Stroop Bernie

 
Before heading back to the 6ix, Bernie made a quick visit to Amsterdam. He tried stroopwafels from many places. This stroopwafel was from van Wonderen and it was okay. Our favourite stroopwafel was from Rudi's at Albert Cuyp Market.

Indonesian food is popular in Amsterdam so Bernie made sure to try Rijsttafel (a.k.a. rice table). It was very tasty. The best meal on our trip, hands down.

In terms of museums, Bernie wanted to go to Anne Frank's House and the Van Gogh Museum. We do not have photos from Anne Frank's House since photography is prohibited. At the Van Gogh Museum, Bernie saw the famous Sunflowers...

...The Bedroom...

...and Almond Blossom.

We ate at a few restaurants recommended by friends. They were pre fixe, and we were stuffed.

We stumbled upon Winkel 43, a cafe known for its apple pie. The "pie" was delish, and more of a cake than a pie. We could have had a second slice but we refrained so we could eat more stroopwafels.

At Foodhallen, Bernie had bitterballen (Dutch meatballs)...

...and Kibbeling (battered fish chunks). There were some nice shops and a park (Vondelpark) nearby. We walked more that day than any other day in Amsterdam.

Bernie was a great travel buddy but missed the friends. He gave everyone a big hug when he came back.

Wien Bernie

The friends are happy to travel once more, woohoo! We're catching up for lost time. We have a number of trips planned for the latter half of this year. Bernie recently returned from Vienna (or Wien in German) and Amsterdam. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed six hours so our first day in Vienna was fairly brief.

After we checked into Hotel Henriette (which we highly recommend), we walked through Inner Stadt (Vienna's central first district) and had the famous Sacher torte (as well as appel strudel) at Hotel Sacher. The torte was so-so. We didn't think it lived up to the hype. The best dessert we had in Vienna was black forest cake from Aida, a popular cafe chain.

We then saw VON DER LIEBE Tod at the Vienna Opera House. We arrived at the venue a bit early to tour the building.

This is the main staircase...

...and this is inside. The tablets beside Bernie are for subtitles. We definitely used them when we watched the opera.

The next day, Bernie and I went to Belvedere Palace. There was some nice artwork there...

...including the famous The Kiss painting by Gustav Klimt. The frescos on the ceilings were also stunning. I can see why this palace is a "must see" attraction.

The day after we walked the grounds of Schonbrunn Palace.

This is the view of the back of the palace from the top of a hill. We had great weather which made our palace exploration very enjoyable.

Bernie made sure to test different schnitzels. He had veal schnitzel from Lugeck.

He also had pork schnitzel from a mom and pop place close to our hotel. Out of the two restaurants, his favourite was the mom and pop spot. This was the small portion (which we didn't finish) and only a third of the price of the one we had at Lugeck.

Overall, we had a pleasant time in Vienna. It was very doable to experience over a few days.