More on Sugar High

Starting from Munich, the first day coffee break is accompanied by the Black Forest Cake. It's definitely much better than the one I had in Old Europe, the excessively decorated Georgetown restaurant that serves 'Bavarian' food. Ralf is from the real Black Forest. If he did not fly from France to meet us, he would have stopped by his home town and brought me an authentic BFC. He insists that it would be so much better than what I have right now. But it is already fantastic for me, I mean it really. I would not mind a little bit more rum, which according to Ralf is what differentiates the real deal from the imitator.

Salzburg has my appetite going before I even arrived. Ralf informed me weeks ago that it is HUGE (HUMONGOUS) on desserts. Everyone who comes to Austria needs to eat the Sachertorte, a chocolate cake covered in apricot jam, then covered in chocolate icing. When the outside chocolate dries, it's ready to serve. When we stop by Demel right after lunch so I can see how a sachortorte is made, there is no one in the shop. The pale-skinned exquisite looking cake chef is preparing the sachertortes that are neatly displayed on the side to dry. The process includes taking a baked round cake, dripping honey like apricot jam on all sides, then covering it in chocolate icing. They look so yummy but it's not time to have dessert yet. I drag my feet out of Demel wondering if doing such sweet tasks everyday makes the cake chef so beautiful. Note that this is a he, not she. I can frame him and the precious warm drying sachertortes in an oil painting and stare at it for hours. After a couple more hours walking in the city center and the tour uphill to the old castle, it starts drizzling. We are ready to have our cake break. The sachertorte tastes dense but not too sweet. I also sip the melange which is a Viennese specialty coffee similar to cappuccino. I drink it dark so it is in perfect balance with the sweet sachor.

Next we taste the Mozartkugel, Mozart Balls literally. It has different layers inside that contain different nuts such as pistachio (that causes the green color filling I think) and almond. The middle layer is nougat then it's covered with dark chocolate. It was invented in 1890 in Salzburg by the man named Fürst and Fürst named the kugels after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born in Salzburg. Ralf tells us to buy the authentic ones covered in silver foil with blue trademark instead of the red commercial ones. I try the commercial one for 0.9 Euro each. It tastes decent. The traditional Mozartkugels are made by hand while the commercial ones are perfectly round, and of course made by machines.

In Vienna outside the Opera House, I see this store that sells just the sachertortes. They are all delicately wrapped and some beautifully bow-tied in the display window. What a national pride! Instead of having sachertorte for coffee break, I choose the Mozert Cake (see above) when we sit down in the courtyard cafe right in the middle of the royal Hapsburg palace. Here among the locals and travelers, time stands still over the espresso smell in the air. I am always amazed how easy it is for me to relax and let it go during traveling. There is no rush to the next sightseeing place since my heart has found a joyful and gratifying spot. As I indulge in the soft mousse in front of me and occasionally look up the windows dotting the grand palace walls, I wonder in the six centuries this Austrian empire rules, how many sachertorte the royal princes and princesses have enjoyed.