February 20:
February 21: Took a break and went for a late lunch to a Bohemian (Czech) restaurant we discovered one day while walking—Zur böhmischen Kuchl on Schlösselgasse. Mary and I had not eaten svičkova in ages. It wasn’t crowded so chatted with the owner who was curious how I knew about Czech food. I told him about my family and he was disappointed that they had not taught me Czech while growing up. After the meal Mary went to the kitchen and told the cook how good it was. The cook was also wondering if we were Czech and was pleased to be complimented. There is going to be a birthday party tonight for one of the American visiting faculty so we bought some Greek chocolate truffles for a gift. He loves chocolate and these truffles just melt in your mouth. They are rolled in cocoa—Mary read the fat content, but I have forgotten the percentage. Probably one or two give you enough fat to live off for a day or two. We saw them in a store and bought a box for about $2.50—this is one of the cheaper food products I have seen, but the store was having a special.
February 22:
February 23: Spent the day doing school work while Mary was at a Bible study at the American Women’s Association. She went out with some of the women for lunch at an Italian restaurant near the Ring. Around 3 I thought I should take a walk so we went out. Mary wanted to find this Italian deli/market we saw one day while walking. They had advertised homemade herring salad on the sign outside the store when we walked by some days before. I like herring salad, although there are different varieties, some of which I care less for. The deli is around 10 blocks from us and is what I would call an “upscale” Italian deli/market. No customers were there so when the clerk came I told her we were just “looking.” She went back to her chess game with her male counterpart. They sold fancy Italian wines and had an old-fashioned glass enclosed counter with different kinds of Italian cheeses, salamis, herring salad, a wide-variety of pastas, and bread. Mary had trouble deciding what we should sample. The male clerk came over and we asked the names of some of the pastas we saw. We focused on the tortellini and saw some that were black and filled with something. I forget the long Italian name, but they were salmon-filled tortellini. I had never heard of this before so we decided to buy some. He said 10 should be enough for us so we bought 10 and got directions on boiling them. Then Mary asked about what kind of sauce we should use, expecting him to recommend some kind of tomato-based sauce. He got a little plastic container and went to the back and returned with the container filled with what looked like pink sour cream. He said to heat it and serve it over the tortellini. Mary spied the bread and we got his recommendation for parmesan bread so bought half a loaf. All this cost us about $10. Salmon tortellini was a stretch for me (although I enjoy fish) so I decided we should swing into a bakery for something good for dessert. So we went into a konditorei and bought a slice of Malakofftorte and a Golatsche (a pastry filled with a cream cheese based filling). I don’t know how to describe a Malakofftorte: slender slices of yellow cake, with vanilla-like wafers all between some flavored whipped cream kind of filling and covered with white whipped cream and a small cookie partially dipped in chocolate. Austrians do know how to make torte. Mary cooked our salmon tortellini and covered it with the pink sauce. The pink sauce was very light and had a very gentle, mellow salmon flavor. I cannot describe the delectable flavor of the tortellini and the pink sauce. The salad she made and the parmesan bread added to the meal. Olive Garden needs to put this on the menu. We will try to go back and find the correct Italian name for this dish. I don’t want to put Scott’s Bible lands’ trips down--I know Scott has talked about his culinary experiences on these trips, but I think he needs to forget Israel and Egypt and organize a tour on “St. Paul in Vienna” based on the hidden Bible codes in Hebrews. Vienna is his kind of city.
February 24: Got up early to take the train to Melk to see the Abbey and Stiftskirche. Got to St. Polten where we changed to the local, but I got on the wrong train. I realized this mistake about 15 minutes later and asked a gentleman and his wife who were getting off where we were. He told me I had gone in the other direction—we were headed to Frankenfels. We got off in a very small town with them to wait for a return local train—he pointed to a Gasthaus and told us to go in and have some wine, since a train wouldn’t come for 40 minutes. We did go in and ordered 2 cups of hot tea, which sure felt good. Went out to the station and got back to St. Polten. This time I asked the ticket agent for the time of the next train to Melk and the platform. As some do, he responded in English, but when I went to the platform it did not seem right so I asked a conductor on another train and he told me his train was the next to Melk. Made it to Melk. It is a very touristy place in the summer, but now it was cold and many things were closed. We couldn’t tour the complex, but we did get into the courtyards and the church. It is a beautiful Baroque church. I am sure in summer it would be beautiful because you are up high overlooking the Danube and Austrian countryside. Made it back to our apartment with no problems.
February 25: Met are Turkish friend for a late lunch at a Turkish restaurant near the Graben. I had Byti kebap (a long, round piece of ground lamb flavored with paprika and spices along with some bread, Bulgar rice, and onion/tomato/lettuce) and ayran to drink (I am beginning to think it goes well with lamb). Finished it off with Turkish coffee and baklava. Mary had sis kebap which is like our shish kebab. Had a very interesting conversation about Turkey and life there. It started snowing again, but it was fun walking in the street with the flakes blowing in your face and on your clothes.
February 26: It was still snowing, although most streets were warm enough from the earlier upper thirties temperatures so that much of it melted. But there was a heavy covering in the shade and on the grass in parks. Went to church and the pastor showed some of his slides from his trip to Burkino Faso. After church it was someone’s birthday so they brought out a torte so I had to have a slice—I forgot to ask the name, but it was tasty and flavorful. Following church walked back to our apartment through the Inner City and saw some areas we had never seen. It was cold and snowy, but not so unpleasant that we couldn’t enjoy the walk. Went into a number of churches which are a bit off the mainstream tourist area and we feel they are some of the most beautiful we have seen. We especially liked the Maria Gestade Kirche. We also saw the oldest church in Vienna, which was built in the 11th century.
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