Europhile: C'est ma vie!

Read to the music of “The Empire Strikes Back”

Time to play a little catchup.

Vienna is an impressive city. Perhaps Michael, my fellow teacher, said it best when he summed up the city as “imperial”. It reeks of history, of grandeur, of not-quite-faded glory and a past that imposes itself upon the present with a subtle arrogance. Actually, it’s pretty cool.

And for all the impressive buildings, beautifully framed by the 6 inches of snow that fell while we were there, there were also cute cafés selling fancy pastries and fashionable coffee, quiet corner pubs with friendly, chatty staff, and enough wiener schnitzel to feed the German army. Believe it or not, wiener schnitzel has nothing to do with weiners (or, as you may say, hot dogs or sausages). This is something we Americans have made a gross and frankly embarrassing error about. Wiener, from Wien, means something from Vienna. Think of it like Viennese Schnitzel. Then you won’t be so surprised when you order it and end up with a large, breaded and fried slab of pork.

Vienna was quite a change from Prague. Some people would dare to compare the two cities, but I think it’s something like comparing your grandfather to your older brother. They just aren’t the same. But both will impress you.

posted by europhile @ 05:04