More music in Vienna

Our last night in Vienna, in an ornate baroque hall, we attended a Mozart concert with a chamber orchestra and two singers, all in period drees, performing arias from some of Mozart's operas.


The following morning, we went to mass at a small chapel in the Hapsburg Palace where the Vienna Boys' Choir sing. It was truly a memorable experience hearing those lovely voices in such a setting. The choir is out of sight in a loft three levels above the floor, but at the end of the service they come down and sing once more for the the guests. It was unbelievable to see how such a small group, about a dozen boys and some so very young, could produce the magnificent sounds we just heard.

Austria

We've been in Austria for three days now and have adjusted to the German speech all around. It was a long trip from Parma to Vienna so we stopped one night in the town of Velden which is just over the border once you leave Italy. Velden is a resort town on a very pretty lake and the season had just started the day before we arrived, The hotel was not very busy except there was a Tupperware meeting going on while we were there. Go figure. The morning we left, the front drive of the hotel was lined with marvelous sports cars - every European make available. Apparently, there was to be a rally - people coming in all day to drive the cars around the lake.

Once we were settled in our hotel in Vienna, we quickly left behind the pasta of Italy and jumped right into the coffee and pastries of Austria. That first night we went to the opera and it was quite a grand experience. The Opera House is magnificent and the guests are dressed in everything from gowns to day wear. We thoroughly enjoyed The Barber of Seville since we had recently seen it at home and knew the story, although it was fun to have the little translators in several languages on the back of each seat. After the opera we went to the cafe at the Sacher Wien Hotel and had the original Sacher Torte with champagne for me and espresso for Dave. What a special evening.

Our guide met us the next day for a walking tour around Vienna beginning with St. Stephens's Cathedral and on to the Imperial Palace, the former residence of the Habsburgs which included the Imperial Apartments. The Austrians are quite taken with Empress Elisabeth, affectionally known as Sisi, the wife of Franz Joseph I. She was sixteen when they married and was quite a beauty. Her photograph is everywhere and souvenirs of her are most popular. She reminded us of Princess Diana and her effect on the English. Later in the day we went to the Spanish Riding School to see the beautiful Lippizaner Stallions. Unfortunately they do not let you photograph the horses or the interior of the school or the riding ring.

Today took us to Belvedere Palace (in the last picture), originally the summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy which houses a museum that has an impressive collection of Austrian art. At the heart of the displays of "art around 1900" is the world's largest Gustave Klimt collection. I found several that I would love to have in my house. Ha.

Travel notes of Interest

Some interesting travel stories:

When we arrived in Milano, we were upgraded to a Mercedes C class diesel with only 12 miles on it.  I couldn’t have been happier.  However, the car is 10 years newer than mine and the controls are all in Italian and no owner’s manual.  As I pulled out of the garage and stopped at a crosswalk for pedestrians, it stalled.  This happened again several times at lights.  I noted an “ECO” button and indicator on the speedometer.  I turned it off and it stopped stalling.  Four days later we had a guide with a Mercedes and I asked.  He did not have one but suggested that when you stop the engine goes off and when you put your foot on the gas it starts.  Sure enough, it actually starts when you take your foot off the break.  Who knew????  I still have a steaming coffee cup icon on the display that I can’t translate.  We are getting 38 mpg on diesel from 1.45 to 1.74 euro/liter (about $7.90 per gallon).  By the way it takes a lot of conversion because the displays are in liters/100 kilometers.

Driving into Parma on a Sunday, we ran into a street fair that blocked a major street for about a mile.  We spent 30 min trying to get around it with no success so we backtracked and came into town from the opposite side (we were staying on the duomo piazza, dead center).  Well, we got hopelessly lost in the narrow one-way streets of the old town even with GPS.  When we passed a carabineri for the third time we asked directions.  With the language barrier and streets, we ended up with a military escort to the hotel.  Everyone laughed including the solders.

Parmesan, Balsamic Vinegar, and Prosciutto

Yesterday we drove to Parma, a town to the west of Bologna, where we will stay for a few days. Today we became totally immersed in the production of Emilia Romagna's signature food products.

Leaving our hotel at 7:30 a.m., we travelled with our guide to a local dairy that produces Parmesan Reggiano. For the next hour and a half we watched every fascinating step of the cheese production.







The cheese maker and two assistants make twelve wheels of the cheese every morning which then age for eighteen months to three years.

On to Modena, home of the finest Balsamic Vinegars. Here, at the Villa San Donnino, we were taken on a tour of the vinegar process which produces "Aceto Balsamico Traditionale Di Modena" a truly unique product, not simply a vinegar but a seasoning.

It comes from Trebbiano grapes which are grown on the farm, boiled, and aged in barrels for twelve to fifty plus years. The farm also produces a six year vinegar which is used for salads.

We sampled small amounts of each of the years to truly appreciate the spectacular product that comes from the aging process. The wife of the vinegar producer took us on a tour of the Villa, a magnificent home that was taken over by the Nazis during WWII. It houses am amazing collection of art, ceramics, beautiful old furniture, and an extensive collection of bronze animals.

Our final stop was at a Prosciutto di Parma processing plant, Salumificio La Perla, where we saw the massive hams in all stages of salting, washing, cooling, and air drying in various rooms of cold, humidity, and temperature.

It take eighteen months to cure the hams which are then each tested by inspectors who insert horse bones in various parts of the ham, and smelling them, to determine whether they are properly cured. In order to be called Prosciutto di Parma, the hams must be made in the Parma area. The pigs are fed special diets in order to be used for this ham curing process. Our guide took us next door to the local 'agritourismo' to have a wonderful lunch, prepared by the owners, of prosciutto, salami, culatella, Parmesan, and, of course, tortelli - raviolis filled with ricotta and spinach.

The owner of the salumificio treated us to some wonderful melt in your mouth 48 month prosciutto. What more could we ask for on such a fabulous day!

Cooking with Luisa

What a fun day! We started the morning off with our guide and translator, Lilia, who took us to the market hall where locals buy fresh produce, meat, pasta, cheese, and fish. So many foods were not available to us at home, like the varieties and different sizes of artichokes: the produce seller described how to pickle the baby artichokes.

At another shop we watched a man making fresh mozzarella.



When they finally dragged me away, Lilia took us to Luisa's home where we were to spend the rest of the day cooking. Luisa belongs to a group of women called Caesarinas who teach Bolognese cooking. She was recently in New York and Miami with some colleagues giving cooking classes. Luisa, Dave and I made fresh pasta, each of us doing our own batch - such pressure! 

Half the pasta was set aside to dry while the other was used right away to make ricotta and spinach tortelloni. Next we cut the rest of the pasta in strips - just the right width or it cannot be called tagliatelle - to go with the Bolognese sauce Luisa had made previously. Lunch was served - tortellini in a butter and sage sauce followed by tagliatelle Bolognese, paired with a local Lambrusco wine. For dessert we enjoyed a dense chocolate cake that we had made when we first arrived this morning. This day is why I came to Bologna!

In Bologna

After three days in Bologna,we knew we had found another favorite place. In the town there are 100,000 students, and the vibe is energetic. The town itself is charming with its winding streets, plazas nestled among the historical buildings, and cafes open to the beautiful spring weather. We spent a day with a guide who shared her knowledge of the museums, libraries, and churches they are so proud. Later she took us to the local markets and told us a out the various pastas, meats and cheeses. We learned that tortellini are very small - the size of half a chestnut and shaped to look like a woman's navel, and are meat filled. Tortelloni are larger - more the size of our ravioli- and they are filled with cheese. Tortellini are usually served "en brodo" - in broth. The larger tortelloni are often served with butter and sage. We ended our little tour with a sampling of local cured meats - prosciutto, salami, and mortadella paired with the local bread - fried puffs of dough that look like beignets. Next came chunks of aged Parmesan with aged balsamic vinegar drizzled over it. This was all accompanied by local sparkling wine. Last we sampled several varieties of their dark chocolate, one a cube of chocolate and hazelnut that was created for the Fiat company when they brought out a new car years ago. The car was not a success but the chocolate was.

The next day we took the train to Ravena, home to many well-preserved mosaics in the churches which were created during the 6th and 8th centuries, the finest in all Western art and the most splendid outside Istanbul. They were exquisite and the work so fine it looked like tapestry. Later we visited one of the modern-day workshops to watch the craftsmen piece together mosaics out of tiny shards of Murano glass.

A New Year, New Travel Adventures...

We leave in two days for the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy where we begin Debbie's food fantasy in Bologna. Follow along with us as we sample fresh tortellini, parmesan cheese, prosciutto and mortadella, and balsamic vinegar. Next we hop to one of the spots on Dave's bucket list - Austria - where we will attend the opera and listen to Mozart and The Vienna Boy's Choir. Finally, it's back to the Lake District of Italy where we will be joined by Dave's brother, Hugh, and his wife, Georgia.