Well, Vienna was not my only destination, as I might have already mentioned before … it basically took me from the north of our beautiful country (Vienna) to the south (Carinthia), stopping in the middle (Styria). (Which doesn’t mean that in the course of my trip from Germany and back I didn’t also drive through some other Austrian states like Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Salzburg. Missing out on merely three Austrian states: Burgenland, Tyrol and Vorarlberg.)
After three days in our capital city I left for Styria and my university town to once again meet relatives and friends, do some serious grocery shopping – and to continue my culinary trip by managing to feast on Cordon bleu for four consecutive days, followed by a roll with Wiener Schnitzel just like in my student days, the obligatory fried chicken breast with French fries and garlic dip plus their special salad at my favourite restaurant in Carinthia and trying to squeeze in the one or other cake speciality like Esterhazy cake, Punschkrapfen and Cremeschnitte. (Yeah, I know, you would have expected Apfelstrudel … but frankly, I’m not such a big apple fan and rather prefer Topfenstrudel (cheese cake strudel). So, I skipped that one just like the legendary Sacher Torte. A “fake” Sacher version with two layers of apricot jam is way more delicious and less dry!) I really didn’t care about calories one bit. I took whatever I could get, knowing I had to enjoy everything as much as possible before returning to Germany and THEIR food. Which, of course, also resulted in a stuffed car up to the brim with Austrian delicacies I will be able to enjoy for months to come.(I was a bit concerned, whether my freezer would manage all the sausages, smoked meat, bacon, cheese, bread and pastries I couldn’t resist buying in double and triple numbers!)
Seeing the few remains of my family again, visiting the graves of my ancestors and my parents, meeting up with my friends and feeling just … loved and home … made me realize, how much I missed them.Very happy days, very happy days indeed. Days of talking and laughing and hugging. (We’re all vaccinated, of course!) Especially the hugging. Which is normal for us and anything but a very strange concept, as it seems to be in Germany – and I’m talking from experience. Anyway, it felt so good spending time with them, wishing I had the time and money to go back home at least once a year. Just like I would love to go to London once a year. But, selfish as I am, there are other places I want to go and see as well on my vacations and unfortunately, I can’t doand afford all. But I’ll be back to Austria as soon as possible. And if it just might be a skiing vacation …
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