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Cafe con leche at Floridita= best coffee in NYC

My favorite New Yorker

Jaap and I spent the first two weeks of May visiting family and friends in NY. It's always good to come home and this time we got to celebrate the pregnancy (complete with a surprise baby shower!) with family and friends. 

No trip to NY would be complete without an evening with Shannon, my best friend, and our NY buddies. After a night out on the Lower East Side we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Floridita. If you want the best coffee in NYC, go to Floridita and order a cafe con leche. It's up on the West side on 125th St and Riverside Drive. 

Sculpture art on Park Avenue

My niece Elin enjoying the Baby Shower

Mastura & Mom

BFFs forever

The Pardo Family

What was planned as a casual lunch with my aunts turned out to be a surprise baby shower complete with Muppets! Thanks to my amazing sister and mother for organizing the day. It was such a great surprise to see our closest famiy and friends there. What a day. We got so much great stuff for the baby and Jaap was able to celebrate in Muppet style. We felt very loved. Now we just wait for the little Jansen-Pardo to arrive!

The Kermit Diaper Cake made by Catherine Pardo

NYE in Vienna

A New Year's Eve post in March...here it goes. Our New Year's Eve began with a visit to the Upper Belvedere to admire the Klimt and Schiele works. We had a cold and sunny stroll to the Belvedere from our apartment and a great visit to one of Vienna's most famous museums. Afterwards we headed to another Vienna institution to warm up, Café Pruckel. 

 A few relaxing hours at Pruckel hit the spot. A delicious Wiener melange, some himbeer soda, and some dessert that we can't remember the name of. It was delicious! One of our favorite's of the trip.

We walked to the Stephansdom, another Vienna icon. The city arranges free waltzing lessons on NYE. How fun. Half the square was waltzing while the other half was watching it on big television screens.

Inside the cathedral

Outside the Oper on New Year's Eve

Hofburg

To ring in the new year, we headed outside for some fireworks. Vienna just doesn't have one fireworks display, they have several. We decided to catch out the display at Heldenplatz. 2012 brought us lots of happy times together and we're excited to see where 2013 takes us!

Fireworks above the Rathaus

A Wiener Melange Melange

Café Landtmann

Enjoying lunch

Who does coffee better than the Viennese? Okay, maybe the Italians and I'm sure you can argue many more. (I had some amazing coffee in Rome). But who has the best café culture? Hands down, the Wieners! Jaap and I spent a very romantic (and cold) holiday in Vienna to celebrate the New Year. The highlight for me...coffee!

Way too excited for this coffee

A return to one of my favorite places as a student, Café Stein

Sitting with Jaap in these these smoky places made me miss Vienna so much. I was amazed by how much the Viennese are still smoking up in cafés and restaurants. I guess old habits die hard.

All I could do was reminisce about my great memories from this beautiful city. So many good times to think about. I had such a love for this city when I left the first time that I was afraid it wouldn't be the same when we returned on this trip. And of course it wasn't. Vienna felt very different to me, but in a good way. It still felt like I was returning home.

Brunch at Café Leopold

[As you can see, I enjoyed documenting our hot drinks at various cafés. I've been inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Merisi's Vienna for Beginners. Visit her daily blog to see the beauty of Vienna and especially their café culture.]