2010 Snapshot

Taken tonight as the sun set on 2010 in the Canary Islands! 

2010 was an incredible year: Our first nephew Max was born and is as cute as can be, engagement and pregnancies were announced, weddings were attended, our family is healthy, we sold Justin's bachelor pad, there were job promotions, the Blackhawks won the Stanley cup, an amazing group of friends supported us and the opportunity to see 12 countries and 40+ cities presented itself. I'd say 2010 goes down as one of my favorite years. Here's to a fanatic year and looking ahead to what's in store in 2011! Prost! 

Taken in Spain, our first stop on this crazy adventure

With my momma in Paris (our second trip there together!)

One of my favorite pictures from our time abroad

Justin at the flower farms in Nussloch. I will really miss these!!

Trouble in Munich... At Oktoberfest with Caitlin!

Trouble moved east to Prauge in front of the Lennon wall

San Sebastian. Best beaches!

Ashley, Kelly, Colleen and I in front of a Salzburg bar we were not welcomed in! 

J and E in Switzerland picking out our retirement home!

One of my favorite pics from the engagment photo shoot I made Glenn and Juli partake in

J and Grahm in front of their grandmother's old condo in Darmstadt. Can you believe she moved over with the whole family to help out for five years? Amazing!

Part of the Stein fam in Paris. Celebrating my dad's 60th and my parents anniversary! 

Thank you to everyone who read my blog over the past six months! Happy New Year!!

Hangar-7

Per yesterday's post, the past week and a half was fun-filled traveling around Europe with three friends from Chicago.

A shot from above in the 360 Lounge

During the trip we saw so many cool places including Sound of Music locales, Neuschwanstein (Disney Castle) and the Eiffel Tower, just to name a few. But one of the more unique, modern and off the beaten path places we visited was the personal playground of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz in Salzburg. Red Bull has grown from a niche energy drink to a multi billion dollar behemoth, making Mr. Mateschitz the richest man in Austria and one of the richest men in the world.  

 Catwalk to 360 Lounge literally on the ceiling above the museum

Hangar-7 is situated in an actual airport hangar in Salzburg. The museum/ gallery/ restaurant/ lounge/ dance club is adjacent to Hangar-8, the personal hanger of Mateschitz (who took 10 years to get his degree) with all of his expensive toys proudly displayed. From a Formula One race car, to a jet pack, to a helicopter, to a bomber, Red Bull seems to have it covered.  

Some of the flying objects Red Bull has sponsored

Hangar-8, storing all the flying objects!

Boasting three restaurants with countless customized cocktails, "smart" food and staff who hail from around the world, this place is very unique. The shell of the hangar appears to have been designed leveraging the endless possibilities of bent steel, with curved patterns of silver suspending the 360 Lounge above all of the mechanical treasures below. Even Gehry would be impressed. I highly recommend checking this place out if you are in Salzburg. You may need some extra energy to explore it all...don't worry, Red Bull will "Give You Wings!" 

Check out all of our pictures here and here.

Girls Trip!

Living half way across the world from family and friends proves to be a bit lonely at times, so I was so excited for friends to fly over from Chicago last week! Our adventure started almost immediately after they stepped off the plane in Frankfurt (of course I brought them pretzels to the airport to kick off the journey!).

The first weekend we road-tripped to Salzburg, and Dornbirn, Austria, Munich, Germany, Zurich, Switzerland, and Strasbourg, France. It was a whirlwind tour that added about 1,000 miles to our rental car. Come Monday, our chauffeur had to get back to work and allow Girls Week to start.

Monday was spent in the thermal baths of Baden Baden, one of my favorite German cities. After a little relaxation and pampering there, we were ready to hit the road for Paris! Despite the massive country-wide strike, train cancellations and serious terrorist threats, we weren't going to let anything come between us and Louis Vuitton and the Eiffel Tower. Once we arrived in Paris we all felt safe due to the extreme amount of security surrounding the city's precious sites. We had such a great time sight seeing, shopping, dancing and of course, eating! The trip was a success despite the alleged chaos in the city!

Nussloch is a little quieter now that the girls have gone back to Chicago.  They definitely left their mark and I miss them already....Here are some of my favorite pictures from our vacation:

The Crew at Hangar 7 in Salzburg

Ashley, Colleen and Kelly with the "founder" of the champagne shower

With Ashley at the Eiffel Tower 

J and E with Colleen on the way up to Neuschwanstein Castle via horse drawn carriage

In Strasbourg- think it's a wine barrel 

Colleen teaching the Germans how we do it in Chicago. He later picked her up and paraded her around the restaurant.

Everyone make an X for Mexx!

Doing our own Sound of Music dance in Maribel Garden where scenes were filmed in Salzburg

Vienna is for dessert

Of course I can't travel to Vienna, the land of sugar and tortes, without reporting back as to what I indulged in! Here is a snapshot of all the sugary goodness I consumed in less than 30 hours...

Sacher Torte and coffee

My first Vienna sugar high occurred at the Demel Bakery, home of the Sacher Torte. The Sacher Torte is the most famous and controversial torte in all of Austria. Invented in 1832 and later made famous at the Demel Bakery, the torte is only available in Vienna, Salzberg and Bolzano, Italy. Don't be fooled by the "Original Sacher Torte" at Hotel Sacher, their torte is in fact not the original. (If  you click here, you'll see there is an extra layer of marmalade in the middle of the Hotel Sacher torte. This is what separates the two versions.)

The real Sacher Torte is incredibly delicious! A perfectly thin layer of marmalade lies under the top layer of fudge frosting. The chocolate cake is not too rich and combined with the unsweetened creme, it is a delight to eat! I was pleased with this visit, but had two more dessert missions to attend to.

The Imperial Torte and it's many layers 

We didn't have to go far for the next sugar fix, the Imperial Torte. This famous torte was invented right at our hotel in honor of the Emperor Franz Joseph I at the opening of the Hotel Imperial. This torte was very different from the Sacher Torte as it had several wafer like layers separating the milk chocolate cake, sort of like a Kit Kat. It was iced with a chocolate fondant and served with whipped creme and berries. Mmm, I could have eaten it all night!

Sunday morning we stopped at Tichy for "the most famous ice cream in all of Europe," or so they claim. (And who says ice cream isn't for breakfast?) The crowd at Tichy was out of hand, and I felt overwhelmed when it came time to order. Unable to read the German menu, I selected the chocolate powder covered ice cream ball and luckily for me, it was one of their specialties, the tartufo eis-busserl.

Justin's Tichy raspberry ice cream and my tartufo ball 

Ok, this ice cream ball was really delicious and all, but I've had some steller ice cream over here. Weather or not it was the best ice cream shoppe in Europe is up for debate, but I enjoyed every bite of my multi layered, hazelnut cream centered, chocolaty treat.

The hazelnut center of my ice cream ball

Vienna definitely has a handle on dessert! 

Amazing Vienna

I was so excited to see Vienna last weekend and our trip did not disappoint. Vienna is a spectacular city rich with almost 2500 years of history. We were blown away by it's beauty and by the sheer number of castles and immaculate architecture. With so many sights and so little time, regrettably we were unable to get through everything we wanted. But what we did see, was magnificent.

Schonbrunn Castle was the first castle we paid a visit to. This castle dates back to the 14th century and was used by the Habsburgs, the ruling dynasty of Vienna for almost 700 years, primarily for hunting and summer entertainment.  While we were somewhat unenthused by our expensive interior tour,  we were very impressed by the gardens which can be wandered for free.

A giant golden ball at the Hofburg Palace 

After the Schonbrunn Castle, we ventured deeper into Vienna and walked the grounds of the Hofburg Palace, also built by the Habsburg Dynasty. This enormous masterpiece sits in the heart of the Old City. Sadly the only room we toured was the Butterfly House. This is something we will definitely come back and explore more of.

Nat Geo style at the butterfly house 

Across the street from the Hofburg Palace is Museum Square. Since time was an issue, we chose to just tour the Kunsthistorisches Museum. It is such a cool museum. The Habsburgs must have robbed Egypt because they have a massive ancient Egyptian collection. Other collections include Greek/Roman/Estruscan History, Coins, old school Art and Jewels. The museums collection is so extensive, an entire day could easily be devoted there.

At night we went to the Naschmarkt for a leisurely dinner with excellent people watching. This area is an outdoor market with pop-up style restaurants and bars. Naschmarkt offers a fun atmosphere with really good, well priced international food. We selected a Mediterranean restaurant since Austria is mainly known for their pastries.

Our crazy beautiful hotel 

Post dinner, we headed back to the magnificent Imperial Hotel for a drink in the bar. We were fortunate enough to stay in this hotel that was built by Prince of Wurttemberg. The Prince never actually moved in and still remains in its original condition today.

On our last day in Vienna we stopped at the Belvedere Museum. The museum is in the former summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy and has breathtaking vistas of the city. It houses the largest and most significant Gustav Klimt collection in the world including his most famous painting, "The Kiss." It was so amazing to see in person especially since I had the poster throughout college. It is so awesome!

The Russian Monument near the Belvedere Museum 

Finally, we toured the Secession before the seven hour drive home. The Secession is where Klimt's Beethoven Frieze is (the murals are here, here and here). Klimt created the mural for the "Association of Visual Artist- Vienna Secession" which took place in 1902. The mural spanned three large walls and was definitely worth the trip to the Secession. However, the other art at the museum can be missed.

Vienna is a spectacular city and should be included on Euro trip itineraries. It is definitely our favorite stop so far and we hope to make it back there before our time abroad is complete.

See all our Vienna pictures here and look for my "sweet" Vienna post later this week.

3 Countries, 1 Weekend

Our travel is restricted to the weekend, so we really have to map out our routes so we can make the most of our time. This weekend we got creative and were able to venture to three countries, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

Day 1: The first stop was at a hotel just across the Austria, Germany border in the small town of Dornbirn, which sits at the foothills of the Eastern Swiss Alps. The hotel restaurant had an amazing 360 degree view of the foothills and the mountains. They also had a locally brewed Hefeweizen beer that was awesome!


Day 2: After indulging in the complimentary breakfast buffet and taking in the gorgeous Dornbirn scenery, we jumped back into the car and headed over the other border to Switzerland.

The first Swiss stop on our list was St. Gallen and the Stiftsbibliothek, or Abbey Library. This library was unlike anything I had ever seen. It is perfectly preserved, so much so that shoes and photos were not allowed inside the main hall- Baroque Hall. Here is a link to the professional pictures.

The exhibit on display was of medicinal herbs and gardens. It was amazing to see how advancedmedicine was with the use of herbs so long ago. The doctors in our families would have been fascinated by these books, though surely it’s taught in medical school.

Rodin's Gates of Hell

Next up was Zurich where we headed over to the Kunsthaus Museum in the 95+ degree weather. This museum was very impressive and housed some of Monet’s Water Lily Ponds- which are my favorite! I also was able to stand in front of Rodin’s Gates of Hell (blog picture)and hope it is the only gates I face!

After the museum we wondered around town, explored the streets and sampled the local sweets! If we had planned ahead, we could have swam in the crystal clear river to cool off. Instead, we spent 10 Swiss Francs on bottled water. Zurich is outrageously expensive! A value meal at McDonald's would set you back $11!


Another attraction we missed in Zurich was the Lindt Chocolate Factory. I am still upset over this, although the extra sugar was probably not necessary.

That night we watched Germany take 3rd place at the World Cup in the Zurich West bar district. Not too shabby, Germany!

Amazing Zurich chocolate shop

Day 3: We headed out of Zurich and onto Basel, Roger Federer’s hometown. While there we toured the Kunstmuseum Basel. Here we saw the fantastic collection of Chagall’s Rabbis. They also had several Picassos of which I took photos of before I got in trouble... Oops!

While in Basel we also saw a group of kids doing Parkour. Justin got some cool shots which can be seen here.

Last, we stopped in Baden-Baden, Germany. This is a town located in the spectacular Schwarzwald or Black Forest- which is possibly the only type of cake I am not a fan of. (Here’s a recipe if you feel differently!)

Baden-Baden is famous for it’s mineral baths and fancy spas. President Clinton was quoted saying Baden-Baden is “so nice that you have to name it twice.” I would have to agree. We took in the sights and explored the ancient castle that is set atop a hill overlooking the forest. It was just gorgeous!

We also found the International Oldtimers Auto Show. I’m not a huge car buff, but I was very impressed with some of the cars on display! Check ‘em out here.

See all of 3 Countries, 1 Weekend pics here!