Mike came to visit this past weekend! With him came what was hopefully the last blast of winter for the year, and there was a fresh coat of snow on the ground. Undeterred by the slippery conditions, we took Mike hiking up the Nordkette on Friday, and thankfully the weather cooperated and gave us some spectacular views. After dinner we went to Cafe Sacher, where Mike and I both had the legendary Sacher Torte for the first time. It was tremendous. It could have been the best single piece of cake I've ever eaten, except it wasn't because the portion size was so tiny. We then went to Elferhaus in the Aldstadt to show Mike how good beer should taste, since good beer is pretty much nonexistent (and when existent, very expensive) in Rome. He finally realized what he'd been missing.
On Saturday, we went skiing, and Mike survived!
Mike Carter, skiing the Alps! It really happened!!!
That evening we went out to Stiftskeller, a restaurant in the Altstadt, where we ate traditional and stereotypical Austrian classics while listening to live music. Mike and I both had Wiener Schnitzel (von Kalb, of course) and Apfelstrudel for dessert. The live music consisted of three rotating groups: one English-American fiddle & guitar band, one group from Paraguay that played traditional Latin music, and of course a Tirolean group consisting of an accordion, a string bass, and a guitar (as I recall). Here's a picture of us enjoying our Mass beer, which was the only size capable of lasting us through the entire meal:
One liter for each of us
After dinner, as we walked back, we noticed that there was a fireworks display on top of the Nordkette. It was rather impressive to see the mountainsides lit up, although God only knows whose idea it was to shoot of fireworks in an area known for deadly avalanches.
On Sunday we went to Mass in Dom St. Jakob (St. James' Cathedral). The service was nice, as always, and the music during Communion was particularly interesting because it was very modal and eerie sounding. We gave Mike the Austrian McDonald's experience, and shortly afterward, he hopped a train back to Italy. All in all, a very solid weekend.
And now, for your entertainment, I will share a couple of videos that made an impression on me since my last post:
Pidgeon: Impossible - http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=jEjUAnPc2VA
Trololololololololo - http://trololololololololololo.com/
Until next time!
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