Holiday Road

so my journey began wednesday afternoon. i left LAX at 4pm and 14.5 hours later i arrived in vienna.

sunrise over the atlantic ocean just before we flew over ireland.

thursday was my first night in vienna and ryan and lindsey took me to the ambassador's house for a cooking class by the ambassador's chef.

that's him - surprisingly young and very entertaining!

he taught us how to make pumpkin soup, kaiserschmarrn (warning: it has hot fruit in it), and stuffed croissants. and in case you're wondering, that's butter he's holding. he told us to never make pumpkin soup with anything but butter.

this is ryan demonstrating a proper viennese greeting

i made that up. he's just being stupid.

cooking class in action:

rolling the croissants. we were very, very good at this.

a good chef knows it's important to taste test:

yes even ryan did some of the prepping. i, however, did not. i felt it was best for my classmates and for myself if i stayed away from the large, sharp, knives. i was, after all, severely jet lagged.

and while everything was cooking ryan and i went to go explore the ambassador's house.

it was a rather large house with lots of rooms.

we found a fancy bathroom:

a sitting room

the grand foyer

the official guide to the ambassador's remotes and tv

our best find, however, was this:

the grand piano. the same piano the ambassador uses to entertain dignitaries from all over the world! ryan and i were so amazed at the find we sat down and tried to imagine we were the ones entertaining these worldly leaders:

once everything was ready, we set the table in the ambassador's dining room

check out the official seal on the dishes.

and ate our fancy food.

everything was good except for the kaiserschmarrn. i just can't deal with hot fruit. it's a sweet cake with rum soaked raisins in it and a caramel, sugar coating. and though it sounds like a dessert it's actually a main dish.

we all had a great time and i got to meet some of the people ryan and lindsey know so that was fun.

friday was our first day around the city.

we went to the royal family's summer palace:

this is the front of the main entrance to the house but it spans FOREVER.

the "back yard" so to speak:

they even have their own zoo off to the right.

close up of the fountain

the statues were beautiful

and so anatomically correct

we did, however, encounter some rain and hail. but don't worry, it was just enough to completely soak us.

after the palace we went to hundertwasserhaus which was completely cool.

the architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, apparently believes that nature and architecture should exist as one. that's why you see trees growing out of the windows.

fountain in front of the building. you can also see that the ground is uneven. there are hills in the walkways around the building. that's how it is inside too. very strange indeed.