Mangé Mangé Mangé

besides the sightseeing touristy things .. all I did on this trip .. was eat. and well, drink.  I made it my mission to do all of the recommended sightseeing- and try all of the national/ regional specialties.  We were able to accomplish both as a matter of fact.  We saw every major attraction and recommended cathedral and major sight- without feeling too rushed or too overwhelmed.  And we ate .. and ate .. and drank .. and drank .. and drank while we ate .. and ate while we drank!

Nice

Socca :
Dating back to the 19th Centry, socca, or Socca de Nice, is a large French pancake that is cut into squares and eaten with salt and pepper. Socca is made from chick-pea flour, water, olive oil, salt, and pepper. It is cooked on a copper plaque in a wood-fired oven. Long a Provencal specialty, Socca de Nice was originally associated with the working classes. so delicious. and of course we had some wine and cheese to accompany. in true "the-way-lauren-travels" style

Milan

italy obviously means lots of pizza .. gelato .. and pasta .. boring? no absolutely delicious. even tried some traditional italian beer. even though one of them was actually non-alcoholic (way to go marc-adam)

Prague

Czech beer is perfect; nothing to say, but what if you are in a pub or beer hall, and all of the sudden you would feel hungry? Nothing to worry about.The good old Czech people had the problem solved centuries ago .. So naturally we had to try some .. the best? unpronounceable. but really, a bad Czech beer doesnt exist. If youre not in the mood for something cold and refreshing.. try some hot wine!! As for food .. we had goulash .. The Hungarians claimed they invented this beef-stew with tender beef simmered in this mixture of thick onion and paprika soup. But who cares? The Czech eat it a lot and you should try it.  Not the goulash I grew up knowing, but delicious none the less. We also made a sinful discovery-- Staroceske Trdlo (good luck pronouncing that)- which is a cinnamon sugary dusted parsty.  superb . 

Vienna

we didnt indulge as much in Vienna as we did in other cities. Well actually okay, thats half true.  Just like in Prague, Vienna boasts itself on its beer and we made sure to do it honors. We tried about 10 different kinds of beer,  my favorites being most definitely Ottakringer and Edelweiss (which definitely made me break out into the Sound of Music song each time) and even had plans to visit the Ottakringer brewery.  Instead, we checked out this authentic microbrewery where we sampled their house brews and the wiener schnitzel of course. 

Zurich

So as I previously mentioned, we made homemade fondue in Switzerland.  They have an entire section of the grocery store devoted to just fondue.  Didnt think anyone could love cheese more than the french, but alas, the swiss are cheese-crazy too.  it was so fun learning how to make fondue .. and thankfully the friendly neighbor came over to feed the birds .. and laughed at us making fondue on the stove and brought over her cauchelon and our life got 10x easier. we also drank our favorite wine and made spaghetti. not traditional, but whatever, cheap and easy. the other popular thing is a doner kabob sandwich. again, not what you would imagine for a kabob. theres no stick and juicy veggies. actually its a cross between a burrito .. or a wrap .. or a pita sandwich .. theres lots of options. keys? chicken, pork or beef roasted on a spit, a few accoutrements and lots and lots of grease. SO good. these stands are around every corner. we had one in Vienna actually, im pretty sure they have Turkish origins. but i would NOT recommend eating many of these bad boys