Vienna: TGT Episode 4

Population: 1.731 million

Highlights: Sacher Torte, Naschmarkt, the Hofburg, Schloss Schönbrunn, Wien Museum, Beim Czaak, Trams, Stephansdom

Accommodation: IBIS hotel (budget) – we really felt the difference to IBIS Frankfurt.

We left Munich on Tuesday morning, pausing to post our cards and then board a proper international train. This journey gave me my first glimpse of the Alps, and of Austria more generally. I love train travel, all of the scenery unfolds before your eyes; flat urban areas, mountains, and then the plains.

Our arrival in Vienna was a wet one, but by now we were used to negotiating new underground systems, sandwich in hand, and emerged at our hotel right beside the famous Prater fairground. A short nap later we set out to explore the city by tram. In Vienna you can get cheap 4-journey tickets (like carnet-dix in Paris) and if you’re over 60 there are discounts to be found as well. The trams are gorgeous old vehicles and the metro looks like a 1960’s space-age – all silvery tin-foil. We looked at Viennese architecture and then ate steak for tea, making plans on serviettes and living the dream.

(Hofburg candlesticks)

Day 2 I climbed the Stephansdom South Tower for a better view of the Viennese skyline - just as Stephansdom dominates the view in Vienna it also penetrates much of Viennese history.  Having got my breath back I went to the Hofburg - I saw Queen Sisi’s chambers and their massive dinner services – they even had a whole dinner service just for taking onboard a ship, which was incredible! If you like visiting National Trust properties audio-guide in hand then the Hofburg will suit you down to the ground!

(The view from Stephansdom)

After the Hof I headed off for a piece of Sacher Torte - it was really tasty, and not as hideously overpriced as I had feared. From the Sacher Hotel I progressed to the Naschmarkt via a post office, where I successfully ordered stamps in German. I also bumped into the Spanish Riding School Ponies on the way. The Naschmarkt is a foodie paradise with as many different styles of cuisine as you can imagine. I enjoyed tasting, and then buying some raspberry vinegar, seeing the bottling process before my eyes was magical.

(Spanish Riding School Ponies)

(Sacher Torte)

(Naschmarkt Sausages)

From the Naschmarkt I went on to the Jewish Museum. When I visited there was a heightened focus in the press on Israeli-Palestine so there was a body guard on the door and visiting felt like making a political statement. The museum was the antithesis of the toy museum in Munich, it was interactive and expansive, used multimedia modes of explanation and created space for people to leave their responses to the material. I learned a lot, particularly about the roles of Jews in World War I. I was particularly challenged by a comedy piece written by Georg Kreisler, you can listen to it here - he satirises the horror of going to work alongside people who had behaved so atrociously towards you mere years before.  I also learned about the ongoing relationship between Jews and Vienna itself, how they had paid a special Jew-tax which paid for Stephansdom and that several rich Jewish women founded the intellectual salons of Vienna. It was well worth the 10E entry fee.

(Jewish Museum suitcase)

(Interactive displays)

After all that thinking and heritage I met up with Dad and we went for tea at the oldest beisl in Vienna, Beim Czaak. Visit if you can, the service, restaurant design and food were a complete novelty.

(Beim Czaak)

From the restaurant we travelled out to Schloss Schönbrunn to listen to some Mozart 'where Mozart actually played'. We felt the original price offered to us by a street salesman was too high; and got a 50% discount from attempting to walk away. A very civilised evening all round.

(Schloss Schönbrunn)

Before leaving Vienna I insisted we go to the Wien Museum, and I'm so glad I did. Its a high-quality museum with a variety of exhibits for every taste from Medieval sculpture to Klimt-originals, a temporary installation on the Viennese Great Exhibition, Ottoman Siege Maps, the entire flat of Franz Grillparzer, Austrian poet. I bought their Highlights Catalogue, in German. Has to be seen to be believed, Wien Museum gets an A* for me.

(Viennese Armoury)

Next time we cross the border to Italy.