Elsa’s brothers were named Richard, Robert, Arthur and Oscar (Ossie). When they were young, Ossie and Elsa looked a lot alike. Sometimes they’d try to fool their mother by dressing up as each other.
Here are photographs of the family’s store and the front door of their apartment building at #12 Radetzkystrasse in Vienna. Can you find the store and the door in the book’s illustrations by Julie Downing?
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- Elsa and her daughter (my mother) on a walk.
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- Oma (Elsa) and me. (Oma is the German word for Grandmother.)
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- Elsa with her daughter and granddaughters at the beach. Can you guess which one is me?
Elsa was a great baker, but it wasn’t easy to follow her recipes, because she changed them all the time. She taught me how to bake Sachertorte, a rich chocolate cake invented in Vienna. Scrumptious!
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- Check out these pages from her cookbook.
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- Every time I make a sachertorte, I think about my Oma.
Elsa loved spending time with her great grandchildren. Do you recognize the boy from the book?
