On to Graz

Apartment is in the middle building

When the wine course fell through, I had to make a decision. I had hotel reservations for the first three nights in Vienna and the rental apartment for the second week.  I had nothing for the first weekend. Initially I thought about going to Munich, but I had been there before. I thought about Prague, but I didn’t want to spend too much time traveling. In the end, I settled on Graz, Austria’s second largest city and the capital of the province of Styria. I had never been there and it was only two and a half hours from Vienna. When I told Martin that I was going there, he was very enthusiastic. “You are going to like it”, he said. However, he did advise that three nights was probably too much, so I had arranged to return to my hotel on Sunday. I booked a train ticket for late morning. I would arrive in early afternoon. Conveniently, the tram that stopped near my hotel went directly to the main train station. While the Iron Curtain was still up, Vienna’s main train station was the “Westbahnhof”, with most trains heading west. After the fall of communism, Vienna regained its position as a hub for activity coming from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. As a result, they built a completely new station that could service the east and south more easily. That’s where I was leaving from.

My train

The station is a bustling place. I toyed with buying a sandwich before boarding, but then decided to take my chances with the dining car. The train was punctual (of course!) and very modern. I found my seat and stowed my bags. The morning fog had burned off at this point, so I imagined it would be a beautiful trip. I was not wrong. To reach points south of Vienna, you have to cross a ridge of mountains, which are not particularly high by Austrian standards. Still, the scenery as you climb up and then down again is beautiful. During the second half of the journey, the train follows the river Mur, so you are down in a valley. You pass through many picturesque towns and villages along the way. One of the features of the train was the ability order food on your phone from your seat. I had to try this, so I ordered a sandwich and a beer. Ten minutes later, the attendant was at my seat with my lunch. The sandwich was excellent, too! It was ham with pickles and horseradish on this whole-grain roll. It tasted completely fresh. Amtrak could learn a few things! Soon we were pulling into Graz.

My "hotel" in Graz

I caught a cab to my hotel, the Schlossberg Kunsthotel. I found it on Booking.com, which I use a lot. It looked like a very old world hotel filled with modern art, very cool combo. I went into the hotel and checked in. When we finished, the young woman who had checked me in said, “I will take you to your room across the street.” What? We crossed the street to this modern building, went up a floor in the elevator and she opened the door to this ultra-modern apartment. We stepped inside and she began showing me the different features. It was lovely and huge, but not quaint. Then she opened the curtains on one side (the apartment was triangular and was mostly glass on two sides) and there was this amazing view across the river to the other half of Graz. Wow! Not what I bargained for, but pretty spectacular. I would have preferred cozy to super-cool, but hey. For two nights, it would be fine .Perhaps I should

have said something, but I have found that I can make myself “at home” in almost any environment.

Some traditional clothing perhaps?

I literally just dropped my bags and went off to begin exploring. I had asked the woman at the desk for a dinner reservation. She gave me the name of two places, but was very strong on one of them for traditional local food. She showed me on a map where the restaurant was, explaining that you had to enter a passageway between two stores. Hmmm, sounds a little tricky, so I thought I should find it while it was still daylight. I took a detour, though, up a busy pedestrian shopping street. There were lots of interesting little shops as well as some well-known names. There were tons of people out and about and I already had a positive feeling about Graz. It was starting to get dark now, so I found my way to the street where the restaurant was. I was beginning to have my doubts when I spotted one of the stores, Salamander. Indeed, there was a passageway, which I followed into an inner courtyard. There I made an important discovery about Graz. There is a whole other world behind the facades of the buildings on the main streets. Graz consists of this network of interconnected courtyards where much of the city’s activity happens. One of the tourist pieces said something about Graz being a place where you can just “lose yourself”. That was certainly going to be true for me. I went back to the hotel to put my feet up for a while.

On the 'Hauptplatz'

It was a straight shot from my hotel to the main square, the “Hauptplatz”. At 7:00 on a Friday night, this place was hopping! Between people getting on trams to go home after work, the food stands in the center of the square, and all the cafes surrounding it, this was clearly the ‘hub’. Every café seemed to be filled with people drinking and socializing. I turned off the main street and down the passageway to “Die Herzl”, as the restaurant is called. When I stepped inside, I had my doubts that this is where I would be eating. It was packed and the staff were working frenetically. I finally caught the eye of a young waiter and asked what the chances were. He was very friendly and said “If you wait 10 or 15 minutes, I have one table that is getting ready to leave.” “That’s fine”, I replied, “I don’t mind waiting”. In Vienna, if you get to a restaurant before 7:30 usually you are fine. Clearly, people in Graz eat earlier. Soon enough, though, I was seated and enjoying a real Styrian meal.

Winter squash for sale

Styria is one of the warmest parts of Austria. As a result, it is a flourishing wine and vegetable region. Perhaps its most characteristic vegetable is the winter squash. Among the many products they make from it, two stand out. One is an oil that is extracted from the seeds. It is ubiquitous and is alleged to be very healthy, almost like a tonic. It is used much like olive oil, both as a condiment for salad and as an additive to soup and vegetables. The other is a soup made from squash. To North Americans, butternut squash soup is common. In Western Europe it is quite a novelty. Of course, I ordered it. By November, game begins appearing regularly on menus, and tonight they were offering a venison ragout. “I’ll have that, please.” The food was very good and very substantial. I was absolutely intrigued by the young fellow who appeared to be the only waiter for at least sixty people. He never seemed to get flustered or miss a beat. What can I say; I enjoy observing how restaurants work. I waddled home and got into bed. I had a full day planned for tomorrow.