Vienna - Monday and Tuesday (Gmoa Keller, Dürnstein)

Monday 2 July 2018

Monday was again a day of rest.  I think! Time flies so fast, I can't keep up....

However, Bo and Peter had asked me to join them for dinner, so by 6pm they arrived at the apartment to pick me up and together we walked to a very pleasant restaurant nearby: Gmoa Keller.  It had been a very nice day and the night air was still warm so we sat outside.  Because of that I have not been able to take pictures of the inertior, but if you would like to see what it looks like, then click on the link above.

The building in which the restaurant is housed is old and dates back to 1858.  It has quite a history as no doubt most old buildings in Vienna have. 

The food was excellent and I enjoyed not only a Viennese dish of Geröstete Kalbsleber mit Petersilienerdäpfeln (roasted veal-liver with parsley potatoes - by now you must be aware of my love of liver!), but also a local dessert of which I have forgotten the name, but looked, and tasted, like chocolate cake containing lots and lots of fresh summerfruit, which overhere means all kinds of berries.

Dinner, a good glass wine, and great company made it another unforgettable evening.

Tuesday 3 July 2018

On Tuesday morning I woke up from a bit of noise in the street and noticed the painters across the road, at work and not so hard at work!

Those two had only eyes for their mobile phones. 
I should have gotten a job that paid for playing games!

It must be quite expensive to maintain buildings like these. Not only the exterior, but the interior requires a lot of attention and e.g. heaps of material for curtains:

And that's only two of the 3 bedroom windows.  In addition there are 5 more of this size.  And that's only part of the apartment, which has been split up into a big and small one, owned by the same people.

Anyway, that's not my problem.... ;-)  I was going to tell you of my great day out.  Bo picked me up at 10am and drove us to Krems and Dürnstein.  She accidently took a slight detour which required us to cross the Donau (Danube) by ferry.

Our next stop was Krems an der Donau.  Bo desperately needed a smoke and I was looking forward to a cup of coffee.  As apricots are in season at the moment all businesses try to get you to buy home made marmelade or pastries and what not, so Bo and I shared a lovely apricot slice.  Thus fortified we started to walk back to the car for the rest of the trip, but Bo noticed a boutique which had clothes on sale.  Now, you know I might stop for shoes, but hardly ever do so for anything else.....  However.... While Bo was having a hard time deciding on buying or not buying a nearly out of reach (price-wise) jacket, I noticed a pair of pants that 'had my name' on them! 50% Off was doable, but a matching top was out of reach for me and in cases like that I don't need to make decisions, or rather one: don't buy.  So, I happily left with my pants and in one of the other shops I found a much cheaper, but nice enough top to go with them.

Next stop: Dürnstein, a small town known for its Burg ruine (castle ruins).  The castle is known for its saga about Richard Lionheart.  As all castles are built at strategical points on top of high hills I don't need to tell you that it was quite a climb to the top.  The temperature was 'only' 28 degrees, so we were glad that the climb was broken up into smaller bits by the placing at intervals of stories about the various historical figures connected to the castle.

On the way to the top

Yes, it's all the way up there!

As you can tell from the photos the views of the (still not so blue) Donau are spectecular and well worth the climb.

Nearly at the top, but not quite yet...

Bo & Marion

We're getting higher and higher

Dizzy from the climb in the heat I needed a moment's rest

Bo should have worn her new jacket.... ;-)

At the top!

There also was a geocache hidden behind the ruins, but that would have meant climbing even higher.  We walked, and climbed, for another twohundred metres, but gave up.  The cache wasn't really worth the extreme effort.

So, eventually we made our return trip downwards and into the little town.  We walked through the streets with the quirky little shops and found a restaurant where we had lunch outside on the patio again.  I went for a looooong drink and another delicious consommé, this time with some kind of fluffy cake added, and fresh, crusty bread rolls.  Oh boy, those Austrians know how to cook!!! 

After lunch we went in search for an apricot orchard where we could pick our own fruit, but couldn't find one.  We did walk through one of them though and had fair share of the fallen fruit, which was still in an excellent condition to eat. ;-)

We bought some apricots at a roadside stall in the end.  The tasted good too...