Three days in Vienna

We arrived early in the morning on Saturday the 16th and checked into our apartment, which is amazing. I was concerned that it might be too small, in a not-so-great neighborhood, etc., but it's probably the nicest apartment we've been in so far this trip. You know it's a great when all of us in the group agree, without hesitation, that we would live here! The neighborhood is quiet and safe, and the apartment is spacious and has huge windows on both the east and west sides. We love this place!

On Saturday, after getting our bearings, we took the metro into the center of the city and came across the funeral service at Stephansdom for Otto Von Hapsburg, the son of the last ruling emperor of Austria. Then we walked to the Naschmarkt, Vienna's huge daily outdoor market, and got food for dinner. We found a booth from an organic bakery with lots of vegan breads and pastries, and then we found another booth selling fresh, locally made tofu! Near the south end of the market is the tiniest health food store ever, where we were able to pick up the rest of our food supplies. It was fortunate that we hit the market on Saturday too, because in addition to the usual produce vendors, there were antiques and flea market wares as well. So that was fun and productive.

Nearly everything in Vienna is closed on Sunday, so we were limited in what we were able to do and see yesterday. One place that was open was the Kriminalmuseum (sounded interesting and fairly harmless in the guidebook but ended up being extremely creepy, graphic, and gruesome; not recommended unless you're REALLY into that stuff), so we went there this morning/early afternoon and then afterwards found a vegetarian restaurant that served a sadly mediocre lunch. So kind of a blah morning. Anyway, after lunch we walked to the Hofburg Palace, through the Volksgarten (a city park, literally "peoples' garden") and over to the Rathaus (city hall), where we stumbled upon the same film and food festival that Maja and I found when we were here back in 2004! I got a mango-papaya smoothie, and we walked around the Rathauspark and then took the metro home. The area around the Hofburg Palace and the Rathaus is so beautiful, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a great afternoon!

Today we walked down Mariahilferstrasse, the main shopping/retail street in Vienna, and explored the area around it. We ate a great lunch of quinoa, spicy veg stew, falafel, and vegan tzaziki sauce at a little restaurant/HFS combo called Naturkost St. Josef, and I picked up some vegan milk chocolate and gummy bears afterwards. This evening after dinner, we went back into the city and hung out at the Museumsquartier, which transforms at night into a cool spot with two lively bars and a courtyard filled with university students.

We hop on the train to Prague bright and early tomorrow morning. Have a great Tuesday!

Benvenuti a Venezia

Hi everyone and sorry for the delay in posting! Internet access continued to be spotty in Milan, but now we've arrived in Venice and things are grand. We arrived via train at the Santa Lucia station and walked to our apartment, which is on a tiny canal. After checking in, we walked through the city to the Rialto bridge and down to Piazza San Marco. It's been over a decade since I've been to Venice, and I can definitely say that I love it just as much now as I did when I first visited. Right now, the four of us are waiting for La Zuccha (a veg-friendly restaurant highly recommended by multiple sources) to open for dinner so we can snag a plate of their claim-to-fame pumpkin and avocado veggie lasagna.

Both Zurich and Milan were great, and I have tons of photos to post and stories to tell. Stay tuned!

Vegan FTW!!

A few minutes ago, as I was putting groceries away, to my utter surprise and squeeing delight, I saw this sticker on the fridge. I can't even believe it! It's a sure sign from the tofu gods that I am in the right place and that this trip is going to be awesome.

Also, I am pleased to report that the health food store a five-minute walk away on Via Laietana, while covering about 1/10th of the square footage of our HFS back home, easily has 10 times more flavors and varieties of tofu, seitan, and soy yogurt! Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.