Story Time: I left my camera in Prague

I’ve been known for being clumsy, forgetful and, everything in the general theme that my dad would describe as ‘irresponsible’. I try my best to not let that shadow over my great achievements which include not losing my passport, my wallet, or accidentally reading the wrong time and missing my flight anymore. But, it is hard, you know. When falling down a single stair while standing perfectly still is not upto you, it’s hard to not fall.

Anywhoo, earlier in June, I was on a family (parents, sibling, grandparents, family friends & their kids) trip around Europe, beginning with Czech Republic (Prague & Cesky Krumlov), Austria (Hallstatt, St. Gilgen, Wolfgangsee, Salzburg, Vienna), Slovakia (Bratislava) and ending in Hungary (Gyor & Budapest). So, Prague was literally our first destination in a long list of many.

After spending 3 days in Czech Republic, we were taking the train to Salzburg at some 7 AM, and had called for taxis. Always one for the back seat, I sat there – with my backpack and camera bag and a small stroller. When we got down, I was in such a rush, I picked up whatever I could and got down.

We were way too early for the train (nothing new about that), and everything on the station was closed (really nothing new about that) – so we just sat and waited. We boarded our train to Salzburg.

Now, there was some work going on in a station in the middle so they stopped our trains and said there are buses waiting outside that’ll drive us to next station – but meaning with an obvious delay of an hour. Confused, dazed and very sleepy, we got on the bus.

Let me tell you, the country-side was stunning. Green everywhere, hills, small coloured houses, giant fields- it was things right out of poetry. As soon as I sat, I was wow-ed. I put in my music – at this point, the bus hadn’t even begun moving. And I hastily looked for my camera bag – when the realization struck. In the backseat of the bloody taxi.

My first thought was obvious – find a different bus and run away. And as I suffer a very frequent case of ‘speaking with thinking’, I blurted out OMG I LEFT THE CAMERA IN PRAGUE. For the tiniest second, my dad looked at me hoping I was joking, but then he realized the kind of monkey I am and looked like he wanted to kick me out on the side of Czech/Austrian countryside.

But that wasn’t worse, my grandparents were with us, and they only know me for my very stupid actions (you should ask my entire family – I’m very popular for them!). Luckily they were sitting in the front of the bus – so it wasn’t gruesome all at the same time.

At first, I got several repeated lectures of being silly, irresponsible, in-no-possible-way-of-ever-being-mature, immature, and so on. And then he called the taxi agency we’d booked the taxis through. Luckily (for me!!!!), they did find the camera and had it in their offices. Since it we were only in Salzburg for 2 nights, we asked them ship it straight to our address in Vienna.

When we arrived in Vienna, the camera didn’t. It was still somewhere between Czech and Austria. It arrived the day after we left for Budapest. So, my dear, dear dad just asked them to ship it to our home in Dubai.

The result was (backstory: my family friend’s kid broke his camera while actually going down the stairs in a castle in Prague) so we didn’t have any DSLRs to take beautiful pictures. So, everyone just took it on their phone – which kinda sucked for image quality. Considering how beautiful everything was!

But –

Happy ending: It did arrive – like a month after I first saw it – came with the memory card, nothing broken. 

 

 

Storytime: Vienna’s Sacher Torte

I have a sweet tooth, in fact, I believe all my teeth are actually the sweet ones. And as someone who loves to travel, my one mission in life is to eat a lot of desserts – especially ones that might be special to the country or the place.

Vienna’s Sacher Torte – essentially known as the world’s best chocolate cake with the most controversial history – is a cult brand. It is a must do, when in Vienna. So, in the walking tour which we arrived to (very rushed and huffing and puffing), our lovely tour guide stopped us right in front of Hotel Sacher – the famous hotel that lends its name to the delicious cake.

A recipe created 200 years ago, the original cake – that is served at Hotel Sacher is a chocolate cake with a layer of apricot in the middle and on the top – with a final layer of chocolate icing on the top. It comes with an official Sacher Chocolate seal.

In 1832, Price Metternich commissioned his chef to create a new dessert. The chef was ill, so his apprentice, Franz Sacher (If you’ve been to Austria – you’ll learn that ‘Franz’ is a very common name) took over and created the cake.

At that time,  chocolate cakes had already been around for a 100 years in Vienna – and this was just a new amalgamation – that created its own history. The cake quickly gained popularity and was deemed suitable for the Imperial court (aka the king and the queen).

The recipe was actually perfected by his son, Eduard Sacher – who was working at Cafe Patisserie Demel at the time. Demel, also close to where the Imperial Court is – was already a popular choice for desserts and pastries for the elite. His Sacher Torte was deemed delicious and continued to serve to the Imperial Court and the public.

In those times, if the Imperial Court approved of something – it became the cult thing – pretty much how it goes with celebrities these days.

The cake’s sudden popularity got lots of money – and in 1876, 34 years after the original recipe, Eduard founded the Hotel Sacher – and of course, started selling the cake there (exclusively). The cake became known as ‘Eduard Sacher Torte’

It was probably not all good sailing, because in 1934, the hotel went bankrupt, and Eduard Sacher’s son – also named Eduard Sacher (not at all confusing), went to work at Demel (where his father used to). He eventually transferred the single ownership of the Eduard Sacher Torte to Demel.

Four years later, around the same time when Hitler conquered Austria, the battle between Hotel Sacher and Demel began. All because Hotel Sacher wanted to register their Sacher torte as the official sacher torte.

The two argued about the number of layers of apricot jam and whether it was made with butter or margarine. Up until this point – I thought those two were the same.

Still with me? Great!

It took almost 20 years for the dispute to resolve and the tired court (I hope they got to eat a lot of the cake, at least), decided that Hotel Sacher will have two layers of apricot jam, the official stamp and be known as the Original Sacher Torte; while Demel will have one layer of apricot jam, their own triangular stamp and be known as the Eduard Sacher Torte. Demel now calls it Demel’s Sacher Torte. 

The conclusion is its chocolate cake. Just eat it.