After a whirlWIND time in Vienna, we’re now on the train to Graz. We arrived on Monday evening, and got completely drenched by a crazy storm on the very short walk from the train station to the Andaz hotel. We took a little break to try wait out the rain in a building in between, and saw multiple people come in fully drenched in their business clothes and shoes, while there was a lighting storm in the background. Apparently that happens when it’s been really hot for a little bit and the weather needs to “break”, but the hotel assured us that when it passes it will be sunny and fine (it was). It was still raining after we’d settled in, but we decided to head out anyway and get an incredible wiener schnitzel from Wiener Wirtschaft. They had the great idea of serving the lemon in a little gauze wrap so that the seeds don’t go everywhere, very clever!
Yesterday we started off with a cake and coffee at Cafe Landtmann, which we chose due to the Rick Stein episode where he raves about this place, and were quite literally blown away. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to sit inside (we didn’t try, but we’d assumed it was going to be a wait or you needed a reservation), so grabbed a seat outside, grabbed a coffee and cake, and fought with the wind to try keep everything on the table. It was so incredibly windy! People around us didn’t seem to mind at all, but it was really quite comical at times where the coffee cups were being blown around the table and we almost lost layers off our desserts. Andrew got an incredible apple strudel with the most delicious vanilla sauce (NOT custard, and definitely more than just sweet nothing), and I got a cake that started with a K that was gluten free, and delicious.
We then headed to the Upper Belvedere Palace, and had a lovely time exploring the gallery, where I felt extra proud/dorky wearing my Black Milk Klimt shorts. It was really something to see Klimt’s The Kiss up close, after spending so much time staring at it in various forms (puzzle form, painting with diamonds form). It was truly beautiful, and there were so many other great works including Monet, Van Gogh, and a really cool set of sculptures by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt's which depicted emotions like sneezing, bad smells, and other emotions you wouldn’t normally see sculpted.
We ducked home to get changed into more formal clothes then headed back out for dinner at Restaurant Rote Bar. It’s the fanciest place we’ve been all trip and the food and drinks lived up to expectations and were all immaculate. Of course Andrew got the Sacher Torte, since this is the place where the famous dessert was invented.
The New International Philharmonia Orchestra at Mulksverein was wonderful, even though I was struggling a bit to stay awake at the docile tones (a few fellow more elderly patrons gave in and were napping soundly). The building was fantastic too, so beautiful and great acoustics for the orchestra. Our only complaint was that we had to quickly drink our champagne because there were no glasses allowed inside! Felt like a crime, but it was delicious.
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