Vienna Day 2: Skinny Sisi and Sausages

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We are enjoying our Espresso's and Baileys in our little lounge as is our custom, at the loss of Cafe Pruckel (100 year old institution) since we suffered from a little bit of neglect from our server this evening, towards the end of the shift - no problem, it saved us some tip money and the costs of desserts and the gratis coffees we are now enjoying. We did however have our first bite of the Wiener Schnitzel tonight, Jennifer having, unbeknownst to her, the Kinder version, and I having the full-size Amer . . . er . . . AUSTRIAN version. It was good for what it is, thank you Tama, yes more of the same (international) fried food, but it wasn't pork so they're stringing us along for a couple more days here at least and then we'll come back home.

Boneheads Galore!

Today we went out in the streets with a vengeance, passing through Stadtpark and getting a good look at it this time, there is some type of older building at the southern end, which is not the park administration building, that has a restaurant in it. This little marginal side park is better than the principal parks in the other capitals.

As we were wandering through the streets of Vienna, utterly overwhelmed yet again by the amount of things to see, we started randomly going to churches here and there on our way to the Hofburg. A fortuitous stop for us was a not so impressive church called the Capuchin's Church, below which is the crypt in which most of the Hapsburgs are buried - the rulers of Austria for centuries. Not really morbid as some people might claim, the sarcophagi themselves are since they have so many finely represented skulls and crossbones. Compared to the Pantheon in France, these guys aren't getting much love down here as it is very spartan.

Sissy and Sausages

The featured story ladies and gentlemen!
After this we went to lunch which I think was near Micahelerplatz, the entrance to the Hofburg. I was in a cheap mood that day and jumped on the Frankfurter meal which was about 4 Euros (everything else was at least 8) and I guess subconciously guilted Jennifer into the same meal. Well, I didn't say it then, but I will say it now: those Frankfurters were aboslutely NASTY. They were two thin which meant they lost their heat immediately; the mustard they gave was dijon, something stronger would have been better; and the darn things tasted like cheap bologna. The beer and french fries were good though.

At the Hofsburg, this was one of our favorite visits of the whole trip. Unfortunately we have no photos since none were permitted inside, but we saw the Imperial Apartments of Empress Elizabeth "Sissi" and her husband the Emperor Franz Joseph. The apartments were nice, but nothing unlike other royal apartments, what was interesting was the museum they had about Sissi and her life. A lot of misery fell on this couple and they detailed her life from start to finish in a very creative way; that we can attest the Eastern Europeans are still incapable of reproducing. This last section was of course Jennifer's favorite while mine was the Imperial Silver Collection. These contained all of the silver, gold, porcelain, crystal, etc. used by the court and was very, very impressive. I wish I had photos of some of the pieces, but you can go here to see a photo of just one exhibit that someone clearly was able to sneak.

Our Singapore Sling on Karlsplatz

Afterwards we decided to go to the History Museum only to discover they did not take Mastercard and it was some exhorbitant price to get in and so we decided we had seen enough artwork as it was and that Gustav Klimt at the Belvedere was on the next day's itinerary anyway. So we passed between the History Museum and the Natural History Museum and made our way towards Karlskirsche, which, in my expert opinion is the third of the great churches in Vienna (the other two being Stephansdom and Votivkirsche). Here was a beautiful reflecting pool in front of it on Karlsplatz (albeit with some litter) and we enjoyed beverages on the side of the pool courtesy of a sidewalk vendor. The beautiful thing about Europe is you can buy a beer and enjoy it in a public location and everyone behaves appropriately - what is wrong with our country that people take it as an opportunity to behave like hooligans? After sitting there and soaking up the view we realized that Karlskirsche was closing for services and so we rushed over with 15 minutes to spare only to realize that they were charging some exhorbitant entry fee . . . isn't the house of the Lord supposed to be open to all? That was really annoying. But looking at the pictures in our guidebook and based on the fact that we are not aficionados of religious art, we decided to save the money . . .

. . . until we met our Singaporean friend Kai Fun out front. He was selling some beautiful watercolors that caught our eye as they were beautiful like the ones we had seen in stores, but a lot cheaper. But that wasn't good enough for me - I had tried to negotiate unsuccesfully in the stores but I knew this would be a different story, and it was. He had one watercolor he was offering for 58 Euro and I offered 45 Euro which he of course said was impossible. So we walked away, when he saw I was not bluffing and we had walked about 50 meters he ran after us and said 50 Euros was okay. I said no and we kept walking, he then chased us down again and said that we should just buy him a coffee for 2 Euros and therefore pay 47 Euros. What a smart guy, this was an emotional pull on his behalf, how could I refuse to offer a kind gentleman a coffee after a long day's work? (I really couldn't - that would be going too far). So we came back to his little stand and he wanted us to buy two which I steadfastedly refused. So I pulled out the money and he laughed as saw I had more than I claimed I had, but then, despite having told us that what was on display is all he had, he started shuffling behind his display and pulled out an even nicer version of the one we had picked and then another even nicer one which he called "the Ferrari". This guy was quite comical. We didn't like the Ferrari, but I did like the first one he pulled out but did not want to let on, so I said "no" outright to paying 10 Euros extra for this new version, but to him the marginal work involved in producing the painting was clearly not equivalent to the marginal revenue and he offered only 5 Euros extra and I jumped on it. We love our watercolor. Thinking back on it, I think this is probably the most sophisticated salesman I have ever come across, and what was brilliant about it is he understood the nuances of the sale and our behavior and thinking as tourists. Most importantly he did it without being offending or disrespectful, he made it an experience in itself. Hopefully he is still there today and if ever at Karlskirsche, go visit him!

Vienna's Little Amsterdam

Wow that last paragraph was a mouthful! After Karlskirsche we walked back through Stadtpark and stopped at an ice cream stand to make up for Jennifer's disappointment at lunch. I had a coffee and she had a . . . chocolate . . . that was a tough one! As we sat on some steps my little radar was going as usual and I noticed a few suspicious characters all around us. One was posted on a main pathway at the top of the steps, looking down at his cellphone but regularly looking left and right down the pathway nervously. Across from us on another set of stairs was a girl sitting there listening to music looking somewhat out of place (I'm still not sure if she was part of the group). And below us were two guys looking the most suspicious who I really noticed when they got a little animated while I was taking a picture of our hotel which was visible from our location and was in their general direction (and I was therefore possibly putting them in the photo). Shortly after they got up and met a couple that came walking down the path and I swear something was exchanged between the two groups. All the while these two guys and the one and the top of the stairs kept "checking" on us. Jennifer was busy chomping away on her ice cream oblivious to all around her as she savoured the fine subtleties of Viennese chocolate ice cream . . . God help us! So we pretty much got out of there when we saw an older professional couple walk by and followed them. I know for certain I was not paranoid here, at first I was concerned about our own security but I realized they were more concerned about us than I about them which leads me to believe this was a convenient location to conduct drug sales since there are not really any quiet alleyways in the center of town with all of the tourists there. What I should have done is gone over acting very official, flashing my Ohio DL, sternly informing them that I am Inspector Gadget of Interpol and confiscating his funds while releasing the world of the little burden he was imposing and disposing of it into the Vienna River below.

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Photos

Couple of Boneheads . . .
. . . one alive, one dead.

Sarcophagus of the Habsburgs
So wickedly intricate yet so unceremoniously amassed in this crypt.

Scratch Frankfurt off the list
We know Jennifer doesn't like their food.

Kunsthistorisches Museum
The museum of Art History, which we did not go in as we had had enough of art at this point.

Ein Katz mit Kirsche
Mmmm! Yummy, sounds tasty!

Reflecting on Karlskirsche . . .
. . . no, I don't feel any more Holy.

Our Picture Artist
We bought him a 2 Euro coffee, he gifted us a 5 Euro photograph . . . what a deal!

Stadtbahn Station
A Jugendstil architecture example, these were train stations for the light rail lines, no longer in use :-(

An Ice Cream and . . .
. . . that Frankfurter is ALL forgotten! Yum!

Old Vienna
Don't quite remember where this was, but an unusual building.

Finally!
An ugly building! We won't tell you exactly where it is, okay? (Because we can't remember)

House in Stadtpark
They hold events here now it seems, but not sure what it is historically. There is a memorial to Johann Strauss in front of it.