17 - 19 May 2013 - A captain with seven children, what’s so fearsome about that – I have confidence…

You may recall from my Christmas post that I had received the gift of music from S in the form of a trip to Salzburg to see the city and to relish in the magic that is the Sound of Music.  The trip was set for May and eventually the time came where we could pack our lederhosen, crisp apple strudel, girls in white dresses and our tea with jam and bread.

To celebrate the impending trip I couldn’t help myself but prepare by having an evening re-watching the film and enjoying my take on food to match.  So we had some “schnitzel with noodles” and “crisp apple strudel” which are two of my favourite things.  I am sure we washed it down with something, let’s pretend it was an Austrian white wine.  More likely French champagne but who is quibbling over attention to detail.  Schnitzel was homemade but I let the team down on the noodles and strudel which were store bought.  I know, not a good housewife….off to the cellar with me as they do in Switzerland.

It was an early start on the choo choo and our first part was on lovely Swiss Rail where we then met the Austrian train in Sargans.  Now, I refuse to become a trainspotter as well as a plane spotter but I have to say this was a cool train.  Seats on board were sensation in the Business Class section (which is actually a higher class than First Class) with onboard wi-fi and at seat service.  Poor S is having some back issues and struggled to find a comfortable position and in the end we resorted to the First Class section where the seats were better for him.  See the sacrifices I make!!!

After many hours being entertained by the train we arrived in Salzburg.  We took a cab to the hotel (Hotel Sacher Salzburg – think Sacher torte) and later we discovered that we probably could have walked it!  Oh well, live and learn!

Hotel was decked out in a very traditional style, golds browns, fleur-de-lis and wood – you get the picture! Taken up to the room and we were greeted by a sea of green.  The wallpaper, carpet and furnishings were all shades of it – I think Kermit the Frog had exploded!  That said it was a big room with a wonderful view over the river.  One odd aspect was the setup of the lounge chairs which all faced the bed and seemed to be like where an audience would seat themselves and watch your bed time activities….not ideal so I got in there and changed it around and made it much more appealing and functional.  Re-wallpapering was deemed out of the question.

After a brief reprieve from the arduous journey it was time to head out amongst the Salzburgers and see some sights.  I am obviously a complete luddite as I was not aware that Salzburg was also the home to Mozart and hosts two world class classical festivals each year.  Worse still one was on when we were there and we did not attend one event which I am sure S would loved to have done.  I felt that maybe this time it was a little too much being “all about me”! 

We managed to catch a couple of the SoM sights in town, mainly the steps from “Do Re Mi” and the archway they sing and dance through.  It was pretty neat to see it.  I even had a little jump on the steps and felt like Kurt and Friedrich.

Every day ends in a meal and this is no different.  I had found out about a restaurant called Hanger 7 which is out at the airport – please note AT and not IN – and owned by the owner of Red Bull.  It is a fine dining restaurant that has a different chef from around the world each month.  Our visit coincided with a chef from Bangkok.  Restaurant is set in a specially built hanger filled with aircraft and cars with Red Bull emblazoned over everything.  Not sure about you but I don’t think I have ever had a can of the stuff – maybe a taste.  Still, the world seems to have embraced this strange little drink that gives you wings.  So, it is another day and another degustation, this time, modern Thai.  Overall the food was great, with nicely matched wines and a pretty unique setting.

Next day was tour day!  We were met by Daniel (I think that was his name) to take us on our journey through the old part of Salzburg and hit the highlights from the Sound of Music.  Oddly enough Salzburg has mostly denied the existence of this stage play/film and many have not even seen it.  That said it brings over 300,000 visitors a year to the city just for that reason.  I think they need to open up and embrace it a little more.  It is based on a true story after all but most of the facts have been changed to protect the innocent and make the story more interesting.  Gotta love Hollywood.

SO (a needle pulling thread) we headed off to the old part of town through the winding alley ways.  I have to say for ME (a name I call myself) this was the best part of the tour.  We were lucky to get the odd RE (a drop of golden sun) of sunshine on the walk.  This included a stop at one of the town’s local bakeries where the DO (a deer, a female deer) is needed by the power from a waterwheel.  Our guide even treated us to some of the bread.  All it needed was some TI (a drink with….).  It was then off to the car which was not FA (a long, long way to run) from the city centre.  Even better it was a top of the wozza Mercedes S Class.  Very LA (note to follow SO) dida!!

Thankfully you now know all the notes to sing and I will continue to write any old thing!

So in the car we hopped and proceeded to drive to the place where the rear of the house from the Von Trapp’s is located. The pics will do it justice. It was then off to the church where the captain married Maria and made an honest women out of her – hallelujah!! I have to add that our guide knows the Von Trapp’s!! How cool is that. He hosts them when they return to Salzburg and has been invited to their hotel in Vermont, USA. I need to add that the Von Trapp’s actually fled Austria before the war started, went to Italy and then to the USA. A different ending to the movie…..

Once back at the hotel we had a late lunch/early dinner of schnitzel and an Austrian specialty dessert which is like a form of soufflé – yummo is all I can say – yummo!

Even though I mentioned before of the complete denial of the play/film this year saw the first time for the stage play being performed in Salzburg – there was an SBS special about it recently on TV.  Even better, we had tickets!!  S said that it took some effort to get these as the show was sold out.  I am not sure if he had to bribe someone.  To top it off we had fantastic front row seats in a box!  Very happy me!!

The performance was in German with English subtitles which for the most part were not necessary as I knew the story but was useful for a couple of added scenes and songs.  The Baroness sings in this version!  And of course there is no translation for that immortal line by Mother Superior….”What is it you can’t face Maria?”  It was a fun show and all finished off with a sounding rendition in English of Eidelweiss.  Stirred the cockles it did!

Our Sunday in Salzburg was reasonably leisurely and after a relaxed breakfast we ventured back to the old town to see if we could have a tour/viewing of the main concert venue.  It is culturally significant for the Salzburg Festival but also it was the last time the Von Trapp’s would sing as a family.  You will remember the scene like it was in a quarry with archways around the stage.  Have to say that it was pretty neat.

 
It was then time to head off on the Austrian Express back to Einsiedeln.  Pesky train was 30 minutes late which meant we missed some of our connections and arrived home about an hour after we planned.  IT was worth it though and what an amazing Christmas present.

8 May - 13 May 2013 - You have to be bonkers not to go via Honkers (and Vienna, Amman and Bangkok)

Well I have been receiving some complaints about my lack of attentiveness to my beloved blog.  It is touching that you miss it and I have to say I have been very slack. 

So, the next big event in my Batical calender is my whimsical flight to Hong Kong.  Clearly I had enough time to waste looking for bargain flights on bizarre airlines when I could have been tapping my keys to keep you all informed.

So, I found a flight on Royal Jordanian, the national airline of Jordan.  The best fare was out of Vienna (in Business of course or Crown Class as they call it - think Raffles Class but with a crown and not a palm tree).  I also had to be able to get to Vienna and found quite a nice little fare on Niki Airlines - another low cost carrier which is owned by Air Berlin and therefore indirectly by Etihad.

Before I share with you the insights into my flight and the details of the leather stitching and the depth of the wine list, I have continued my culinary adventures.  There have been some successes and some, well, I call them flops, but S still eats it.  Hunger knows no bounds it seems!

So what have I been up to:

Here we have beef with a mushroom sauce, potato gratin and carrots in a Chinese five spice and honey glaze.  Clearly I need to pay attention to table setting - what is with that crooked fork and why we opted for only water and juice I will never know.

It is not all glamorous sauces and sauteed delectable edibles.  Sometimes all you want is some simple fare and here it is - nachos with home made guacamole.  I see we came to our senses and had wine!

 It was back to trying to be gourmet and here is a modern take on duck a l'orange.  The duck was a little overcooked as I was trying out some new butter to cook with and it heated up very fast.  Trick for young players.  That said the combination of the mushrooms, tomatoes and onions with garlic was delicious.

Lastly is a homemade pizza, including the dough.  I had not used live yeast before and did feel a twinge of guilt killing it but I got over it.  Turned out quite well with a variety of toppings (half Indian chicken and half beef).







Well, enough about those exploits.  I am sure most of you have scrolled down quickly to get to the plane porn!  Well, who wouldn't!

Very early start from sunny little Einsiedeln.  To get to the airport in time for a 9:00 am flight I had to take the 6:30 am train.  There were more people on board than I expected.  Lots of eager beavers here in Switzerland. I had already checked in online so I could go straight through security to the OneWorld lounge for a quick breakfast.  Now, don't be too upset as I forgot to take photos of this little silver plane and the interior.  So unlike me!  Service on board was lovely actually and there was a little sandwich for a snack.

I did notice that the flight attendants (all female) wore skinny jeans as part of the uniform.  Odd choice and not to mention very fitted.  I am sure if you put on too may grams you would be grounded until you could scrape yourself back into those jeans.  There were no boys on the flight so I cannot tell you if the same goes.  If it does, there would be enough revealed to tell you their religion me thinks unless they had to go for some sort of tucking - not worth thinking about.

Anyway, got to Vienna International Airport which I have decided I don't like.  It was poorly sign posted and had no transfer area.  I had to exit and then go back to check-in which is on the first floor and hidden behind a series of walls.  Not an airport you want to deal with if you are short on time!  I had plenty of that, so much so that check-in was not even open for my next flight.  So I had to wait in the general waiting area - no lounge - nothing - shudder!  On the upside there was decent wifi so I could entertain myself.

Finally I was able to check in and head to the "lounge" which is a shared lounge experience and decorated in very bright colours.  It had a lovely view over the apron and I could enjoy a wine and watch the planes come and go.

It was eventually time to board and clearly RJ do not pay a lot of money as we were taken by bus to the plane and not boarded by jetway.  A nice touch was that all the economy passengers were on one bus and then a separate bus was brought for business class passengers. 

When we arrived at the jet there were already people in Business and this is where my general angst about flying on RJ started.  There were a couple of people who did not look so relaxed and as if they should be there.  I was convincing myself that they were security.  There were a number of times where seemingly random people were in Business not sure they should have been. 

Anyway here are some pictures.....

The seats were quite comfortable in the Airbus A320 and the leather made it seem a bit like a private jet.  Service was quite attentive and part of the meal was served from the trolley.  Brings you back to the old days of flying.  I managed to drink their champagne (Moet) and some of their wines including local Jordanian wine called St George.  The food was not too bad but nothing sensational.  Filled a hole as they say.

We then arrived at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport where I had a five hour transit until my flight to Hong Kong.  Now the airport is brand new and they have a very nice new Crown Lounge but there is nothing much to do.  It was very quiet and when I got to the lounge I was told my flight would likely be delayed by 30 minutes - oh dear.  Now I have a high boredom threshold but even I was reaching the end of my tether here.  In fact there were more staff than passengers and they spent most of their time enjoying the juices, having a gossip and getting comfortable on the seats.

Eventually it was time to board and I headed to the gate to meet the Airbus A330.  Now this bird had seen some better days on the inside and was looking a bit tatty.  There were the two or three random people already on board so my discomfort remained.  Then I was greeted by a very enthusiastic flight attendant (Mohammad who likes to be called "MuMu) claiming that we had flown together before.  This was not true of course but a lovely opening line.  He remained VERY attentive for the rest of the flight and gave me a bottle of wine to remember it by. 

Again the food was so so but at least my wine was kept topped up by the attentive MuMu.  Here is what you can expect on the RJ A330:

It was quite comfortable and I did get some sleep.  Now, as the title suggests there is a stop on the way to Hong Kong and that is in Bangkok.  Not so great for the sleep and also we had to stay on board during the transit.  That was quite odd and the cabin was filled with cleaners who performed their duties with zero enthusiasm or thoroughness and random people coming on and off the plane.  My discomfort level did not abate.

I arrived safely into Hong Kong about 7:30 in the evening and took the Airport Express Train (yes, train, not limousine) to the hotel.  In fact the station is directly below the hotel - the Ritz Carlton - currently the tallest hotel in the world.  Check in is on level 103.

Was warmly welcomed in the Club Lounge by the team and a glass of champagne - lovely.  Most of my angst dissipated and I settled into the check-in process and was shown to my room.  They were very pleased to tell me I had received a double upgrade and, frankly, I was glad to accept it!

It is a great hotel with amazing staff.  I was greeted each day by name by the team in the Club Lounge and they remember your preferences.  They also went to a lot of effort to get me in to the Chinese Restaurant in the hotel.  The only downside of the hotel is its location on Kowloon.  Now I do not mind Kowloon but this was a bit out of the way. 

So what else did I get up to....I met a friend of a friend to talk about job opportunities in Honkers (yes, I am considering this as an option).  He batted for the same team as me so we had a few drinks at a couple of "pink" establishments.  I met with a couple of recruiters and generally wandered about and enjoyed the city.

They also have a giant floating rubber duck in the harbour!  The locals are obsessed with it.  Every shop sells rubber ducks it seems and it must be the most photographed duck in the world. I was told that it is on a world tour.

Thought I would end with a couple of photos from my solo Chinese dinner that was allegedly Two Michelin stars.  It was nice but not sensational.  They did do a mean XO sauce though and ended up being generous with the wine.



 

Then it was time to do the long schlep in reverse back to Zurich including a transit in Bangkok, another five hours in Amman followed by five hours in Vienna.  This is NOT the quickest way to get to Hong Kong.  Not sure it is the safest either!!  On the way back there was a guy in Business who reclined his seat fully before take off and went to sleep.  When the crew woke him to put his seat upright, he did, for about two minutes and then back down he went.  He stayed that way for take off and landing.  The crew literally did nothing.  Freaked me out. 

 

I know it sounds like I did not really enjoy it and that is true for some parts.  I doubt that I would do it again.  I just did not feel 100% safe and the transits were very long.

 

Next stop is Salzburg where the hills are alive and the schnitzels are frying.  Stay tuned!!