A Viennese Waltz

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Tuesday 23th August, 2011
Vienna, Austria

On Monday evening we arrived in Vienna.
Our friend Miriam has an apartment in the eighth district, only a few kilometres from the city centre. For our first meal in Vienna, we walked to the renowned Café Hummel for a vienna schnitzel and Austrian potato salad which is made with a vinaigrette type dressing instead of mayonnaise. Delicious.
This morning, we set off to explore the city. We walked down Josefsgasse, lined with little unusual shops which we window shopped with pleasure. Arriving at the central ring of the city, we headed off toward some grand buildings. Then we realised that it was ALL grand old buildings, mostly in the baroque style, every inch decorated to the max: cathedrals, palaces, monuments, statues, gardens, music halls and opera houses, theatres of the old kind… it just went on and on. And on. Everywhere we looked, there was something beautiful, ornate, amazing,. It was a visual overload. My poor camera got the workout of its life as I attempted to capture this magnificence like a frenzied paparazzi outside a celebrity’s hotel.
We walked past the rathaus (city hall) built on a scale which would put Buckingham palace to shame. While I stopped for a phonecall from home, Leena was accosted by a man in 18th century costume, powdered wig and all, who wanted to sell us tickets for a Mozart Concert. After being assured that he was an official ticket seller, we purchased three seats in the balconies for the following evening. Of course you must do a concert or opera in the city of Mozart.
We strolled through the volksgarten, with thousands of roses, in full bloom, waterfalls, marble statues, stately trees under which were benches to rest your weary feet and admire the heady, sweet smell of the roses. The day was HOT. In some areas the temperatures reached to 37 degrees Celsius. We decided that walking was just too tiring in this heat, and having found a horse and carriage ride departure point at the old palace, we set off on a 40 minute carriage tour (65 euro). This was amazing to ride past all the important landmarks and to get a feel for the layout of the city. We rode along at a stately pace, at times impeding the impatient traffic as we wended our way through the city streets. On the way, the driver pointed out the Café Central, one of the famous cafes in Vienna, which turned out to be quite close to the end of the ride. “That’s lunch” we decided. We made our way back to the Café Central, past interesting small shops in little narrow streets with old five storey buildings on each side. The Café was cool and Grand. The ceiling was vaulted and hand painted with decorative motifs, there was glass and mirrors, chandeliers, rich carpets and elegant tablesettings. The food was delicious, beautifully presented and reasonably priced.
After lunch we decided to find our way back to the unit, and the walk there took several hours, and led us past more magnificence, but by this time we were so overwhelmed and overstimulated, that I felt quite numb – except for the feet, which throbbed. A lay down in the cool of the unit and a cool refreshing shower later, we were ready to set off for the Restaurant Fabio, one of the best in town. There we had an amazing dining experience. The food was perfect, the wine hand picked by our very knowledgeable waiter to perfectly complement each dish. A starter of perfectly cooked squid in crunchy batter, an entrée of squid ink coated halibut, and a beef fillet with fries and espresso ketchup were just unlike anything I’ve had before. The finale of the evening was however, (and thinking that there was NO WAY we could fit another thing in), that Miriam had arranged for a platter of every single dessert on the menu, topped with a spouting sparkler to be delivered to the table, in lieu of a birthday cake for me. And three spoons. We managed to fit a quite a few more things in. What a memorable, amazing day.

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[Vicki]

Travel Writer
You could easily add 'travel writer' to your already long list of talents ...