Posts tagged: Austria

Ginger and Nutmeg have had the good fortune to ski in Europe on a few occasions. On these trips, they have been largely blessed with sunny skies but strangely, almost never with exceptional snow, until this year.  In fact, Nutmeg had never noticed these signs before this visit. Watch your head!

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Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Der Wiesse Ring, Skiing in Europe, St Anton Austria Skiing

Austria is a country known for extraordinary skiing. Those fortunate enough to have enjoyed the famous slopes also know that the resorts are renowned for festive après ski parties. Now, there is something new in the idyllic village of St Anton, a boutique ski hotel that epitomizes luxury.
Some might consider buildingan exculsive17-room hotel right next-door to one of the biggest après ski parties in Austria, outrageous. However, with long-term vision and a commitment to the local area, The Mooser Hotel opened its doors to guests, for the first time in December 2011.

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Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Healthy Cabbage Soup Recipes, Mooser Hotel St Anton, Quick and Easy Soup

Thus far, the 2011 ski-season has not been stellar in most of Europe.  The majority of resort areas are suffering from lack of new snowfall and warm temperatures (“une tempête de soleil“).  The net result, is crowded slopes and neige-dure (a nice way of saying hard-packed, icy conditions).  Ginger and Nutmeg have been doing some skiing in the past few weeks, and they thought you would want their feedback on the resorts. Here are a few highlights and overviews from the European ski tour:
Ischgl, Austria:
The tiny village of Yscla, was once a remote farming village, it has been converted into a mega-resort with; 238 km of ski trails, 41 cable cars and other lifts and 32 grooming machines. The owners have spent 200 million Euros upgrading the facilities on the hill in the last 10 years, and it shows. The lifts are new, the lodges are well appointed, and in some cases very modern in design. The combined…

Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Road Trip Planner, Self-Guided Travel in Europe, Skiing in Europe, Travel in France, Travel in Italy

Typically, Ginger gets off pretty lightly on Valentines Day.  With a wedding anniversary is just two days before, he can usually get away with a gift and/or flowers that cover both events.
The feast of Saint Valentine is both historical and religious. So both Ginger and Nutmeg wondered about the significance of the 14th of February in France. As it turns out, the day is actually is quite linked to French historical customs.  As far back as the middle ages, the belief was that birds started mating in the middle of February.  Evidence from the 14th century, stressed a romantic theme emanating from poets and literature at this time of the year. The card or love note apparently originated in France, when the captured Duke of Orleans wrote a poem to his beloved wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

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Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Provence Travel, Travel in France, Valentines in France

Ginger is crazy about alpine skiing. He has been checking snow reports since the slopes opened in France, in November.  The World Cup race results are reviewed on a daily basis.  He even convinced Nutmeg to leave shoes, clothes and her winter coat in Calgary, so that he could bring two pairs of his precious skis to France.  So it may seem a bit obvious to tell you that skiing is on the agenda, while in France.
Ginger and Nutmeg both compiled “top ten” lists before leaving Calgary, to make sure that they were in fact headed to the same continent.  The good news is there was some overlap when it came to skiing. However, the individual motivation might be a bit different:

Nutmeg would like to visit some of the fancy resorts, hang out by big roaring fireplaces, sit on warm sunny patios eating fantastic food and snuggle up in warm duvets at night.
Ginger would like to follow the World…

Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Chamonix, Daube Provencal, Easy Beef Recipes, French Food, Stew Recipes, Travel Entertainment, Travel in France

Nutmeg says hands down Vienna is the best Coffee Capital.  You will find decent coffee in all three locations, Paris has already been mentioned (02/23 Don’t tell the French Italian coffee is better), Brussels is decent with many options for Italian expresso or café au lait.   However, the Viennese have created an entire culture around the “coffee-house” which generally involves a smoky bar or quieter lounge. Legend has it that soldiers of the Polish-Habsburg army, while liberating Vienna from the second Turkish siege in 1683, found a number of sacks with strange beans that they initially thought were camel feed and wanted to burn. The Polish king Jan III Sobieski granted the sacks to one of his officers named Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, who started the first coffee house. After some experimentation, he added some sugar and milk, and the Viennese coffee tradition was born.
In Vienna, there are plenty of sweet choices to go along with your coffee.  The two…

Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Brussels, Coffee, Europe, Vienna Travel Tips

If there is one thing that Nutmeg and Ginger love to try it is food.  The truth is you are not going to starve in any of these great cities; the array of options can be overwhelming.  In all three cities Paris, Vienna and Brussels there is no end of options for international cuisine.  Each city offers fresh farmers markets, local produce retailers and many ethnic specialty areas.  In turn, each city has a large inventory of what Nutmeg likes to call the dreaded “overpriced and underwhelming tourist traps”.
With the internet, it is easy enough to search for good to great restaurant options in any city. Zagat is a reliable resource and a bit more established in Europe than Open Table.
The other strategy is “roll of the dice”; this means taking some time to look at the menu (price and limited variety), the décor (lighting levels and table settings) and the number of diners (never try an empty restaurant). …

Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Brussels, European Travel Tips, Restaurant Reviews, Travel to Paris

This blog post is out of order (and late) our trip itinerary was Paris-Vienna-Brussels, however the weather and the sites in Vienna were so engaging that Nutmeg had no time to write, so the best is last. Nutmeg and Ginger both like Austria and agree Vienna is wonderful, for slightly different reasons:
Nutmeg loves the fact that the Austrians seem to have combined the Swiss and German efficiency with fantastic architecture and cuisine that embraces the borders with Hungry, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
Ginger loves the fact the Austrians serve schnitzel and spatzle in many variations.  In addition, there is copious draught beer and the locally produced wine is very drinkable.  He also loves the fact that the country has some really great skiing and they love to Apres Ski.
We visited Vienna the capital, it is a magical place, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The population is about 1.7 million, there is a good…

Recipes & Travel:
Austria, Vienna Travel Tips