My TravelBox articles

My four weeks at TravelBox on Slate.com are coming to an end. Here's a round-up of all my posts over there, for your reading pleasure:

Italy
A culinary layover in Milan
There's more to the Veneto than Venice

Austria
An Easter weekend in Vienna
Seeking out wine in Vienna (or Wein in Wien)

Switzerland
Switzerland's answer to Groundhog Day
Switzerland's off season

Germany
Discovering Berlin's divided past
Dresden rising

Vienna's Naschmarkt

There are lots of things about Vienna which make me think it would be a nice place to live. One of my favorite parts of the city is the daily outdoor market called the Naschmarkt. It's just one of those sumptuous sensory-overload type markets, bursting not only with fresh fruit and veggies, but also olives, fresh bread and pasta, dried fruits, fresh sauerkraut, and plenty more. There's also a section of the market which consists of primarily Asian shops and restaurants where we enjoyed a couple meals during our Easter trip.

Kaffee und Kuchen in Vienna

The Viennese have a lovely tradition of dropping everything at around 4 PM and indulging in some Kaffee und Kuchen. In the interest of getting the most out of our vacation, we of course also adopted this practice while we were in Vienna. We are nothing if not cultural adventurers.

To get the true Austrian experience, you have to order your coffee mit Schlag, which translates roughly to buried under copious amounts of really stiff whipped cream. I'm not sure if it's the word or the actual cream which makes me not like this particular type of coffee, but I always just got mine black.

Although Kuchen translates to cake, it's used more as an umbrella term to include a wide variety of sweet baked things that one may consume alongside the coffee. Of course there is the oh-so-famous Sacher Torte, a chocolate cake with raspberry jam filling and a chocolaty outer coating (not entirely unlike Magic Shell). It originated at the tragically snooty Hotel Sacher, which is right next to the Vienna Opera House, but these days every Thomas, Dieter, and Horst in this city makes his own version of it (despite Hotel Sacher's claim to having a top-secret recipe).

Luckily Vienna had plenty in the way of sweets that I was actually impressed with, like this thing called a Scheibbserkugel - a chocolate-coated ball filled with cookie and creamy goodness. We found them at the Easter markets around the city, but hopefully these things are around at other times of year, too. Another thing I liked were these pointy chocolate things filled with chocolate mousse. I think the name had something to do with Paris (how's that for good journalism for you?).

Buona Pasqua

Easter in Italy is always marked by the omnipresent giant chocolate eggs. No bunnies, no peeps, just big chocolate eggs. If you're lucky, there's an exciting surprise awaiting you inside your giant chocolate egg. These surprises can range from cheap plastic toys to fine jewelry, depending on where your egg came from. They're kind of like giant Kinder Surprise eggs.*

Easter in Europe can be tricky, as Heather recently discussed. On one hand, it's a four-day weekend. On the other, it seems like all of Europe is closed. It's like having four Sundays in a row: no groceries, no shopping, and limited restaurants. That makes it a little difficult to pick a destination for the weekend. It would have been nice to go skiing, but we're done with fighting the bad snow. Last year we went to Berlin, and the year before that we came to Zurich for the first time (having no idea that we would eventually move here). This year we opted to continue our success with 'big' cities, and head to Vienna. It turned out to be a good choice, as pretty much everything was open as if it were a normal weekend. Plus we got colored eggs and chocolate lamb-shaped cake for breakfast. What more could you ask for?

Speaking of religious holidays, this article about the recent marketing efforts of Swiss churches caught my eye this morning. As in many European countries, funding for churches (well, mainstream Christian churches anyway) is done through taxes collected by the government here.

* remind me to tell you a funny story about Kinder Surprise eggs.

As seen on the streets of Vienna

Back signs seem to be the preferred method of advertising in this city. They were all over the pedestrian zone. This guy wanted us to say rosaries to have our sins forgiven…

…while this one wanted us to go drink beer. Hmmm, which one do you think we listened to?

And, everywhere you turn in this city, Mozart is there beseeching you to try his balls.