I just don't get Sachertorte

Innsbruck

We had a lovely time in Innsbruck. The weather was cold – which was good for us – and we even had some snow. We saw the Hofburg and the Schloss Ambras – which were just like any other Hofs and Schlosses I have ever seen but Cate simply cannot get enough of them so they are a must see in every place we go.

We had afternoon tea twice at the Sacher Café in the old town and I tried – for the second time in my life – the Sachertorte – the first time was in the Sacher Hotel in Vienna when we first came here.

I still don’t understand what the fuss is about. I just don’t get why it is so popular – to me it is a very average, dry chocolate cake with jam in it. Wikipedia suggests that most Viennese find the cake too dry to be eaten on its own so it is served with whipped cream. Quite. It is as dry as a bird’s bum and as far as I can tell has no redeeming features – other than that it is chocolate. (Which of course is a plus.)

Our only bad experience was the hotel  because we fell into that old trap about air conditioning. We try never to stay in hotels that are not air conditioned simply because we find the rooms too hot, stuffy and smoky.

However – we did check to see that the Grand Hotel Europa (Innsbruck’s only 5 star hotel – according to the blurb) was air conditioned.

When we got to our room it was like an oven so we turned the air conditioning on and it ran for 10 seconds and stopped.

We then attempted to have the problem rectified – without success - until our third call when we were advised that our room was not in fact air conditioned but that it was not hot outside so we could open the window.

It transpires that the air conditioning in most of the hotel was not actually turned on and the units in each room were – in effect – ornaments.

After some unhappy conversations we  were offered another room which we moved to the next morning – after a difficult night.

The whole event was rather more grisly and visceral than this – because Cate was in full Death Stare mode - but I am sparing you the sordid details as we ended up in a very nice air conditioned room and were as happy as clams.

But if you are going to Innsbruck I can assure you that you can see everything you want to in two days – and even then you will have to move really slowly and have lots of coffee breaks. 

I am off the hook on the Innsbruck hotel

Stadtpark and Kursalon 4 April

Cate arrived back safely from Saudi Arabia. She does not enjoy trips to that place but just has to do it to see the people in the office – who are all male. 

She hates having to wear an Abaya – although the advantage is that she does not have to dress up for work each day and it does not matter what she wears underneath.

Apparently Arab women can be quite expressive under their Abayas and wear all sorts of exotic underwear and jewellery. And even some Abayas can be quite fancy. Cate has one that could almost be fashionable (in Saudi Arabia of course - it would not work in Vienna). 

So Easter is here and we have decided that we will go to Innsbruck. We will drive there on Friday and come back on Monday.

The shortest way there is through Germany - so we will go there that way and drive back via the scenic route through the mountains and valleys.

Cate has chosen the hotel so I am off the hook on that one. Of course she hasn’t taken any chances as the blurb says it is Innsbruck's only five star hotel - and anyone can do that. 

But I have been caught before so we shall see.

Where did the ducks go?

Duck pond without water and ducks

Once again I have been slack in terms of both blogging and blog reading. It’s not that my life is particularly busy but I have had a bit on my mind lately - and  I also  decided that my blogs have been so bland of late that I would wait until I could write an interesting one.

The bad news is that this is not it.

But I thought I should say something.

We had decided that Cate should have a new iPad for her birthday and we were waiting for the iPad 3 – which was released on 23 March and is not called the iPad3 – it is called ‘the new iPad’.

Which means that the next one will probably be called ‘the newer iPad’.

In the interim Cate’s boss decided that his staff should have iPads – so Ducky Pharma is paying for them. Anyway – I ordered it from Apple in Austria and it arrived yesterday and I had fun setting it up.

I haven’t given Cate all the Apps that I have – such as my various incarnations of Angry Birds – because she does not have time for such frivolities.

It is remarkably like the iPad 2 but I will take their word for it that it is streets ahead in terms of display and battery life.

Anyway last week they emptied the duck pond. I am not sure who ‘they’ is mind you - but there was hardly a skerrick of water left in in and I discovered that the entire pond is made of concrete.

Most of the ducks had gone to other places - where I imagine there was water.

I guess this was spring cleaning because today the pond is full again and the water is remarkable clean – and all the ducks are back. Well I haven’t counted them but you know what I mean.