August 3. West, East or Central??? Where the Hell is Vienna?

 West, East or Central??? Where the Hell is Vienna?

Aside from the fact that it is approximately three hours and fifteen minutes from Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, it turns out, is technically in Western Europe, even though Austria makes its appearance in Rick Steve's Eastern European book and people who live in Czech, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia are Central European.  In fact, it is almost offensive to call them or their country Eastern European, as that is clearly only for the old Soviet bloc. 

We made a few stops along the way, taking the scenic way past a magnificent very long lake, and over beautiful mountains with rolling fields of crop and grain, not quite the Sound of Music Austria, but not too far off. Crossing from Czech to Austria in the EU of today entailed no more than driving past the old vacant border patrol building. 

We checked into our hotel, just a couple blocks outside the busy Ringstrasse and next to the Rathaus, and sank into our air conditioned room, at last inside and cool. The Czech bed making technique has apparently caught on in Austria as well, again with two separate duvets folded in half like a tissue and laid on the bed with large flat pillows in shams. Whodda thunk that as you traveled to new places, how they make the beds could be this culturally diverse and interesting.

We decided that late afternoon we could head out for a tram ride around the ring to get our bearings. We hoped off to see St. Stephens cathedral and walked head on into a Free Palestine rally and march. Not what you think of when you wonder what the streets of Vienna will look like but it is a global issue with people all over the world with strong opinions on the subject. 

St. Stephens was large and beautiful, very impressive and is a highlight in every guidebook. St. Paul was another magnificent church, perhaps one of the most painted churches we ever saw but not listed in any guidebook. It pays to snoop into the nooks and crannies. 

   St. Stephens

  St. Pauls

So what impression does Vienna make, at first glance? The architecture is very grand and almost regal. The buildings range from many hundreds of years old up to very modern, standing side by side. This diversity, captured below, seems to reflect the Viennese city perfectly.

 Marci's Arty Photo

There are many pedestrian streets and high end shopping, museums and hotel, elegant traditional places and moderne hip places to eat. But what stands out most is this city is so very grand and royal, almost in the same way our own capitol, DC. The grandeur can overwhelm you just like when you are looking  down the Mall from the Capitol steps to the Washington Monument. Every fifth or sixth building in the center looks as impressive as the White House. Every other building has life size, if not larger, statutes in niches, on columns, hanging off windows and standing silhouetted against the sky along the roofline. 

And then there is Viennese pastry, cake, candy.....walking by Dremel, a famous shop, not partaking, we still popped in to salivate over the cases, watch the bakery at work decorating and oogle over the window displays that are made entirely of cake and changed daily.

  

Completely Edible!!!

After being full just from smelling and tasting with our eyes, we walked down Vienna's version of Rodeo Drive, and that is not said facetiously. 

Then back 'home' to shower for dinner. Using our fav, Chowhound, Steve found us a little bistro style place recently opened by a young chef who had previously worked at much fancier, more expensive high end places. A twenty minute walk, with a small detour for unexpected construction, put us at the restaurant with no sign, but with a lovely sidewalk courtyard in a platz, a few trees and about twelve tables. 

We choose to sit outside, not because that is always my favorite place to be (it is) but because the thermometer had hit 99F and inside, you guessed it, no AC.  It wasn't cool outside either, but after sitting for ten minutes with a Campari spritzer aperitif, we cooled off enough to not pass out.  We opted not to have the six course tasting, too much food in that heat. But what we did have was really great.

We both started with cool refreshing cucumber, dill and yogurt soup served with four or five kinds of homemade bread and a creamy smoked salmon butter.  

My next course was summer perfection. A bowl with a melon sorbet spread across the bottom, melon balls, the creamiest ever tiny goat cheese balls, arugula, herbs and marcona almonds. Somehow, together they made the perfect bite. 

Last course- I had an herbed mold of couscous with sauteed Tazmanian peppers and fennel. The ingredients in the sauce were lost in translation from German but it was amazing. 

Steve enjoyed pasta, of course-his favorite, with tomatoes and olives and spice!

As we sat through dinner on this very small, out of the way platz, the much loved and much hired tourist horse and carriages clip clopped by every few minutes bringing some Vienesse romance to the evening.  

On the long, hot walk home at 10:30 pm, the pedestrian center was still lively with diners and tourists but all we could think about was getting into that cool room and sleeping.

We awoke early since with only one full day here, there was a lot to do. Walking into our 'included' breakfast, not expecting much other than coffee and pastry, we were delightfully surprised to find a sumptuous buffet with everything from eggs and bacon to yogurts to smoked salmon and smoked trout, fruits, cereals, breads and of course, pastries.

We headed first for Hopsburg palace to see the Hapsburg's jewels in the Treasury and then to the royal apartments. I, no we, freely admit to being a bit ignorant of much of the royal history here and also not knowing who ruled where when, who was conquered, what was inherited and how secession really works.

But we now know that the Hapsburgs were in power here until WWI and were very,very wealthy.

    This is a 2,460 carat emerald....

At some point the Nazi's stole everything from them, followed by the Austrian government reclaiming it and to this day, a legal battle ensues for return of their lands and castles throughout Austria. 

Next up, a cold drink on another 96F day and then off to the Opera for a tour.

It would be hard for any opera house to stand up to the Opera Garnier in Paris, and it didn't but the guide was well informed and since the Opera is on holiday July and August, we did get to see much more of the backstage and workings of the orchestra pit than usual. Ironically we also met a nice young man on our tour who is starting Temple Med in a few weeks. He doesn't know a soul in Philadelphia and will be living a couple blocks from us, so we gave him our card and promised his Mom and Dad, we'd have him to dinner when we are back. Even though we are total strangers, you could tell his parents took some comfort that their son at least had a phone number of a couple of responsible adults in his new hometown.

One last stop on our whirlwind day, the Albertina Museum.

The permanent collection has some impressive Picassos, a few Monets, Cezannes and the usual. Also, as is becoming the norm, we 'discovered' a few new artists that are spectacular, but little know in the USA...like Kazimir Malewitsch....this is his:

There are newer apartments of the 20th century Hapsburgs which were ornate but on a more livable scale. Lastly, there was a special exhibit that looked, from the poster outside of a young girl with spilled blood, a bit gruesome and odd. We entered and although it was disturbing and the artist clearly either was or should be in therapy, he was an incredible artist.

Gottfried Helnwein paints in watercolor and acrylics, large format, that are so real it is scary- scary real and scary subject matter. Some look like fuzzy out of focus photos, others look like you could reach out and pull a single hair out of the head in the portrait. So I guess it did what art is supposed to do-take you out of your comfort zone and stretch you-your thoughts and your senses.

Tonight will be a quiet dinner, as Sunday night in Vienna and nice restaurants don't really go together, most are closed. We thought about but are too tired to head out of the center to the wine gardens, which do look enticing. Tomorrow we'll spend the A.M. at the Leopold Museum where the collection is Austrian art, after all, we are in Austria, and then head to Budapest.

One last impression, the 400 pound gorilla in the room, Hitler. He was born here and he stood here on a hotel balcony on the Ringstrasse speechifying to the Viennese.

Again, like in Prague, there is not much overtly shown or discussed. We don't know what it was like before or during, and we are curious. But last night sitting in the courtyard eating dinner and drinking,  it was hard not to hear Nazi storm trooper boots marching when the sound of the horses hooves came around the corner.