[Previous entry: "Feeling Appreciated"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Home again"]

04/18/2003 Entry: "Spring Vacation"

Oh la la. It’s been a while. What have I been doing the past two weeks? Well, my mom arrived and we’ve been traveling around – Vienna, Milan, and Florence.

Vienna – Wanted to be part of the kaffeehaus scene, so I brought my mom to a local café called Pruckel. It looked like a cozy place to hang out, but it proved too smoky and run down for my mom. We ended up eating lunch at a place called Plaschutta, where I tried the boiled aitchbone, or Tafelspitz. It was the Austrian variation of Pot au Feu, and I loved it, although the soup was overly salty. Mom and I weren’t too happy with that place, because when the bill came, we saw that they charged us 5 euros for the bread they put on the table, and about 8 euros for all the sidings that they said were included with the Tafelspitz – well apparently not. I also dragged my mom to some Café Konditoreis like Demel and Lehmann, which serve pastries and food as well as coffee. Tried the usual Dobos Torte (cake with layers of buttercream and caramel on top), Plunder (croissant with hazelnut filling) -- always with a mélange (café au lait). Although it was freezing for most of our trip, I enjoyed Vienna a lot because you can just walk around and you’ll stumble into something interesting, like a palace or a museum, or even an easter market! At the easter market I tried a glass of Grüner Veltliner, a popular Austrian white wine, then I went to watch an Apple Strudel show at the café at Schonbrunn Palace. My mom was busy shopping around – she found a nice boutique and was bargaining with the owner. She got me my very first leather outfit – jacket and stretched leather pants. Very cool.

Milan – was cold and dreary. There was a furniture fair going on so the hotels were fully booked and we had to pay 350 euros a night for a tiny room. Not a lot of touristy things to see here, but if you’re into fashion, this is the place. My mom was in love. She said she probably lived here during her past life. The highlight of this trip was a wonderful lunch at a restaurant called Il Semaio, by Via Monte Napoleone. I just had a Spaghetti Pomodoro, and my mom had some fresh pasta with porcini. Perfectly al dente. Squisito.

Florence – enjoyed it a lot here, probably because the weather started cooperating with us, so I was able to walk from piazza to piazza, visiting churches and enjoying gelato with the rest of the tourists. I made a side trip to Pisa to visit the Leaning Tower, but wasn’t too impressed with it. It wasn’t as tall as I thought. Mom and I went our separate ways for most of this trip, because she claims she’s gained so much weight because I always want to eat. She’s a shopper, I’m a gourmande – different priorities I guess. Highlight of this trip? Sfogliatelle (Italian pastry filled with rice, ricotta cheese, chocolate, or cream) and a café latte by the bar at Gilli for 2.50 euros.

Puppet show at the Easter Market	Lots of Hand-painted Easter Eggs for sale at the Market
Easter window display	To make good strudel dough, it should be rolled so thin that you can read a newspaper under it
Cakes at Demel Konditorei	Pastries from Demel
Magnificent view of Vienna from Schonbrunn Palace	Pastries from Gilli in Florence
Leaning Tower of Pisa	Florence landscape as seen from the Boboli Gardens

Mom and I have been busy packing our balikbayan boxes. We're going back to Manila tomorrow. 95 degree summer heat -- will I survive? Heh.