Yum Vienna (V3)

Hot raspberry sauce on ice cream - mmm.

Coffee and Cake are the fuel of Vienna. We were only in the city for four whole days and I was determined to sample a wide selection in that time. Luckily there are many, many cafés and restaurants that were quite willing to lend aid to my quest. I think K and the girls were a little nervous about the calories but I reasoned that all the shivering in the snow would soon shake them off!

The Battle of Vienna, way back in 1683, began the city's culinary traditions. While besieged and starving, the Viennese probably dreamed of food. It is funny to imagine that the brilliance of the Austrian general, who kept the population alive and fighting until the Polish reinforcements arrived, was his ability to motivate endurance by holding daily imaginary meals where everybody describes what they would eat that day. Imagine a scribe seriously putting these thoughts onto vellum to be reenacted at the victory banquet once the Turks were routed.  Someone craved bread but enhanced a simple roll with the luxury of extra butter in the dough and then designed a way to roll it out in the form of a crescent - the symbol of Islam that the Turks were fighting under. So satisfying to daily destroy the terror with their teeth. No wonder the Father of Psychoanalysis popped up in a city with a heritage of such strong visualisation skills 200 yrs later.

Battle of Vienna 12.9.1683 in Vienna Museum  Karsplatz  by Franz Geffels (1625-94), c. 1685.        Kipferl in a bakery.

I was gob smacked to find that the croissant was actually invented in Vienna! It was called a kipferl, which is the German word for crescent. There is some discussion among food historians about its arrival in Paris, some say it was a few bakers trying to win Marie Antionette's favour by recreating a food from her homeland but others say it wasn't until the 1830's that an Austrian artillery officer opened a Viennese bakery in Paris. The crescent shaped roll was quickly renamed with the French word for crescent as French bakers copied the popular snack and added more butter to the dough. Even though this is less romantic, it makes more sense. The Austrians, like M, prefer slightly heavier, softer staples like dumplings and soft loaves (just as well for me!) where as the French, like me, prefer their gluten served light and crisp. The delights of a French made baguette,flute or pain de campagne is why I get heavier and softer when we go to France! A restaurant trend here in the UK is to serve burgers on brioché - soft and sweet with under-salted beef patties - ugh.

Left: What to order in Vienna    

Right: A French illustration published in 1693 shows coffee-drinking from a bowl and an ibrik for brewing coffee, as well as a branch of a coffee tree, beans and a cylindrical ‘instrument for roasting the coffee.’ Bridgman Art Library.

The other scoop that the Austrians scored in the victory over the Ottomans, was coffee. The Turks considered coffee an essential part of their rations so bags of the beans were looted from the Turkish tents and steaming bowls of coffee with generous dollops of sweetened whipped cream were added to the banquet. Is it bad that I am glad that the Battle of Vienna happened and has ensured that 21st century travelers can visit a city that has coffee menus as big as their wine list?

The late Saudi King loved these Aida Konditories so much that he 'invited' the franchise to his country where it is said there are as many as in Vienna.
Cream slice (at home in NZ it's called Vienna slice), Raspberry bomb, Biedermeier torte; layers of light and dark sponge with Maraschino liqueur, hazel nuts, nougat cream and homemade cranberry and quince jam. The three on the right weren't available when we tried to order them: top - Mozart cake - with the pistachio and chocolate flavours of the mozartkugel, middle - a Nougat tart that both K and Petal wanted to try and bottom - an apricot torte with nuts in the shortcrust base.

Another difference M and I have about food is that he likes to save the tastiest morsel till last whereas I tend to gobble it down piping hot as so as it arrives. This actually caused quite a bit a tension in the early days of our relationship. One day when M had risen from the table and I thought he had finished I ate the tasty morsel before clearing the table - I learnt not to do that again! True to form I bullied our itinerary into visiting the legendary Sacher Hotel to sample the iconic Sacher Torte on the first day!  I would rather recreate happy memories than spend the days worrying that I may miss an experience. Although you can now have this cake anywhere in the world by ordering it online (€28 http://www.sacher.com/ ) part of this cake's mystic is the surrounds that is is served in.

We queued at the Sacher Hotel for about 20mins - getting colder and colder, to get a table. After it was our turn to be let in, we handed our coats to the friendly garderoben, who for €1 each hung and guarded them during our stay, and our fingers began to thaw out. After ensuring that Willow would share some of her torte with me and that M was ordering apple strudel, I ordered the cheese strudel and a Viennese coffee! The room was gorgeous - just what makes an olde world afternoon tea perfect.

Once upon a time a powerful Prince (Metternich, 1832) ordered that a special dessert be offered to his important guests the following day. The head chef had taken ill so the command weighed upon the shoulders of a young apprentice, Franz Sacher. Imagine the frenzied pantry inspection. Up until  this point European cakes were usually full of nuts and fruit with heavy layers, the earliest known recipe for the Schwarzwälder kirschtorte (Black Forest Torte) with its similarly light chocolate sponge is 1915. The young chef decided to risk making something no one had seen before. Brave or stupid - his success means history reveres his nerves of steel. Stiff egg whites, half the yolks, double ground almonds, apricot preserves, apricot brandy, flour, butter, a little sugar plus the vital bitter chocolate and Unglaublich, (amazing) a triumph! Two chocolate sponges sandwiched and covered with an apricot glaze which sets before a heavy blanket of chocolate icing (boiled sugar with the chocolate melted into it off the heat) sets on top of that. Years of fighting for his rights of the recipe ownership finally saw Franz's offspring serve 'The original' Sacher Torte at their Sacher Hotel. Other cafe's were told by the courts that they had to drop the 'original' from the name of their Sacher tortes.  Franz's recipe is still a closely guarded secret.

So much coffee but they also have teas and hot chocolates at the Mozart Café.

Before the watching the Spanish horses doing their morning exercises we dropped into Café Mozart opposite the information center and behind the Opera on Albertinaplatz. It looked a bit posh but we only wanted coffees and hot chocolates - just as well, the prices were a bit posh too! They had a beautiful interior, the very enthusiastic waiter seated us around a corner where two tables could be messily pushed together for our party of six.

The Mozart Cafe was named for the statue that used to stand out the front but was moved to a park on the Ringstrasse.

On Stephanzplatz opposite Haas Haus. I didn't notice there was a Macdonalds there until looking back at this photo.

If you do have a few mouths and a limited budget the Austrian konditories franchise  - Aida, has a large presence. Each slice of cake is around the €3 mark and they have a very big selection. The cakes are baked at a factory, sliced, wrapped and delivered to each cafe every morning. After our visit to Stephansdom we spotted the one on the square and found tables upstairs. Willow, Petal and M sat at the cake bar and confused the waiters no end when we put our whole order on the same bill. K,C and I sat next to windows that looked out over the platz -a view is always my preference if available. The girls thought the hot chocolates tasted a bit strange but the cakes were just as yummy as the handmade ones. The photos below are from a couple of stops at different stores.  I did get some strange looks from waiters as I had two selections delivered each time. We shared around!

Left:  Last night on our waiting to cross at the lights beside the Ringstrasse on the way to the Karlplatz u-bann station.
Right : K's cream free traditional hazelnut square and a bit of black forest torte for C.

Upstairs at Stephansplatz Aida Left:cake counter, menu,  Right: My latte and double order - the blueberry cake was delish.

After standing and watching the horses for 2hrs we were quite tired and decided to treat ourselves to a proper hot dinner at a traditional Viennese restaurant. We found Kanzleramt just around the corner from Michaelerplatz on Schauflerg. After our Cafe Mozart experience I asked to see a menu before committing to being seated but told the guy we just wanted to make sure that Wiener Schnitzel was available. The family - who knew what I was really about - checking prices, were rolling their eyes.  The waiter was sweetness itself and made us feel right at home when we agreed to stay. Our coats weren't taken so our seats became comfortably padded.

A traditional Austrian restaurant with Viennese specialties on the menu, a wonderful find close to the Riding school.

The waiter gave us some great advice on what and how much to order when he discovered we wanted to sample some traditional dishes. First we ordered soups. The waiter suggested to order one between two because they were big serves.  Griessnockerlsuppe is a beef broth with a semolina dumpling in it, the semolina wasn't available so a couple of serves with cheese dumplings (Kaspressknodel) and one with pancake strips(Frittatensuppe) were ordered. The mains were quite hard to choose because there were so many interesting choices. Luckily the waiter was able to give us a menu in English, I find it a lot harder deciphering German than French although schwein is an easy one - oink, oink.

Maincourse Menu

The girls all decided to have chicken schnitzel which was served with parsley potatoes, that tasted like they'd been left to soak in warm butter for half an hour and a wedge of lemon. The adults all decided to have Tafelspitz which the waiter insisted was the most traditional Vienna meal.  It is slices of a beef topside cut that has been simmered all day and night, according to our enthusiastic waiter, in a rich vegetable and beef stock. They have to have super sharp knives to be able to cut the cm thick slices off the meat because it truly pulls away from your fork as soft as warm butter. It was served with vegies from the broth and a apple and horseradish sauce which the girls also enjoyed on their schnitzels. There were quite a few hungarian dishes on the menu for people with really big appetites, perhaps this was Sisi's influence all those years ago. A lovely meal in a wonderfully cosy and welcoming establishment. No dessert of course - more cake later!

From the top left then clockwise: pancake broth, cheese dumpling broth, a local favourite grape juice, Chicken schnitzel, Tafelspitz with fried potatoes and sauce.

A large group of Italians left just before us and one gentleman forgot to pick up his scarf. M was the first into his outdoor gear so went to wait outside - you get uncomfortably hot in a normal temperature area with layers of winter gear on. He found the Italians still chatting by the restaurant door so in his fluent Italian tried to explain about the forgotten scarf.  One lady thought he had made a comment about his own scarf (their English was as good as his Italian) and patted it in a congratulatory manner saying 'Si bella!', It was very kind of her to agree with a stranger's assertions about the beauty of their clothing choices but didn't help the guy who had left his scarf behind. Eventually M approached the only person without a scarf and with international hand gestures pointed to his own scarf, then the gentiluomo's neck then at the restaurant.  At last light dawned on the uomo's face and we saw him come in to retrieve it as we were leaving.

Top left: waiting for the Yellow Ring Tram,  Top Right: Waiting for the green man to let us cross the Danube canal to get to the U-bann station.      Bottom: Big risk throwing a snow ball at your Dad Willow!

An icicle dropped from a roof gutter onto Willow
- thank goodness for a big pompom

Walking around Vienna with the help of the U-bann every now and then was made even more calorific by the cold, snow lay fairly deep and fell often enough for Willow to say "the only way I can cope with this bone aching chill is knowing that something beautiful comes with it." She did feel a lot better after buying a new hat that didn't have any 'airholes' at a stall in front of the Rathaus as they set up for a big New Years concert.

On the last day we decided to try and find a normal (unsouvenired) shopping area for the girls to spend some of their Chirstmas Euros. we discovered that Austria doesn't have a large manufacturing tradition so there were no outlet type places. We could have taken the U-bann to outer suburbs to a couple of big malls but after K tapped into trip advisor and a couple of forums she found out that Mariahilfer Strasse had large swathes of pedestrian only areas and was considered a retail hub of down town Vienna.  This area was just behind the Museum Quarter so we walked to the Ubann behind the Rathaus and eventually exited at Neubagasse. After deciding not to go into the Lantmann Café for lunch we had gotten pretty hungry so stopped in at the first place that had enough seating for us, a little sandwich bar called 'backwerk', We think this must be a German interpretation of Back to Work because all the food was prepared ready to be picked up and paid for, much like the cafés in NZ. The fresh salad rolls and spinach and curd pastries were delicious.

Backwerk - do the doughnuts and white choc raspberry pastries get added to the cake count?

It seems that many tourists think they will see kangaroos in Austria

Feeling full and satisfied we headed off to see if there were any different chain stores in Vienna. The holiday sales were still on everywhere so Petal wanted to pop into New Yorker, Willow loved Tally Weijl and I was pleased that the sale discounts were very generous! M got fairly bored and cold waiting outside forever so he went his own way and managed to find a hardware store and a knife shop where he found a splinter remover he thought would be handy to have. We looked and shopped until our bladders couldn't be trusted, I rang M to see where he was and luckily he was able to locate some public loos in a department store close to where we were.  Thank goodness for Google and Life 360 on his phone. After popping into a C&A clothing department store we found what we needed and headed back out.

Top left - a VERY expensive hat, glove and scarf shop!  Top Right: A Christmas tree of bauble earrings with some Klimt prints in the background - any size available.      Below: Mariahilfer Strauss

Our last foodie stop before hitting our loved Billa supermarket to restock up on Viennese confection, was a late afternoon tea at a store that made huge ice cream Sundaes on Mariahilferstrasse.  There are three Paoblo Bortolotti Cafés down this street. K and I stuck to cake to get our day's quota but the others couldn't resist the ice cream, even though it was only getting colder outside!

The adult's treats at Bortolotti

The young one's Sundaes.  I wasn't organised to get a photo of C's before she'd finished but it looked like brochure pic right.

Two sweet treats that are synonymous with Austria are the bright pink branded Manner wafers and the Mozartkugel. The big flagship stores in town were always full of people so we just got ours at the supermarket. The prices were the same but the big stores had a wider range of products.

Everywhere in Austria.

There are so many famous Kaffeehaus and Konditories(cake and confection shops) in Old Vienna, we didn't manage to sample many of them though. Turns out having cake every day for lunch is quite a task! I need to go back again to do a serious café crawl with no art or history distractions - mind you most of the cafes have both history and art connected with them so perhaps I don't need to go without.  Any one care to come?

A little list of ones we walked past and peered into but didn't sample are below.

Demel - Sisi (Empress Elizabeth) used to have candied violets delivered to her from the court confectioners at Demel when in residence at the Hofburg. The Demel kitchen was part of the Hofburg complex (Imperial Palace). It is where Franz Sacher first cooked his torte that the cafe has been making it ever since. They lost the right to use the word 'Original' after Franz fought for copyright of the recipe.

Café Central is considered to be one of the first Kaffeehaus in Vienna, it closed after WWII for a while but was reopened and refurbished in 1986.

Café Hawelka its walls are covered in paintings from the Viennese school of Realism. Their Buchtein (jam doughnuts) are apparently renowned.

Cafe Landtmann - we passed this walking from Beethoven's house to the Burgtheatre. We thought about going to have lunch there but it looked a bit expensive. Checking later I found that soup and a maincourse were only €12,50 - should have popped our heads in after all. We found that many of the food places didn't list their prices on outside menus - once you've sat down it is a bit embarrassing when you realise it really doesn't fit in your budget.

Café Griensteds is opposite the Spanish riding school on Micheleplatz

Cafe Museum has a very confusing name.  It is not a museum, opposite a museum or even in the Museum Quarter.  Its interior was designed by architect Adolf Loos so perhaps some think the building should be in a museum?

Scanned from a book I bought 'A taste of Austria' by Escudo De Oro, It even has mum's beef roulade recipe in it which I never knew was from Austria.

Vienna's Ringstrasse (V2)

Plan of the city walls after reconstruction in 1548. Use the sketch of the Cathedral in the centre to orient it to the map below.

The old Vienna is a really compact city with heaps happening in a fairly small space. Getting around is very easy with their super efficient U-bahn, wide pedestrian zones and trams.  The U-bann was clean and runs on an honesty system where people are expected to buy their tickets and be ready to produce them if asked, when caught without out one there is an instant €190 fine. We bought 8 day passes(€36) and validated a ticket per person at the little blue stamper boxes each day. We were quite disappointed that we were never asked to present our tickets during our stay. The Ubann carriages even have complimentary magazines hanging on little hooks, none were stolen and I didn't see any graffitied either.  We found the trams a bit harder to use because the only maps we could find, listed the name of the stops but not the numbers or letters of the trams, which were all they showed on their displays as they trundled along. One very informative tram we did go on was the Yellow Ringstrasse Tourist tram, a warmer option to the top deck bus - hop on hop off tour.

The Yellow 'Ring Tram' follows the Ringstrasse, clockwise from Schwedenplatz. €8 per circuit.
Image from the tourist brouchure http://www.wienerlinien.at/media/files/2014/folder_viennaringtram_120606.pdf

The Ringstrasse is a collection of wide avenues that merge end on end to form a ring around the old city of Vienna. This space was originally the city walls and sloping moated embankments that protected this eastern frontier of Europe against the Tartar threat. The old walls kept numerous Turkish attacks out of the city, the last attack of 300 000 Ottoman troops were kept back from the 'Golden Apple' with only 15 000 men until the Polish King arrived with reinforcements and blew the Turks to smithereens with their canon from Kahlenberg(a hill overlooking the city). Thousands of Turks drowned in the Danube running for their lives.  The Turkish Vizier was strangled with a silk cord ( the approved execution manner of the times), his soldiers pulling on the ends like a tug of war after he accepted responsibility for the huge losses.

Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha
At least he enjoyed wearing silk for
a long time before it strangled him.

The siege made a hero of Count Ernst Rudiger von Starhemberg who lead the Viennese guards as they held out against the massive Ottoman army for two months. Just as the Turks had succeeded in tunneling under the walls and blowing one section up, the King of Poland(Jan III Sobieski) turned up with the 'Holy League'. The tour guide said very little about the supporting forces but heralded Ernst as the savior of Western culture and Christianity because the Battle of Vienna was the beginning of the end of Turkish strongholds in Europe. A young 20yr old - Prince Eugene of Savoy - was serving in the Polish ranks after leaving the French court with a hatred of Loius   IV.  Leopold I(Austrian King) hated the French King as well so welcomed the young refugee. Prince Eugene would later see off the Turks from Europe in the Battle of Zenta and finally pushed out the Ottoman influence by besieging Belgrade. When the new Vizier's 200 000 troops turned up to help, Eugene marched his 40 000 troops through the fog and routed the surprised troops completely. This sealed his reputation as the greatest Austrian General ever.

Left:   King Jan III of Poland                                                                Right:  Prince Eugene of Savoy

Prince Eugene's property rewards were profitable and he was able to indulge his love of art, architecture and books. He designed and had built Lower and Upper Belvedere (zoo and all) and filled the two buildings with his art and book collections. They are now art galleries after his heir, a niece, sold everything - most to the ruler of Sardinia and the rest to Charles VI of Austria. Prince Eugene's Belvederes are full again now of precious art and open to the public for viewing. Take the D Tram from the Ringstrasse up the hill to the Upper Belvedere to see Klimt's "The Kiss"(see more in the V4 blog) and other pieces. We walked up in the snow but caught the tram back down for a quick bite at Maccas before the little concert of Mozart and Strauss in the Industries Hall.

View from Upper Belvedere back towards the Old city, M is standing with his back to UB.

A huge economic boom in the mid 1800s, the growth of the middle classes and the Rothschilde bank empowered a political change in the Hapsburg Empire and Emperor Franz Joseph saw the writing on the wall. On Christmas day 1857 his Decree that the Vienna walls should be pulled down to open the Hofburg Palace and the city center up to the people was printed on the front page of the Wiener Zeitung(newspaper). The huge space after the demolition was used for the new  boulevard, the Ringstrasse. The new land available for building was bought up by the country's wealthy elite and middle classes. Poor subjects from the Empire were bought in for 'new employment opportunities'(making the millions of new bricks required in near slave conditions). These pale bricks were used to build palaces, hotels, a huge Town hall (The rat run) to consolidate the presence of the new economic elite and cultural sites that hold their heads high over the boulevard.

Left:  Last night at the Opera   Center: The Imperial, a five star hotel with many famous guests. Left: Rat Haus
All these buildings face the Ringstrasse.

The Burgtheater: Even though it is a champion of German language plays, the English Bard has a bust on display

The Burgtheater is on the Ringstrasse has one of the biggest stages in the world with a revolving platform 21m in diameter. A guided tour takes you up the staircases designed and painted by Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, unfortunately the only other way you can see them is by buying a ticket to a performance, velvet ropes held us out!

We were given wipes to clean the headphones for the audio tour on the Yellow Tram: Petal refuses to listen, Willow is grossed out by the idea of other's discards on her ears and C just gets on with the job.  Nearly ready to begin the circuit.

Upon disembarking from the Yellow Tram we headed for the center of the Ring - Stephansdom. This cathedral dates back to 1147 and is considered a symbol of Vienna's freedom. Near the front door a O5 is carved, this was done by the resistance after Austria's annexation by Nazi Germany. The 5 represents teh 5th letter of the alphabet (E) - OE is an abbreviation of Ӧsterreich(Austria) - deepening the Cathedral's freedom symbolism. The Cathedral has survived and been rebuilt after many wars and fires. We had intended to climb Alter Steffl (Old Steve) which is the medieval south tower with 343 steps to a brilliant view of Vienna. But the sky was heavy with snow clouds and we decided that the compromised view may not be worth the effort. It would be a great way to orient yourself to the city, especially if arriving from the Southern Hemisphere and finding the sun in the wrong place! In the shorter North Tower that was never completed to the South's height is the biggest bell in Vienna (2nd in size in Europe to 'Peter' in Cologne Cathedral). It was made with the captured turkish cannons from the 1600's battle. The bombing and fire at the end of WWII destroyed the bells's supports and it crashed to the ground. The metal was melted down and recast to create the Pummerin (boomer) bell hung there today. It booms out every New Year at midnight and on a few Church high days.

Left : Stephansdom without the snow on the roof.                       Bottom right:Haas Haus 1990, apparently the huge mirror windows reflect the cathedral on fine days.  The police hut is in preparation for the New Year celebrations.
Top Right: Shopping street with many Souvenir shops that runs from the Ringstrasse to Stephansplatz

After Stephandom's devastation in WWII, the local people fundraised to reconstruct it - possibly the most expensive and longest running 'Save the Church Roof' fundraiser ever. Coloured tiles were fitted in the fifties and now make it easily recognisable from any other Gothic looking cathedral.  It was lovely and warm inside when we took refuge from the snow.  Even though a service was in progress, tourists were allowed into the back section of the building and he shop was still open.

Petal outside Stephensdom wishing we would hire the horse and carriage.  We never did in the end - another time.

Freud's apartment building

Sigmund Freud (Father of Psycho Analysis) walked around the Ringstrasse every day for the good of his health. His practice was in his home apartment a couple of blocks back from the Ringstrasse. It was a short walk from the Shottenring U-bann stop so we walked around to see it. We were amazed that there was a queue that went up two flights of stairs to get in. The space is quite small so they only let in a set number of people at a time. On one door was the warning "Some images of nudity in this room may irritate you." - gotta love translators with a thesaurus, perhaps they felt the common English expression 'disturb' was a little strong. Phallic symbols were the theme of the decoration and art work around the house but their cramped display meant that very few would be in danger of over excitement. I must agree with the basic principle of Freud's explorations though - talking about stuff, naming your fears and shames, is therapeutic. Just share with someone you trust! “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” S.F.  “Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me.” S.F.  The power of language!

Left: Anna and Sigmund arriving in Paris after leaving Vienna     Center: Freud's couch now in the Freud Museum in London

Cover sheet for Willow's next
Psychology assignment?

Unfortunately Freud's incredible writing output and expansive reading was always accompanied by cigar smoking.  After being diagnosed with cancer he tried to stop this habit but found that his fluency, concentration and speed were considerably diminished without that comforting suck, draw and blow action! The Nazi's annexed Austria and Freud found himself denied citizenship because of his Jewish ancestry. Luckily a wealthy friend, Princess Marie Bonaparte (Granddaughter of Napoleon's brother and wife of a Greek Prince.) negotiated with the Gestapo (these were early days in the Third Reich) and was able to purchase visas for Freud and his extended family to leave Vienna to exile in London with many of their possessions, including the famous couch. He only lived another 15 months, pneumonia got him as his cancer progressed but perhaps facing his own denial of the danger he and his family had been in from political aggression over the border and his expulsion from beloved Vienna; weakened his will to go on. His youngest daughter Anna continued to practice and develop his psychoanalysis methods, working mainly with children.

This year Vienna is celebrating 150yrs since the Ringstrasse was opened. Balls, sporting events and festivals are booked in for a year long party. This all seemed to be overshadowed by the city's euphoria of hosting the 2015 Eurosong(60th) competition in May, after Austrian Conchita Wurst won the 2014 comp with her song 'Rise like a Phoenix'.

Parliment House, with a statue of Wisdom out front in Grecian style. This clearer day image is from a tourist brochure. 

Ahh Vienna, Capital of the Waltz. (V1)

Horses and their carriages waiting for hire,
in Michaeleplatz in front of the Spanische Hofreitschule.

One dark 1981 night, out in the caravan with my cousin, Ultravox blasted out of my beloved boom box for the first time with their hit 'Oh Vienna'. Waiting patiently during the countdown the next Sunday morning with my blank cassette and finger twitching over the record button, I finally got my self a copy of the song.  With the miracle of the double cassette stereo component, I was able to repeat the song over a whole side. The caravan shuddered with every syncopated drum beat until Mum told me off for waking the younger kids inside the house.  I still don't understand the lyrics but since then I have always wanted to visit Vienna in the winter.

What a wonderful Christmas present from my family and a couple of close Sydney friends to agree to come along. M had been keen to have a white Christmas while in the Northern Hemisphere so I had looked at spending the week in Scotland, Lapland(very expensive at this time of year) or Scandinavia but we decided that people are more important and we wanted to spend the celebration with our London family.  Still aiming for a dusting of snow and one of my cultural must dos, we booked to leave for Vienna on Boxing day.

Thanks again R for another terrific Christmas Dinner - Sprout style! C found a fantastic Chrissy jumper for the day - her words, "It's pink, what's not to love!  M, K and I got to hear the Rev's Christmas morning service this year.  Great Day.

After a big breakfast at the Vicarage and loading all our Christmas goodies into the car to store over our absence, we taxied out to Heathrow T2 for our Lufthansa flight. We sat on the tarmac for a while because a lady, whose bags were already loaded, didn't turn up to board.  By the time her luggage was removed we were about 30 mins late. At our transfer in Frankfurt we were bused over to the next terminal and rushed through a private custom point, hustled back onto the bus by the ground crew then driven straight to the door of the connecting flight to Vienna. This fabulous service saved about 14 of us missing the connecting flight.

Heathrow, Yes I got to sit on my own - time to read up on my 'Eyewitness Travel Guide -Vienna'.

We landed in the dark but easily found the train station at the end of the little terminal of the Vienna International airport. K had worked out that it was the fastest way to get to our Viennese apartment. The CAT is a faster train that goes straight to the heart of the city but the cheaper option, that took us to a stop only 13min walk from the Amici apartments in Brigittenau, was the OBB-S7 to Wien (German for Vienna) Traisengasse.

Our Vienesse Pantry - great  lolly section,
Petal's fav were the Anise Tictacs, I think
C's fav were the choc bananas.

After only having a half, sort of stale, sandwich on each flight, we were hungry; so Willow, C and I went out hunting for food. The Billa supermarket, which became our pantry after returning from the sights every night, was closed for the public holiday but a little bakery had very expensive basics and a schnitzel store was open. Starting our culinary tour with a chip shop national dish is not at all sophisticated but still satisfying. The advertising for the Amici apartments said that one of Vienna's legendary cafe's was only a block away and open for breakfast at 7am.  We couldn't find it so K and I picked up breakfast staples for the stay at Billa which happily opened at 7:30am.

Look Bambie, it's snowing! 

That first night, it snowed. The locals must have thought we were all loco with our windows open wide, hanging out over the spiked window sills (to keep the birds off) trying to catch the crystals. The next morning some was still settled on the cars but the footpaths were clear. It was still very cold so before leaving the lovely warm apartment we dressed ourselves up into boots and coats, scarves and gloves - except one who saw the clear skies and thought an extra T-shirt would be enough. Later that evening we stopped at a Christmas village on Maria-Theresien-Platz which still had around 70 stalls open - full of Christmas goodies and gifts. Petal was so pleased to find a hand knitted scarf and flip top mittens to spend her Christmas Euros on!

Marie-Theresian-platz next day in the light

The Christmas decorations were gorgeous but all glass - didn't like their chances surviving the trip back so they stayed there. We bought soup in a bun (very yummy crispy bread and delish hot soup) for tea.  A bit of a hardship to have to take a glove off to eat it though. Sausage and Pea, Hungarian Goulash and Cream of garlic warmed us up. It was rather weird eating the bowl too. Had to wash Willow's gloves and scarf though because the spilled garlic soup smell just didn't fade! Had to wash my black gloves too because I tried to eat with them still on and the pea soup green was rather luminous!  Two Austrian fellows drinking hot toddies from the little red boots, were delighted to have the pretty young girls at their market table and kindly took this photo for us.

Left - Queuing on the day - Top - Exercises saddle  - Right - Mozart Café

We headed off determined to do two things from our huge list that first day. Having missed the dancing horses in Cordoba last Christmas we didn't want to miss them again so we caught the U-bahn to Karlsplatz and headed for the Spanische Hofreitschule Wien. to make sure we got tickets.
On our way past the Opera we were stalled by the first of many velvet cloaked gentleman selling tickets to classical concerts in the evening. We turned him down and spotted the famous Sacher hotel, known more for its cake than its accommodation. The Sachertorte has been famous since 1832 and was the second task for the day so we decided after booking our dancing horse tickets we would return for morning tea. (See my Vienna cake blog for more details of this encounter.)

The performances at the riding school are fairly expensive and booked out in advance but the morning exercises are only €14 (7-18yrs, €7) for a couple of hours watching 4 or 5 groups of horses being trained. The website said that tickets couldn't be purchased in advance but in the ticket office off Michaeleplatz, we were able to get tickets for the following Monday.  We left the apartment early that day in our warmest layers in case of more snow. Our extra times built in to our travel plans in case of emergency weren't needed and we found ourselves in town with time to kill so we stopped for the most expensive coffee and hot chocolate we ever bought in Vienna, at the Mozart Café.  Just as well our tummies were warm though because as we queued to go into the horses it got cold enough to snow.

This photo is off the Riding School's website, even though there were frequent announcements in several languages 'forbidding' the taking of video or photos plenty of people were - not me, didn't want to be reprimanded by the officials.

The beautiful white in its stable

The horses were amazing to watch, their fluid paces and little tricks were controlled by very long and tapered switches when they were learning them but by almost imperceptible physical cues when more advanced. A very sad looking stable guy would come out periodically with shovel and brush to remove the horses ' doings'. My horse had been trained, well before I owned him, not to relieve himself with a rider n his back so it surprised me that these ultra trained horses had to have this service, then I wondered if perhaps they were super clever and could tell the difference between their performance harnesses and their exercise ones. We saw a couple of horses wearing the gold harnesses used in the perfomances and they had a strap that went under the tail and around the the girth, I need to ask my horse training cousin if this is the cue for them or just pretty. The big jumps that these horses are famous for were not practiced so if you have the funds available the performance would be better.

All photos thanks to Google Images!  These antics are not on display at the morning exercises - get a performance ticket for that, book in advance! http://www.viennaclassic.com 

If like us, you just go to the morning exercises,try and get up front in the queue because there are not a lot of places to sit and a lot of pillars that block views. We got a spot in a corner but could see one end really clearly, then after the first hour many people left so we were able to nick the empty spots. Petal was keen to watch after her experiences on horseback this year. M takes her to her lessons and watches her classes so they were having well informed chats about what they were seeing. I was very glad that the drop from the seating area and the performance ring was quite big, I didn't think that Willow would be tempted to jump down and gallop around with them as one of her comedy heroes - Miranda, might have been, but C my have talked her into it! K and C went in search of conveniences near the end and reported back that it was snowing again.

As we left the riding school it started to snow quite heavily and we felt very sorry for all the horses hitched to the tourist carriages. Even though they had their blankets on they were just standing waiting, I hope their owners make enough money to be able to feed them properly and give them warm stables to be safe in after work.  The Spanish horses had hot water pipes running through their stables to heat the air and lots of good fodder and bedding.

The horses looked a lot happier without the snow - here beside the Opera on teh way to the Sacher Hotel

After buying our tickets back on the first day we stopped for torte then went through the Hofburg Imperial Palace Museum. The ticket booth is in the courtyard of the Palace behind Heldenplatz (when facing the Burgtor gate across the Ringstrasse from Marie Theresienplatz). A family ticket was slightly cheaper than the €11.50 for adults and €10.50 for kids(to 18yrs).   Inside we saw the treasury and Silver collection - when so much gold plate is in one place it really doesn't look real. If this is the type of surroundings Marie Antionette was born into - no wonder she didn't understand the disgust of the revolting Parisians when she was Queen of France.

Walking around the Hofburg Quarter

A few pieces from the overwhelming 'Silver Collection'.  The painted crockery was amazing too.

 In the Imperial Apartments we saw the furnishings, art and clothing of Emperor F.J. and his wife Empress Elisabeth.  Her story is eerily similar to Princess Di. Elisabeth accompanied her older sister, Helene, for her first meeting with the Austrian Emperor. Helene had been raised with the expectation of marriage to him, to everyone's dismay he preferred the younger 15yr old and Elisabeth's betrothal to him was announced before he left.

Left:  The happy couple? The portrait of 'Sisi' here shows her wearing 27 diamond stars in her hair.
Right: The dress she wore at her betrothal Ball at 15yrs old just before the Emperor left Bavaria to return to Austria.

Elisabeth was disliked in Vienna and by her Austrian step family. but loved in Hungary, whose political autonomy she convinced her husband to award.  Her step mother wouldn't let her have a hand in raising her children and the Emperor soon went back to his many actress and dancer mistresses. Her teeth were ruined by the mercury prescribed for the venereal disease the Emperor bestowed upon her so she took huge efforts in emphasising her beautiful hip length hair and her figure.  She had gym apparatus installed in her apartments which scandalised the court, rode her horses daily and had her hair washed in egg and brandy.  She traveled extensively to join aristocratic hunting parties around the world and was much admired for her fashion sense, courage in the saddle and her beauty.
She developed anorexia, some think to control her environment as much as her figure, and recovered from a breakdown in Corfu. Her only son's suicide and her cousin - King Ludwig of Bavaria's drowning in a lake the day after being deposed for insanity, made her convinced that the family was cursed and she became very fatalistic.  A display of all her siblings in the Sisi museum has their life stories written on their backs and all but one led sad, unloved and confused lives. In one trip to Geneva she asked the local government to withdraw their detectives and body guards.  The press discovered her alias and announced her presence in the city. An anarchist took advantage and stabbed her with a sharpened file on the promenade of Lake Geneva. She died at 60 yrs of age.

Left:  The ticket booth in the middle of a courtyard.  Sisi's gymnastic equipment in her Imperial apartments.

Base of the MT monument with the
Natural History Museum behind

After this rather depressing visit - although the displays of her restored and reproduced clothes and accessories were amazing, we left through the Heldenplatz to the Christmas markets around the huge statue of Empress Maria Therese (mother of Marie Antoinette) who ruled Austria in her own right and bought many reforms to Austria, including the outlawing of torture. The square is between the imposing Natural history Museum and the History of Art Museum that announce the museum quarter on the Ringstrasse.

In front of the Art History Museum looking at scarves and hats.

As we crossed the boulevard we were approached by another velvet caped concert ticket seller. It was getting dark and he pleaded with us to listen to fill the last few moments before he was allowed to knock off (all in impeccable English). Knowing that a trip to Vienna without hearing some Strauss , Beethoven or Mozart just isn't complete I paused to hear his spiel. After a bit of negotiation - a call to his manager and mostly because it was the end of his shift we got tickets for less than half what the spruiker at the Opera had been offering. Even as I punched my PIN into the machine I wondered if we were being ripped off - would those pretty coloured tickets lead to a concert at all? K agreed that she had been wondering too, right up until we presented the tickets for entry the next evening.

Inside the concert as the instrumentalists tune up.

Petal's comment that "we should do this more often - the live stuff is much better than the boring stuff on CD", made all the worry worthwhile.  There were a couple of lovely ballet dancers, although the seats in front of us blocked their feet work but C was able to stand on the side and see a bit more. A tenor and a Contralto sang a few popular Arias. The pianist, the strings and the wind instruments were really talented and the percussionist, who I saw arriving as we did to the relief of an anxious manager on the stairs, was brilliant and very funny. I was a bit disappointed that no Beethoven was played, maybe Vienna still doesn't like him very much.

While Beethoven lived and worked in Vienna he wasn't very popular, his bad temper may have had something to do with this in a society where charm and social wit were highly valued. He started going deaf and developed crippling abdominal pains in his 20s and his romantic life was always stifled by his low birth - three rather good reasons for an impatient frame of mind. Even so he had a solid group of friends and at the last time he conducted in public, the first performance of his 9th Symphony - well after he was completely deaf - he had to be turned around to see the huge standing ovation the Viennese elite gave him. 20 000 Viennese took part in his funeral procession and his work only continued to become more popular.

Walking back to the Ubann after the concert with the 'House of Industries' where the concert hall was in behind.

We popped into a house Beethoven had lived in and is now set up as a museum. Unfortunately we arrived just as the custodian began his 1hr lunch break - but he let us take a photo through the door into the front room with his piano.

1. The door to the building's inner courtyard leading to his apartment's stairwell (floor 3) These doors were taken from the house he died in and put in place here afterwards.  2.A bust of the composer and his Piano in the front room.  3. A side door of the building with a tiny shop sellling Beethoven themed stuff - NOT connected to the museum - don't try to buy tickets here!  4. The background is the view from his apartment's windows - across the Ringstrasse to one of its elegant buildings.

This steep ramp is the access up to Beethoven's building - the signs at the top of it caused much merriment - not sure if it's telling  to slide down it, couldn't find any sleds though.

Mozart is celebrated more today than Beethoven but at the time of his death (36 years before Beethoven) it wasn't the done thing to attend a burial.  He was buried with only a couple of music friends looking on but memorials for him in the weeks afterward were very well attended. Today in the souvenir shops I couldn't find anything of Mahler - who had been in charge of the city's Opera for so many years, of Beethoven, Gluck or even of Brahms, but Mozart's face and story are everywhere thanks to a Salzburg chocolate company cashing in on his fame.

A statue of Mozart in Viennese park on the Ringstrass 

Vienna's Musical Giants

 Bach 1685-1750                   Mozart 1756 - 1791           Beethoven  1770 - 1827

    Brahms  1833 -1897           J.S.Strauss 1825-1899          Mahler 1860- 1911

The Strauss family and their Waltzes and Polkas are truly the musical heroes of Vienna though.  Horses dance to them and the New Year's Day concert in the Golden Hall are full of them; no Viennese concert is complete without "The Beautiful Blue Danube" or "The Radetzky March". Johann 'Schani' Strauss made the Viennese Waltz famous around the world.  It took a long time for this daring dance, where partners of the opposite sex actually touched more than each other's finger tips, to be accepted in the dance halls of London and Bath but just like the rock and roll phenomenon of the 50s the young folk learnt it with enthusiasm and it became the norm. Strauss toured the world to conduct his compositions.  In 1872 he went to Boston and was paid US$100 000 to conduct the Blue Danube 14 times.

The Heart of Vienna - Strauss statue in Stadtpark.

There are quite a few dance schools where visitors can pop in (Hop On is the Austrian/English translation) to have a Blitz dance class. Willow and Petal would have been mortified to see their parents giggling as they stepped on toes spinning round in circles so we spared them this activity - next time! The Rueff Dance School offered an hour of Waltz and Polka week days between 5-6pm for €46 per couple, they can be found directly behind the Capital hall of Vienna off subway station U2: Rathaus.

Wilhelm Gause's(1853 - 1916)  most famous painting - 'Court ball at the Hofburg'

Oh, Vienna lyrics - Ultravox 1981

We walked in the cold air
Freezing breath on a window pane
Lying and waiting
A man in the dark in a picture frame
So mystic and soulful
A voice reaching out in a piercing cry
It stays with you until

The feeling has gone only you and I
It means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh, Vienna

The music is weaving
Haunting notes, pizzicato strings
The rhythm is calling
Alone in the night as the daylight brings
A cool empty silence
The warmth of your hand and a cold gray sky
It fades to the distance

The image has gone only you and I
It means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh, Vienna

This means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh, Vienna

In one interview, the band explained that the film The Third Man, a murder mystery set in the Cold War years when one British foreign minister said there were more spies in Vienna than Austrians, with its atmospheric cinematography inspired them. The video clip does well to make a foggy Covent Garden in London look like Vienna.