Vienna
Some cities just speak to you. There is something about the architecture or the quality of the light (or the abundance of baked goods and the navigability of the subway system) that makes you think, yes, I can see myself living here for a while.
Vienna is that kind of city for us. It doesn’t happen immediately, but it happens—a few days into our visit we are already talking about coming back to stay for longer. It’s not just the beauty of it, though Vienna IS a very beautiful city. It’s the atmosphere and the pace of the city. It’s calm, clean, inviting. It’s a great mix of the traditional and the innovative, the relaxing and exciting.
Except next time we go to Vienna, it cannot be in the summer!
When planning this trip, we tried to take the weather into account and we looked up average temperatures in Europe for the summer. Vienna, Prague, and Berlin seemed like a safe bet in July, but apparently Vienna did not get that memo. Our time there can be divided into “the heat” and “after the heat.” During “the heat,” we spend our days hiding inside the apartment and taking hourly cold showers, venturing outside only after sunset. It is too hot to even go out in search of air conditioning.
We still have a good time though. We go to a bar called Barfly’s where Justin has a flaming absinthe from Bulgaria. We explore our own neighborhood, Meidling, which is mostly residential and not super photogenic, but it’s diverse and has lots of bakeries and cafés. There is a little outdoor market near our place and we walk around the stalls choosing produce. At the meat market, using gestures we manage to communicate to the lady behind the counter that we do not want her to remove the skin off the chicken thighs. The small detail lost in translation is that we think we are buying chicken thighs but discover later that we’ve bought chicken breasts instead.
(flaming absinthe)
(market in Meidling)
We take the train to Stephansplatz, take one admiring look at the cathedral, then scurry away from the tourists and wander around by the Donaukanal, where young kids (were we ever this young?!) sit in groups by the water drinking beer. This is not the real Danube, just a skinny relative, but it has character. The city has imported sand on one side of the walking path, for a more authentic beach feel. No one is fooled but the café patrons still take their shoes off and bury their feet in the sand.
Vienna is refreshingly international. On the streets and on the subway we hear all kinds of languages, and there are Turkish bakeries, halal markets, and restaurants from all over the world. One evening we stop for gin-and-tonics in a very hot bar and end up getting recommendations from the Bulgarian bartender for places to visit.
After a delicious dinner at Ulrich’s, we end up at Rathausplatz, which is currently home to a music/film festival. A huge screen is installed right in front of the Town Hall, and on the night in question Orpheus and Eurydice (the opera) is being projected. There are a few dozen food vendors offering all kinds of deliciousness. Justin gets a Greek lamb gyro that’s truly fantastic. The food is served on real plates, the beer is in real glasses, and there is actual silverware. Apparently even street food is classy in Vienna.
(Rathausplatz and yummy gyro)
We go to the schnapps museum. It’s open only by appointment, and over email we make arrangements to join a larger group for a tour in English. When we arrive at the museum, we’re told that the group came early and already left, but if we want we can join a different group that’s just finished the tour and is already doing the tasting. Since we’ve missed the tour, they wave our admission fee, and thus begin our adventures in the land of schnapps.
We try apricot schnapps, chili schnapps, hazelnut schnapps, a couple of gins, a couple of vodkas (including one that supposedly won some kind of award last year), bitters, absinthe, an orange liqueur with gold flakes, and several other sweet liqueurs. We are the last people there, and the two girls who are pouring the tasters are determined to make us try everything they have, including an apricot whiskey that the distillery has discontinued. Miraculously we escape only slightly buzzed and with only one bottle—the chili schnapps, which is delicious mixed with orange juice and a dash of soda.
(absinthe, chili schnapps, gold flakes)
Our last three days (aka, “after the heat”) we stay with my friend and her husband. With the weather’s permission, we finally walk around during the day. We go through the Museum Quarter, stop by the Votive Church, then make our way along the Donaukanal to the Hundertwasser House.
Dinner that night is at Neni in Naschmarkt, and it’s delicious. Eggplant and chickpea ragout over polenta, falafel, babaganoush. It’s raining, but we are not complaining.
(graffiti at Donaukanal)
(Hundertwasser House)
(polenta with chickpea ragout and chicken; falafel)
The next day (after an amazing breakfast of slow-scrambled eggs, avocado, and smoked salmon) we finally go to the Schönbrunn park. We are not interested in the palace itself, so we just walk around the gardens and slowly make our way up toward the Gloriette. The place is magnificent. It makes me intensely jealous to think this was actually someone’s house. I want geometrically pleasing flowers too! And fountains! And a Gloriette from which to admire the scenery!
The view from the top of the Gloriette IS spectacular. All of Vienna is spread out before us. Justin and I act like proper tourists and take some selfies. It’s quite windy, so in between trying to contain skirts (me) and hair (both of us), we end up with some priceless expressions.
(I mean, look at this beautiful plate!)
(gorgeous coffee pot and gorgeouser panna cotta, made by our host)
(beautiful Schönbrunn and dramatic clouds; the sky was also pretty :))
After some lovely cake at the Gloriette café we make our way back to Naschmarkt in search of lunch. The market is a beautiful sight, a colorful study of abundance. What I don’t understand is how any of the vendors make money, as we see the same merchandise over and over again: spices, dried fruits and candy, olives, occasionally a cheesemonger or produce stand.
We pick a fish restaurant and settle in for more deliciousness. Meanwhile it starts raining again, and by the time we leave, we are shivering, which is an absurd thing to happen after the heat insanity from earlier in the week, but I guess Vienna likes to keep it interesting.
(butterfish tartar, prawn salad, scallop salad; our friends sharing a scarf in the cold evening)
We go back to Rathausplatz for our last dinner, and it’s dumplings and enormous pretzels and more gyros—and tall foamy beer, of course. Tonight’s opera is Kalman’s The Gypsy Princess. Not that we’re watching—we are too busy eating, people watching, and loving Vienna.










