after 4 months in a city...

After four months in this city, I am still experiencing what is truly 'Viennese'. This fine Father's Day morning (also the 40th anniversary of my grandparents, Wiepo and Audrey, Congratulations!), I ventured out to experience something that is uniquely Viennese. Not specifically food, but one of those things you just have to taste before I leave here in approximately 16 days.


The Vienna Boys Choir, or Wiener Sängerknaben has been around since its debut in 1498. The Choir was formed to accompany the church mass. Typically the boys are selected form Austria, but nowadays they come from all over. Franz Schubert was even a choir boy way back when! The group became an official, and professional musical group in 1924, and today travel the world performing. Lucky enough for me, I am living in the city in which they originate, and got a free-standing spot for this morning's mass. 


Let me tell you, these boys can sing! And they are all in the ages between 10 and 14.

I didn't get to record it myself, but here is a YouTube link of some of the performances on tour. One more.. 'Austrian' song.. and one, well.. less-so Austrian.

Wiener Sängerknaben - In The Jungle
Wiener Sängerknaben - Edelweiss

Happy Father's Day all you amazing father's!!
shannon xx

define vienna.

What is Vienna? You'd hope I would have figured it out by now... and I can assume I have a pretty good sense of my surroundings. Before I came here I knew nothing about the city except for the classical music and wiener schnitzel. I can now say I have added a few more things to the list Vienna is known for; Bach, Lederhausen, white wine, apfel strudel, potato salad, the royal family, opera, and of course its 'coffee shop' lifestyle. 


I see now that it really is a lifestyle, sitting in really old cafe's reading newspapers on wooden holders and nibbling a slice of apfel strudel, all washed down with a hot Melange. 


This traditional Cafe culture has been going on since about the mid 1700's. And yes, the same cafe's that were opened here in Vienna in those mid 1700's are still open, serving tourists and locals alike. The idea of a 'Kaffehaus' or coffee house, was invented here in Vienna, and now there are thousands of places to choose from within the city where you can grab your cup-a joe. (Not necessarily to-go). 


Being a temporary Viennese citizen and all, of course I have gone out of my way to test out these Kaffehaus's.. and off a tourist Top 10 Cafe list, I have hit up 4 of them. Seeing as a piece of cake at one of these places is pushing 10 Canadian dollars, that may be the extent of old cafe's I go to, come on, I am a student. 


Inside they are decorated what I imagine to be pretty much the same as they were some few hundred years ago, but I guess that is they idea. The first Cafe test conducted was on my first week here in Vienna, with Meghan and Michelle, at Cafe Museum. Originally designed in 1899, we had a delicious traditional Viennese breakfast consisting of some sort of boiled egg, buns and a pot of coffee- of course. It was delicious! and the red velvet benches and chandeliers really framed the whole experience, even though it was a little awkward being the only people under the age of 50 in there. 

Kind of turned into a tourist attraction, note the 'Franz Shubert' apricot jelly.

As instructed by our program counsellor back in Guelph, Cafe experience take 2 was carried out at Cafe Central. Famous for being the official meeting place of Vienna's intellectuals, Cafe Central is known for serving coffee to Leon Trotsky prior to World War 1, the poet Peter Altenberg (who even had his mail delivered there), Adolf Hitler and Sigmund Freud. This place was a pretty spectacular site, HUGE inside, and massive columns holding the enormous arched ceiling. The coffee itself, in my opinion, wasn't anything special, and our lunch lacked flavour.. BUT you really are just paying to sit where Leon Trotsky did some hundred years ago. 

Painfully overpriced lunch at Cafe Central, stick to just a coffee.

Take 3! Cafe Sperl with my fellow Guelph-Vienna exchange ladies, Cara and Michelle. Established in 1880, Cafe Sperl's regulars consists of artists, singers and musicians from the nearby theatre. Now, this place was again magnificent. A little dark, more red velvet and newspapers on wooden handle things, and ceilings to the sky.. quite impressive. I have a bit of a tainted image of this Cafe unfortunately, due to my own food-texture issues and a soggy cream-cheese strudel. I still shudder thinking about it. You may have read in a past blog post how horrifying this experience was. Even so, beautiful building. 

YUCK.

And finally, while the family was here we had a coffee break at the Mozart Cafe before heading into the royal families crypts just up the way. Formerly known as the Katzmayr Cafe, opened in 1794, it was transformed into Cafe Mozart in 1929, after his death, and the city became so fond of him, clearly. I just had a Coke here, but Dad enjoyed his second piece of apfel strudel that day, and Oma had a pot of coffee. Once again the atmosphere is what you go for. If you have ever seen the movie, "The Third Man", you will recognized Cafe Mozart as the place where Holly Martin waited to hear the news of his presumed dead friend. (Also, I recently found out you can take a tour of the cities sewers and underground or something, the tour is called "The Third Man Tour".. if you're a fan and all. )

Mozart Torte, very delicious.

Now I'd say this is a pretty well-preserved tradition. For how old these places are they are definitely in good condition, it's kind of like stepping back in time. And if I could read German I would grab one of these sweet newspaper holder things and take that coffee time a little more seriously. Coffee time is no joke here, you take your sweet time. Besides Starbucks here, it actually is pretty hard to find a coffee-to-go. And when you do, it's kind of funny because they advertise it as "American Coffee-To-Go!", like running getting your coffee on the run is the coffee break they want. I think it's a good thing they take this coffee break time so seriously, everyone deserves a breather now and then. 

Not going to lie though, even though the coffee, when it comes down to it, is pretty crappy.. I kind of miss a Tim Hortons here and there. (JUST on those days when you're in a rush, or just want a plain, big, black coffee). 

Who knows, I will probably miss having a little silver tray holding a coffee, little silver dish of milk, glass of water, a mint and sugar cubes when I get home. 

19 days! shannon xx

24 days until my return to Canada!!

How fast has 5 months past, eh?
It's funny, when I think back at all that I've done, it seems like I have been gone forever, but at the same time it feels as though it has gone too fast. When I think about being in Paris, the first day I arrived... whew its like decades ago. As soon as I think about saying goodbye to all the fantastic people I have met here, it has gone too fast.


I can say that I have now been to some 30-50 cities and towns, and 9 countries, and tried everything from moussaka to paella. Some food journey this has been. BUT I am not done yet, so I will not go around talking like I am. 


See you in 24-ish days Canada.

In the grapevines by the Kahlenburg 'mountain'.

seriously, someone is crossing the line.

China gets human milk from cows

Yeaaa.. just found this article today. Just for interests sake, thought I would share. 

pack your picnic basket!

I think I will have to go ahead and say that it is summer here in Vienna. The days are long, the sun is out, the humidity is making my hair frizz and the thunder storms are frequent. They weren't kidding when they said pack a raincoat for travel to Vienna. Between the thunderstorms though, it is the perfect weather for picnicking.

This past week in Vienna, I joined Julie and Lauren for a journey up to the Kahlenburg and to the Leopoldsburg mountains just on the outskirts of Vienna. They are described as mountains, but they are more like large hills, we took public transportation right to the top. Even though they aren't quite the Alps,  both offer excellent views over some Viennese vineyards and the entire city. We took the bus up to the top, and found ourselves wandering our way down tiny roads through fields of grapevines. Halfway down the 'mountain', we stopped for our picnic within the vines. After this I am seriously considering purchasing one of those wicker baskets they sell at the Naschmarkt here in Vienna. 

Cheers! To picnic's in the grapevines. 

By the time we reached the bottom, in a small town called Nussdorf, we stopped in at a small family owned Heurigen  sampling white wines and sampling apple strudel and eggplant lasagna. 


Our intentions at the beginning of the day were to catch the sunset on top of the Kahelnburg, but after hiking down, hiking back up was unlikely... especially after the heurigen. Settling in a small green space at the river's edge, we had a good view of the sunset for about 15 minutes when a storm started brewin' and we made our way back into the city. 


Even though it feels like the thunderstorms pop out at any second here, the weather is finally perfect for exploring those tiny towns outside of the city, surrounded by vineyards and 'mountains'. And, with Vienna's public transportation system being as amazing as it is, it is easy. I hope to get out there again soon!

Until then, I am participating in a week-long sketching class. From 8:45 to about 5 everyday this week I explore through the city and sketch. Even though I really have no idea what I am getting into, and no erasers are allowed, I am extremely excited and ready to get going. Lets just say its been a while since I have had class at all, and thats even counting the random un-related ones I somehow signed up for. Wish me luck! I will probably need it :P

thoughts?

Do we just eat things like crackers and bread-like things because its not socially acceptable to just eat a block of cheese, a slab of salami or a spoon of cream cheese?

make believe meat? food of the future?

I recently found this article online, "PETA subsidised meat?", where I discovered that for the past 10 years, people at PETA have been trying to make meat via in vitro. GROSS. 


Well, that's my first impression. Now I throw this in here because it kind of goes into a topic I read about a couple months ago about factory farming in the US. In my blog about it, Nom nom nom, I decided we need to change or find or solution or some junk like that, of course.. something always needs to be changed right?
SO, looks like other people feel the need to make changes in regards to the way we all eat meat, and they are, in a strange way I might add, making a change. 


I like to think that making meat out of a test tube is the way of the future, once people get past the fact that it is made in a test tube. I like to think how it will reduce greenhouse gases and pollution and all that jazz. But still, I can't help to think that it's going to cause more problems, it is so unnatural and fake that there has GOT to be something wrong with it. 
Just like years ago when someone decided factory farming would be great, mass produce meat to make tons of money and feed the world! I mean they make the money but there are so many bad side effects its just not worth it. 
If this catches on, and it really is "the food of the future!", there is going to be some form of repercussion, nothing works that easy. 

And would you be able to adjust to eating meat from a test tube anyways? I think it would fail just because people would be too grossed out by it. 


The best part about this article, is that they compare it to beer and bread.
 "There are many products that we've eaten for centuries, such as beer and bread, and these are accepted, traditional products of biotechnology and this is taking this to the next step,"
Just taking it to the next step, awesome. 


I don't know, maybe it is the "way of the future!"


still grossed out,
shannon xx


p.s A shout out to Tyler, the youngest of my two brothers who is FIFTEEN today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER! :D


further reading! (just in case, some have convincing arguments)


8 Ways In-Vitro Meat Will Change Our Lives

The In-Vitro Meat Consortium

Burgers From A Lab: The World Of In Vitro Meat