Day 44, Vienna, Palm Sunday, Easter Markets, Taking it Easy

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Today is Meredith’s Birthday. We got up around 7:30 am. Sandy had breakfast. We debated what to do today. Meredith said she would contact us later in the morning or early afternoon about what they wanted to do today. Sandy wanted to go to some of the Easter Markets in the town center so that is what we did. We put clothes in the washer and left.

It was cold, 45 degrees when we left and soon there was a light mist in the air. We took the subway to the market area. We had to walk a little bit to get to the market. They have two markets, a small one and then a larger one very close together. We had also wanted to go to a grocery store as our supplies were low. There was a store at the market area so we decided to do both.

We got to the first smaller market. The grocery store, which had said on the internet it was opened on Sundays, was closed today because of Palm Sunday. We have enough food in the apartment to get by today. Many people were holding stems of pussy willow which the churches use here for Palm Sunday as they are much more available locally than palm branches like we use at home.

Sandy and I walked around the smaller market place. One area had thousands of hand decorated egg shells in all sorts of extensive designs and patterns. They sold from about 6.60 Euros to 9.90 Euros each. They were beautiful. We did not buy any as they would certainly break before we came home but we admired them.

Sandy bought a couple of tea towels made in Austria. I noticed a food truck from Trzesniewski, the place we got the great egg salad open face sandwiches the other day. I bought several and had a great breakfast there. They were delicious.

We walked down the street a ways and went to the other, larger Easter Market. The mist was getting a little heavier now but no raining yet. We took our time and went through the area. We looked at each stall. Vendors were selling food both produce and cooked delights, cheeses of all sorts, hand made products that obviously took some skilled workmanship, clothing, etc.

We saw a sign advertising baumkuchen. It is made on special occasions such as weddings, religious holidays or special family events. They roll out a dough then place it around what looks like a rolling pen with a metal handle at one end. You order it and they bake it then roll it over cinnamon, vanilla flavored sugar, almond flavored sugar and so forth. It is served hot and put in a bag for you. You eat it by pulling on one end and it gently unravels nicely so you can eat it easily. It was good.

Sandy bought a huge pretzel stuffed with cheese and made with I would call pizza dough.

We also bought some more freshly made apple strudel.

It was feeling colder now with the wind blowing and the mist varying from fine mist to none to heavy mist. We made our way back to the subway. When we came up from the subway at our apartment it was raining. We have umbrellas and used them for the short walk to our door. We got back just after 11:30 am. We were cold. We decided to snuggle up and stay put in the warm apartment.

Sandy and Meredith had texted each other. We wished her a happy birthday. Later in the afternoon she and Jesse came by. They had gone to the gardens at Schonbrunn Palace. They did not explore the entire gardens as it was cold and the mist was getting thicker. We sat around and talked for some time. Jesse watched the Master’s on his iPhone. They left around 6:30 pm or so.

We fixed supper here. We had a pineapple and ham pizza we had bought the other day plus the salad and fixings. We watched BBC Entertainment on TV as it is one of the few programs we can get in English.