SLOVENIA SIDE TRIPS- VIENNA

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From my book OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA, AMAZON.COM.)

On our last evening in Vienna we took a decidedly different approach to dinner. On this night we actually dressed up (that means I put on a jacket) and went to the Rauchfangkeher, loosely translated into the “chimney sweep who fell in love with a woman married to a baker and who always dusted her roof with white flour after cleaning up the chimney which it seems was cleaned much more frequently than needed.”

That’s a long and loose translation, but then, this is the German language. This restaurant is billed as having top-quality Austrian cuisine, serving a lot of game of both the hoof and feather varieties, as testified to by all the antlers and stuffed birds decorating the walls and shelves. We were not disappointed; great service, Elysee having antelope and I wild boar, the wine steward being very accommodating and offering at least two selections for tasting with each course, and in between servings bringing small savories to the table to maintain our interest. This is a restaurant to have dinner in during the cold winter months; cozy tables, fireplaces, walls of old timber and exposed beams, examples of 19th century Austrian clothing hanging about such as Tyrolean hats and hunting jackets. It’s as though you’re expecting a grand uncle to burst through the door any minute, shaking the snow from his great coat.

Just for old times sake we ended the evening at the Sacher Café, knowing it would not be the same as drawing out the evening in the Sacher Coffee House which, as noted previously, was under renovation. Still, the Sacher is the Sacher, but being the only portion open to the public it was crowded and noisy. Can’t complain though. If we have any complaint it’s not planning more time in Vienna. It is a city that draws you in, lots to do but not brassy or hurried, and with its trams still fully functioning, buildings of 19th century proportion, and the coffee houses retaining their ambience, one might easily drift off and imagine finishing a conversation with Sigmund Freud, then stopping by the Sacher for coffee before a night at the Opera. It’s all still there (except Sigmund of course) and has not been overrun by modernism. However, before I get too nostalgic, here is a dose of reality. The home of Strauss the Younger at the time he wrote the Blue Danube waltz is now right above a McDonalds.
Can’t miss it.

In the morning, after a proper Austrian breakfast, rolls and coffee, we departed on a leisurly drive through the mountains back to Bled, arriving home mid-afternoon.

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Photos

THE RAUCHFANGKEHER
LOTS OF HORNS, HOOVES AND FEATHERS

THE SACHER CAFE
NIGHTCAP AT THE CLOSE OF A LOVELY JOURNEY