Vienna

My mom lived in Vienna during her junior year of college, and I've wanted to go since I found out. I love studying abroad (obviously), and I liked the idea of sharing that with her. I guess I wanted to feel connected in that way, retracing my mother's footsteps in a foreign city.

Everything that I knew about Vienna before going I had learned in school - Vienna as the seat of the Hapsburg dynasty and the capital of the Holy Roman Empire... Vienna as the home of Sigmund Freud... Vienna as the cultural, economic, and political center of Austria. I knew that Vienna was on the Danube river, and that many great classical musicians have lived and worked there. 

I booked my trip with Amy H., roommate extraordinaire, and I couldn't have chosen a more suitable travel buddy to explore Vienna with. Amy appreciates classical music and modern art, and Vienna is the place to discover these things. I fell in love with both. 

Amy used her Hostelling International membership to find the Jugendherbergen Wien on Myrthengasse, affordable at €36 for two nights and only a ten minute walk from the Museums Quartier. We stayed in a clean four-person female dorm with a shower, and breakfast was included. 

After checking in on Saturday afternoon we walked towards center city, between the identical off-white museum buildings at Maria-Theresien-Platz to Heldenplatz where we stumbled into some sort of military festival. It was an unexpected but lucky discovery. Amy tried a Wiener Schnitzel (sausage), and we both sampled generous cups of glühwein (warm red wine spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla). The glühwein was fantastic - like alcoholic apple cider - it warmed and revitalized us in more ways than one! 

 Festival at Heldenplatz; statue of Archduke Charles of Austria; Rathaus in the background

Glühwein

From Heldenplatz, we continued down Kohlmarket past the posh shops selling artisan chocolate, fine jewelry, and traditional clothing like dirndls and lederhosen. Turning right at Graben we were stunned at the sight of the buildings. Over the weekend, I really came to appreciate the spectacular architecture and urban planning of Vienna. At the end of the wide pedestrian boulevard was St. Stephen's Cathedral. The roof tiling was an attractive aspect of the church, and I was immediately struck by the similarities with the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The inside was beautiful, but more importantly warm! We only stayed for a few minutes because a mass was about to begin. 

Walking down the Graben boulevard

Amy with Stephensdom

Dinner that night was gulaschsuppe, a thick salty beef and vegetable soup served with a large roll. [Vienna is an expensive city, and Amy and I quickly learned that soup is usually one of the cheapest things on the menu and very filling, especially when served with bread.] The restaurant was L. Heiner on upscale Karntnerstrasse. 

We wound our way home through the Old Town. Although the shops were closed for the night, you could still look into them and see shopkeepers bent over books, possibly recording their sales for the day. There was something romantic about the warmth of the light inside and the old-fashioned technique of accounts kept by hand. We decided to explore the city at night, but first we stopped at Cafe Raimund for hot drinks. In other circumstances, I might have found the ridiculously large chandeliers, the lace curtains, and the red cushioned chairs with a leather bank and velvet back to be gaudy. In Vienna, it seemed appropriate and even atmospheric. A ten minute walk lead us towards government buildings such as the classical-style Parliament and the gothic-style city hall, or Rathaus. Both were illuminated, and seeing those majestic buildings deserted at night only added to the illusion of being in a city from another time.


Sunday was all about music and art, and plenty of it! First on our agenda was a Catholic mass at the Hofburgkapelle, where the Vienna Boys Choir would be performing. In fact, the choir has been performing at the Hofburgkapelle, the Chapel of the Imperial Palace, since 1498. The concert is free to attend if you didn't mind standing at the back of the small chapel. The choir was situated on a balcony above the standing room, and the effect of being able to hear but not see the voices of so many talented 10- to 14-year-olds echoing through the chapel was ethereal. 

Souvenir shopping

Our next destination was a must-see for Amy, and though I was indifferent about going, I did find the Mozarthaus interesting. From the museum, located behind St. Stephen's Cathedral, we hurried to the famous Ankeruhr clock in Hoher Markt, the oldest square in Vienna. Every day at noon twelve figures parade across the face of the clock accompanied by music. I was not prepared for the length of the event - I was expecting a quick three-minute song, but it dragged on much longer than that. We left once we had seen each of the figures, not wanting to wait for the end.  

See how slow it moves?

Sunday afternoon was rainy, but we didn't mind - we were headed indoors to the Leopold Museum. The cafe in the museum complex was lively and inviting, and we settled in for pumpkin soup with organic wholemeal bread. Again, the cheapest thing on the menu and very filling. It was also a lovely autumn meal. I haven't found pumpkin pie or pumpkin muffins or pumpkin spice lattes yet over here, it was late October, and I was craving something pumpkin! The Leopold Museum is definitely one of my top 3 favorite museums. I have to quote the museum website, because their focus description includes all of the artists that I was so immediately and emotionally taken with:

"In no other museum in Vienna one can get so close to the fabled “Fin de siècle Vienna” and witness the birth of Modernity. The collection shows how the art of the Habsburg Empire changed from strict Historicism and lovely Mood Impressionism within a few years to the worldwide unique “Wiener Moderne” which encompasses Klimt and Schiele as well as Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Gerstl, Koloman Moser and many other artists who are all well represented with major works at the Leopold Museum.

A further focus of the museum is on the Austrian interwar period, which brought out many important artists like Albin Egger-Lienz, Anton Kolig and Herbert Boeckl and partly points already in the direction of the second half of the twentieth century. This is why Austrian artists of the post war generation or exceptional works of the nineteenth century by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Friedrich Gauermann, August von Pettenkofen, Anton Romako, Emil Jakob Schindler, Carl Schuch and others are repeatedly presented."

Death and Life by Gustav Klimt was an instant favorite, as well as the entire Secession movement, and I won't forget the impact of Egon Schiele's art on me. Amy and I spent hours and hours at the Leopold, so long in fact that at one point we had to break for hot drinks and cakes at the cafe. I greedily devoured my apfelstrudel, and was only persuasive enough to get one bite of Amy's Sachertorte (dry chocolate cake with apricot jam created by the Sacher Hotel in Vienna). My cafe latte was so rich it tasted like a milkshake. 

Sachertorte and apfelstrudel

It was still raining when the Museum closed and we were forced to leave. We still had one more thing planned for that evening: a concert at Musikverein. According to the unwieldy, outdated guide book that Amy carted with us all over Vienna, the Golden Hall in Musikverein is one of the four acoustically best concert halls in the world. The Concentus Musicus Wien was performing Haydn directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The CMW specializes in historical performances on authentic period instruments. We bought last minute seats on stage for €21. 

Poor quality photo, but at least you can see our perspective from the stage

The symphony orchestra played four movements from different symphonies. The acoustics on stage were sensational. I could feel the steady pulse of the percussion instruments reverberating through the floor and hear the delicate harmony of the violins echoed by the far wall. In the third movement, the flute melody played in my right ear like a suggestion; the french horns bellowed in front of me like a confrontation. Sensational. Another great ending to a fabulous trip!