I was quite surprised at how bright it was outside already when I woke up at 6:30am. It wasn't until 9am that I realised the clock on my phone hadn't automatically moved forward to Central European Time when I'd arrived, and that it was in fact 10am, haha! Even so, be it laziness, anxiety, overthinking or perfectionism in trying to figure out my plan for the day, or a mixture of all, I didn't leave until about 11:30am. When I do things like that, I do feel like I'm wasting time and get frustrated at myself, but at the same time I'm not someone who enjoys just going for a wander, exploring and getting lost. If I'm with someone else, fine, but when I'm on my own I have to have a destination and a plan to get there. Anyway, eventually I did go out and got the underground train to Stephansplatz in the city centre, where I exited the station and was surprised by the sight of the Gothic cathedral front looming above as I reached the top of the escalator. For some reason I didn't walk around it to see all sides, I just looked up at it for a minute then started to walk towards a side street where there was a gorgeous florist shop with bright, colourful flowers out front - lovely!
I had my map easily reachable in my pocket. Maps on smartphones are all well and good but I prefer paper ones, so I can see the whole area and where I am or where I'm going in relation to everywhere else. It's not the same moving the map on your tiny phone screen around, it's just a faff. The streets were lovely, winding and cobbled, and I left the map in my pocket for a while and let myself wander a bit; at one point I just happened across Mozart's house. I soon came across a konditorei - a café specialising in cakes, pastries, and other confections - and went inside; a charming place with beautiful display counters full of sweet delights, and a lovely wood-panelled side room furnished with red-cushioned Thonet chairs and little round dark-wood tables. I bought a slice of nusstorte, a nutty, creamy layered cake which was delicious =] I later realised that particular konditorei chain was one of the oldest and most respected in the city, one of several that used to be Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court (i.e. they supplied the Emperors), as indicated by the "K.&.K. Hofzuckerbäcker" prefixing their name on the shopfront.
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| The konditorei, L. Heiner. |
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| Inside L. Heiner konditorei |
Cafés and coffeehouses are an integral part of Viennese culture. They're an institution. They're wonderful and elegant and I dearly wish we had such a culture in the UK. There are countless establishments all over the city, places where one can while away an entire afternoon with a book or a newspaper without being disturbed or asked to leave or buy another coffee. They serve pastries and cakes as well as coffee and many do hot food too, so you can have a nice bowl of goulash or a bratwurst, and the service is excellent, quietly attentive. They're the kind of places where writers, poets, painters, psychologists, thinkers, philosophers, politicians and revolutionaries used to gather and discuss ideas, form groups, and do their work. Café Central, established in 1876, is probably the most famous of them all, and had regulars like Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, and even Hitler (there are many more, but those are the ones whose names I know). I wanted to go in, but the queue outside was pretty long.
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| Café Central |
Despite having a map, I am useless at getting my bearings so, although I tried to find some of the places I'd circled on the map, the streets just felt like a maze and I got a bit lost... but happily somehow ended up reaching those places anyway. And the city is pretty and it was warm and sunny so I didn't mind. Somewhere I came across a wonderful shop that sold cookbooks and spices and smelled amazing. In one square there was a wine market going on, with people sat or stood at wooden trestle tables drinking glasses of wine and nibbling on little snacks sold at a couple of the stalls. And at one point I was surprised to see a thoroughly modern building on a corner, with black walls and circular mirror-like windows, surrounded by architecture from a couple of centuries ago.
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| Just a pretty scene in the Jewish Quarter |
I did find the chocolate shop I was looking for, Xocolat, located in a somewhat grand shopping arcade called the Ferstel Passage (...right behind Café Central, as it turns out). One of their other locations does chocolate-making workshops, which I had found out about a few weeks beforehand and emailed them about, but the workshops aren't held in English, sadly. But at least I was able to buy some chocolates! Coconut, blackcurrant, pistachio nougat, ginger, Linzer (after Linzertorte), cassis (a blackcurrant filling covered in white chocolate), and marzipan. I got them in a little bag to take away and eat over the weekend. They were very good and I loved the pistachio nougat, cassis and marzipan ones (dark-choc covered marzipan is one of my favourite things!), but honestly the rest I wasn't excited by, I can't explain why. They were excellent quality though.
After the lost wandering, I didn't have time to sit down for lunch, so I grabbed a leberkässemmel (a regional speciality and type of meatloaf in a bread roll - yum) from a Wurstelstand (another Viennese institution) as I made my way to the Musikverein concert hall for an afternoon concert. I wish I had known before the trip just how big the classical music scene is in Vienna. I mean, there are literally anywhere between 10 and 40 high quality classical music concerts going on around the city every night. I didn't know this until the day I came home, so only went to one. But, one is better than none and it was great. Most of these places sell cheap standing tickets, so for just five euros I got to go to one of the world's most famous music halls - the Musikverein's Golden Hall, home of the annual Vienna New Year's Concert - and watch a world-class orchestra - the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic, also of New Year's Concert fame) - perform Beethoven for two hours (Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, and the instantly-recognisable Symphony No. 5 in C-minor). AMAZING.
(Side note: why didn't I know what the Vienna New Year's Concert was???? It's broadcast all over the world and I've never watched it before! Well, my plan for 1st January 2020 is already sorted.)
The concert finished at 5:15pm and I went and sat in the square in front of the Hofburg Palace for a while after being on my feet for several hours. Around the corner there was someone playing a clarinet to a jazz record backing track, which I enjoyed listening to, and then when I passed the two museums in Maria-Theresien-Platz there was a man playing some sort of guitar made out of a broom...
For dinner I went to a gasthaus called Wratschko. I'd seen it mentioned in an article in an online magazine about Vienna written by locals, and it happened to be only a ten-minute walk from my Airbnb. I ordered the same dish the article recommended - fleischlaberl - meatballs, served with mash. The place was panelled all around with dark wood and lit by a few wall-lamps and candlesticks on the tables, and again I think I was the only tourist in there. The food was amazing. The meatballs were great and covered in a thick, rich and deep and full-flavoured gravy, and the mash was unusual in that it was made of finely-chopped cooked potato (or some other root veg) mixed in with a creamy puree flavoured with I don't know what. It was like mashed potato, but richer and with a bit of texture. All delicious! The best thing I'd eaten so far on the trip :)
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