post 10

Once a week is as good as I can do these days as far as blog posts go. Also, photos are not cooperating, so this post is kind of text heavy. Read if you want.

Because of all the complaining I did about the cold in all of my previous posts, I need to take this opportunity to praise the weather these last few days. Holy macaroni, it's been gorgeous. We are getting a sneak peek of spring right now and I am in love. The number of times I've taken off my coat outside this week is off the charts. I'll recap my week for you and make sure to mention how glorious it has been everyday.

Monday

This day was beautiful. I wasn't brave enough to go without tights under my jeans just yet, but I didn't bring ear muffs, which was pretty daring of me. After classes, Michelle invited Becca and I to venture out into the 11th District to find the Cemetary of the Nameless. I'm a big time sucker for cemetaries and also it was nice outside and we didn't have plans, so we hopped on a bus and cruised out out out of town. When we got off the bus, it looked kind of like we could be back in the U.S. in a hicktown or something. There were a bunch of warehouses and factories and stuff. But Michelle had looked up on the map where to go, so we started walking down a busy road with cars whipping past us. We were close to the Danube Canal, and we thought it might be more pleasant to walk along that, so we followed the path next to it for awhile. It was very pleasant and we even saw two swans land in unison on the water, which was kind of incredible. But then things started looking kind of like a haunted forest and we found a building called the Friedhof der Bücher (book cemetary), which looked like an abandoned restaurant turned into a crack house. We high tailed it out of there pretty quick and found the main road again. But we still couldn't find the cemetary so we wandered onto another path and we may or may not have been trespassing (I really don't know) but we had a lovely nature walk and we found one headstone in the middle of a forest and also I had a hotflash (!) which I didn't believe was possible in Vienna. When we looked at a map later that evening, we saw that we almost walked right out of Vienna (the region) and into Lower Austria. Whoops.

The lone gravestone we found

Becca and I went to Peter Pan at the Burgtheater that afternoon. It was all in German, but we understood a little bit of it since it was geared towards children (Liesl was surprised when we told her we went. She asked if they asked our age when we bought tickets...they didn't).

We hit up a Mexican restaurant nearby after the show. I was curious about Austrian Mexican food and also just super hungry. The man there only spoke a little English, so we used our Spanish and German to communicate with him. It was an extremely multicultural experience. He brought us free shots and when we told him we don't drink he said, "It's only a little bit." Unfortunately, we couldn't trade the shots in for free tortilla chips.

Thanks but no thanks for the free shots.

Also you guys, my hair...I know. I just...meh. Not a lot of options with frizzy hair and 8 AM class.

Tuesday

On Tuesday in our art history class we went to Karlskirche, which is a beautiful old Baroque church. They've been doing some renovation work, so they have an elevator up to the dome. We took it up so we could check out the fresco, but then they have even more stairs and you can go into the tippy tippy top. There are windows up there and you can look out over ALL of Vienna and it was gorgeous. Not to mention we were seriously inches away from the amazing fresco. If you come to Vienna soon, do that, because they're taking the scaffolding down soon. The whole church is really gorgeous and bright and clean. I loved it.

View of Stephansdom from Karlskirche

It was so warm on Tuesday that Becca and I went to a park by our house and worked out. We got lots of funny looks, but I didn't mind too much. Since we worked out, we figured it would be alright to celebrate Fat Tuesday, so Becca and I made palatschinken with our friend Aly and we watched The Bachelor.

Aly and Becca with our pancakes

Wednesday

Flag tower at Augarten

We don't have classes on Wednesday, so after breakfast, we went to Augarten to check out the playground that our professors' kids recommended. Here's the thing about European playgrounds (and parks in general): they are the best. There's not as many weird safety regulations so the toys are actually fun and most of them are big enough for a person my size to play on. I discovered this in London, but it holds true here as well. Augarten did not disappoint. There was an amazing swing/seasaw that we stayed on for nearly a half hour. I was a little sea sick at the end, but it was worth it. After playing on the playground, we walked around the enormous garden for awhile (carrying our coats) and enjoyed the sunshine.

That evening we had dinner with our host family. Norbert's cousin and his wife have some girls from our group living with them, so they came over and we had a big dinner. Becca and I helped Liesl prepare dinner and tried to pick up some of her cooking skills. She made homemade topfenstrudel and apfelstrudel and it just about changed my life. Also, Sarah and Lisa (the two musicians who live at our house) played a couple of movements from a Mozart symphony and it was just incredible. Sometimes I can't believe my life. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm bragging, I realize that I am so lucky to be having such amazing experiences.

Thursday

This day started beautifully because we had leftover strudel for breakfast. Our schedule got a little switched up on Thursday because our art history class finished on Friday, so we had a final review on this morning. Our teacher also took us to the crypt to "meet the royals," and we saw the tombs of all of Austria's old rulers (Sisi and Franz-Josef and Maria Theresia and the whole lot).

It was just a teensy bit chilly on Thursday, so we spent the afternoon in the Albertina Museum. My heart grew about 100 sizes because I loved the art there so much. They had a special exhibition of really gorgeous drawings (not paintings) from Impressionists like Monet, Manet, Seurat, Degas, etc. The also had a great collection of Impressionist paintings. And they have a big Magritte exhibition that is in its final week (featuring the famous The Treachery of Imagesthat I love so much after studying Foucault and Lacan). I really loved the whole museum.

Friday

On my morning jog I tracked down my parents' old house. Turns out they lived about three feet away from where I live now. Seriously, their old house is just a few blocks from mine. After our art history final in the morning, Becca and I took two of our professors' daughters ice skating at the Rathaus. It was so warm that there was a layer of water pretty much covering the ice and making it that much more threatening to fall. I got taken out by a kid and got a little bit soaked, but poor Kate got it the worst. She fell in a very deep puddle and was a great sport about it. In my interview before being accepted into this study abroad, Dr. Hinckley (the man...his wife is also called Dr. Hinckley), assured me that his kids were really cool. I wasn't even worried, I typically get along with children. But he wasn't joking. His kids are smarter than me, and they are super well-behaved and creative and nice. I'm a big fan.

We grabbed a pastry on our way back to their flat, and then Becca and I went home to rest before going to the institute for waffles and to help clean. The senior couple is so sweet and they whipped up some waffles even though only a few people came. Elder Christofferson is coming in a couple of weeks, so we cleaned up the institute in preparation, then we went to get ice cream from Zanoni and Zanoni. Our friend Dago said this is the worst of all the ice cream places and that it only stays in business because it is open in the winter months when all the good places close. This is hard for me to believe because the banana gelato I had last night was insane, but I'm excited for the other places to open next month to discover that he is correct.

Saturday

In the morning I went for a jog in my neighborhood. I saw a church spire that looked cool, so I ran towards it and was happily rewarded when I finally reached it. Not only was there a lovely church (with nuns) on top of a hill, there was also a really nice cemetary. I spent some time there before returning home to enjoy breakfast with Norbert and Liesl. We went to the Lower Belvedere to see more beautiful art, and then we had to stop at Zanoni & Zanoni to check and see if it was still good. It was. When we got home, Liesl and Norbert's bridge party was just about to begin. They had invited us in the morning, but we didn't know if they were serious. Turns out they were, because there were two seats set for us at the table. We ate dinner with N & L and eleven of their friends. It was really lovely. I feel so lucky to live with the Meinls. They are really good people. They are so kind and smart and friendly and fun. They are NOT required to invite us to things or take us places or introduce us to their friends, but they do so willingly and regularly. I'm in awe of their goodness and welcoming. Their friends were amazing as well. All good people.

Sunday

Today we had Stake Conference, which was broadcast from Salt Lake and was really great. After church, Norbert drove us to the Cemetary for the Nameless, because he had never been there and he was curious as us. It was pretty and tiny and surrounded by industrial stuff. Not my favorite cemetary, but interesting to see. Tomorrow I'm off to Istanbul for spring break. We are going to be extra safe, but I'm sure a few prayers sent my way couldn't hurt.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Wettack family and all of the Mercer Island community right now. I'm so grateful to know that there is life after death and that someday we will be reunited with the loved ones we have lost in this life.

post 9

*I just finished writing this post and it is an eternity long. I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t blame you if you just looked at the pictures.

It’s getting too hard to blog these days. I have no patience for it. But I also think I might regret it if I don’t at least try. Here’s a summary of the last week by day.

Monday

Class as usual, cold as usual. After class, Becca and Aly and I attempted to find the Hundertwasser Haus and the Kunsthaus Wien, because they had eluded us thus far, and the Hundertwasser Haus is kind of hard to miss. We got a little bit lost, but after about an hour and a half, we found it. Hundertwasser is an artist/architect/graphic designer from Vienna who is truly unique. The Hundertwasser Haus is an apartment complex but the floors are uneven and there are trees growing up through the floor and out the windows and there are no straight lines and it’s just wild. The Kunsthaus Wien is a museum that houses a bunch of Hundertwasser’s art, which is incredible. I love it.

Hundertwasser Haus

After the museum, we went home to finish some homework and to heart attack the fridge as a Valentine’s Day surprise for Norbert and Liesl.

Tuesday (Valentinstag <3)

I LOVE Valentine’s Day. Our day started with a Valentine from God, given to us in the U-Bahn station on our way to school. Unfortunately, it was in German, but our German teacher helped us translate it in class and it was actually very beautiful. Our art history class was at the Belvedere, which I love love love. We strolled along through the museum while our professor told us everything about everything. You may be interested to learn that Gustav Klimt (for reference, Google: The Kiss) occasionally painted his subjects completely nude before “dressing them” with paint. They know this because he suffered a stroke and the piece that was on his easel at the time had a nude figure with half painted on clothes (you can see the unfinished painting on display at the Belvedere). This made art historians curious about his other paintings, so they X-Rayed them and found that in the paintings where a model posed for him (rather than someone sitting for a portrait) he often painted them nude first. Sweet.

After class, Becca and I treated ourselves to kebaps for a Valentine’s Day lunch, which is always a good choice. We were planning on going ice skating at the Rathaus (town hall) that evening with our group, but when we got home, Liesl invited us to a Hengl to hear live music and eat dinner. When Norbert or Liesl invites you to do something, you do it, because it’s bound to be amazing. The Hengl was no exception. A Hengl is a restaurant on a vineyard or with its own vineyard where they have to serve their own wine and they have lots of amazing traditional Austrian food and live music. We went and enjoyed the music and met some of Norbert and Liesl’s friends and relatives and toasted everyone with our big glasses full of apple juice. Norbert gave us each a Valentine’s Day rose, and it was the best ever.

Wednesday

We had a free day so we went ice skating at the Rathaus. Lucky for us, Liesl let us borrow some skates, and Norbert was heading downtown, so he dropped us off at the rink they have set up in front of the city hall and we ice skated all day. It was sunny and warm (we took off our coats!) and they had funny American music playing and it was perfect. After four or five hours, we decided to take a break and find the Jewish Museum. We failed at that, but we did find a bakery that serves Esterhazy Cake, so we weren’t too sad. We got to Institute an hour early, but it was right by the Rathaus and our skating pass was still good, so we got back on the ice for an hour or so before going over to the Institute for dinner and a lesson.

Thursday

Some art from the Jewish Museum

After class (where we talked about John Keats’ poem Ode to a Nightingale and I had flashbacks to all the research I did about nightingales for a class last semester, which I loved) we decided we really should find the Jewish Museum. We consulted a map (and Norbert, for good measure) and managed to find it. We were only able to see half, but our tickets were good for two days. On our way home, we cruised past the Staatsoper because the Opera Ball was that night. They had a red carpet our and the TV cameras were setting up and it was really beautiful. We hurried home to watch the coverage on TV.

The Opera Ball red carpet

When we got home, Norbert and Liesl had their friends over to play Bridge and watch the Opera Ball, and they let us join them. It was really a lovely evening, and someday, if I’m ever rich, I’ll come back to Vienna and go to a ball.

Norbert and Liesl playing Bridge with Elisabeth and Peter. It gets pretty intense.

Friday

Art history was at the Leopold Museum, which has more modern art. All the art is from the private collection of the Leopold family, who were apparently super wealthy. They have an amazing collection of Egon Schiele paintings and some pretty unique Klimt stuff, among other things. I loved it (although be careful if you are Googling Schiele…his subjects span a broad range of decency).

Egon Schiele

I also learned about an artist named Richard Gerstl, who I really like, but he died very young, so there’s not a lot by him. After class we went to the second half of the Jewish Museum, where they had an exhibit all about the Jews who founded Hollywood. It was pretty interesting and not what I expected from the Jewish Museum, but enjoyed very much.

This one is for Jenny and all my aunts and any other person who loves Barbra like we do.

That night, we went to the Musikverein to hear Hilary Hahn play with an orchestra. She is incredible and beautiful and talented and I may or may not have cried during her first encore. I need to admit that I wouldn't know who Hilary Hahn is except that my friend Laura mentioned her on Facebook a few weeks ago, so I recognized the name when some girls told me they were going to hear her and that's why I bought a ticket. So thank you Laura! Also, everyone should go see her when she plays in the USA later this year.

Waiting for Hilary Hahn in the Gold Hall at the Musikverein

Saturday

Beautiful Bratislava. I'm a sucker for those red roofs.

We got up early to catch a train to Bratislava. It’s only about an hour long ride because Bratislava is right on the border of Slovakia (in the warmer months you can take a boat down the Danube). We met up with some girls from our group who had spent the night there, and we visited the castle on the hill, the old city center, and a really cool castle called Devin. It is in ruins because Napoleon bombed it during his heyday. But it is still really picturesque because it’s up on a hill with the river running right next to it and a little village surrounding it.

Devin Castle from the bottom of the hill. It was a perfect day.

We also managed to find two graveyards (my favorite), a chocolate shop, a playground and a traditional Slovak pub to eat at. That night we went to the Bratislava Institute and played Minute to Win It games with all the YSA from the area (plus a few friends from Vienna that drove down). It was lots of fun, even though I am awful at those kinds of games.

The Old Town in Bratislava

Holocaust Memorial in Bratislava

Graveyard near Devin

View from Devin Castle

View from the other side of Devin Castle

We realized around 8:15 PM that we needed to get to the train station to catch the 8:45 train back to Vienna, or we would have to wait until 10:45. The sweet district leader in the area and his companion volunteered to walk us there, but walking wouldn’t get us there fast enough, so we ended up jogging (with the occasional sprint) to the station. It was hilarious and painful to run through the little town with all our winter clothes and bags, desperate to catch our train. We made it with 30 seconds to spare, no joke. We were gasping and panting and stripping off layers as the train rolled away from the station. We like to keep things interesting around here.

post 8

Me, Kate (our director's daughter) and Becca imitating some art we saw.

I've waited too long to blog again, so it's going to be another one of those hitting the highlights posts.

• On Monday Becca and I discovered the wonder of Viennese coffee shops. You can buy one hot cocoa and stay for four hours. And it is warmer than our school, so we did our homework there.
• We gave the Staatsoper a try this week. We saw Andrea Chenier, which is a love story set during the French Revolution. Like I said before, I'm more of an orchestra or ballet girl, but it was pretty amazing to see an opera. We did standing tickets and I learned that I can sleep while standing. Also I felt hot (temperature) for the first time since I arrived in Austria.
• There is nothing more beautiful than a European city covered in a sparkly blanket of fresh snow. Which is what we found when we left the opera on Monday.
• Haydn has positioned himself for one million hilarious jokes to be made about his name. Did you know that his head was missing from his body for 200 years after he died. They couldn't find it because it was Hadyn (hiding...get it?). But really, that's a true story...a crazy doctor stole it before his funeral so that he could study the brain of a genius.

Becca and me in front of the Esterhazy palace.

• Sometimes it is more fun and important to play in the snow than to get to a museum before it closes.

Outside the church where Haydn is buried.

• You know you've come a long way in life when -4°C feels warm.
• On Friday night Becca and I went with Sarah, a music student from New Zealand who also lives in our house, to a poetry reading at an English book store. The three poets were from America and it was fun to bond with non-tourist Americans. Also, the poetry was good. My favorite poet who read was Rebecca Farviar. Check her out.
• The oldest church in Vienna, Ruprechtskirche, is open on Friday nights from 9 PM to midnight for people who need a moment of peace and quiet. It is right around the corner from the book store, so we rested for awhile there and I loved it. Such a nice contrast from the huge, ornate chapels and cathedrals (which are also beautiful).

Inside Ruprechtskirche

• We also went to the Hofburg Treasury on Friday. They had a reliquary containing the tooth of John the Bapitist. Love that. Also, a nice little cradle for Napoleon's baby.

• My hair has one of three options on any given day: Curly and down, brushed all to one side with a couple bobby pins in it (my current favorite) or a frizzy ponytail/bun.
• Yesterday morning we had breakfast with Norbert and Liesl and some of their children and their families. It was their daughter's birthday, so breakfast ended with poppyseed chocolate cake (my new favorite) and a toast (Becca and I were served lemon soda to toast with). I think every breakfast should end this way.
• Skyped with Lolo during a homework break yesterday. Best ever.
• Last night Norbert showed us his yearbook from the year he spent in Libertyville, Illinois. Based on the messages in it, he was a total ladies man, which surprises no one.
• Norbert and Liesl taught us how to play Bridge last night, which means that dreams do come true. Only it's really hard.
• Liesl compared her old shriveled biological apples to men in a useful allegory. She said even though the outside is soft and wrinkely, the inside is still sweet and good. If we find a man like that, we should keep him, just like she keeps the apples.
• Today after church, we took the bus up to Kahlenburg again and walked down. It was gorgeous and picturesque and wonderful. And not too cold.

Leopoldsburg from the walk down the hill.

• Nutella has made a very big comeback in my life. You know you have a problem when you've made it a personal mission to find something that doesn't taste better with a little bit of Nutella on top. I'm still searching. And trying to quit.

There was a beautiful little cemetary on the walk down the hill. I think I'd like to buried there.

The vineyard on the hill down from Kahlenburg

post 7

The beginning of this post might be boring because it's not the end of this post. You'll understand later. If I start jumping around I'll never get around to writing about all that I've done.

Friday for art history class we went to the Kunsthistorische, which is this huge museum in the Museumsquartier near The Ring (downtown). The building itself is gorgeous (like pretty much everything here). It's huge and museum-y and you really feel like a million bucks just by walking down the stairs. Our professor gave us an in depth tour of the Greek and Roman wing of the museum, which was pretty awesome. One story I will abridge for you but it's too cool not to mention. They have a bronze statue called The Youth of Magdelenesburg (don't know about the spelling), that they thought was a gift from the Romans to this town called Magdelenesburg. About 15 years ago, a woman was doing some research on this statue and discovered that the Romans didn't make it (based on the way it was cast, etc.). So they cut it open to study it further and they found a playing card from the 16th Century. What they think happened was this: as cool things often do, this statue changed owners a few times throughout history, and at one point the archbishop of Salzburg had it in his residence. The emperor of Austria asked for it back and at this point the bishop probably had a copy made and either gave it to the emperor or kept it for himself and gave the original back. Sweet story. The playing card part really gets me.

Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Raphael's Madonna

After class I went to lunch with a few girls and then we decided to go back to the museum to see the paintings upstairs. Holy cow. I'm not a big time Rubens fan, and honestly I wouldn't say Renaissance stuff is my top pick, but I almost started crying a couple times. Raphael's Madonna of the Meadow and Rubens' Lamantation of Christ by the Virgin Mary and John did bring the tears. Stuff I really really loved included a whole room of Pieter Brugel Sr. paintings and four of Giuseppe Arcimboldo's paintings. In love. We went to My Fair Lady at the Volksoper (which we found with no trouble this week) and while it was fun and we made friends witht the people next to us, watching a two and a half hour play in German and understanding six sentences wasn't my favorite thing ever.

Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Breugel Sr.

Peasant Wedding by Pieter Bruegel Sr.

Saturday was a nice, lazy day spent indoors doing homework and hanging out with Norbert and Liesl (I found out I've been spelling her name wrong). We did brave the cold to try out a little pizza place near the Volksoper for dinner. I'm 98% positive there was some mafia stuff going down, but Becca and I were happily oblivious because our German is coming along very slowly. We came home and caught up on The Bachelor (you can have the finest art and music at your fingertips but sometimes you just need to know what's up with Ben and all his ladies).

This photo is super dark because we didn't know how the Mafia would react to a flash.

Today was one of the top five best days of my life, I'm pretty sure. We woke up early to hear the Vienna Boys Choir sing in Mass at the Hofburg Chapel. It was gorgeous and during the service they are above you so you really feel like angels are singing. Then after Mass is over they come down and sing a couple of songs and you can take pictures and they are adorable.

Vienna Boys Choir

After Mass, we got on the wrong bus, so we missed church (woops), so we headed home. Liesl and Norbert whisked us away for an excursion to Neusiedler See, a big lake on the border of Austria and Hungary. The lake is frozen solid and you can ice skate on it without pulling an Amy March and falling right through.

This is me before we got out on the lake. I figured while Liesl was tying my skates for my that it would be a good time to confess that I'm not much of an ice skater. She is a saint.

You guys, ice skating is a) one of my greatest fears and b) the last thing I would ever choose to do for fun. I almost cried before we went out on the lake and you better believe I was praying my brains out. But skating on this lake was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Of course, I made Becca and/or Liesl hold my hand the whole time, but I loved it. We skated from the Austrian side to the Hungarian side and we saw a fish frozen under the ice and I was frozen on top of the ice but I didn't care. Also, in case you are wondering, Liesl can do everything. She's like, a professional figure skater.

Liesl basically pulled us back to the car like this. No joke. She's the best.

So so pretty out there.

I was clinging to Becca for dear life in the beginning.

Liesl, Becca and me

After skating, we drove to a restaurant that Norbert wanted to check out as a potential location for his upcoming birthday party (which will likely have 200 guests...nbd). The restaurant was in Hungary and was totally adorable, like I was eating dinner in The Shire or The Burrow or somewhere else with low ceilings and nobbly wood furniture and handmade lace tableclothes and amazing food. We had a great time at dinner just laughing and chatting and I accidentally went in the men's restroom and Norbert thought the bill was in Euros but it was in Forints (Hungary's currency), so he thought it was SUPER expenive and then the waiter brought him back tons of change (like, €100). We were all feeling silly and sleepy and I slept all the way back to Vienna. When we got home, Liesl made Palatschinke, which is just like crepes (as if we needed more food), and we laughed and chatted some more. Then I talked to my family. Perfect day.

post 6

It's been awhile...so much happens everyday here that it is daunting to try and cover everything. So I'll give you the highlights:

• The average temperature this week has been around 5 degrees Farenheit. Read this as "I am always cold." I wear two pairs of tights under my pants everyday.
• I've had a long-standing hatred for Rajon Rondo because one time after a playoff game he had to be carried off the court by his teammates. When the press asked him why, he said "The bottom of my feet hurt." But you guys, I get it now. The bottom of your feet can hurt so bad just from walking or running or standing, and you really cannot take another step. My bad, Rondo. I thought you were just being a diva.
• Despite the cold and the achy feet, I'm having the best time of my life.
• Becca and I have a knack for getting lost. On Tuesday, a simple trip to the MAK (where we've already been once before) turned into a two hour nighttime stroll/quest around district 1. And I loved it.
• I looked my would-be pickpoket in the eyes on Tuesday. I felt my backpack moving around while Becca and I were shopping for gloves and I turned around right after she had unzipped the back pocket of my bag. We stared at each other and then she dissappeared. Luckily I don't keep anything but tissues and chapstick in that pocket, so she didn't get anything.
• We came across the Holocaust memorial in the Judenplatz this week. It is beautiful and poignant and a good reminder that I have never lived through anything worth complaining about.

The Holocaust Memorial. It is made up of thousands of marble books that represent each of the 60,000 Jews taken from Austrian and placed in concertration camps or killed during the Nazis' time of power.

• On Wednesday we toured the Staatsoper. We learned that it takes €90,000 to run the Staatsoper for one year. The opera itself makes about 50% of this, and the state pays the rest. It's a big thing here though and it employs tons of people.
• We also went to the opera museum and learned that several of the former opera directors died of heart failure. I think it's a pretty stressful job.
• Clock museums are wonderful.

• "Am Hof" apparently sounds different than "Amhof" in German. We asked a woman how to find Amhof and until she understood that we were looking for Am Hof, she thought we were crazy.

• Ask an Austrian to say "Darth Vader" some day. You won't regret it.
• We went to the Freud Muesum today. I loved it because I love Freud. Believe whatever you want, but I don't think he was a pervy old man. I think he was kind of a genius (although I admit he had some weird ideas...).

The man himself

I am a girl who loves a good (clean) Freudian joke.

I also think his studies on hysteria are super interesting in trauma studies, y'all.

• Our friend from institute, Raphael, made us Kaisershmarrn and another traditional Austrian dish I can't remember the name of and we had Almdudler, which is just a really yummy soda from the Alps. Also, we found and accidentally bought the European version of American cheese and almost died from it. Woof.
• Hot chocolate is sometimes the best medicine. Actually always.