Vienna is beautiful (and tasty)

Thankfully, Nana arrived in time for our family trip to Vienna. I was at European Geophysical Union for the week and we decided that a long weekend in Vienna was just too much to pass up. It turned out that Nana could arrange her travel to be with us. So while I attended talks, shared a room with Martha, and scouted the town, Jake, Elena and Nana traveled together and arrived on Thursday.


A few impressions of Vienna...it's a beautiful city. Just walking around is a treat, huge parks, interesting buildings, not that low, cramped feeling that the 'quant' canals of Holland can have. The Lonely Planet guide calls it the ‘wedding cake of Europe’ and they are right. Each building is intricate and elaborate.


Now, the other big impression of Vienna is the desserts! Amazing cakes, tortes, strudels and much to Dinny’s disappointment, we didn’t even get to the dessert coffee or ice cream. The dessert cart of the city definitely requires more than three days. The photos below are from Demel’s were we had a decadent lunch (ok, lunch was good, dessert was decidant). We could hardly choose, see the problem:

But finally managed to decide.


My favorite was the sachertorte which bares a striking resemblance to Grandma Twerp’s chocolate applesauce cake. (except not when I make the fudge frosting and it has apricot jam in between the layers).