My First Buschenschank

{photo from internet}

Buschenschank: (wine tavern), started to spring up in 1784 when Emperor Joseph II decreed that owners of vineyards were allowed to sell wine (Heuriger), Most (a drink drier than cider and slightly less alcoholic) and Sturm (most which has started fermenting) as well as non-alcoholic beverages and cold food on their own premises.

There are Buschenschank taverns in the federal provinces of Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland, Styria, Carinthia and Tirol; they are subject to the special trading regulations (owners of a Buschenschank need a special license; they are permitted to sell their products tax-free during a limited time of the year only; if the Buschenschank is open, the custom is to display a "Buschen", or bunch of evergreen boughs, over the entrance). {source}

Last week I went with my friend Anita, her 3 girls and her parents to a cute little town, Leibnitz, where we did some shopping and then down a little further south to a beauty Buschenschank.

We sat here:

This is where the Styria wine region starts..you can see the vineyards. And you could also see the mountains in Slovenia not too far off.

A little head (Eva) popped up to be in the pic

It is very common in Austria to add sparkling water to fruit juice. They call it a G'Spritzer.

Here we had fresh grape juice G'Spritz. It's really good. I don't like plain sparkling water at all, but it adds

some nice pizazz to fruit juice.

One of the liitle wooden snack plates. Everything is cold, snacky food at a Buschenschank.

Dark photo, but this is my friend Anita (met from her blog and lived in Dallas). Her girls took this pic of her.

I got a salad too. I was the only one that ordered something extra. Fatty...you can see my mouth is full too.

This guy was roasting walnuts. Anita says I am really missing out since I haven't tried to roasted chestnuts

they sell on the streets everywhere at this time of year. I will try them soon!

Hannah and Stella with their Polly Pockets (a prize attached to a magazine they asked their mom for.)

The magazine was a nice addition, but the Polly Pockets were the draw. {Just like when you bought a

cereal and dumped it all out on the counter to find the stupid toy at the bottom.}

Although this was the magazine. I thought it was cool.

And here's a map of where we were. {Mainly for my mom who be lovin' her maps}

Poor Art was hard at work while I was here. I will take him soon.