Bodos Schloss

Bodo`s Schloss is an Austrian Apres Ski style restaurant and bar in the High Street Kensington area. They've really gone all out on the decor to make the place look like a little Alpine spot. What's more they serve one of their range of shots in an old wooden ski.  (it's cooler than I've made it sound I promise!).

My friend Miriam and I both had a glass of an Austrian wine.

Viewpoints on Folklore

Viewpoints on Folklore is an exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Institute that runs until the end of August 2013.  It examines understanding of the term 'folklore' in the work of contemporary Austrian artists.

 

Daily Production 2009 by Sascha Reichstein

Medicine Mountain - Learn to Love in Seven Daysby kozek hoerlonkski and Sir Meisi

Qualitat Aus Osterreich

I broke my rule of not going to chain shops for this one but these tasty Austrian sausages were so good I decided to feature them in my blog anyway.  I picked them up at the Waitrose on Edgware Road.

Tiroler Hut

Tiroler Hut is an Austrian restaurant over in Bayswater has been runnning since 1967.

If I had to sum up Tiroler Hut in a few words they would be:

 Wienerschnitzel von schweim

Kassler/smoked port with sauteed potatoes and mild sauerkraut (how it should be in my non-German opinion)

A wide range of live music including (but not limited to) schlager and yodelling music.  The best part of the evening was when one of the guys came over and did a saxophone solo to 'La Vie en Rose' for the birthday girl at the table next to us.  There was also cowbell music scheduled for later that evening, although I didn't stay late enough to see it.

 Kitch! There were lots of photos all over the walls of people who have visited the restaurant in the past, including some celebrities.

I am now a little bit of a fan of very romantic schlager music from the 1970s.  And it's all thanks to the Tiroler Hut that I now have stuff like this on my playlist:

And the whole evening was rounded off by a shot of strong obstler.

Psychoanalysis in Finchley Road

I had no idea that Freud's famous psychoanalytical couch was here in London, nor that he had moved to Finchley Road to continue his work following increasing harassment by the Nazi party in his native Austria.  I had imaged the couch to be black or red leather so to see the real thing was a bit of a surprise - it certainly looked very comfy! His whole study had quite a comfortable air about it,.

Freud was an avid collector of antiquities and there were all kinds of strange statues around the museum that he had collected over the years

This is the first time I've added an entry for a country relating to a particular person, but the it's my blog, so my rules.

Cybercandy

Cybercandy has 4 shops (Covent Garden, Islington, Brighton and Birmingham) selling some crazy sounding sweets, chocolates and soft drinks from a range of countries: Australia, Austria, Canada France, Finland Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, USA.

Eine Kleine Cafe (I know - pesky cases right?)

So my microtravelling doesn't have rules exactly but one of the things that I am now making a conscious effort to do is avoid big chains.  For example you won't see Starbucks here tagged under USA or La Tasca under Spain.  I suppose some places I visit could end up being a huge chain but 'c'est la vie' as they say in France from time to time.  

In general I'm used to going to 'fast coffee' style places where you pay and then wait for your coffee so I still get surprised when I go to cafes like Kipferl in Islington and they ask what you want and give it to you straight away.     

I was so pleased with this sign being in German that I didn't look across to the directions and ended up in the toilets for Manner.  Oh well.  

There is also a small amount of Austrian/German products on sale.   

Hooray for Austrian cafes!  

http://www.kipferl.co.uk/