Sept 20 – 24: Vienna, by Cathy

Ah, Vienna. Home of Mozart, Beethoven, Freud, Klimt, Niki Lauda (who knew?) and, for four days, the Jordan Family. Vienna (or Wien if you speak German) is also known as the birthplace of some of the world’s most famous pastries –  Sachertorte, apple strudel, and the kipferl – a crescent-shaped pastry that, with a few changes after being brought by Marie-Antoinette to France, became the beloved croissant. In my Vienna Googling upon arrival, I discovered lots of historical big wigs who’ve called Vienna home. I think this article, about Vienna in 1913, is a good snapshot of the still-present cultural and political diversity of the city. Prague is a hard act to follow, but we warmed up to Vienna pretty quickly. Our apartment was on the east side of the Danube Canal (west of the actual Danube), the cement walls containing its rapidly moving muddy water decorated with brightly-colored graffiti. While not at all resembling its photos on Booking.com, Old Vienna Apartment worked just fine after Jeff figured out the lack of electricity (tripped fuse) and we pinned down a place to get WiFi. Mick didn’t mind sleeping in the kitchen and his bed proved to be a great couch for us to watch TV from.

When we finally got out the door on our first full day in Vienna, it was basically lunch time. So, when the smell of grilled sausages wafted our way as we were taking in the monstrous St. Stephen’s Cathedral, hunger took over and we followed our noses to the source. The sausages looked as tasty as they smelled, but it was the bun presentation that sold us. They take a sausage-length baguette, cut off the end, insert a metal tube inside to hollow it out, and then put in the sausage of your choice. Jeff and Mick decided to share the cheese sausage and I opted for a soft pretzel with plenty of mustard and ketchup for dipping. We wandered after that, discovering, among other things, Mozart’s statue and the Hofburg Palace.

Seeking an afternoon coffee (a new habit if I haven’t mentioned that before) and wanting to get outside the center of town, we hopped onto the Ubahn (Vienna is yet another city with great public transport) to explore Naschmkt, an outdoor market dating back to the 16th century. What we were expecting was a farmers’ market sorta thing, but whoa! that place is unreal – booth after booth after booth of all kinds of foods and an almost equal number of cafes and restaurants. We walked down one aisle of the almost mile long market, ducked into an inviting café and ordered cappuccinos, a hot chocolate for Mick and a slice of Sachertorte to share. Our review of the famous Sachertorte: meh. Little dry. A definitive decision will require another slice.

That evening, over mac ‘n’ cheese and salad at home, and needing something to lift our spirits after finishing Schindler’s List, we pulled up TV shows on Netflix. Anthony Bourdain, that might be good. What comes up when we select it? An episode on Vienna! This episode has to be Anthony at his best (worst?) and contrasting it with the Rick Steves’ Vienna episode we’d watched, made it all that much more hilarious. The most interesting thing we learned is that the sausage Jeff and Mick shared is called Käsekrainer, but it’s more commonly known as a “puss finger” (mm, so appetizing). It’ also apparently a trusted hangover helper. No wonder Cheddarwurst is such a big hit at Jeff’s Bear Valley “Annual.”

On Friday we went to see Shoenbrunn Palace, the “summer” palace of the Hapsburgs. We didn’t tour the inside, but strolled the vast gardens and took in the views of the palace and city from the hill behind. If I could remember any of the “History of the Hapsburg Monarchy” class I took in college, maybe I could tell you why the Hapsburgs built such an extravagant summer palace just three miles from their “winter” palace, but alas, I cannot. Because they could, I guess. Apparently Empress Elizabeth “Sisi”  (married to Emperor Franz Joseph I) is all the rage in Vienna at the moment, so I Googled her and found a novel called The Accidental Empress that I’m hoping will enlighten me.

Back in town in the afternoon, we happened upon Café Prückel, which we decided was the coolest coffee house ever. The café has an old-school, New Yorky vibe, with high ceilings, coat racks at each table, a mixture of cloth booths and wood chairs, a newspaper rack with papers from all over the world, and a small but eclectic menu of sweet, savory, and thirst-quenching. Not wanting to leave after our light lunch, we ordered cappuccinos, a hot chocolate for Mick, and an apple strudel to share (way better than Sachertorte). I could have curled up there for hours with my Kindle and cappuccino, but we had places to be.

On Jeff’s morning run, he was able to find tickets to the supposedly sold out “Tribute to Vienna,” a show combining two of Vienna’s longest-performing and most famous acts – the Spanish Riding School and the Vienna Boys Choir. So, buoyed by strudel and caffeine, we walked over to the extravagant Hofburg Palace to the arena where the Spanish Riding School performs, and found our seats, up high above the arena. Beginning to end, the show was about an hour-and-a-half, but with the MC’s lengthy commentary between each act, made in multiple languages, I think the actual performance time was about 40 minutes. It was like having 10 mini-intermissions in a relatively short play and I’m someone who would rather just skip intermissions altogether. That said, the performances of each were great. Those boys belted out some angelic-sounding tunes and the Lipizzaner stallions and their riders wowed the hall with their moves. Afterwards we discussed our favorite parts of the day over slices of pizza and gelato near St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Maybe our favorite outing was a trip via Ubahn and bus to Kahlenberg – a mountain-top area, outside of town with incredible views. It was hazy the day we went, but still the views were stunning –  vineyards and farms immediately below, followed by the sprawl of Vienna and the Danube running through it. On the bus ride up, we spotted trail after trail after trail through thick trees and wished we had another day to explore the area more. I would say this is a must-do when visiting Vienna.

Wanting to see the actual Danube up close (not just the canal), we took the Ubahn a couple of stops past our home station to Danube Island, a 12-mile narrow grassy island in the middle of the Danube circled with bike and walking trails and apparently a hot spot during the summer. We saw lots of tropical-themed restaurants, beach areas, and other evidence of summer-time activities, but none were in operation. As Jeff said, “It looks like Santa Cruz in the winter.” Indeed when we stepped of the subway, it was cold and a few drops were falling, so we didn’t stay long.

Returning to our neighborhood, we ventured out and found a delicious Mexican Food restaurant called Los Mexikas where each of us devoured chicken enchiladas Suisas.

I do realize that a lot of this post is food-centric, but when in Vienna…