We felt like we made a good effort at seeing the sights yesterday, and luckily Beth was feeling much better so we made a plan to explore in a little greater detail today and also cover some of the same ground as yesterday to see if we see something different.
We were going to walk over to the Naschmarkt, a kind of outdoor, long, two aisle St Lawrence Market, but I cut off any notions of building into a hanger state by hailing a cab (which is super easy here by the way, they are everywhere!) for the short drive over.
The market was really nice. Starting at the bottom, closer to the Ringstrasse the market was still waking up, but as we went up one aisle of the place the shops went from dead to bustling. There were all kinds of fresh fruit, vegetables, spices and sweets, interspersed with bier gardens, cafes and trinket shops. We ate a really nice breakfast halfway up. It had begun to get hilariously frustrating that the servers and staff spoke better English than us :-).
As we continued, the market turned a little middle eastern, then eventually Indian then Asian. Robin came all the way to Vienna to buy a cheap wall hanging/tapestry from an Indian guy, confidently bargaining him down from 20 to 15 Euros. Way to go Reebs!
We took our time in the market, walking all the way back down the other aisle and occasionally making small purchases. Abby pointed out the buildings lining the street next to the market which we hadn’t even noticed and they were beautiful - typical of Vienna but with some extra decorations as well -one even had a tasteful mural of vines and flowers lightly painted on the ornate facade.
Everything about our impression of Vienna and its people so far was that it was high end, exacting, just and conforming to rules and regulations (of which there are many), friendly and direct, clean, precise. Abby exclaimed that she could “live in this place” and that pretty much says it all.
The market was a short walk away from the Opera, so we headed in that direction, strolling up the Karntnerstrasse again. Today, at this time, it was more jammed full of people than yesterday, with huge congregations of people in the large square around St Stephen’s. However, the crowds didn’t seem to have the desperation of the hoards in Dubrovnik... more of a patient, inquisitive crowd that probably had a little more time to explore.
We checked out the horse and buggy rides and decided to do the long one (40 minutes for 80 euros felt like a bargain compared to Central Park). We just felt in the mood to sit back and let the historic city pass us by. The clip clop of the hooves on the road and the occasional bounce as we slowly trundled over cobbled sections (ooh... that reminds me of missing Sunday’s tour do France stage over the cobbles...) was very relaxing.
The girls managed to do a little shopping...l well, window shopping, and Beth and I found an amazing cheese shop where we dropped a few euros for cheese and mustards.
Beth had to take a work call, so the girls and I walked down the Graben (dubbed, by us, the “rich Street “ for its high end shops), through the palace grounds and over to Rathaus.
The city hall had its summer food and film festival on. The entire area in front to the impressive city hall had about 20 food trucks and a large seating areas under shade. The girls and I took turns buying a dish and splitting it... trying to go slowly so Beth wouldn’t miss too much. Abby started with a plate of gyoza, Robin followed with chicken tacos (Beth made it before we sacrificed the fourth taco as a tribute to our absent travel mate.... I imagined giving an impassioned speech of “she would have wanted me to have her taco.... sniff” before downing the really tasty mini soft shell). I was next up and chose a Lebanese Mesa platter, followed by Beth buying a Japanese stir fry. The whole thing reminded us of the fun we had in Hong Kong when we did our world tour of restaurants in the mid levels.
What massive lunch shouldn’t end with a trip to the nearby Cafe Landtmann for its famous apple strudel (though the girls got cakes instead!). The skies opened up while we were there, so we waited for a slight break and quickly walked over to visit the royal apartments in the Hofberg.
The ticket included a visit to the Silver Collection (actually an amazing collection of plates, China settings, centrepieces etc) that was a dinner table setter hobbiest’s dream (of which I have two in the family). Next up was a museum dedicated to Sissy, the Princess Diana of historic Vienna who also had her life shortened dramatically, though by assassination. Last up was a stroll and audio guide tour of the Emporer and Princess's apartments which really showcased how we do NOT live!
It was close to 530 by the time we walked back to the hotel. The girls have shown great stamina, save for a few sighs and snipes :-).
For dinner, we walked over to the set of streets in the neighbourhood we ate at last night (Spittelberggasse, Gutenberggasse, Schrankgasse) and found a place that had a local crowd filling its seats. The meal was amazing - schnitzel for three and goulash for me. So far, everything we’ve eaten in Vienna has been top quality and delicious. The service at the place tonight was actually a little slow (only the bill paying part) but the friendly hostess that was filling in as a waitress tonight was so nice that it didn’t really bother us (the only thing that does bother us here is the same as the rest of our trip... the incessant smoking... by everybody! But I digress....)
Abby and I took the other two back to Mariahilfer Strasse and up to the end, stopping only to enjoy a gelato (or in Abby’s case a Nutella waffle) before we hopped in a cab back to Flemming’s Selection, our cool hotel near Rathaus.
Tomorrow, we head home. Work beckons, unfortuenaly, but it’s been a great trip. I’m sure we will be back to explore some of the smaller villages of Austria and the mountains at a future date. I felt like we did Vienna justice and Abby is correct in saying that if we do come back, we will be sure to see an opera, a ballet and maybe a concert or two.
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