Celebrating the 70's - A chronicle of time and temperature

Thursday 19 December 2024

The highlight of today was going back to our nondescript little local caffe for lunch, the Braunerhof, for another schnitzel and some Gruner Veltliner and we made sure we had enough cash. A schnitzel a day keeps you healthy!

On the way we followed a group of north Americans. It would be wrong to label them as Canadians as we didn’t quite get their accent, but what we did get was the comment. “I’m just tryin’ to find a restaurant that don’t do Austrian food!” You’re jokin’ we thought! We’re in bloody Vienna, Austria. Lady P mumbled something about Starbucks and MacDonald’s, but it was lost in the roar of the traffic.

Friday 20 December 2024

Heading to the new and very clean and modern Vienna station. With time to kill, we found a bar while Flashy had a couple of beers and a bretzel and Lady P wandered about the shops.

The Man in Seat 61 recommended the restaurant across the street from the station, so that’s where we headed for dinner. Another excellent schnitzel with extra potatoes. I reckon that’s four schnitzels in four days. That’s research.

Boarding the Night Jet, we discovered that the cabin was a bit small. In fact, it was so small that it was impossible to enter with suitcases. Eventually we managed to get in and survive the night but it was not as expected.

Saturday 21 December 2024

We arrived outside Zurich in the early hours and the train man reassembled the cabin into seating for the breakfast. Then we scrambled for the next train which was the Bernina Express route all the wat to Milano, except we took the local train on the same tracks for a fraction of the gourmet experience and price.

The scenery was spectacular. We stopped at Muottas Murgal, just outside St Moritz and took the funicular up to the top to the Romantik Hotel at 8,100ft ASL. Flashy nearly passed out from altitude sickness and struggled to walk the 13 steps to the hotel room, where he collapsed. Luckily, the terrace bar was open, so out we go. It’s -16C.

Shades of Helsinki and we’re sitting in the open on sheepskin seats with blankets for our legs and all our cold gear on. Lady P orders a glühwein and flashy a double rotwein. Now here a single serve is 100ml. No chance of getting pissed in Switzerland.

Within a half hour the glühwein is cold and Flashy’s red is almost frozen – not to mention the intrepid travellers. Back to the room for a short nap, then into the glad rags and down to the restaurant for dinner. Lady P has informed them that it is a special birthday (her’s well delayed!) and an anniversary. They gave us a nice window table and a candle with happy birthday written on it in German. So romantic those Austrians.

The dinner was actually very good. Lady P started with a soup ravioli. Flashy had cured local trout with shaved daikon and avocado then the special Christmas roast goose with potato, cabbage and chestnuts. Lady P had the spatzel dough and cheese dumplings. Dessert of apricot compote and pieces of pancake to dip into and a death by chocolate tart.

Sunday 22 December 2024

After a good buffet breakfast in the hotel, we made our way down the mountain on the Funicular to the bottom and contemplated how we get to the railway station to take us into Trentino and then to Milano. We saw taxis yesterday and if the weather is bad this may be an option. Ha ha!

Well, it was warmer at -9C and only lightly snowing. The track through the snow not too deep and another couple, apparently locals, were heading off in the general direction of the train station. It’s 200 metres away, so a taxi would have been embarrassing to say the least. Worse still, was the fact that the indistinct, narrow and snow covered track to the station crossed two sky paths and we had to dodge a few earnest skiers to arrive at a sign next to the railway tracks which says “Hail the train in plenty of time for it to stop!!”

There was no shelter, platform or signs warning you to be careful you might get run over. No nanny state here in the Alps. Just a spot by the tracks.

The train arrived and we flagged it down. Reminded Flashy of the old cowboy movies when the baddies rob the trains. We scramble aboard with suitcases. Wet floors, wet shoes, packed train. Luckily, Lady P does a recce and finds a couple of seats and we lift the (snow filled wheels) suitcases to the overhead racks and settle in. Then the snow in the wheels melts and it rains on us. The other passengers look terrified.

Then there’s the need of some who are obsessed with photos, to open the bloody windows to take that perfect shot. Remember, it’s -9C outside! Our window doesn’t work, thankfully because the other four do.

The trip was the second half of the Bernina Express route and very picturesque but how many photos of glacial landscapes can you take? Lots, apparently! We are late into Trentino, so over to the café for a beverage while we wait an hour for the next tarin to Milano.

No hardship really. Friendly staff, excellent Negroni and a reasonable vino rosso. Then, off to Milano on the next train and to our Hotel Terminal, a 3-star wonder, in walking distance of the station.

Opps. The fire alarm has gone off. Grab the passport, wallet and phone, put on shoes and run for the stairs. Now you get to meet the other guests in all sorts or undress in the lobby. No smoke or flames, so we wait patiently. No fire but a water leak into a fire alarm is the problem. We go to the local pizzeria for a very average feed of “Italian”. Thank God it’s Paris tomorrow.

Brezel and beer.