This past week has been super exciting. My Mom was on her way to Vienna on the last leg of her Euro trip before heading back to the US. We spent five good days together and enjoyed every minute of it enjoying sights, food, and new places.
Last Wednesday night my Mom arrived into Vienna! I picked her up at the train station and took her to her hotel near my dorm. That night, we went out to one of the best Japanese Restaurants in Vienna called Japanisch.(Which is considered Vienna's best Japanese restaurant) We both ordered Bento boxes of a different variety. I ordered fried teriyaki chicken and she had chicken curry. Along with the meat we had sushi, soup, vegetables, salad, and rice. It was an awesome meal. During dinner it was fun to reconnect with my Mom in person and discuss our various travels throughout Europe over the past month. Seeing a family member half way through my Europe study abroad semester was relieving since I was starting to miss my family.
The very next day I agreed to show my Mom around Vienna. Our trip encompassed various sights I thought she’d find interesting throughout the city. I first took her to St. Stephans cathedral in the center of the city. I wanted to show her some a gothic style church so she can compare it to the Renaissance inspired churches she saws in Italy. After I showed my Mom the church I took her to the famous Café Central near the center of the city. It is known for being one of the most famous cafes in all of central Europe and the world. I ordered a hazelnut based hot chocolate while we ordered a Viennese an espresso with apricot brandy. Both drinks were superb! Along with our drinks we ordered lunch as well. I ordered veal while she ordered vegetable lasagna. Like the drinks, both were very good!
After lunch I took my Mom past the central palace and passed the Parliament building to the Ringstrasse (where the older city walls used to be). At the Ringstrasse we passed the magnificent city hall as well as Uni Wien (University of Vienna) where I attend school. Then we took the subway outside the old city into the suburbs where Schonbron palace and its vast gardens are located. Schonbronn palace is the old ruling family’s (Habsburg) summer palace. It is based on the design of Versailles in France but on a smaller scale.
We ventured into the gardens and saw a variety of different large fountains and statues. There were many intricate flower designs as well as lined trees changing into their autumn colors. It was a relaxing experience since we were able to sit in the lower garden and upper garden overlooking the entire city of Vienna. The view is quite extravagant because the entire city is viewable from the point we were at. The many large church steeples were the tallest buildings in the city in contrast to the many skyscrapers that line our cities.
Once we finished our long walk through the gardens we returned to her hotel and went out to dinner at a traditional Vienna beer garden. We both ordered Vienna brewed Ottakringer beer as our drinks. It is a light beer. Along with our beers we I ordered traditional pork chops while my Mom ordered the Viennese specialty cordon blue. Cordon blue is fried pork chop with ham and cheese fried inside of the batter. Dinner was very good, I was glad I was able to take my Mom to a traditional Viennese restaurant before we headed out to Budapest!
The next day we were off to Budapest. That’s a story for another time. To be continued soon….
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