A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Viva la Austria

After three days in Venice, we are now in Schladming, Austria. We had lots of pasta, chianti, roasted chicken. But now we're in the land of bratwurst and beer. So we checked into the hotel and headed down to the town (which is about a 20 minute walk down what feels like a 90 degree slope!). After all those danged bridges in Venice (I tried to walk around them but no can do), my shins and calves are a bit achy. So how thrilled was I to walk down this steep hill. But we made it. Walked around the town a bit and suddenly I felt like I'd stepped into a Twilight Zone tv show. There were very few people around and all the shops and restaurants were closed. At 5pm! On Saturday! Some of them had been open, but closed at 1:oopm. Apparently no one in this town eats outside of their home after lunch - including tourists. We had seen a market open when we first arrived in town and fully planned to buy stuff to cook if need be since we have a kitchen in the room. By now we were both very hungry and tired.


After walking in a big circle for 90 minutes we found an open restaurant close to where we began our trek. It was a pretty nice place, although we were the only ones there. But I was ready for my first brats and beer. Oh, wait, this turns out to be Mexico week at this restaurant and the only things they offered where on their "Mexican" menu! No brats? Nien, how about a taco. No Weinerschnitzel? Nein, how about some guacamole. WTF?? Seem there's a cuisine called Austrian Mexican which includes things like BBQ ribs, pork chops, and potatoes stuffed with chicken. Ay, Carumba. So Ed ordered the pork chops and I ordered a Chicken Quesadilla. Neither were remotely Mexican, but both were good. The waitress was very cute and using her English along with hand signals to help us order. My German is limited to 3-4 words, but my handy little dictionary is at the ready.

After dinner the waitress brought us two shot glasses of Tequila along with the traditional salt and lime. Only in Austrian Mexican that translates to a slice of orange. While we were paying Ed tried to make small talk with the waitress. Her English was limited so he got mostly the deer in the headlights look and some head nods. I told him to use the dictionary and keep it simple!


By now it was raining outside and our umbrellas were in their usual places - nice and dry in the hotel room. So we walked down the street to the market which was (drum roll, please) closed. Luckily there was a Shell station a few steps away so we sloshed there, dripping wet, managed to buy a few things for breakfast, and the man working there was nice enough to call us a cab.

Now I'll drag my tired legs to bed and get ready for tomorrow's adventure.

5 comments:

Jenni said...

We had the same experience you did where everything was closed the night we got to Schladming. You'll get plenty of brats and beer tomorrow - just head out early!

When will you visit Salzburg?

Chatterness said...

I'm jealous of the shot of tequila! Woo hoo!!

tunia said...

Looks like someones having a ball!
Have fun! :)
I'll like to scratch(cant say fondle! :p) that breast too! :D

namaste said...

"ay carumba." so funny! sounds like you're having quite the adventure.

;)

~m

Judypatooote said...

Oh I love brats and beer.....it sounds like your having a great time...