Vienna: Schnee und Eis
Fourth post from Vienna!
“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”
-Mozart
As much as I love Mozart - his hometown could use some sun! There is less than a week left of March and it is freezing here in Vienna! And I'm not talking light jacket with a cute scarf cold - I am talking leave the cute scarf at home and break out the parka because I need function over fashion cold. In fact, it has even snowed the last two days! I don't think Austria subscribes to the predictions of the disinterested groundhog known, not-so-lovingly, as punxatawney phil - but phil definitely blew it again this year by calling for an early spring.
Not only must we brave the elements simply heading from point A to point B, but we also thought it would be a good idea to take a walking tour of Vienna at night in this weather. Do not get me wrong - it was a great activity! I learned a lot about the history of this beautiful city. But this was no ordinary walk in the park on a summer night. Frankly, we spent most of the day preparing for the walk by buying provisions. Since it was palm sunday, this meant we mostly walked around searching for any store that was open. But we ultimately stopped by the Easter market and purchased some hats and scarves from a local vendor (more on the market to come soon!).
Once bundled up, we headed out to meet the tour group. And the tour started off well - we learned about architecture, royals, plagues, art and culture.
One of my favorite sites was the Hofburg Palace (seen below on the left). The former home to many monarchs, including the Habsburg dynasty, this palace is now home to the President of Austria and several interesting museums. Also, the guide told us about interesting square with the statue see on the right. Criminal trials used to occur in that square - either publicly or before the church. Despite any
concerns, most Austrians actually preferred a trial before the church because it was private. All public trials occurred in the square where locals could throw rocks and spit on the accused. Given those options, I guess I would prefer a secret trial to public humiliation too.
Hofburg Palace
Statue representing the old trial space of the church - used to have three stones where defendants could wish for luck
The local fare des tages.
Before we hit the walking tour we did have an awesome lunch and one of the more famous historical spots in Vienna -
. (Check out the link for pictures that really show off the interior). It is a must see if you visit Vienna! Cafe Central is simply a coffeehouse that has been around since 1876. It is famous because it was the regular meeting spot for many intellectuals during the 19th/20th century.
In January 1913 alone,
Josip Broz Tito
,
Sigmund Freud
,
Adolf Hitler
,
Vladimir Lenin
, and
Leon Trotsky
(the latter two being regulars) were patrons of the establishment. Now it is a popular tourist spot with great food. My lunch order seen below - I had square noodle with saurkraut and a yogurt sauce. It was different but I definitely recommend it!
Finally, and somewhat randomly, check out this interesting development in the wine industry. Heading to a local baseball stadium near you (well really only if you are a Mets fan because they are starting with Citi Field), a company called Zipz is introducing sealed single servings of wine. Check it out
. As much as I think serving wine in individual servings, like beer cans, is a brilliant idea (definitely shark tank worthy), I would almost guarantee the wine would be lacking in quality. Love to here your thoughts on this!
Cheers!