Enjoy Vienna
The Viennese, if he is a true Viennese, seeks privacy in the cafe, as this story of the Viennese literary writer Friedrich Torberg makes clear, and he hates nothing more than a blatant fuss over a triviality, he hates the unrest and every kind of pomposity. Elsewhere, these qualities disturb him less, he owns them all himself. Only - as I said - in the cafe he does not like her. There you go to take a break, read the newspaper, to talk quietly with friends.
Place of rest: The cafe
The stranger, when he comes to Vienna, naturally travels more than the local on asphalt, after all, he wants to see something of the former K. u.k. residence. And if he gets hurt at some point legs and intervertebral discs, he may also need a place of rest already in the morning. So a coffee house. And because there are the most magnificent and traditional ones in the city center, with the most delicious pastries and the finest coffee, he will probably keep Vienna in good memory forever.
A Viennese strolls. As in the south of the Alps, people live in a more leisurely rhythm than in northern Europe. Tourists on the Jungfernstieg in Hamburg? Can they happen to be run over by busy merchants? In Vienna something like that is unlikely. "I strolled through the city," said the director of the Vienna State Opera recently, "when I suddenly heard this voice in a corner." A street singer jubilated there, and the opera director hired the 31-year-old Belgian from the site for the role of "Queen of the Night" in Mozart's "Magic Flute". If the gentleman had passed by, who knows if this modern fairytale would have happened at all?
Collective pleasure
The Austrian (not just the Viennese) talks slower, slows down, eats slower, which means nothing more than: he enjoys. Even if in this small country as elsewhere in Europe, the belt must be tightened, the Austrians would, according to the latest survey, on one last thing: good food. This "collective indulgence", which was also stated by the German gourmet critic Wolfram Siebeck, is infectious, but what could be better than being hit by this virus on a holiday trip?
The Viennese cuisine has not a bad reputation, at least a better than the English or even American. Accordingly, Friedrich Torberg, who had to emigrate to America during the Nazi period, suffered accordingly: "In the American way nothing is prepared that people eat afterwards," he wrote. "Americans do not eat, they do their work." And you can not really say that to the Viennese. Especially in the city center, it is teeming with so-called teasers, small, simple restaurants. It can be very comfortable in them with half-high wood paneling and antlers on the wall. Or elegantly cool with art nouveau painting or even court with baroque gold and silver decorated stucco on the ceiling. And you are by no means only tourists. On the contrary. If one sees how many Viennese go to have lunch at noon (and in the evening anyway), it is reasonable to assume that only a handful of them actually come to the dining table at home.
Burenhäutl with a whistle
It is a bit hearty, the Viennese cuisine. But the younger generation of chefs have taken her weight, and now she has a touch of elegance. Is not always the yellow of the egg, because fat is an important flavor carrier, as all Bohemian, Hungarian and Viennese great-grandmothers knew. Even Johann Nestroy observed: "The finest pheasant and oyster eaters go now and then, to dumplings and a G'selchtes". So the Viennese, even the head of section from a ministry around the Vienna Hofburg, occasionally goes to the sausage stand, of course only to "his", where there are supposed to be the best cheese-makers and Burenhäutls in the world (legendary are the stands on the Hoher Markt and the one in front of the opera). Or a few delicious sandwiches and a "whistle" (0.1 liter) beer to "Trzesniewski" in the city center. The restaurant "Zum schwarzen Kameel" also has a splendid snack.
At the Heuriger (that's what they call not only the fresh wine, but also the tavern), the Viennese like to rendezvous with other Viennese. We know the cozy atmosphere of films with Hans Moser and could believe that they are sweet kitsch that has nothing in common with reality. Wrong again. It's like in the movie. Of course you must not go to Grinzing, that is, actually you have to drive to Grinzing, but best during the day to visit this charming Viennese outskirts with the low houses and the beautiful gardens.But in the evening you should be gone again. Then dozens of buses squeeze through the narrow streets, and one speaks everywhere only Japanese.
travel service
Dialing code from Vienna: 00431-
Vienna-Info in Germany around the clock for free: Tel. 0103-2544. On the spot: Tourist Information, Kärtnerstr. 38 (daily 9am - 7pm, tel. 5 13 88 92). Useful Vienna information in Internet: www.info.wien.at; www.evolver.at; www.tiscover.com.
find accommodation
Room service directly on site via the Tourist Information or from Germany via Tel. 21 11 44 44, Fax 2 16 84 92, (.) Central and cheap: Hotelpension Haydn (Mariahilferst 57-59, tel. 587 44 14, fax 586 19 50). Ibis Hotel, (1060 Vienna, Mariahilfer Gürtel 22-24, Tel. 599 98, Fax 597 90 90). Behind St. Stephen's Cathedral: Wandl (Petersplatz 9, Tel. 53 45 50, Fax 534 55 77).
tour
Art Nouveau and turn of the century: from Loos-Haus to the postal savings bank of Otto Wagner. Art Nouveau, Secession and Modernism: Architecture, Art and Painting along the Vienna. Literary (o) ur-location Old TownSalons, coffee houses, establishments: from Schnitzler and Hoffmannsthal to the coffee house literati, from Karl Kraus to Thomas Bernhard and Elias Canetti. The third man: in the footsteps of a film classic: with insights into the canal system. Wau! On the track of Commissar Rex through the city: funny on the way to different turning places.
Shopping and looking
Gallery ambience with furniture miniatures by Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser u. a. (Lugeck 1, Mon-Fri 10 am-7 pm, Sat 10 am-5 pm). Gallery at the Albertina with a large exhibition on ceramics by artists of the Wiener Werkstätten (Lobkowitzplatz 1, Mon-Fri 10 am-6 pm, Sat 10 am-5 pm, www.galerie-albertina.at).
markets
flea market at Wienzeile (U 4 Kettenbrückengasse, Sa 6:30 am - 6 pm, shorter in winter due to weather and darkness). Art and craft market in Heiligenkreuzer Hof (U 1 Stephansplatz, April-Nov every 1st weekend of the month, in December every weekend). Naschmarkt: Fruits, vegetables, food, delicious Balkan and many organic products (Linke Wienzeile, U 4 Kettenbrückengasse, Wed-Thu 6-12, Fri 6-15, Sat 6-17 clock).
traditional cafes
Café Central, former master coffee house of men of letters and celebrities (Herrengasse 14). Café Griensteidl, wide range of food and newspapers (Michaeler Platz 2). Café Hawelka, quaint, specialty: Buchteln with custard (Dorotheergasse 6).
Trendy cafés
Café Stein, Meeting place of the Jeunesse dorée of Vienna. A DJ serves music in the evening (Währingerstr.6). Blue box, except Mondays daily extensive breakfast options from 10-17 (!) Clock (Richtergasse 8).
Bars, clubs, discos
Loos Bar: cool, elegant Art Nouveau ambience (Kärtner Str.8-10, 5-5 pm). Enrico Panigl: nice standing bar with good Rioja (Schönlaterngasse 11, 17 - 4 clock). Planter's Club: good cocktails, exotic snacks, colonial flair (Zelinkagasse 4, 17 - 4 o'clock). Sky Bar: on the upper floor of the noble department store Steffl, wonderful view, good cocktails (Kärtner Str.19). Meierei in the city park: two dancefloors, house and hip hop, sometimes live acts (Fri and Sat 22-6, Wed 22-2). P 1: City Disco with all current music directions (Rotgasse 9, Mon-Thu 22-4 clock, Fri and Sat - 6 clock).
Viennese literature
"The Strudelhofstiege or Melzer and the depth of the years" - Classic by Heimito von Doderer (15 Euro, dtv). "Youth in Vienna" - Autobiographical by Arthur Schnitzler (9,95 Euro, Fischer). "Opera Ball" - Politthriller by Josef Haslinger (9 Euro, Fischer).
