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SZG Do
The MARC train from Union Station is a lovesome thing, God
wot. Gets you to the BWI rail depot in half an hour in relative comfort. As I detrained, an odd little middle-aged woman (I was going to write "little old lady" but reflected on that she was about my age, perhaps younger) appeared out of nowhere with one of those scooters that used to be popular among kids in the '50s and were revived, I think, in the energy-conscious '90s and '00s. She proceeded to weave her way around everyone and proceed to parts unknown. The rest of us obediently trooped on the shuttlebus (perhaps she did as well, but I didn't see her - I suspect she scooted all the way to the airport) and got off at our respective piers. I tried checkin via Mr. Chicken and his passport reader, and it worked fine; I got all the day's passes at once, including for the international leg. Security took mere moments, despite there being a fairly long line. No RCC any more, as we know, and someone has taken down the protest notes that were springing up last time I was here a couple weeks ago, but the T-Mobile still functions, with the extra feature intact. I was so engrossed in FT that I missed the boarding call and boarded fairly late. In the meantime, guess who scooted past down the hall? We emplaned through 1L. UA 641 BWI ORD 0945 1047 752 2A Ch9^^ Empower :td: Breakfast: coffee, juice, or water and a 1/2 oz pack of Biscoffs. The quite decent FA crew was quite forthcoming with stuff to augment the coffee, juice, and water; I passed and had a nice hour snooze. Flight came in about half an hour early; about 15 of that advantage were eaten up by the airport grand tour. As we wandered about, the list of connections was announced. The guy hardly skipped a beat when he read "flight 950 to Washington Dulles, Gate C10." Oh, guess who was in 1C: Ms. Scooter. When I left she was chewing off the ear of the very patient FA about something or another. I had plenty of time to get the earlier flight to Dulles, but I decided to sit tight and keep my beautiful 777, despite the greater chance for a misconnect. So I sat at the club munching Werther's Original dark chocolate with caramel and the new Love and Quiches cookies 'n cream brownies; both of these are quite acceptable but don't really make up for the meal cutbacks on the flights. The usual run of granola bars, Kit Kats, big croissants, little bagels, boxes of raisins, apples and oranges, and Sun Chips. At some point some brown pastries came out. I asked the attendant what they were, and he opined that they were either bran muffins or chocolate or both; turns out they were incredibly unbelievably stale pumpernickel rolls. I know that's a redundancy, but that's how stale they were. The wi-fi worked exceptionally well, no dropped signals. UA950C ORD IAD 1315 1614 777 9J Ch9 ^ Empower ^ The flight was checked in at 163 with 25 standbys and 8 hopeful upgraders to F. That's what the big screen said. The little C cabin had 4 empties, so I guess everyone was accommodated eventually. A rather officious, by the rules crew: the downside, a rather brusque and not forthcoming appearance; the upside, playing by the old rules, including multiple predeparture OJ/water services as we sat waiting for our clearance - how there can be congestion at ORD on a crystalline clear day I don't know. Walter the purser kind of melted down when some guy in row 3 had the gall to stay on his phone during the no-cellphone spiel; he came over and hissed "I'm not doing this just to hear my own voice" and went on about how rude the pax was. "I don't want to have to call the FAA on you," he said. My FA refused to call the cockpit to inquire about Ch9. Some attitude on these folks! Ch9 did come on without prompting after takeoff, though. Premier snack mix did not seem to be a promising snack; but eventually the dreaded fruit and cheese plate came out: the canonic 5 fruits (let's see, blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes; all surprisingly good) and two cheeses: a rather peppery Pepper Jack and a Cheddaroid substance that didn't taste like Jack. Courvoisier helped it all down. We landed at C27; the connection was at C1. Luckily we came in early. I went to the C7 club and tried to find gvdIAD; turns out he was in C17. At C7 drink coups gladly given. It was unbelievably crowded, as was the entire concourse. |
Originally Posted by violist
(Post 10404016)
Walter the purser kind of melted down when some guy in row 3 had the gall to stay on his phone during the no-cellphone
spiel; he came over and hissed "I'm not doing this just to hear my own voice" and went on about how rude the pax was. "I don't want to have to call the FAA on you," he said. |
UA902 IAD MUC 1728 0740 777 12F was 9F/9J Ch9^ Empower^
Met up with gvdIAD on the plane; had a bit of a chat, and then I went to my seat, 9F. I don't know where my 9J had disappeared to. Ah, well. 9E had a spouse or spice who was a late upgrader, and in the interest of amity I switched with 12F, which is a perfectly okay home for those of us with legs shorter than Magic Johnson's. Ch9 was on during all the time I was awake, with plenty of chatter even on the overwater. Warm nuts, predeparture Champers, which was actually okay, a fairly attentive crew: largely Black, though there were a very tantalizing young blonde and a cute, age-appropriate brunette working as well. to begin Smoked salmon, Genoa salami and vegetable crudite with a sun-dried tomato dressing Fresh seasonal greens - classic Caesar or balsamic Dijon vinaigrette main course T Mustard thyme scented chicken - with warm horseradish potato salad Braised short rib of beef with red wine demi-glace - potato pancakes and oven-roasted root vegetables Boursin lasagna - Alfredo and marinara sauce The appie and salad were unexceptionable: my only comment being that my piece of salmon, though tasting appropriately salmony, was white!, and the vegetable crudite looked like a cruddity, with the dehydrated look of a carrot that had been cut sometime last week and left to molder in the fridge. A couple nice grape tomatoes; I guess they're in season somewhere in the world. I'd told the brunette FA that my first choice was the beef and my second choice was to not be wakened up for supper and I wouldn't die for want of food. She thanked me and said, that's better than some pax ... . I did get my first choice. Another FA served the stuff, calling it "filet mignon." It was neither filet nor short rib: about six ounces of perfectly okay pot roast in a brown sauce that might have seen red wine at some point in its youth. The sides were negligible. What can one say: it was palatable food, didn't make me retch, didn't make me shed tears of joy. The "root" vegetables were zucchini, yuck. Real butter on this flight, molded in the shape of a flower. dessert International cheese selection - Kerrygold vintage Cheddar, Port-Salut Eli's caramel tiramisu I was asleep before dessert came out. Normally, I ask for a Courvoisier or a glass of Port, just to make sure they keep stocking these things, but, what can I say, I shirked my responsibility. featured wines Champagne Duval-Leroy Brut NV Champagne - Duval-Leroy is a Champagne house that consistently creates an easy-going style of Champagne; fruitier in style than some, and very, very fleshy and rich. Pol Roger Brut NV Champagne - Pol Roger makes its umpteenth appearance on our wine list; and that pleases us very much. Pol Roger's style is classic but rich, and full-bodied but balanced. When we blind taste our wines each year, Pol Roger always comes out at the top. White wine Fevre Champs Royaux 2006 Chablis (Chardonnay) - Chardonnays from Burgundy can taste very unlike Californian Chardonnay; where California goes for the richness of buttered toast, Chablis (a subregion of Burgundy) is poised, earthy, and tart with orange and green apple aromas. Estancia Pinnacles Chardonnay 2006 Monterey - California's reputation for buttery Chardonnay doesn't come from Napa Valley's wines; it comes from the Central Coast of California. Estancia's Pinnacles Chardonnay is cut from that cloth, with pear, spice, buttered toast and green apples. Salmon Harbor Chardonnay 2005 Columbia Valley - While California has built a reputation on buttery Chardonnay, Washington's best Chardonnays have even better balance between richness and crispness, combining spiced pears and buttered toast and Salmon Harbor hit it in 2005. The Chablis was in fact pleasantly tropical fruited and an okay wine. There was a hint of the butter that the description denies, but one forgives the overwrought state of a copy writer whose job is probably on the line every day. I was not displeased. Interesting about the Pol Roger. The bottle sat on the cart unopened through the entire service. Red wine Domaine Santa Duc Vieilles Vignes 2005 Cotes du Rhone (Grenache) - France's greatest growth in red wines is emanating from the Rhone Valley, where Cotes du Rhone wines represent some of the world's best values. This spicy and intense Grenache is laced with some rich black cherry tinged Syrah. Warburn Barrel Matured Shiraz 2007 Barossa Valley - Warburn offers an ideal example of the character of Australian Shiraz, with coconut, blackbery and cassis flavors. It has the voluptuous richness that typifies Australian wines. Fabre Montmayou Gran Reserva Malbec 2006 Mendoza - this is lush red wine, full of plums and spice, and proof that Argentine Malbec is on its way to becoming the next big thing. This Malbec has roundness, jammy fruit, dusty spice and layers of complexity. The CdR was actually kind of okay - I found red cherries rather than black and old shoes rather than spice, but whatever. Switched to the Malbec, which was pretty much as advertised, though with a bit of vanilla oak smoothness. Both these wines were decent but no doubt available to the airline at an attractive price. prior to arrival Continental breakfast featuring a fruit appetizer, yogurt, breakfast bread and fruit preserves Slept joyfully through this. Arrival was easy, though I did annoy the immigration guy when he asked me how long I'd be there: I said, uh, about five hours. He gave me this exasperated look and said, nein, in Europe. Uh, four days. He snorted and waved me away. |
Saw gvdIAD off at the Hbf (he went direct on the IC; I built
a few hours in Munich to wander around and drink a few beers) and trekked eastward by degrees. In contrast to my rosy memories, no Brauhalle was open at 8 am (they open at 9), so I hotfooted it through the giant pedestrian mall and to the Marienplatz, the Rathaus, and the Viktualienmarkt, where I annoyed numerous vendors by sniffing at their chanterelles (uniformly beautiful - it's season) and giant fresh figs (it must be season in Italy or someplace) but not buying. I was tempted to pick up a bottle of Enzian to torment my friends with back home, but then I reflected on having to check a bag and said, neh. Took Maximilian's bridge and marveled yet again at the edifice at the end of it. Found a violin shop on Franziskanerstrasse. Poked my nose in but didn't see anything special. Got to Ostbahnhof unconscionably early and found a Maierbrau house, the Brunnstein, where I had roast pig and a dark and then a light beer; both brews were clean, good, unmemorable. The pork was an ample serving from the leg, complete with a nice piece of crackling; it came with a really gluey dumpling with a tiny insufficient bread cube in the middle and a pretty good salad (lettuce, tomato, and cucumber in a strong vinaigrette with a dollop of potato salad on the side. A mediocre gravy was enriched by a stock cube or some Maggi. E11 plus a tip. Partway through my lunch (I arrived before noon, and the place was busy but not jammed) all the tables ended up used, and a little old lady asked if she could sit at mine. Turns out she's a monolingual, and as my German is, as I never cease to tell people, schlecht, we didn't communicate effectively but had a great time doing so. Around this time the horrible discovery was made that I'd left my bottle of lactase pills on the plane. It wasn't so much the $20 wasted but that lactose intolerance is so rare in Europe that no market exists for lactase pills, and they are thus impossible to find, especially for someone whose days were filled for me. Okay, no fondue or cheese plate or gelato or (worst of all) Schlag for me. Later on I found a handful of them in my sport coat, left over from another trip, so I had limited access to dairy products. RB 30017 to SZG Hbf 1250 1442 A fine trip, the train being clean, fairly comfy, and more important than anything else, on time, well, within five minutes anyway for the whole trip. There's a stop where many teenagers got off: it's called something like "... in a sling" - henceforth to be known as "the town of heartbreakingly beautiful high school girls." Let that be a hint to those of you who are 40 years younger than I am. So I got off at the Hauptbahnhof and (with the map in mind but not hand) walked to the hotel, only I made the wrong turn and ended up going way north ,,, screwed up my courage and in a horrible mixture of German and English asked some girl where the Renaissance Congress Center was; discovered that I'd made this wrong turn ... in five minutes I was at the hotel. At reception I inquired about boxo, and they said that she wasn't there (disappointment). I went on FT (E9 for 2 hours' internet from the hotel) to leave messages, to which totmode responded; turns out that when boxo checked in they must have spelled her name wrong, hence the confusion. Room 219 was quite nice. Not big, not much of a view (just a building across the street and the street itself), but nicely appointed and with a fine bathroom. Also the comfy king bed was adorned with 6 pillows. It turns out that boxo's room had a worse view than mine, and totmode's, I'm told, was worse yet. We met in the lobby at 1830 for transportation to dinner. A bunch of us took the #2 bus to Hangar 7: boxo, totmode, MikeMpls + Kathy, melville, the_happiness_store. Others took a rental car. We actually all encountered each other at the last bus stop, where monitor offered some of us a ride in the rumble seat of his rental behemoth, but being hardy souls, we refused, all opting to walk from the main highway to the facility, a couple hundred meters. A lot of oohing and aahing about the admittedly spectacular building. A bunch of picture-taking by friends who shall remain nameless ensured that we'd be a tad late for the opening ceremonies. Welcome Drink (our own Flyertalk cocktail) at hanger 7 - 7 pm This was a sort of whisky sour with passionfruit - quite palatable, actually: the accompaniment was a quite classy mix with cashews, almonds, wasabi peanuts, and macs. It did do the job, along with the effects of recent air travel, of rendering ineffective my memory, with the result of my having forgotten and/or mixed up the names of everyone whom I'd met for the first time. With the consequence that I continue to forget the names of many of the German-speaking contingent and that I operated for a day or so without realizing the lili-Pat equivalency, so there was some misalignment going on. For example, I ended up asking KLC her name at least three times, sorry about that. Those who know me, though, do realize that if I encounter a friend who has changed a little thing - cut her hair, or put a tie on, or trimmed his beard - it might be a good while before I figure out his or her identity. |
==
Welcome Gift* - a four-pack of Mozart liqueur minis; an FT luggage tag; and some Austrian Airlines souvenirs. Very nice, and thank you, szg! * this term appropriate given the end of my day The setting, a balcony overlooking the main dining area, was intriguingly twenty-first-century. After a few minutes of socializing here, we were led downstairs to a room in which three big tables were set up for us. The main dining room was taken up by some kind of gala opening of some kind of exhibit. - 5 course Dinner at hangar 7 (cooked by Guest chef Gaston Acurio, Restaurant "Astrid y Gaston" Lima, Peru and Executive chef Roland Trettl) - 7.30 pm Regular Menu Amuse Bouche "Pisco Sour" Bloody Mary with grilled mussels with garlic butter The Pisco sour was a sour, I don't know what the big deal was or why it was paired with the first course, which was pretty good, though misdescribed: no gin noticeable in the "bloody"; the grilled mussels were steamed baby clams; and I could not detect any garlic butter. The presentation was one of those odd modern things - a long thin canoe- shaped white porcelain dish with a couple ounces of "bloody Mary"; the Pisco sour, another couple ounces in a straight- sided shot glass, lurking behind. Cebiche of sea bass "traditional" - quite well done, the fish somewhat underpickled so still translucent and somewhere between ceviche and poke. Hotpot of shrimps, poached egg and bean seeds "arequipa style" - I didn't care for the shrimp, finding them a bit mushy. The egg was an odd but interesting counterpoint, and the bean seeds - baby favas - delicious. As a whole I think the dish went together decently. Roasted sucking pig with potato-ragout "peruvian style" and stuffed peach - this was presented as a ballottine type thing, the outside crisp pig skin, the interior the boned meat. Very nice, though I found it salty. The peach was stuffed with black pudding, a combination I enjoyed but perhaps others didn't. Potato-ragout was creamed tater cubes. Good dish. Sweet delicacies from PERU These were small 2-3 bite servings of confections that I found a little subtle and fugitive. A custard with banana was fine, the fruit lurking at the bottom of the little dish. I rather enjoyed the coconut mango mousse. To my taste, a flaky pastry with passionfruit and ginger was the winner, the ginger subtle but transforming the fruit flavor. Corn ice cream (somewhat salty), with some vanilla substance and popped corn kernels seemed a little overtextured and underflavored; a Kahlua plum dessert with lime froth was interesting but in the last analysis didn't fork for me. Wine 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Michel Torino, Argentina - your typical SB, with notes of lime, grass, tropical fruit, and, yes, just a touch of cat pee. 2002 Nebbiolo, Reserva Privada, L.A. Cetto, Mexico - quite quite nice, very ripe fruit with that aroma but not the sweetness. Quite expertly made. I've had this before, I think, but not this year. Vegetarian Menu Potato-cannelloni with braised leek Tacu tacu of beans with mango and red onion Braised pumpkin with edamame beans and chanterelles Spinach-ravioli with sauteed ceps and kefir Aubergines and pimientos de padron "alla parmigiana" Milk chocolate-arlettes with pears and caramel ice cream boxo had this, I believe. I didn't get a report. In between, bunches of conversation, much laughter, and an overindulgence of wine. Tablehopping. Only one toast, oddly enough. A bit of confusion on leaving - who was going on the bus, who needed a taxi, who was going to stay there forever and take photos. I was with the taxi crowd. Went to my room and proceeded to solve the liquid in carryon issue by draining all four of the Mozart minis. Slept only until about 7, though. == Saturday: Exclusive Flyertalk Sightseeing Event - Meeting point - Hotel Renaissance 09:30 am szg had actually arranged with Panorama Tours to start at 10, but knowing how difficult it is to herd cats, gave an extra half hour, every minute of which was needed. Still, I believe that a few people never showed up. Eventually we boarded our luxury motorcoach (many jokes about first class, exit rows, legroom, pretty much to be expected) and took a tour of the city. Our guide was the energetic Martina, who appeared to be well-informed but who had the odd characteristic of saying the same things at the same places whenever we got to them. At least she was consistent. - Castle Hellbrunn with the tricky fountains - the tricky fountains would have been more fun if the temperature had been 10C/18F more, as the Archbishop who had the castle and grounds built was a bit of a card, and the tricks built into the fountains involved getting people wet. The first one we visited was the dining table, in a replica of a Roman amphitheater. The guests would sit there, and at some prearranged signal by the Archbishop, some servant would turn a tap, and, ecce, wet guests, the head of the table sitting in the only seat that didn't have a nozzle in it. After this hilarity, you will understand that there was a certain dubiety among the tourists, who are as you know of a higher order of intelligence than the average bear. The trick was pretty much the same at all the fountains. There were some cool things to see, though, a mirror room, a floating crown, a clockwork village, mythological scenes: all of them fine, but one might have one's enthusiasm dampened at any time. The Schloss itself was open to visitors, and that was kind of interesting. - Visit a Salt Mine with a miners welcome ceremony - which involved coarse bread, salt, and a little glass of rather raw schnapps. After which we took the miners' railroad into the mine, then walked a couple of kilometers underground, crossing the border twice (no passport necessary), taking two slides (totmode was our only casualty - she negotiated the dangerous part just fine but turned her ankle getting off the slide; she was a terrific sport, walking the rest of the tour in pain but keeping a smile on her face most of the time) and a boat trip across a brine pool. There are pictures I believe somewhere on the Internet of various FTers in silly white miner costumes doing silly miner things. There's a canteen and gift shop at the end: I had a local beer, clean, rather yeasty, but otherwise nondescript. I think it was called something like Konigsbrau. - Visit the Celtic Village - which is essentially part of the mine tour; this is a reconstruction meant to give us an idea about the lives of the miners back in the prehistoric days. It appears to be something to do for people waiting for their tours to start, which is in fact what we did. - Return at the Hotel Renaissance at 5 pm Yep. |
- Dinner at Stieglkeller - with Salzburger Nockerln -
overlooking the old city from Salzburg - I wanted to walk (looked like about half an hour) but ended up taking the bus with all the folks. The Keller is off in old town across the river, and the bus trip went past all sorts of historic sites ... it let us off a few blocks away, and all we had to do was make our way through St. Rupert's Fair and halfway up the hill. I'm sure the view over the old city is wonderful, but I'm also sure that it would have been crowded and noisy and hard to carry on a conversation in. We had a semiprivate room with, again, three big tables. The food: Smoked trout with raifort sauce - quite good, hot-smoked, with a rich whipped-cream and horseradish (light on the latter) sauce. Unfortunately the salad of tender lettuces with radish sprouts and a balsamic reduction - was on the same plate, and unfortunately boxo doesn't do fish. So having informed the waiter, he offered a salad with mushrooms. boxo doesn't do mushrooms, either. So. How about the mushroom salad without mushrooms? Okay! She pushed the appetizer aside, and shortly a salad came. It looked okay. Within a few minutes, another salad came, a much bigger one, otherwise I believe the same. Three plates of food in front of boxo. Someone came by, and after a bit of discussion, one of the salads (I think the small one) went away. Shortly to be replaced by a salad with mushrooms on it. I thought it hilarious; I'm glad that others, especially boxo, were amused as well. Soup with pancake strips - a rather ordinary broth with, in fact, julienne of crepe. The whole did a reasonable imitation of Knorr's chicken noodle soup. Pork loin escalope stuffed with breakfast food - (bacon, egg, mushrooms), sided with parsley potatoes. I think that this was billed as "nach Salzburgischer Art" or something. I guess the locals like their breakfast. It was a perfectly okay plate of food. I don't know how boxo finessed the mushrooms in the stuffing. And ... the famous Nockerln. When I've had them before, they've been egg white clouds in strawberry or raspberry sauce. These were pancakey things with what QFguy identified as cranberry jam. Not impressive: I prefer the perhaps neo versions I've had elsewhere, though some of us (totmode) lucked out and got gorgeous souffle-like things that were browned on top and tender in the middle the way I remember. Beers. I asked for a Mass of Dunkel, and the waiter said that they didn't have dark on draft. He was pushing the dark wheat beer (something I am not fond of) but eventually sold me two half-liter bottles of Konig Ludwigs Dunkel, which I thought was sort of native to Munich, where I've had it before (at twice the price). Eventually I had a small light Stiegl, which was fine. The grumpy waiter was pretty good to us, especially to boxo, but apparently was merciless with those who wished to switch places or pay with a credit card. His immutable procedure is to figure out who has to pay what based on position at the table: he makes this little chart for himself, and any movement of diners causes life to be unbearable for him. And apparently each time a credit card is to be charged, he has to laboriously write out the slip the way credit cards would have been handled in the nineteenth century if there had been credit cards. I think we left him out of sorts. I have a suggestion for future events: there should be only one credit card per table, with everyone else paying the lucky one in cash. That way most of the irritation can be avoided. If people feel themselves cheated of their miles, maybe they can be given a 1% discount or something to shut them up. This method has worked (minus the discount) at various DOs in years past. There's a freight elevator: the maitre d' took boxo down in it, while the rest of us took the steps. Monitor found a taxicab, and some lucky souls got back to the hotel earlier than others. A nightcap of Remy with monitor, restlessinRNO, totmode, the_happiness_store, and boxo. |
:o :o :o
Looking forward to reading in depth, the rest of your report... and, errrr, further embarrassments (re-living and laughing all over again). |
boxo: No more embarrassments - for you, at least.
|
Went to bed relatively early (1ish) but woken twice -
quite soon, then at 0245, by sounds resembling cleaning or maintenance: something similar to water running followed by the clanking as of the handle of a pail. These stopped around 0330. I thought at first that it was someone fussing with a defective toilet. Then I wondered if the Ren gave rooms on a haunted corridor to Priceline guests (I could see no obvious cause for the noise). Finally got back to bed at 4 something and was rudely awakened by the alarm at 9. Sunday: Exclusive Flyertalk Sound Event - The sound of music tour - Martina met us at the hotel again at 9:30, and at 10 we were off to tour the sites of various scenes of the famous movie, which some of us had not seen, and others had seen numerous times, myself being in the former category, though I do know who Julie Andrews is, having played in her pit orchestra in the 1980s and having seen Mary Poppins (for the first time) last December. Apparently, the von Trapp home was not an appropriate setting for a Hollywood film, and the Swiss border not conveniently placed for a Hollywood film plot, there were some fast and furious inaccuracies both geographical and historical. Be that as it may, the consensus (among those who have seen the movie) is that it is a sweet thing and perhaps good enough to have become one of the two great engines of Salzburg tourism. We started off at some Prince-Archbishop's palace or another (there are so many of them, most of them, apparently, used at one place or another in the movie, if the commentary is to be believed), proceeded on through Herbert von Karajan's home town (pointed out several times in the two days by Martina, who seems to have a thing for him), to Schloss Hellbrunn, which we had visited the previous day in another context. Here we saw the famous "I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen" gazebo, which is tttt underwhelming, but the dahlia garden across the path garnered much attention and more than a a few photographs. A bit of a wander out of the Salzburg district and up into the lake country to Mondsee, where resides the church of the Sound of Music wedding scene. The historical event had taken place in the Benedictine abbey church, but as no commercial use of the abbey was allowed, this quite majestic and beautiful substitute was found by the Hollywood people. Turns out that in this picturesque town overlooking the gorgeous lake, a local fair was in full swing, with bands playing, food and craft stalls, and best of all, schnapps being sold by cute girls in quaint local costume: restlessinRNO got one to pass around so that he could get a picture of himself with them. I wasn't thrilled with the girls, who gave me a funny look, like, what's an Asian tourist doing drinking schnapps out of a glass that has touched purebred Aryan lips, but I liked the schnapps, so I got one of my own. I also got a couple open-faced cold smoked bacon sandwiches, one of which I shared around with the few FTers who can stomach raw cold smoked bacon. Oh, yes, monitor had a French toast filled with jam (ok, but would have been better if it had been filled with ham), and totmode had one of the local doughnuts (good, not too sweet). I really liked the bacon sandwich and could easily have had my whole lunch from the stalls here. But there was another FT stomachic event in store, so I saved my pennies and a little room in my gullet for that. The trip back on the Autobahn took very little time, and we arrived at brunch shortly after the meal began. |
It's always great reading what violist has to say after an event. I do a bit of reliving when I read him.
His memory certainly is excellent because I have never seen him taking notes. Thank you for the effort, violist. It certainly is appreciated here. |
thanks for the kind words ...
- Brunch at the airport (Airrest restaurant) - 1 pm We were greeted by a jolly FT group and a surprisingly appetizing spread given that it came from a facility that has a captive audience and didn't have to be as good as it was. The buffet a volonte included breakfast food - various omelets and breakfast breads sausages (I commented to flyingsaucer+1 that these reminded one of what one might get in a cheesy motel in the Midlands) bacon (good but not so good as at Mondsee) chicken in cream with capers (not bad but kind of cold) prosciutto and melon garnished with a physalis (ground cherry, lantern fruit, other names) smoked salmon (good) and real food - grilled eggplant with tomato slices, basil, and cheese, quite pleasant, but then I love eggplant; strudel of sandre and salmon, rather nice but very heavy on the dill, served with a thin cream that was billed as Riesling sauce and buttered spinach; veal in cream sauce with chanterelles; quite nice, with a generous hand with the mushrooms (thank goodness they are in season; otherwise the price is out of sight); mixed vegetables (too much zucchini, but nicely al dente); pumpkin schnitzel, an odd concept but not bad; roesti, parsley potatoes, and steamed barley. The table I sat at: Seoulman and Gisela flyingsaucer and Michael boxo melville myself Several others faded in and out to socialize - boxo and melville are quite a draw, as well they should be. Desserts: fresh fruit, nice. Buchteln or Wuchteln, kind of coffee roll with vanilla sauce - Gisela said that she hadn't been able to find this in forty years; apparently it's an old-time Salzburg specialty that has been eclipsed in popularity by the Nockerln. I raised my brow when I saw her with two of the rather big things on her plate. She said that she could eat four of them but didn't want to be piggy, and that I should try one. So I split a small one with melville, and, though it was good enough, it was enough. The notable thing about this dessert is that, as Gisela described, after the rolls have been baked, they are injected with a filling of apricot jam. There was a sour cherry Bavarian cream on offer that some were very enthusiastic about, so I used up one of my precious remaining lactase pills to try. It was decent, not too sweet. Also a cheese board, but I didn't have the pills to spare; and melville gave me a lukewarm report on them anyhow. |
Originally Posted by violist
(Post 10445572)
- Dinner at Stieglkeller - with Salzburger Nockerln -
And ... the famous Nockerln. When I've had them before, they've been egg white clouds in strawberry or raspberry sauce. These were pancakey things with what QFguy identified as cranberry jam. Not impressive: I prefer the perhaps neo versions I've had elsewhere..... Love your trip report. Am living vicariously through it. |
We did, in fact, once get served with the type of Nockerln that Jassy-50 described. This was at a country restaurant recommended by szg south of the airport in Wals. It was triple peaked but the flavor did not impress any of us and we were not about to order it again. The example at Stieglkeller did nothing to change our opinions about its virtues.
I am waiting on violist's report on the Sunday evening concert (on which we completely agreed about the music) and about our peregrinations down to and across the river to the Getreidegasse where we found the restaurant Zum Eulenspieglel. He and I ended up at different tables and IMO the geist was completely different at each. I am interested in hearing his take on that evening's late stop so that I can describe the table at which I found myself, in the company of four delightful women. |
Monitor, I finally bagged the late night dinner and ended up doing
beers with newbierunner only. So in fact I didn't experience that meal with you. As far as the concert, see below. |
- SZG Airport tour - 3 pm
We paid our meal tabs and waited to be herded by an official airport guide, who showed up fairly promptly. We went down to security, where szg and szg+1 issued our ragtag group with visitor passes (which some of us managed to lose immediately) and went through the checkpoint. monitor's hardware caused some amusement, as he thought it would. The operations manager met us and gave an overview of his job and the airport's functions. Then, it was off to ATC for the tour - half of us got to see the tower; the other half watched approach control. An honor to be allowed to watch the controllers and ask them questions as they worked. A note: the main airport is named after W. A. Mozart; but the general aviation terminal, in which the ATC facility is located, is named after von Karajan - after all, he was a famous and infallible Dirigent. After this, we got to see the fire department (some of us got to sit in the big fire engine with the foam pumper - I forget who it was who started directing the foam nozzle all around (perhaps weero), but we had a few anxious moments here (tho no foam was foamed). And finally, a visit to airport operations, after which it was well after 5 pm, so we were denied the chance to watch baggage manhandling, and the tour and the Do were declared closed. Thanks, goodbyes, and hugs all round, and some of us went back to our hotels and others to our flights, cars, or trains. We got a big old taxivan to the Renaissance, where I planned to take a nap before the concert. But as I was ready to head into the welcoming sheets boxo came by for a friendly visit, and I must say that seeing boxo one more time was as welcome as bed would have been. At 7 a few of us set off on foot for the concert site; others took other modes of transportation, but we all got there with plenty of time (it's a 10-15 minute walk). This was the advertised concert at the Schloss Mirabell Marmorsaal: "Lukas CHUN - Violin, Claudius TANSKI - Piano; pieces by W.A. Mozart a.o." It didn't happen. What we got instead was the Salzburger Solisten, led by Luz Leskowitz in a mixed program: Mozart duo in G for violin and viola Beethoven Spring Sonata Mozart piano quartet in Eb. I was not thrilled thrilled by the performances, which were competent but nothing I couldn't do myself, he said modestly. The fault, I believe, lies in the leader, an old guy even older than I whose music-loving days are perhaps past. The others were young folk, probably recent Mozarteum graduates, who were as competent as he but ever more enthusiastic and perhaps less inclined to let their ego overshadow the music. The duo was a bit of a mess: Leskowitz (the violinist in all the pieces) was inclined to go off on his own tempo, and the violist, a young Russian girl, though a good player, wasn't up to the task of keeping him in line. There were several places where they were up to a couple beats off from each other: not ensemble playing of a high order, although it was in general a technically facile performance. The pianist in the sonata was a young, forceful Japanese woman who was able to keep the violinist in line most of the time, though he did tend to wander off a bit. He also was playing with a glazed look as though he were reliving his senior recital fifty years ago. But the pianist saved the day. Leskowitz was by necessity more discreet in the quartet, as he had to shepherd three others through a beautiful and somewhat tricky score. This turned out to be a pretty good performance all told, though tentative as if the three were wondering if they were going to be able to keep up with the old man. After the concert, most of us opted to try to find supper, which is a story that perhaps one of them will choose to tell; but a few of us went straight back to the hotel as we had an early day in the morning. I stopped by the hotel to have a beer or three with NewbieRunner. The bar has draft Gosser in two versions, the regular, which is your run of the mill characterless International lager, and the yeasty somewhat citrusy unfiltered, which carries more interest. I finished off with a clean, pleasant Reininghaus Pils, then off to bed. |
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