Skip to main content

Gatwick, England ~ Vienna, Austria - II


After tea at Cafe Mozart, we went to this part of the Hofburg Palace and bought tickets for the Mozart and Strauss concert for the next night.








See the rectangular block at the background, it's a memorial  ..... The   'Holocaust'   or 'schoa' Hitler's attempt to wipe out European Jewry was a brutal and systematic act that saw some 65,000 Austrian Jews perished in concentration camps throughout Europe.






Austrian Parliament Building.  In front of the Parliament is a very beautiful white fountain.


This statue in gold armour is Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.



Karlskirche  ~ St. Charles Church located at the Karlsplatz  is a Baroque masterpiece with its distinctive green copper dome flanked by two large columns.



Mozarthaus Vienna ~ Visting Mozart at Domgasse 5, the only surviving apartment in Vienna inhabited by Mozart.  He lived there from 1784 to 1787.


Naschmarkt ~  Fleamarket of  Vienna ..... market of food stuff, raw vegetables, souvenirs, cooked food, etc.



At the Fleamarket  ...........  Austria's famous Pork Knuckle ....... real yummy, aromatic and juicy!



This  huge two towered Votive Church ~  Votivkirche  in German can be seen and within walking distance from our hotel.  It was commissioned by the Emperor Franz Joseph 1 on the spot where he survived an assassination attempt by a Hungarian nationalist Lebenyi in 1853.  This magnificient neo-Gothic building was designed by architect Heinrich Ferstel and built from 1854 and 1879.






I really need to introduce this  Hotel Liechtenstein  where we spent 3 nights there.  This family establishment is very centrally located near the heart of Vienna, close to U-Bahn and D-tram stops, but we were able to explore most of Vienna on foot except for Schonbrunn Palace which we had to take the metro subway ... U-Bahn.  Andy Thai, the owner and his father, whom I shall refer to as Uncle Thai were very warm, helpful and pleasant.  The room we had was big and comfortable, and rates were reasonable because of the strategic location.  Their surname, 'Thai'  is actually 'Chai' in Mandarin.



This is the breakfast place where we had our morning breakfast, opens from 8.00 am to 9.30 am and Uncle Thai will be there to lend a helping hand.



Nice continental breakfast.



Oops!  Can you catch a glimpse of Uncle Thai ...... only a small portion of his head is visible, right at the top.



We were so touched by Uncle Thai's kind and sincere generosity.  He bought us mooncakes!!  Gosh, I asked him whether he made them himself, he replied 'No', he bought them ...... imported only from China, and there's no Chinatown in Vienna because of the relatively small Chinese population.

And since today is the Mid-Autumn Mooncake festival, I'm taking this opportunity to wish each and everyone who celebrates this occasion  ........'A Very Happy Mooncake  ~  Lantern festival' and to you as well, the Thai family of  Pension Liechtenstein, Vienna.  Thank you Andy and Uncle Thai and oh, not forgetting Mrs. Andy Thai who helped to make sure that we got onto the taxi to fetch us to take delivery of our  hired car.

Comments

  1. Could see that you really enjoyed your holiday! Happy Mid Autumn Festival to you and your family too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Austria is a beautiful place but the best thing was you're enjoying the trip with your family! Sure there's lots of fun & laughter along the way. SEE, how lucky we are! WE can enjoy as many mooncakes as we like over here. Thanks for sharing those wonderful photos. Wishing a very happy mooncake festival too! Make sure you have lots of fun tonight.
    Cheers, Kristy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like such a fun trip. Love all the pictures. I would love to visit some of these places one day. Thanks very much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jeannie
    Yup, we had a wonderful holiday. Happy festival to you and your family too!

    Kristy
    Their mooncakes are are imported from China, not even HongKong. But they do taste good too. Saw quite a lot of varitey in London Chinatown too, think some of them were from HK.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Uncle Thai is so sweet to offer you mooncakes feel so touched :)
    You must have an enjoyable holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anncoo
    Yes, we were so touched by his kind gesture. How thoughtful of him!

    masterofboots
    Of course you can. You'll love it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. looks like you have a wonderful trip and so nice of uncle Thai to buy the mooncake.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping by. Please click on 'Anonymous' if you do not have a blog but do leave your name after the comment because I would like to know who you are.

Popular posts from this blog

Herbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Gao

H erbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Ga o literally translated means 'Tortoise Jelly' is one of my family's favourite desserts.  It's much more economical to prepare this at home for you'll need to fork out between Rm 9 to Rm 11 for a bowl of this cooling dessert in any of those herbal tea outlets.  This soothing jelly, served chilled, is supposed to be able to help reduce our body heat, helps to get rid of toxins and is believed to be good for the skin thus culminating a healthier complexion.

Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy ~ 梅菜焖五花肉

Mui Choy is preserved mustard greens and there are two types, one is salty while the other is sweet.  There are many ways of cooking mui choy with pork belly.  Instead of braising, you can steam it with minced pork but here I am using only the sweet mui choy and I braised the pork belly with it.  This is a flavourful dish and you can serve it with plain rice or plain porridge. Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy   ~    梅菜焖五花肉 Ingredients  400 gm pork belly cut into bite size 100 gm  preserved sweet mui choy 3 cloves of garlic 2 slices ginger Seasoning for the pork belly 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce 1/4 Tbsp sugar 1/4 Tbsp sesame oil 1/4 Tbsp oyster sauce 1/2 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp light soya sauce Method Season the pork belly for about an hour or more.  Set aside. Soak the mui choy for 45 mins., rinse and squeeze dry.  Cut into slices Heat some oil in the wok, fry the mui choy.  Add in the ginger slices.  Stir-fry. Add in the pork  belly, fry for a while and

Steamed minced Pork with Mui Choy ~ 梅菜蒸猪肉

This is a homey, comforting dish which you can never find on the menu of a Chinese restaurant.  Perhaps you may find it in an economy rice stall.  There are two types of Mui Choy (梅菜) or preserved mustard, one is salty while the other is sweet and in this recipe, I used the latter.  The Mui Choy lends flavour and aroma to the dish and most often is paired with pork, either minced or pork belly chunks.  In this recipe, the minced meat must be with a bit of fat, otherwise the dish will turn out dry and dense.  Give this a try and see whether you like it or not. Steamed Minced Pork with Mui Choy ~  梅菜蒸猪肉  Ingredients  320 gm minced pork with a bit of fat 70 gm sweet mui choy (preserved sweet mustard green) Seasoning for minced pork 1 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp Shaoxing wine 1/2 tsp light soy sauce 1/2 tsp sugar 1 Tbsp oil 2 Tbsp cornflour 3 Tbsp water Method Marinate the minced pork with the above seasoning and stir the pork in one direction, till sticky.  Set