The Fat Girl's Dream

These past two travel weekends have been a dream for my inner fat girl.    Let's start with Marrakesh.  The food is heavy and warm, and there is a TON of it.  I was very tight for the first time ever and ate next to nothing, but wow, a year ago I could have really tucked into these tagines.  On our second evening, we went to L.e.T.o.b.s.i.l., a popular restaurant in the medina that offers a set menu.  We started with an assortment of salads. 
  

I could only eat the eggplant, but look at all of these dishes!  

   
From there we had a wonderful chicken tagine.  If it weren't for the extra liquid that I asked for, I would have gotten none of the dish down.  Even with the extra lube I ate only a few bites.  Kenny finished up his serving and was stuffed.  I mentioned to him that it was odd that we weren't given couscous or vegetables, but neither of us needed more food.  We expected that dessert would follow but then noticed that more food started coming out of the kitchen.  Enter, Stage Left, Tagine #2.  It was a fabulous lamb tagine served with an enormous bowl of couscous, vegetables and some chick pea liquid/soupy thing.  The servers came over, placed all of this food in front of us and I was horrified.  Kenny looked at me and erupted in laughter when he saw my face.  It was scary.  It was so much food it was glutinous, and my expression was somewhere between fear and disgust.  And of course I could barely eat and felt terrible leaving my meal mostly untouched.  My inner fat girl looked longingly at the food- I just looked in amazement when I noticed that people at the other tables were actually eating more and cleaning their plates!
 
Then we travel to Vienna, and I can again say, the food is heavy and warm, and there is a TON of it.  I spent the weekend chowing down on gigantic sausages, stuffed with cheese no less, on the streets of town and eating very deeply fried meats.  I controlled myself enough to eat little portions, but this food is a far cry from the fish and veggies I typically gravitate towards.
    

 Eating sausage outside the Albertina

    

 Dinner at one of the most famous schnitzel houses in town

 

 Kenny ordered the schnitzel, and I had the chicken cordon bleu. 

We also shared a potato salad.

  

 Before and after. 

Kenny actually preferred my dish and hijacked one of my chicken breasts.  

 In case the meats weren't enough to get us through the weekend, we also had to try the famous Sachertorte (chocolate cake) at D.e.m.e.l..

   

    

 The baker making the Sachertorte

    

 Our cake and two wonderful cups of hot chocolate

(perhaps the best hot chocolate I have ever had)

 

 Isn't it pretty?

  

    Not impressed- we only shared one piece and left that much behind.

      

Again, my inner fat girl was thrilled to see so much yummy food.  I am happy to report that my less fat current self took control, with the help of the band, and didn't let my inner self lose control.  My former self would have cleared the plate, every plate, pictured above.  Even if I hadn't loved the cake, I would have eaten ALL of it.  Just because I could.  No longer my friends!  

Weekend Catch-Up

Our Vienna weekend was just spectacular.  I loved everything about the city and had such a wonderful and relaxing time with Kenny.  We stayed at the Hotel Bristol, which is in the heart of town and right next to the Vienna State Opera.  We were upgraded to a fantastic suite overlooking the VSO- a great way to start the weekend. 
  

The view from our balcony

  

 Our hotel 

  

One of the realities of traveling pretty frequently is that I don't bother planning for trips the way most people do.  Most would start researching well in advance of their departure, plan out what they are going to see, book restaurants, and so on and so on.  Not me!  I do just about ZERO planning.  I bought our travel books on Wednesday morning, and we left on Friday afternoon.  After a quick read I realized that I'd missed the boat on being able to see a lot of what Vienna had to offer- The Vienna Boys Choir books over a month in advance as do tickets to see the Lipizzan Stallions.  Whoops! 
  
On Saturday morning we went to St. Stephen's Cathedral and took the lift to the top of the tower.  It was on the chilly side but we saw such nice views of Vienna and of the beautiful roof of the cathedral.  We toured Christmas Markets, visited the Liechtenstein Museum and generally walked from one end of central Vienna to the other. 
  

On the top of St. Stephen's Cathedral

 

 Christmas Market

  

  The Christmas Markets were cute, but I was bummed that most of the items on display looked so mass-produced.  Where are the handmade and unique ornaments?

  

I am a Christmas light fanatic; I LOVE seeing the decorated streets and buildings.  Vienna has some of the prettiest lights I have ever seen.  I was among the many tourists constantly stopping to snap photos of another street or another decoration.  Kenny is very patient and just accepts that walking one block can take anywhere from 20 seconds to 5 minutes!
  

   

     

    

      
When we made it back to the hotel the Concierge told me that he was able to secure two IMPERIAL BOX seats to see the Sunday performance of the Lipizzan Stallions.  Kenny said that seeing my face light up when I was handed the tickets was one of the best things he has seen recently (isn't he cute?).
   

The following day we visited the Imperial Apartments and the Treasury of the Hofburg Palace before seeing the stallions.  We also made it to church for a few minutes to hear the Vienna Boys Choir perform.  It was a real treat to hear the VBC, but the highlight of Sunday was seeing the Lipizzan Stallions.  These horses and riders are just amazing.  The performance lasts about 80 minutes, and there was not a boring moment.  Photography is strictly prohibited during the show, and I was one of the few in attendance who followed the rules.  Alas, I took no pictures of the horses:( 

 The Hofburg Palace

  

   

    

    View from our seats

 

   

One Hundred Posts and Movement Towards Onederland

Only 8.7 lbs to ONEDERLAND.  I almost hate to post this new low, because after big losses my body boycotts and I promptly gain 3 lbs back.  But damn it, I am claiming it.  We go to Vienna this evening, so it will be interesting to see what a weekend of cake, strudel, sausage, and weiner schnitzel does to this number.
  
In other news, some interesting things are happening at/around the gym.  I had met an American at the pool of my gym last year- pre-surgery.  I have seen her working out upstairs recently, but she was always with a gym buddy.  And then I was concerned that maybe it was someone else and I would look like an idiot for approaching her (one of the strangest things in England is that strangers never speak to each other, so they remain strangers until they are properly introduced- odd).  She was by herself on Monday evening, so I spoke with her.  I had already completed my 60 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes on the Wave and was just planning to say hi and leave.  She was in the middle of her run, so I walked on the treadmill next to her for about 20 minutes while we caught up.  Then she said 'come do abs with me', and I thought she was nuts.  I mentioned that I had to get home to prepare dinner, but she still nudged me to come.  It was a 15 minute class, and she suggested that I just do 5 minutes to try it.  So I did.  She is in much better shape than I, and I was unable to do everything the trainer wanted (he is very strict).  Luckily he came up with alternative exercises for me when some of what he was giving her was obviously NOT going to work for me.  I stayed for the entire class and was very happy that I had someone pushing me to try something new.  Unfortunately I almost passed out when the class was over.  I hadn't planned on working out for so long (at this point I had completed my 90 minutes of cardio, the 20 minutes walking and then 15 minutes of a high intensity abs class) and was in desperate need of food, sugar, anything.  I actually felt like my head was going under my legs, I became frighteningly nauseous and just knew I needed to sit down.  Everything started to go dark, and I could barely hear.  I wound up NOT passing out, but I definitely came close.  Anyhoo, I thought it was great that this super fit woman wanted me to accompany her to a class. 
  
One of the guys who works for Kenny recently proposed to his girlfriend.  We hosted the couple on Wednesday evening- champagne, wine and finger foods.  They hadn't seen me since October of last year and almost tripped over themselves when they saw me.  I now know how people are going to react and almost get the giggles when they try to be polite and not address the elephant (or non-elephant for that matter) in the room.  The woman is Greek, tall, slender- think perfect body.  Well, she has invited ME to HER gym to work out with her next week.  How cool is that?  This would NEVER have happened before.  So on Monday I have my first ever gym date!  After a weekend of heavy food, I will need it.

I'm Jonesing Here

Seriously, I am.  This Traveling Bandita has been travel-free for a month, and it is driving said Bandita nuts!  This is the longest I have gone without seeing anything new and without being on a plane in 2011.  So here I sit, planning our trips for the remainder of 2011.  I have a brief trip back to the States in November to visit doctors and will be staying with mom and Muldoon (always fun to hang out with two of my favorite girls).  Upon my return to London, Kenny and I will be spending Thanksgiving weekend in Marrakesh.  Thanksgiving is obviously not something the English celebrate, so Kenny will just take Friday off so we can be in Marrakesh in time for lunch and some touring around.  I am really not sure how much we will like the trip, but it is worth a try.  While we liked Istanbul, we had very little patience for people hastling us in the street and cab drivers charging us 4x the appropriate fare.  We have been warned that Marrakesh will likely be worse than Istanbul in this regard, which means it won't be the most leisurely of weekends.  In an attempt to make the trip as enjoyable as possible once we arrive, I have started researching restaurants and sights to see.  We shall see how this works out!  It looks like this is going to be a meat heavy trip- mostly pigeon and lamb.  I have never had an issue with meat when out in public, so I do not foresee any issues.  Again, it is only a weekend.
 
The following weekend we are off to Vienna to see some Christmas markets, and I am planning that trip as well.  My German girlfriend has given me some suggestions on places to visit and restaurants to try, and I am pretty sure Vienna will be much more relaxing than Marrakesh.  It will also be terribly cold in comparison.  This girlfriend told me I should have a floor length fur coat for the weekend- sorry darling, but that just isn't in the cards!  My long wool coat, fur hat and warm scarf will just have to cut it.  This will be another meaty weekend, but I suppose I will need all of this meat to keep me warm while walking around sans fur coat:)
 
Kenny and I then go back to the States for Christmas.  We will spend the week before Christmas in NYC and then stay with mom for about a week.  It is always fun to be back in NYC and catch up with our friends, and the City is so beautiful around Christmas!  And of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas were our family not all together.
 
Our last jaunt of the year is going to Barcelona for New Year's Eve.  We will be there for a long weekend, and I am planning this trip as well.  We have already visited Barcelona, so we will have less sightseeing to do on this trip than on the others.  The good and bad of this is that we will probably spend a long weekend eating and drinking (wine) our way through the city with no regard for reason.  At least I know I won't eat so much that I will invariably gain an obscene amount of weight in almost no time at all.
 
So yeah, there it is.  This has almost nothing to do with my band, but I really, truly feel the need to talk about travel... and your Traveling Bandita will soon be traveling again!