Vienna part 2 – Let her eat cake

Before visiting Vienna, I thought of three things regarding Viennese food: lots of meat, lots of cakes, and lots of coffee. Meat – great, I love meat, give me more! Cakes – I’m not a fan of sweet food or desserts in general, but why not? Coffee – must have!

Compared to Switzerland, my previous destination, let’s just say…food in Vienna was much cheaper, much bigger in portion size, and much more delicious! Sorry Switzerland, you may have the mountains and the lakes (which Austria also has, in fact) but you are nowhere as attractive as Vienna to a foodie 😉 Apple strudel + schnitzel beats fondue + chocolate any day, would you agree with me?

In Vienna, you can’t avoid having schnitzel. The Figlmüller restaurant has their own famous variation of the traditional Wiener Schnitzel (made with veal) – it’s made with pork instead. Thin, crispy, warm, flavourful…so good that I might even say that it’s better than the original veal version! And it was huge! What a fulfilling lunch!

Basque Country part 4: Biarritz

Last but not least, Biarritz! It’s been more than two weeks, but Biarritz will be the concluding post in the Basque Country series.

Training school finished at around noon on a Saturday. While most people either headed back to Bordeaux with the school shuttle buses or left for their flights back to their host universities, a small group of us had some time to spare. Mariel and I would be taking the 18h45 bus in Biarritz to San Sebastián, while Nhi, Naresh, and Ragu had a train to catch in Bayonne at 18h30. That gave us five hours of free time from 13h00, after lunch. Hmm. Mini-Biarritz exploration team, anyone?

Of course, we decided that the little we saw on the bus to the excursion was definitely not enough, and since we had the time, we took a taxi to the Biarritz town centre to walk around a bit until it was time to go. We were joined by Diana, whose flight was at around 17h00 and who would leave Biarritz at 15h00. A cozy group of six, off we went!

The taxi dropped us off at the Biarritz town centre, and before going anywhere, I needed to head to the tourist information centre to make sure that there was actually a bus later that day that would take Mariel and me to San Sebastián. Biarritz has a very cute tourist information centre – it looks like a noble castle! I would have thought this was a tourist attraction itself, hehe 😉

Reflections

It’s been a while.

In fact, it’s been too long.

I kept telling myself to update, but life has been so abundant and exciting lately that it feels surreal. So much has happened, yet it feels like no time has passed at all. All too fast, too sudden.

This is going to be somewhat of a personal entry. I haven’t done much travelling since I came back to Bordeaux (other than St. Emilion again, twice actually), but when you’re in a place that feels like a true home, even wanderlust can’t pull you away. And this is exactly how I had been feeling for the past month or so. Bordeaux – and the people I’ve met here – has already become such a part of my identity. I feel happy here. No embellishing adjective needed, just happy.

The following set of pictures has no particular theme, and are selected from the 32084092384 photos that had been taken within the last month and a half to represent my everyday life. Each picture is accompanied by a small blurb of personal thoughts with regards to my experiences in Bordeaux so far. I apologize if this entry seems scattered; I just want to reorganize my thoughts a little, and share with you something that is more “real” life, for once.

Outside my little studio, we see the mighty St. Andrew’s cathedral and the Pey Berland tower to its right. It still awes me that I am in France, living in such an elegant city. There’s that word again, elegant. I used it to describe Bordeaux when I first arrived in the autumn season, and during the summer, this gem is elegant as ever. It’s so different than the Toronto that I know, and though I’d like to believe that my heart will always remain first in Toronto, Bordeaux is slowing stealing it away from that land that feels so far, far away…