Christkindlmarkt in Wien

Rathaus by night

Christmas markets are seriously popular in Europe - just about every major city puts some on during December.  After some reasonably thorough research on the interweb and a glowing recommendation from a colleague, we decided to go to Vienna to check them out.

Pretty baubles

Basically all we did was wander around, eating various incarnations of carby delights and drinking mug after mug of steamy hot gluhwein (mulled wine) or apfel punsch while pretending to look at Christmas decorations and the other market stalls.

Vienna boasts a bunch of about five different sets of markets, each supposedly with its own character.  I’m pretty sure we hit most of them…

One was located in the grounds of the Belvedere Palace, which was very beautiful.  We didn’t go inside the palace itself; we just wandered the grounds, which were very well manicured, even in winter.  We were slightly alarmed by the Christmas lights springing forth from the ponds, however…  It didn’t seem all that safe!  

We could live there...  at a push

Another had a more modest setting…  Located in a University Campus that had previously been a hospital, this one had nice food, lovely things to buy and the BEST plum punsch you will ever have.  Two mugs of that and we were feeling very filled with the Christmas “spirit”…

Ah, Gluhwein... 

The best markets were situated by the Rathaus, which was right near our hotel (convenient).  There were activities for the kids and many a gluhwein shack for the thirsty patrons.  This was also the largest market by far, after two days we still managed to find areas we hadn’t previously explored.  Carols were played over loud speakers, there were lights and decorations strung up everywhere and in the centre was a huge tree with large red heart-shaped lights suspended from the branches.  Needless to say, it was hard not to feel festive in there.  

We had our first ever batch of roast chestnuts, fried, garlicky, potato goodness known as katoffelpoffel, the biggest baked potato I've ever seen - it was stuffed so full we barely were able to lift off the counter, and waffles – which taste quite good when scoffed off the front of a tractor…

The only way to down a waffle...  when a table just won't do!

Gees, this blog is as much about food as it is about going places…  oh well!

On Sunday, having spent the previous two days filling up on mulled wine and carbs at the markets, we decided to go for a bit of a wander through town, just cos we could! Eventually we made it to the not-so-blue-Danube; much like the Thames, I’m sure it looks beautiful at night and further upstream…

As we were leaving, we found out that an old friend from Uni lives there now...  So we’ll just have to go back at some point to visit her and to actually see the city itself properly.  Oh dear, how sad, never mind!

Rugby in Rome

Ah November, the middle of the All Blacks end of year tour to the northern hemisphere.  We figured an AB’s test was as good an excuse as any to pop back to Rome for the weekend.  This time though, we had the company of Dean and Lou and their friends, now also our friends, Zac and Chloe.

Rest stop with a view

We skived off work a bit early on the Friday and so were all checked in to our hotel by about 8pm.  What to do?  Eat pizza!  Lou was recommended a place just down the road from where we were staying, so we grabbed a table on the street and settled in to wash traditional Italian pizzas down with carafes of house wine…  It was all in the interests of scientific research, really.  What does a four seasons’ pizza taste like?  Rather good, as it turns out!  Is there ever a good time to allow anchovies on your pizza?  Yes, surprisingly!  Does five cheese pizza give you crazy dreams?  Most definitely...  These are all questions we have sacrificed ourselves to provide answers to.  You’re welcome.  Or as all good things have now come to be known – Pizza BOOM!

Anyway, I digress.  It was nice to return to Rome when it wasn’t scorching hot…  After the 44 degree heat we experienced at the end of July, the 15-20 we had that weekend was lovely.  We traipsed past several main Roman sights the next day.  We ticked off the Parthenon and Piazza del Popolo, which we missed the first time around, and revisited the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain as we made our way to Stadio Olympico for the game. 

 

They never stood a chance...

The atmosphere at the game was brilliant.  We were a little concerned about how the local fans might treat us after hearing reports of some less than welcome behaviour being experienced by friends at games in other cities (not looking at anyone in particular, Edinburgh and Cardiff…), but it was amazing.  The locals were very friendly and quite complimentary about our boys in black, even when they were playing as though the ball were a large cake of wet soap.  It was as though the arena was a big happy cauldron prone to bouts of spontaneous singing, chanting and endless Mexican waves.  We were lucky though, apparently football fans aren’t so pleasant.  The very next weekend a couple of Tottenham fans were stabbed in a bar nearby the stadium following a game…  Eeek!

Celebrating a good win

On our way back from the game, after stopping off somewhere for a quick cocktail and a night time visit to St Peter’s Square, we thought it would be good to take everyone to our favourite restaurant from our first trip, Su & Giu Cucina Romana.  Kyle remembered how to get us 90% of the way there and we had to guess the rest…  in the rain…  Luckily, we found it just as we were about to pull the pin.  We had another fantastic meal – Dean was super brave and had tripe (!!!).  He even let us try a bit…  It wasn’t… gross… but…  Anyway, he really liked it.

Team photo

Ancient cake tin...

We all went our separate ways the next day.  Kyle and I found this crazy little restaurant that did amazing pasta (bacon and artichoke spaghetti rocked my little world) and three kinds of bruschetta.  Good thing we had a solid lunch too, because we then went to the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini – the Monastery where there’s sculptures made out of the bones of dead monks reminding us all that life is temporary…  Cheery.  It was fascinating, but also pretty creepy.  We took our time over the first couple of alcoves, but pretty much blitzed past the last few and got out of there.  To cheer up again we got our fix of gelato from our favourite gelato bar from last time before taking a long walk past Il Coloseo on our way back to the hotel.  That only left enough time for a quick trip to Pizza BOOM (it was actually a takeout place) before skipping back to the airport.  

Next stop, Christmas markets in Vienna.  OMG, nearly there!

 

Shaken, not stirred

While in Crete, I was woken suddenly one morning by an ipad being thrust excitedly in my face displaying that one very clever Kyle had purchased two tickets to the black tie Royal World Premiere of Skyfall at the Royal Albert Hall.  OMG!!  A handful of tickets had been released to the riff raff and we were fortunate enough to snap a couple up.  By “we”, of course, I mean Kyle, aka best hubby ever.

We walked the red carpet with the stars (twice – and why not) which was insane.  Daniel Craig was the first star on the carpet and the last to leave.  We managed to get within 2 metres of him, only because the burly security man wouldn’t let us any nearer…  I wanted to get him to sign my ticket, but alas.  Turns out it’s customary for the plebs to get ferried up the centre of the carpet, while the stars go up the sides, signing autographs etc for the people lining the sides of the carpet.

We also got to eyeball Javier Bardem, Christopher Lee, a couple of Bond girls, Q, a couple of comedians and a vintage Aston Martin that featured in the film.  Judi Dench drove past us in her car too.

We had to be in the Hall before Chuck and Camilla turned up, so we took the opportunity to lift a glass of NZ sav in the Cloudy Bay Wine Bar.  Still so tasty.

Those people playing at home will know that 2012 marked the 50^th anniversary of the release of Dr No and therefore 50 years of Bond on screen.  Because of that, there was a bit of a pre-show programme.  After the film was introduced by the director, an army band played the Bond theme while they screened a bit of a retrospective montage while we waited for the royals to show up.  After a good deal of flesh-pressing, we got to actually watch the movie.  Kyle only fell asleep for a few minutes and only let out a brief snore.  That’s an instant 4 star rating!

Crashed Out in Crete

After the better part of a year rushing around getting used to life in London and soaking up as much of a few cities as we could, we decided it was time to take our foot off the accelerator and spend a week in the sun.

There are plenty of options to choose from, but we opted for Chania on the northern side of Crete.  By late September, the temperature was still in the 30s and perfect.  We booked a little apartment just out of the main town (http://www.elmasdream.gr/) that had everything we needed.  So we rotated between the beaches, the apartment complex’s pool and the local restaurants.  Kyle went for a few runs, but otherwise we read books, swam and just mooched around.  It was wonderful.  Because we’d booked everything ourselves, rather than getting a package deal, we ended up surrounded by middle-aged Norwegians.  No idea where in Crete the Brits tend to go, but it isn't Chania!  Hilarious.

The food was fantastic – on our first trip to what became our favourite taverna down the road, we made friends with our waiter and asked him to order all traditional Greek dishes for us.  We weren’t sorry…  He ordered about six little plates for us to share – dolomades, eggplant wrapped in bacon, thin handmade sausages, lamb, roasted capsicums with a cumin-infused yoghurt sauce and, of course, mountains of tzatziki.  Delicious.  I still think that was the best meal we had the whole holiday.  In Crete, every restaurant brings you a little bottle of Raiki, the local fire water, to finish, along with some crazy semolina paste/cake.  The jury’s still out on that one.  But our waiter didn’t mind and he took very good care of us for that meal and our repeat visits.    

Another family-run restaurant we went to was run by a family who lived in Wellington - Kilbirnie to be precise - for over 20 years.  Once the first guy knew where we were from, we met the whole family.  Our meal was delicious, but we enjoyed sitting there listening to Hayley Westenra (who would’ve ever thought I’d say that!) and being treated almost as celebrities – Little Scandanavia must’ve been wondering who on earth we were!

 

Towards the end of our stay, we decided to finally be good little tourists and we took a trip down to the harbour in Chania Old Town.  It was small and very cute.  Lots of narrow windy lanes that no car would ever go down covered in climbing plants.  Best thing I can say about it is that it had a lighthouse. Which of course Kyle had to run to.  The ancient site of Knossos was nearby, but we were far too lazy.  Maybe next time!

Next stop?  You can call him Bond... James Bond....

Edinburgh and a pledge

Okay, so my New Year’s resolution is to blog more, and in a more timely fashion.

So, here we go…  The end of the mighty 2012, part one…

Looking back through the mists of time, I do seem to recall our weekend jaunt up to magic Edinburgh.  We popped up for the long weekend at the end of August to soak up the atmosphere of the famous Fringe Festival, see the Military Tattoo and try that polarising local delicacy, haggis.

We arrived early on a Saturday morning and, true to form, it was drizzling.  Our bus ride from the airport into the central city let us take in some of the outer city areas and admire sites such as Arthur’s Seat, which Kyle would still like to climb one day, and various cobbled streets.  We roamed the city for a bit – the Golden Mile was thronging with people handing out fliers for various shows happening all over the place ranging in price.  After about 10 minutes of slow dawdling we had a fist full of pamphlets each and a mighty hunger.  A friend who used to live in Edinburgh had recommended a slew of pubs to us, one of which boasts of having the best haggis…  We queued for about half an hour to see if they had a leg to stand on.  Kyle ordered it and I chickened out and got the fish and chips.  But it turns out it’s really tasty!  I’d been expecting something of a firmer or harder consistency, more like a tough sausage, but instead it more like porridge or something.  Anyway, we had it a couple of times during our stay and enjoyed it every time.  Nothing about it screamed “I’m made from guts!”, which I was worried about at first.

See you next time, Arthur's Seat

That afternoon it hosed down, which was great since we were off to the Military Tattoo staged outside Edinburgh Castle that evening.  Luckily the rain held off and we were armed with a matching pair of super-patriotic Scottish rain ponchos.  Go, St Andrew!  We were running late after dinner, so had to jog all the way there – right past Rhys Darby!  The show itself was brilliant, if you ignore the bit where the Aussies came out and tried to make us join in on some Waltzing Matilda….  Seriously, learn a new song already!  Images were projected against the castle throughout and there was a bit of a fireworks display at the end.  It was all very pro-monarchist, being the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but that was ok.  The best bits were definitely those involving the massed pipe bands (Scotland the Brave was last and well worth the wait), but a couple of the performances from other countries were amazing too.  There was one band from… somewhere South American, I think… who dress a bit like Musketeers and do amazing choreographed stuff with no accompaniment.  A group of about 10 guys, they drum on their own drum and on their neighbours and then on their own again, all in perfect time and in various moving patterns.  Very impressive.

The next day we went back to the castle and wandered around the inside.  Who doesn’t love a castle?  This one had some brilliant history too – neither of us had heard the story of how the Honours of Scotland had been hidden from Oliver Cromwell there back in the day, forgotten about and given up as lost before being found over 100 years later.

  

All that history was thirsty work, which was why we next found ourselves in the midst of the Scotch Whisky Experience…  Part ghost-train, part burn-your-throat-out-with-fire-water-while-the-staff-have-a-good-giggle-at-your-expense, it was actually quite fun and Kyle had a ball tasting various examples of Scotland’s finest brew.  The guy said to me “oh, don’t worry, we’ll make a whisky drinker out of you”.  Um, wrong.  Suffice it to say that Kyle’s stash remains safe from me.

Yay!  Poisonous fire water! 

From there, we were off to our chosen Fringe show…  Rhys Darby…  It was kind of hard not to go for that one after we’d seen him on the street and because he’s a kiwi.  The show was quite funny but I think the highlight was seeing David Hasselhoff outside on the way in.  He’d just finished his show and was out the front of the venue signing autographs and posing for photos with fans. 

Can scratch him Hoff the list...

And that was pretty much it!  We caught the train back to London because it had been billed as having good scenery.  To appreciate it though you have to a) stay awake and b) not have a cute kid sitting opposite you that wants to play Game of Life with you on his phone.  We’ll be back in Edinburgh this May though for Kyle to do the marathon, so we’ll see what else we can get up to then.

Next stop…. Crete!