Habsburg Glory

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Today I was awoken around 6:30 by the incessant hacking of one of my frightening old Slavic neighbors. I'm not sure what they are exactly, since my eavesdropping has been only through the door, but I think they might be Serbian or something. After this they clanged about for another hour, so by 7:30 I was wide awake and ready to start my day.

Around 8:30 I headed out in search of breakfast, and in trying to find a new way to the center of town I stumbled upon the Naschmarkt, Vienna's most famous open-air market. Viennese merchants have operated there since the Middle Ages selling their produce and whatnot, and today it is a mix of produce, meats, cheeses, artisan products, and a whole array of food stalls. It had an extremely Balkan-y feel, and many of the stalls were full of olives, spices, and sweetmeats from Southeastern Europe. I couldn't help but get myself a massive meat börek, a typical savory Balkan phyllo pastry for my breakfast.

By the time I hit the Hofburg Palace Complex it was time for some caffeination, so I plopped down at a café in front of the Spanish Riding School and had myself a nice, but expensive (4€) coffee. I had around an hour before my show at the Riding School so I walked the grounds of the Palace a bit and went through the Volksgarten before coming upon the Parliament Building. Far more impressive was the Rathaus, an almost spiny structure that reminded me somewhat of the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest.

Back at the palace it was time for my performance at the Spanische Reitschule, where the famed Lipizzaner stallions strut about doing absurd things. Despite this, the Spanish Riding School is perhaps the finest place in the world for dressage. OH WAIT, my show was cancelled and nobody told me. I was fully refunded and given a free pass to the training session that was going on for another hour, so I wasn't overly upset. The horses really are quite regal looking, and the place didn't smell too bad given it really was just a glorified Baroque barn. No fun jumps or anything though, mostly just them trotting about the arena.

Since the Kaiserappartements were just across the way I thought it would be nice to have a peek into some Austrian Imperial living. Of some 2,600 rooms in the Hofburg Palace, apparently only 20 are open to visitors. The Imperial Silver and Porcelain collections took up the fist third of the visit, with thousands upon thousands of gold, silver, and porcelain tableware owned by the Habsburgs. I think my favorite set was what Louis XVI had gifted to Maria Theresa for something or other.

The next series of rooms were dedicated to the Empress Elisabeth, known as Sisi. She is described as beautiful but tragic, hating her courtly life and writing poetry and whatnot until her assassination in Geneva. Finally we came about the general apartments inhabited by Franz Joseph and Elisabeth. They were lovely and opulent but they pretty much blended into the apartments I've seen at every other Royal Palace, even the Newport Mansions at some points.

Moving on I headed in the direction of Domkirche St. Stephan, the 12th Century St. Stephan's Cathedral. Perpetually under construction, the basilica is very dark but also very beautiful inside and includes the carved wooden Wiener Neustadt altarpiece and the tomb of Emperor Frederick III. For 4.50€ I decided it was worth it to take the tiny elevator to the north tower for nice views of the city.

After all this walking about I was starving and ready for a hearty Viennese feast. I managed to find the place that supposedly had the best wiener schnitzel in all of Vienna but of course there was no room at the inn for baby Jeffrey, not even at the satellite restaurant, so I had to go elsewhere. This was not a bad thing as I ended up having a delicious pork feast at Gösser Bierklinik. My "Bauernschmaus" consisted of sauerkraut topped with smoked pork, roast pork, pork sausage, and bacon along with boiled potatoes and a white bread dumpling. I love a good light pork lunch topped with beer!

I still had some room for something sweet so I made my way over to the Café Mozart for a Franz Landtmann Kaffee, a double espresso with brandy, coffee liqueur, whipped cream, and cinnamon. Viennese coffee culture is certainly a delight, and there was some great people watching in the plaza I was in.

By this time it was around 5pm and I was in need of some rest, so I headed back to the hostel to check my e-mail, upload my pictures and whatnot. An hour or two later I headed back out for a cheap little fish sandwich from this German fast-food seafood chain NordSee and did a bit of window shopping as I trolled the streets while night began to fall.

At this point I realized I still hadn't had a legitimate Viennese pastry so my next move was clear - Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher. Lucky for me there was a small table outside just waiting for me. I ordered an espresso as well as the famous "Sacher Torte" which was invented by Franz Sacher in 1832 for Klemens Wenzel von Metternich here in Vienna. The recipe is top secret and the cake is made only in Vienna and Salzburg and then must be exported. The cake consists of two layers of dense, not overly sweet chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and dark chocolate icing on the top and sides along with a little chocolate medallion with "Sacher" imprinted upon it. It is served with a healthy dollop of whipped cream because apparently the Viennese deem the cake slightly too dry to be consumed on its own. It was delicious, and I concur with the locals with respect to the dryness - it is not dry in a stale way by any means, but the whipped cream makes it go down oh so smoothly.

Feeling fat but satisfied, I continued to meander around the city for a bit to see the sights at night before walking the 20 minutes or so back to Happy Hostel to call it a night.

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Photos

"Bauernschmaus" aka Pork Feast
kraut with roast pork, smoked pork, sausage, bacon, potatoes, and white bread dumpling