Exploring Vienna

When I arrived at the Vienna Airport Thursday night, I had no problem getting euros from the ATM in the arrivals hall (Cai was unable to do that because the ATM was out of order). I got a taxi, and although the driver spoke only limited English, I had the address for the hotel printed out so he understood where to go. The first part of the trip we stayed at the Hotel Liechtenstein Apartments, where Cai had been staying for a week already for the conference. The area actually reminded me of Boston, with the funky way the streets connected and the many one-way roads.

Our suite had a small space with a couch under the stairs with a TV in front of the staircase, and then a kitchenette with a dining table. Next to that was a shower stall and sink, with a separate room for the toilet. I was amazed that Cai was able to fit in these spaces at all, since even I banged my elbow on things like the door frame and the shower knobs.

Even though I was tired after a 19-hour travel day, I was also hungry. I got in around 10 p.m. so our choices for dinner were limited, but we found a pizza place within walking distance that was still open. The waiter spoke pretty good English and the pizza was delicious. It was a thin crust with the toppings spread out, so it was a knife and fork meal to start. But the thing that stood out to me the most was the takeout box. It was a cartoon of a pizza jumping out of the box and scaring a boy. Not really the image I would think of for tasty leftovers. J

On Friday, Cai went to the last day of the conference, so I walked to a local bakery called Meisterbackstube and got an apple strudel and an apricot doughnut for breakfast. I watched a couple shows while eating and then wrote my first blog of the trip. I did a double-take when I opened up my laptop and saw the Google page in German. Cai got back in the afternoon and we set out on a walk around Vienna. We took the Metro to the Rathaus area, where they were hosting the Eurovision Singing Contest. This is an annual competition that is televised, and each invited country has a singer who performs a song to be voted on by the other countries. The country who wins the previous year hosts the event the next year; last year the winner was a drag queen, Conchita Wurst, from Austria. Her picture was on advertisements all over Vienna.

This competition is a huge deal, and there were pictures and billboards all over the place with symbols and logos from the competition. Even the Google homepage on the Austrian network had a cartoon for it. We heard it’s one of the largest televised and most watched competitions here that’s not a sporting event. When we went to dinner Saturday night around 6 p.m., the host asked if we were going to be watching Eurovision or some sporting event. Looking around, all of the tables were reserved for 8 p.m. Cai was like, “Um, we just want to have dinner.” So they sat us at a table with the understanding that we would be gone by 8. And by the Rathaus they had a huge stage set up with a colorful globe and screen to see all of the pre-performances Friday night.

We also walked through the University of Vienna, which was unlike any other university I’ve ever been to. The architecture alone was breathtaking, and there were busts and statues dotting the landscape everywhere you looked. Cai spent most of his time there for the conference and I can understand why he enjoyed it so much. I was in awe just wandering around the courtyard! Here’s a statue of Eve with the serpent at her feet. On the back of the statue was a carving of Adam strangling the serpent. This was something I noticed all over Vienna — there were many, many, MANY religious icons to be found.

Afterward we wandered further downtown and hung out behind the palace, at the front entrance of the Museums Quartier, and walked the length of the Parliament building. I couldn’t imagine going to work every day at a place like that! We ended up at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) where we heard they had set up a huge viewing screen outside to watch the performances. I was amazed that they had chairs set up for a free viewing of the shows. I don’t know if they have anything like that anywhere in the U.S. By the time we got there we only got to watch the last five minutes of the opera (I don’t even know what show it was!) but we can officially say that we saw the opera in Austria.

For dinner that night I had my first meat dumpling, which I didn’t realize came out as just one large dumpling. I assumed it was a plate of smaller dumplings! But it was very good and more filling than I realized. Cai tried tafelspitz (boiled beef in broth) with apfelkren (shredded horseradish, sour apples and cream with chives). When they brought the apfelkren out on a plate, Cai asked the waiter if there was a certain way to eat it with the tafelspitz. I was wondering the same thing because it didn’t seem like those individual ingredients would go well together! But Cai mixed it all in and said it was delicious.

Outside of the opera house we stopped at a sausage stand to get bratwurst, and it came in a sort of hot dog bun cocoon. I have to say, that was the best way to eat such a thing! It held in the toppings quite nicely while not being too much bread as to overpower the brat. All other hot dog buns will be forever inferior. :)

Saturday we got to sleep in, but still woke up in time to go to the outside market that was just a couple blocks down from our hotel. There was SO much food! We bought two different kinds of cow cheese and then a Berner Alpkäse (mountain cheese). We also bought regular salami, spicy salami, smoke-cured pork loin, bread, vegetables, and pumpkin seed oil. The best part was, there was usually at least one person who spoke English behind each table. And if there wasn’t, there was a customer standing next to us who would translate. It was really enjoyable learning about the food and the culture from the people who work and live there.

After we had breakfast at the Tewa Karmelitermarkt, we took the Metro to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The building itself was stunning — just the design of each room could be its own exhibit. People told us we had to look for The Tower of Babel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, so we wandered through the first three floors, working our way up to the Netherlands 15^th-16^th centuries. But while I admired the amount of detail in the Babel painting, it was a couple of his other works I found more moving and memorable. It was a good place to rest and admire the artwork.

That night was when we ate at a place called burg.ring, where all the tables were reserved for either the Eurovision or the sporting event. It was the first place I tried knoblauchcremesuppe (garlic cream soup), which became my favorite Austrian food. I know, it’s so boring compared to the stuff Cai ate! He had mushroom cream soup and beef goulash, and we shared a plate of various sausages with different mustards. As usual, it was quite tasty. In fact, everything I’ve tried so far has been great, which is unusual with my picky taste buds. But a lot of the food is meat and potato-based, and I’m a meat and potatoes kind of girl!