventure later, I promise!

Time Out!

Let's take a break from all this Martha Stewart-y stuff.  

I need to take a stroll back to Summer of 2008.  

What happened in Summer 2008?  A six week study abroad program in Salzburg, Austria, that's what.  I've been missing it horribly, especially since John and I have been talking about going over to Germany... another story altogether.  And a wonderful blog, praguepies, gives me pictures and stories from another European nation. Ahh.


So let's relive the journey through my pictures that I have to laboringly retrieve from my slow and forgotten laptop.  Another painful process: I have to screen out all the wonderful pictures that include my ex-boyfriend.  Boo.  Goodbye Eiffel Tower.  Goodbye Colosseum.  Beer Garden out.  But it's going to be great! 

Let's start with a collage of churches:

Recognize any?

A Ripe Avocado and Sandwich Makings

A few days ago I picked up a soft avocado at the grocery store. 

I had every intention of slicing it up and drizzling it with olive oil, sea salt, and some lemon juice.
And I did just that.  

And I had some leftover prosciutto from an earlier pizza creation...

And we always stock bacon...

And John had bought some brie from an earlier trip...


What an incredible sandwich this made!!!!

Breakfast!

My favorite meal of the day.


My breakfast was a southern breakfast bowl of local yellow grits, crisped, crumbled bacon, shredded sharp white cheddar, and coins of sausage.

And of course, I mixed them all together.  You're supposed to.

John's breakfast was a little more European, and a little more low-carb friendly.  

He chose to fry his sausage split down the middle.  He supplemented his with a chunk of sharp white cheddar cheese and a dollop of his favorite Asian spicy mustard.

We love our cast-iron pans!

He thought I was crazy for wanting to take pictures of this. 

"Can I just eat already?"