Alright, so, Austria. My friend Julia happened to be home in Austria while I was in Germany, so I took a couple days to go and visit. This is Julia of the Zotter Chocolates, so of course that meant I went to see the original chocolate factory. But that didn't happen until Monday, and I went on Saturday.
I flew into Graz, the nearest city to her hometown, and we were having dinner with her parents and previewing a new video for the company that evening at their video guy's house, so we just spent the afternoon in Graz. It's pretty cute. And apparently the rooftops of the old town are UNESCO heritage. I'm not sure why exactly, but they are indeed very nice. We got a close look cause there's this big mountain with a fortress and clocktower on top (not very impressive fortress, sadly) that we climbed. It's right in the middle of old town, so we got a close look at the rooftops, and they are indeed nice. And the views of the city were nice. And the beer garden was nicer. Especially on a fantastic and warm day, coming from Munich which was overcast and rainy like the entire week. So we hiked up, had a beer, hiked down, ate ice cream, wandered a bit around old town, and then went to dinner. Which was lovely.
Sunday was super chill. Julia's house is like a little farm and they have chickens and goats and sheep and turkeys and donkeys and llamas. Yup, llamas. Oh, also an amazing dog named Fleur, who I love. So yeah, llamas. We played around with the animals for a while, and then took the one of the llamas (Honeymoon) for a walk (her friend First Lady had to stay home because she's pregnant). In fact, it was her first ever walk outside the house. And it was like 8km and 3 or 4 hours, the last third or so of which I basically had to drag her because I think she was getting tired and hungry and she kept sitting down in the middle of the path. It was pretty annoying. But overall, super fun to walk a llama through the Austrian forest! And the forests are pretty great, too. They're like fairy tale forests. It's wonderful. We have nothing like it that I know of in California, so for me those type of forests have always seems both magical and super creepy. So I loved hiking through them with a llama (during the day. At night it would be terrifying). The afternoon at home was quite lazy. They also have a bunch of small pools on the property, which are more like lakes than pools actually, but which they use as pools. So we jumped in one, which was miserable because it was freezing. I literally could not breathe when I hit the water. Luckily we followed it up with like an hour in the sauna, which was much more to my liking. And then a delicious dinner made by Julia's father, who is actually a trained chef (as is Julia).
Monday was chocolate factory day! This one is actually a factory, unlike Shanghai which can produce but mostly only produces for B2B stuff, and imports the stuff for consumers. So Julia set me up with a headset and sent me on the tour while she worked in the morning. Then we had lunch together in the Edible Zoo, which is exactly what it sounds like. They have a zoo with all kinds of animals, most of which we normally eat (though some we don't normally eat) and they raise them as free range animals then eventually slaughter them and serve them at the restaurant. So everything is super delicious and fresh and organic. And the scenery is pretty great as well. We ended up having a massive lunch, which actually turned out to be a bad idea cause we had an even more massive dinner. But before dinner, we kept working a bit (me too. boo), and then we tried to go visit a vinegar and brandy factory, but sadly they were closed. This is when I learned that apparently this region around Graz has an amazing gastronomic industry, with family businesses (like Zotter Chocolate) which have been around for years (or even generations) and which specialize in one or two things, and do them amazingly. Even though we didn't get to do the vinegar tour and tasting, we did get to taste some stuff in the gift shop, and it made me wish we could have done the tour cause it was delicious. This was followed by a visit to the Riegersburg Fortress, a much more impressive hilltop fortress than the Graz one. Much bigger, and on top of this massive, solitary hill, which is a big part of why it's never been captured since it was built in like the 13th century. The fortress was also closed, so we couldn't go into the main bit, but we did get to walk around on the grounds, which was still really nice. Then we went to dinner. A ridiculous dinner. I don't remember the restaurant name, but it's this little place in a little village in the middle of the Austrian countryside, and apparently has been called one of the best restaurants in Austria. So of course they'd put it in a village. Europe is weird like that. Anyway we went for the five course set, which (because of Julia knowing the chef and manager brother/sister duo) turned into more like a 15 course meal. Most of the additional courses were just a bite or two, but still, it was a ridiculous amount of food. Delicious, delicious food. We were so full that like 3/4 of the way through we went for a walk. Which didn't help. And when we finally did finish dessert and ask for the bill, they brought us like 6 more desserts before bringing the bill. It was actually kind of like torture. It was nuts. But delicious. So, so delicious. Sorry I can't tell you more, but it was like a week ago already and I was pretty much in a food coma for the second half.
Then Monday it was a flight back to Munich, a glass of wine with my friend Jonas, some time with the Mangs, and then back to China. And here I am. And I've been a busy little bee what with Passover and all, but I'll tell you about that later.
First let me tell you about Jaala. They're an Australian band that I just found recently and which I love. Think Hiatus Kaiyote. That's what I thought. And it turns out they were touring with Hiatus Kaiyote in Australia, which would have been amazing. Hard Hold is the first single, first track on the album, and also title track of their debut album (called Hard Hold, in case you didn't pick up on that), which came out last year. And it was the first song I heard, which totally grabbed my attention and made me fall in love pretty immediately.
It's not every day you hear something that intriguing. And I love the singer's voice. She is Jaala, by the way. I think it's her last name (but maybe her first), and I have no idea how to pronounce it. Anyway, I bought the album, and the whole things is super intriguing. My favorite track might be Salt Shaker, so you can also listen to that today. And as it turns out, it's the other single from the album.
I flew into Graz, the nearest city to her hometown, and we were having dinner with her parents and previewing a new video for the company that evening at their video guy's house, so we just spent the afternoon in Graz. It's pretty cute. And apparently the rooftops of the old town are UNESCO heritage. I'm not sure why exactly, but they are indeed very nice. We got a close look cause there's this big mountain with a fortress and clocktower on top (not very impressive fortress, sadly) that we climbed. It's right in the middle of old town, so we got a close look at the rooftops, and they are indeed nice. And the views of the city were nice. And the beer garden was nicer. Especially on a fantastic and warm day, coming from Munich which was overcast and rainy like the entire week. So we hiked up, had a beer, hiked down, ate ice cream, wandered a bit around old town, and then went to dinner. Which was lovely.
Sunday was super chill. Julia's house is like a little farm and they have chickens and goats and sheep and turkeys and donkeys and llamas. Yup, llamas. Oh, also an amazing dog named Fleur, who I love. So yeah, llamas. We played around with the animals for a while, and then took the one of the llamas (Honeymoon) for a walk (her friend First Lady had to stay home because she's pregnant). In fact, it was her first ever walk outside the house. And it was like 8km and 3 or 4 hours, the last third or so of which I basically had to drag her because I think she was getting tired and hungry and she kept sitting down in the middle of the path. It was pretty annoying. But overall, super fun to walk a llama through the Austrian forest! And the forests are pretty great, too. They're like fairy tale forests. It's wonderful. We have nothing like it that I know of in California, so for me those type of forests have always seems both magical and super creepy. So I loved hiking through them with a llama (during the day. At night it would be terrifying). The afternoon at home was quite lazy. They also have a bunch of small pools on the property, which are more like lakes than pools actually, but which they use as pools. So we jumped in one, which was miserable because it was freezing. I literally could not breathe when I hit the water. Luckily we followed it up with like an hour in the sauna, which was much more to my liking. And then a delicious dinner made by Julia's father, who is actually a trained chef (as is Julia).
Monday was chocolate factory day! This one is actually a factory, unlike Shanghai which can produce but mostly only produces for B2B stuff, and imports the stuff for consumers. So Julia set me up with a headset and sent me on the tour while she worked in the morning. Then we had lunch together in the Edible Zoo, which is exactly what it sounds like. They have a zoo with all kinds of animals, most of which we normally eat (though some we don't normally eat) and they raise them as free range animals then eventually slaughter them and serve them at the restaurant. So everything is super delicious and fresh and organic. And the scenery is pretty great as well. We ended up having a massive lunch, which actually turned out to be a bad idea cause we had an even more massive dinner. But before dinner, we kept working a bit (me too. boo), and then we tried to go visit a vinegar and brandy factory, but sadly they were closed. This is when I learned that apparently this region around Graz has an amazing gastronomic industry, with family businesses (like Zotter Chocolate) which have been around for years (or even generations) and which specialize in one or two things, and do them amazingly. Even though we didn't get to do the vinegar tour and tasting, we did get to taste some stuff in the gift shop, and it made me wish we could have done the tour cause it was delicious. This was followed by a visit to the Riegersburg Fortress, a much more impressive hilltop fortress than the Graz one. Much bigger, and on top of this massive, solitary hill, which is a big part of why it's never been captured since it was built in like the 13th century. The fortress was also closed, so we couldn't go into the main bit, but we did get to walk around on the grounds, which was still really nice. Then we went to dinner. A ridiculous dinner. I don't remember the restaurant name, but it's this little place in a little village in the middle of the Austrian countryside, and apparently has been called one of the best restaurants in Austria. So of course they'd put it in a village. Europe is weird like that. Anyway we went for the five course set, which (because of Julia knowing the chef and manager brother/sister duo) turned into more like a 15 course meal. Most of the additional courses were just a bite or two, but still, it was a ridiculous amount of food. Delicious, delicious food. We were so full that like 3/4 of the way through we went for a walk. Which didn't help. And when we finally did finish dessert and ask for the bill, they brought us like 6 more desserts before bringing the bill. It was actually kind of like torture. It was nuts. But delicious. So, so delicious. Sorry I can't tell you more, but it was like a week ago already and I was pretty much in a food coma for the second half.
Then Monday it was a flight back to Munich, a glass of wine with my friend Jonas, some time with the Mangs, and then back to China. And here I am. And I've been a busy little bee what with Passover and all, but I'll tell you about that later.
First let me tell you about Jaala. They're an Australian band that I just found recently and which I love. Think Hiatus Kaiyote. That's what I thought. And it turns out they were touring with Hiatus Kaiyote in Australia, which would have been amazing. Hard Hold is the first single, first track on the album, and also title track of their debut album (called Hard Hold, in case you didn't pick up on that), which came out last year. And it was the first song I heard, which totally grabbed my attention and made me fall in love pretty immediately.
It's not every day you hear something that intriguing. And I love the singer's voice. She is Jaala, by the way. I think it's her last name (but maybe her first), and I have no idea how to pronounce it. Anyway, I bought the album, and the whole things is super intriguing. My favorite track might be Salt Shaker, so you can also listen to that today. And as it turns out, it's the other single from the album.
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