Day 5 - Rain...

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Good morning, afternoon or evening dear readers!

This will be a short post as not too much has happened. It has pretty much rained all weekend, yesterday and into today. It's not very productive weather for sightseeing or doing really anything in particular. Allison informs me that the fall in Austria is actually like this most of the time, with sun only so often. That's a real shame, but at least when i sight-see I won't be blinded by any sun... that's the BRIGHT side (pun!).

I have had my first glimpse of bureaucracy in Austria. The Austrian government wants people to register that address with the Magistrate within three days of being in Austria. I arrived on Thursday and was out of it, and forgot on Friday. I couldn't go on the weekend because they were closed, and I was about to go yesterday just after noon, but their hours are from 830-noon. So no luck. After looking at the hours of other buildings, some are only open for 2hours! I find this highly ridiculous, how is anyone supposed to get things done!!

That seems to be the only thing I can write on for now - work begins tomorrow, and my fiancee (Eliza) arrives in three days! So, I will have more to post in the upcoming days. Talk to you all soon!

PS. Feel free to comment on the posts or message me, and don't forget to subscribe to the blog so as not to miss an update!

Food:
(Note: I've decided to have a little column on food to end every post)

Two nights ago we went to this Australian bar/restaurant because it was Sunday and most places were closed. This is not rare, as Austria is very catholic most stores remain closed on Sunday. I was impressed by the menu: crocodile meat, grilled grasshoppers and Kangaroo burgers. However, I was not that hungry and I was told the grasshoppers weren't overly delicious (which I believe having had them a few years back). So, I decided to just go with some basic appetizers of onion rings and wedges. Delicious but nothing to write about.

Yesterday however was a food day! Allison and I went to a very pretty cafe right on the ring (research Vienna if you don't know what I'm talking about). I got a "something German"-Cappuccino. It was a mix of espresso and hot chocolate and then a small dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Absolutely divine! Alongside my cappuccino, I decided to order THE Austrian soup: broth with liver dumplings. It tasted healthy, clean and extremely tasty. A rather flavourful chicken broth with fresh slivers of chives to add colour, the base could not have been more homemade. The dumpling - a mixture of bread, beef liver, calf kidney and herbs - was the only firm texture in the soup and was very well made. I know I will be eating many of these soups to come.

For dinner, Florian was out late after work, so Allison and I were just eating for us. We had kraut and mushrooms we had to use or throw out, so they became our primary goal. In the end we ate great sauerkraut with bits of Belgarian bacon (as a salad!), two kinds of wurst (sausage) including one made of deer, and a delicious mushroom cream dish. The Mushrooms had cooked off in cream and onions and green onions and chopped tomatoes were then added to the simple dish. The outcome was an extremely earthy-toned dish with great flavour.

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Comments

[Phyllis Courteau]

Food
Loving your blog so far. Food sounds pretty good, but can't wait for Eliza to get there so we can see photos of places. Maybe this fall will be a sunny fall.