The mercury is expected to touch 40 degrees today which is not something I ever expected to experience in Austria. By 7 am when we awoke the sun was already beating down on the windows and you could sense how hot it was going to get.

Our itinerary for today includes a tour of Naschmarkt, the city’s largest and most popular open-air food market, stretching over 1.5 kilometers with more than 120 stalls and restaurants. We met our guide across the road and he took us on a tasting tour of some Viennese delicacies.

We started at a shop called Gegenbauer which is a traditional producer of high-quality and unique vinegars. It was founded in 1929 and is well-known for its “Wiener Essig Brauerei” (Viennese Vinegar Brewery) which produces fruit and aged vinegars. We tried a few different varieties including an asparagus vinegar (my favourite), apricot vinegar, aged balsamic vinegar and vinegar aged in wine barrels. The latter made the vinegar thick and almost syrupy.

We followed this up with a visit to a local cheese shop which was fortunately all air conditioned. We tried 3 specific cheeses recommended by the shop keeper – a walnut brie (which was the kids favourite), kosteraler (with local herbs) and a Heukase (which is matured in hay making it more moist and creamy). We also bought some bread including Austrian Croissants.

We wandered through the rest of the markets and visited a chocolate shop called Schoko Company which boasts the largest selection of Austrian Potter chocolates known for their unusual, hand scooped flavour combinations. Some of the flavours include “Brains & Eggs” (pig’s brains paired with eggnog), “Cheese, Walnut & Grapes” (a complete cheese platter in a chocolate bar), “Cola and Popcorn” (movie theatre combination) and over a 100 more. We stopped by a delicatessen that specialized in cured meats and tried some wild boar, deer and truffle salamis. Finally we visited the oldest greengrocer in the market and bought some fresh cherries which were amazingly sweet.

The next stop was at the tour guides restaurant to prepare lunch. As part of the tour we were going to learn to make traditional Apple Strudel and Viennese Schnitzels. We started with making the dough for the strudel and the kids did a great job kneading it to the right texture. The guide then showed us how to roll the dough with our hands to stretch it out and make it translucent. He had pre-prepared the apple stuffing and we rolled it up before it went into the oven.

While the strudel was cooking we started making the Viennese Schnitzel. It is traditionally made with veal (1 year old cows) and he showed the kids how to tenderize it and then batter and crumb it. The key seems to be to use really high quality breadcrumbs from a specific type of bread and to crumb it twice. Each schnitzel took about 5 minutes to prepare individually and required making sure all nooks and crannies were covered. It was then cooked in 200 degree oil and only took a few minutes to fry.

It was incredibly tender and crispy and everything you would expect from a classic schnitzel. The guide was without doubt a foodie as well and really enjoyed showing and teaching the kids. The kids in turn loved sharing stories about Australia with him – including talking about drop-bears.