Avoid connecting at Heathrow Airport. To get a fuller experience of a place, try staying with a local or staying in an area where mostly locals live. Try the country’s most popular/iconic dishes but also try lesser known ones. Learn a few words in the local language. Embrace or, at the very least, be cognizant…
Category: THE MAIDEN VOYAGE
F Your Diet (Austria)!
The first in a regular series about food we had eaten in the places we visited (excludes any that were already included in previous posts). A thing to note about Austrian cooking. There are two cuisines: the refined and sophisticated Viennese style and the hearty unfussy stick-to-your-ribs kind.
Say What (German)?
The first in a regular series about foreign words I tried to memorize before visiting the country. Hallo – “Hello” Guten Morgen – “Good Morning” Guten Tag – “Good Afternoon/Good Day” Gute Nacht – “Good Night” Bitte – “Please” Danke Schoen – “Thank you” Wie geht ist ihnen – “How are you?” Ja – “Yes”…
Gesundheit (“To your health”)…
The waning days of the trip were spent visiting Heidi’s relatives, exploring Wiener Neustadt and its environs, and pondering the Austrian concept of good health and well-being. Heidi’s cousin Karl lived in the spa-town of Baden bei Wien, midway between Vienna and Wiener Neustadt. Spa is the key word here when it comes to health….
Venice’s been menaced…
It would be wrong of me to judge Venice based solely on a couple of hours. It would also be unfair to dismiss my reverence for this legendary city so easily. The City of Canals is meant to be savored; it deserves to be savored. I once heard someone say that it was the moments…
Mediterranean Searendipity…
It was during our stay in Croatia (“Hrvatska” in Croat) that I came to understand why this area of the world (the Mediterranean) attracted so many people. Why every major cruise line in the US had at least one itinerary that included ports of call along this body of water (think Mykonos, Nice, the Italian…
Slooowvenia…
Slovenia was anything but slow. Peter zipped his Kia SUV from Wiener Neustadt to our home base in Croatia, Porec (pronounced “poor wretch”), in a matter of hours. All we managed to do was to scarf down the largest hot dog we had ever seen, a krofi (stuffed Slovenia donut), and some super strong coffee,…
Nothing to wine about here…
There are two words that take me right back to Austria (“Osterreich” in German). Heurigen. A heurigen [contraction of heuriger (“this year”) and wein (“wine”)] is the easier of the two to explain. For several brief weeks during wine season in the fall, winemakers (at alternating times) open up (in days of old it was…
So a burg, a storch, and a dorf walk into a bar…
We were wholly unprepared for our first full day of sightseeing; I forgot to pack my ballgown and Bob had forgotten his beer-wench uniform. I should have also brushed up on my Middle Age buildings history. Apparently, if you were at the very top of the royal ladder, you got to live in a schloss…
IHOT (International Haus of Travel)…
There is something to be said of a big fancy four-star hotel: “not the biggest fan”. I can see it’s merits. Sometimes the foreignness of a place can be a bit overwhelming. The Hilton or Marriott would be considered an oasis. The rooms are air-conditioned and appointed with modern amenities. The food in the hotel…