Loos American Bar, Cafe Terrassinger on a Sunday afternoon

First, some Spring flowers. Tulips (I guess) and lilacs. I can't stress enough how pretty Vienna is in spring.

Second, I had a great weekend. Last night Georg and I went downtown and had a glass of wine or two at this cafe whose outdoor seating was in a pretty cobblestoned church square. It was a beautiful night and we talked about the places we'd like to when we actually have money. For an interesting melange of cultures, Georg would like to visit Hong Kong. For food, I'd like to visit Thailand. We'd like to visit Australia for the outback and so we can go to the Australian Open in Melbourne. Someday we think it'd be nice to go to Madagascar and go on a safari, and maybe to Peru to see the Andes and the Incan ruins.

Anyway, it started to get a bit chilly outside so next we took ourselves to the Loos American bar. We've wanted to visit for quite some time. The bar was built in 1908 (I know this because there were 100-year anniversary posters being displayed) by architect Adolf Loos. He's famous for being vocal against superfluous ornamentation, but I found the American bar to be quite lavish. Go figure. It's really tiny inside, but has mirrors above the bar to give the impression that you're just occupying a small space in a huge room. I ordered my favorite Manhattan, and we even celebrated the Derby a bit late and ordered Mint Juleps. They were good--not as sweet as at Churchill Downs, which is a good thing. We had so much fun and I was so happy to spend a carefree evening with Georg.

After we left we took a bus back in the direction of our apartment; I was feeling ravenously hungry in the way that alcohol can provide. Georg and I fantasized about making late night ham and eggs with ingredients we'd buy at the train station near our apartment, but once we got there it was closed. I almost had a meltdown but then I saw a Wuerstelstand. We settled on sharing a Kaesekrainer, a fatty sausage with gooey cheese melting inside, and I resolved to make popcorn as soon as I got home, which we would eat while we caught up on back episodes of Scrubs watched on my computer. Well, I got home, made a bag of popcorn, burned that. Made another bag of popcorn, but then fell asleep. Silly me! Oh well, haha.

Here's a picture of the American Bar:
The next day I woke up and it was another beautiful day. I wanted to spend some time outside, so I went to a cafe Georg and I visited when I was here in Austria three years ago. It's called Cafe Terrassinger, it's across from the Naschmarkt. I ordered tagliatelle with grilled vegetables and feta cheese, and it was very good. Obviously I haven't been cooking a lot lately being busy with the wedding and such, so it was a real treat.
Here the view I had:
I ate very slowly and read a book that Georg had lent me, which he was required to read in school as one of his first English books. It is clearly meant for a teenager but I had fun reading it; it's very British. I had to hide the cover from my fellow diners at the cafe so as not to be embarrassed by reading novels for teenagers, but I snuck this picture.
My sister and parents arrive in Vienna in just about a week! I hope the weather is this nice when they're here.