So, I think it’s obvious from the photos that we drank quite a lot of beer on this trip and very rarely did we come across something that we didn’t like. Here’s the entire list and where we tried each beer.

L’Estiminet (Bruges)
Leffe bruin

De Garre (Bruges)
De Garre Tripel (house beer),  Gulden Draak

Cambrinus (Bruges)
Duchesse de Bourgogne, Gauloise, Tongerlo Bruin, Petrus Dubbel Bruin

Oud Brugge (Bruges)
Brugse Zot (blonde and bruin – only beer brewed in Bruges)

Smatch Grocery Store (Bruges)
Lindeman’s Framboise, Timmerman’s Peach Lambic

O’Reilly’s Irish Pub (Brussels)
Guinness, Strongbow (what? it counts!)

Delirium Cafe (Brussels)
OMER., Trapistes Rochefort 10, Delirium Tremens (house beer), Floris Kriek Lambic, Buffalo Belgian Stout

Poechenellekelder (Brussels)
Nostradamus, St. Bernardus Abt 12, Forestinne Primoria

Royal Brasserie (Brussels)
Bourgogne de Flanders, Maredsous Bruin

A La Mort Subite (Brussels)
Grimbergen Bruin, Westmalle Dubbel, Ciney Blonde, Mort Subite Framboise (house lambic)

That makes a grand total of 27 different beers!  We paced ourselves well and I’d like to think that all the walking we did counteracted some of the alcohol. :) My second favorite part (drinking beer is the best part, of course) was getting a special glass for each beer.

Cheers!

We didn’t have much planned for Saturday, so we took advantage of that luxury and slept in.  After walking around town a bit we took a tram up to Stammersdorf to experience some authentic heurigers (a Austrian wine tavern where wine-growers serve the most recent year’s wine). There are plenty of districts in Vienna with heurigers but we read in several spots that the one furthest out was going to give us the best experience. Considering that almost no one spoke any English, I think we got our wish. Thankfully, Eric was on point with his German, so we managed to get our point across with little trouble.

come on in and drink some wine!

After receiving the first round, it became clear that we were never going to make it to all the places I had mapped out…

Above is a photo of the mugs of wine we were served at Heuriger Wieninger. The heurigen (or new wine) was light, slightly spritzy and very easy to drink. In fact, many of the older folks (so, pretty much everyone else in the tavern at 3pm) ordered new wine spritzers. Eventually, I also ordered a spinach and cheese pastry to add something else to my belly. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual, not unlike a pub, but the only thing on the menu was their own wine. Eric’s note: Leandra also ordered a red wine, which came out in a standard wine glass along with a decanter. Turns out everything they serve is large…

I convinced Eric to try one more place before heading back into Vienna, so we visited Haus Schmidt Heuriger closer to the tram stop. Here we tried the rotwein (red) and weißer (white) and once again, a mere 2 Euros got us 0.25L of wine each. For those slow at metrics that would be 1/3 of a bottle!

I wanted these wine glasses but we couldn’t figure out how to ask about buying them (in our limited German) and frankly, weren’t sure they would even survive the trip home.

On the journey out of town, we were surprised at how urban Vienna stayed a good half hour from the city center. Stammersdorf is the last stop on Tram 31, and this scene was more of what we expected… quiet streets, colorful houses and private courtyards.

We thought the wine was better at the first place, but didn’t try the heurigen at the second place, so it’s difficult to fairly compare the two. Ultimately it was nice to escape the bustle of the city for an afternoon and experience something uniquely Austrian.

Although we do not typically take organized tours, upon further research it became clear that we were not going to be able to get out of the city and see the Slovakian wine region on our own. Rental cars were prohibitively expensive and most of the winery websites we could find weren’t in English, so we had no way of knowing if they would even be open.

We were able to easily book the tour through the hotel for the next day and when we showed up at the designated spot, we discovered that we were the only people signed up—thus we had our very own private tour guide for the day!

Roman, our driver/guide, filled us in on some of the recent history of communism and all the steps toward rebuilding the city and even more importantly, the nation. Much of the farm lands were seized during the communist rule and by the time the property was returned to the families, the children were no longer farmers. This means much of the farm land is unused and overgrown, just waiting for development companies to name a good price.

Our first stop was a pottery shop in Modra where we got to see a potter, Miroslav, throw clay on a wheel. He showed us several different methods of creating these traditional vases, cups and dishes.

After leaving the studio at the back of the property, we visited the actual store where the painter was working to decorate the air-dried pieces which will then be fired. This woman had a very steady hand!

Our next stop was Hrad Červený Kameň (the red stone castle) which, as you can see in the photo below, was a little hard to see. It was very misty/rainy outside and we weren’t allowed to take any photos inside, so it was mostly a history lesson.

We were looking forward to the next stop at a family owned winery because it meant being indoors for a spell. Ján Paták Mountain Winery is located at the end of the narrow winding road and we were treated to a tasting of four of his wines, three white and one red. We sampled a Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, Devin and Blaufrankisch. Unfortunately for us, he didn’t speak English so our guide had to translate everything for us. Thankfully Roman knew a little about wine, so we probably got most of the story along with the tasty snacks.

The Bratislava Christmas markets started on Friday, so once we got back in town, my #1 goal was to try the traditional Slovakian honey wine, Medovina. We enjoyed this sweet wine with Lokse, crepes filled with nuts (for Eric) and chicken liver pate (for me).  After visiting a few booths, we decided to pick up our luggage and head back to Vienna for the rest of our trip.

After the confusing experience of getting to Slovakia, we were ready to take advantage of the rest of the daylight hours (and stretch our legs) by hiking up to the castle and enjoying sweeping panoramic views of the city.

We braved the chilly weather and watched the sunset over the Danube from the castle grounds…

Once the sun went down, we explored the town a bit before it was time for dinner. Unfortunately, the Christmas markets didn’t open until the following day, so we found a pub, Sladovna House of Beer, and sampled two Slovakian beers from Zlatý Bažant – a light beer (svetle) and a dark beer (tmave). Surprisingly, we both liked the darker one better as it was sweet but not too cloying like a porter or stout. Actually, it’s pretty amazing we managed to get anything because no one at the pub spoke English, so there was quite a bot of pointing and scowling when they had trouble breaking my 5 Euro note. That’s right… our two beers were only 1,60E!

After our round of Slovakian beer, we walked up to our dinner place, Traja Musketieri, and thankfully managed to snag a table amidst two large parties. We figured we would celebrate Thanksgiving properly by enjoying game… venison ragu for Eric and wild boar medallions for me. Everything was absolutely delicious and filling and the local wine was lovely.

At this point we returned to our hotel and called our families who were six hours behind and preparing Thanksgiving dinner. We had just enough energy to try a wine bar inside the hotel building where we had a lovely time sampling Slovakian wines. Once the owner knew we were more interested in the local wines—versus trying the standard stuff we can get at home—he gave us a lesson on some new varietals and wine-making styles. For example, the new Slovakian whites are named after castles and the reds are named after rivers.

The one thing we did notice was that at both the dinner place and the wine bar, we were charged double for our glasses of wine. I still haven’t been able to find an explanation as to why the prices are listed like this… a tourist tax perhaps?

Our first day in Vienna was more like a half day as we arrived around 3pm and the sun was already well on it’s way to setting for the evening. We settled into our very lovely room at the Le Meridian near Karlsplatz then set off on foot to explore Vienna and visit the large Christmas market in front of the Rathaus.

The street decorations did not disappoint. All the main shopping drags were lit up spectacularly and many of the stores were dripping with Christmas lights.

After a very convoluted path led by all the decorated streets, somehow Eric managed to get us to the main market which was bustling even on a Wednesday night. He snapped a few photos while I explored the stalls for ornaments and gifts.

We bought several pretzels from the Brezel stand twice on our trip – one savory (cheese),  one sweet (chocolate and powdered sugar), and one standard.

After we had our fill of market fare we wandered about some more and discovered at least four other small Christmas markets – all with their individual mugs describing the location (and sponsors) of that particular market. I really enjoyed the fact that hot beverages were served in these mugs which you could either keep (as we did) or return to get your 1-2 Euro deposit back. From the amount of people at these markets it’s a good thing locals returned the cups!

We weren’t hungry enough for a full dinner, so we headed back to the hotel and asked about a nearby local wine bar to get a glass (or two) of Austrian wine. The concierge recommended a wonderful place just two blocks away named Weinquartier.

Not only were the wine prices reasonable, we were also served a complimentary basket of bread and olive oil. Eric had no trouble picking out his whites but the reds were a bit more intimidating to me, so our server (perhaps also the owner?) let me sample a few wines to see what I liked best. What a lovely way to end our first day in Austria!

Eric and I have a list of restaurants to try that is added to constantly as new places open or we read a good review.

Last night we got to try two new places, Whiskey and Dos Perros. Originally, we were supposed to go to a furniture sale in Cary but after a quick look online at the traffic cams, we discovered a huge wreck between us and the store. And don’t these cocktails look like a nicer way to spend some time?

Eric’s Debonair and my Monkey Gland cocktails

We relaxed and chatted in comfy leather chairs for a bit before heading over to meet some friends a few blocks away at Dos Perros, the new restaurant of Jujube’s owner, Charlie Deal.

The setting is very nice and homey and the waitstaff was eager to talk about the food. Eric got a pork special that was very tasty, but my mole poblano from the menu was just okay. I would have preferred the meat more shredded so the sauce could coat more evenly. I also greatly prefer flour tortillas to the corn ones, but didn’t think to ask if they had any. On the plus side, the beans that came with my dish were excellent and I had Eric take his home for my lunch today. Overall, I thought the food was good but the prices were a few dollars higher than I would prefer to pay. I will give them another shot but order something different next time.

The third new place was Local Yogurt where I met a friend of mine and her kids for a snack this afternoon.

Above is a small bowl of peanut butter frozen yogurt with magic shell and peanut butter cups. And yes, it was as tasty as it looks. :)

For my birthday this year, Eric got me a spa package at Umstead Spa in Cary. Because of my sister’s wedding, our trip to Peru and the NC nonprofit’s conference were all back to back in late-August/early-September, I waited until now to make the reservation.

After dropping my car at the complimentary valet, I was whisked away to the spa area where a giant fluffy robe and massage slippers were waiting for me. I arrived early so I could take advantage of the whirlpool hot tub before my “Body Glo” exfoliation treatment and massage. The description from the Umstead website:

Your body will be exfoliated with a rich blend of sea salt and Umstead Bath and Body Gel, after which our luxurious Umstead Body Butter will be applied leaving your skin ‘baby soft’ and refreshed.

You lay on a table covered with towels (with one draped over you) and six rain-style showerheads above you spray warm water down while the sea salt rub is applied.  Absolutely lovely and very relaxing. Immediately following this was my 50 minute massage with lavender oil. The hiking this weekend did a number on my hips, so the therapist concentrated on that area and my lower back. My actual treatments only took about two hours, but I was there for about 3.5 hours total, trying out the sauna and hot tub again and reading trashy magazines while sipping on water laced with cucumbers.

I finally pried myself away from the spa to have lunch with Eric at Heron’s and I continued my day of luxury with the Market Menu and wine pairings…

Somerset Farm Vichyssoise (Carolina Hen and Arugula Pesto) with Four Graces Pinot Gris
Roasted Southport Snapper with Joseph Drouhin Chardonnay
Roasted Peaches (White Chocolate Rice Pudding and Burnt Almond Ice Cream) with La Yunta Late Harvest Torrontes

Everything was delicious and Eric very much enjoyed his grilled cheese sandwich and creamy tomato soup with a cheese crisp. A wonderfully indulgent and relaxing day.

Thanks, Eric! :*

Our cab from the airport (a reasonable 60 solas [$20] for 4 people) dropped us off in the heart of Miraflores and from there we set off to explore the area and spend some time before lunch. Eric and I popped into a local supermarket for some chips and bottled water and our new friend Dave bought himself a pair of shoes (American Airlines lost his luggage and he had been wearing the same slip-ons for three days, including the Machu Picchu hike).

After that, I basically handed Eric the map and asked him to get us to the dot that was our lunch place location. :)

The streets were a little tricky but the signage was fine and we eventually ended up on Av. Pardo where we could walk down the middle of the street. This avenue dead-ends into a park overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It very much reminded us of certain parts of California.

Our main destination in Miraflores was La Mar (website in Spanish), which is supposed to be one of the best places for cebiche (marinated raw fish) in the city. We arrived just after noon so we got a table slightly above the main dining room which made for great people watching.

(The complimentary chips, dips and roasted corn kernels were delicious.)

I couldn’t decide on any one dish (and there are no English menus so it takes a bit of guessing), but, luckily, La Mar has something just for that type of indecision—a cebiche sampler of the five most popular choices. Thankfully, none of them included tongue.

I don’t expect that everyone will find my meal appetizing (Eric certainly didn’t) but it was absolutely delicious. And I’m not just saying that because of the pisco sour (or two) that I consumed along with it.

(the beautiful presentation from left to right: Nikei – tuna in tiger milk; Potente – clams and squid; Miraflorino – fish in yellow red pepper mixed cream; Elegante – fish in cream of red pepper; Clásico – the freshest fish)

Eric settled on the paella limeña which was rice with fish, shellfish, chicken and garlic sausage with creole seasoning. He was a very good sport as nothing on the menu didn’t have some sort of seafood included. We all left full and happy.

Everything was exceptional, including my antelope main course and the chocolate trio dessert!

This post about embarrassing moments in bottle opening over on Dr. Vino had me thinking back to Eric’s mishap with a fancy and extremely hard to use bottle opener in Montana.

We managed to get most of the wine out of his shirt.