Vienna: Cafes, Music, and Royal Family

Cafes and restaurants in Vienna tend to have a long list of unfamiliar dish names.  Fortunately, many of them offer an English menu.  I liked the Viennese food!  However, the cuisine was heavy with a tendency for a variety of meat and dumplings.  In addition, many restaurants and even cafes offered big portions of food.  Toward the end of the trip, I felt stuffed when I needed to eat.  I had a desire to try different kinds of food in Vienna, but my body said no.  So, I returned a bread basket on table, which was not free anyway, and ordered light meals.  However, even soup and salad came in large portions. 

I think that many restaurants and cafes in Vienna have good quality of food.  Some online reviewers did not give a good rating to the famous Cafe Mozart.  However, I liked the cafe even though it may be touristy as other reviewers said.  Staff there seemingly got accustomed to an international tourist and had menus in many different languages.  I ordered a Viennese specialty Wiener Schnitzel, which was big and delicious.  Zum Schwarzen Kameel is a perfect restaurant that I found when I was feeling stuffed.  I entered a bar area where I saw a lot of locals as well as a variety of finger food in a glass case.  I ordered open sandwiches and a glass of wine, which were delicious.  I recommend Zum Schwarzen Kameel if you want great snacks at a trendy but smoky atmosphere.  I also recommend Restaurant Fuhrich because of tasty food and beautiful gipsy music.  I did not see any other international tourists, but the place was packed with local customers.  It was a cozy small restaurant with an English menu. 

The Viennese cuisine is considered equivalent to the Austrian cuisine.  However, pastries in Vienna distinguished the Viennese cuisine from the Austrian cuisine.  Even though there are numerous kinds of pastries, I think that the most famous pastry in Vienna is definitely the Sacher-Torte.  I heard that some people claimed that the Sacher-Torte was too sweet.  However, I have a sweet tooth.  I did not mind having the Sacher-Torte with whipped cream.  In fact, I preferred that way.  I recommend the original Sacher-Torte from the Cafe Sacher.  It was good.  I especially liked how a hint of apricot jam was tasted in the middle of dense chocolate layers.  On the other hand, another specialty apple strudel was not my cup of tea, because of the dough texture.  It was like soft moistened spring roll paper.  Personally, I preferred a crispy apple pie to a soft apple strudel. 

Along with many different kinds of desserts, Vienna also offers numerous kinds of coffee beverages.   Once I was called "coffee sister" by my ex-roommate's daughter.  I indulged myself in a variety of coffees in Vienna.  During my stay, I was afraid that my addiction to coffee would become more serious than ever.  However, I just surrendered myself to this coffee empire.  I recommend having a cup of coffee at a traditional cafe, because coffee and cafe are both important aspects of the Viennese culture.  You can experience differences between a slow-paced relaxed cafe and a fast but convenient franchised coffee shop. 

Vienna is full of attractions, as you can see what I mean by numerous photos of Vienna that I captured.  It is difficult to narrow down my favorite sights and activities.  However, my recommendations are as follows:

• Experience Vienna's musical heritage
• Explore the winter palace, Hofburg
• Visit the summer palace, Schönbrunn
• See the world of Friedensreich Hundertwasser
• Stroll through the inner city, the first district of Vienna

Experience Vienna's musical heritage:

Vienna is a city of music, especially classical music.  When in Vienna, you cannot help but realize that the music is deeply rooted in the Viennese history and culture.  I have never been to any other classic-oriented music city than Vienna.  Many street musicians play classical music.  Even the public restroom at the Karlsplatz underground station plays waltz.  I also saw many young men dressed in historical costumes and wigs asking those who passed by them to purchase a concert ticket.  It was a strange scene in front of the Vienna State Opera.  I was afraid that those Mozart look-alikes were ticket scalpers, because I did not have any prior knowledge about them.  I later learned that most of them were legitimate ticket sellers.  However, the Austria embassy posted a warning that visitors should check market prices of tickets prior to any purchase from a street because a few tourists were sold tickets higher than normal. 

Among numerous choices of live music, I visited Vienna Boys' Choir on Sunday.  Leftover tickets are sold every Friday, two days before the Sunday mass, at the imperial church Burgkapelle (only in German).  I saw a few more types of tickets available than I expected to see.  I was lucky!  I chose the second cheapest ticket of 14 Euro because the cheapest ticket of 5 Euro did not allow you to directly see the mass and the choir.  With the ticket at 5 Euro, you can listen to boys singing through the walls and watch the service on live TV.  I also heard that even a 21-Euro ticket did not guarantee a sight to the choir.  Can you believe it? 

Anyway, every Sunday mass starts at 9:15 AM.  I had to enter the church by 9 AM.  I arrived at the church just a few minutes before 9 AM and saw a long line in front of the church.  A lady in the line kindly told me to go inside the church if I had a ticket.  I later learned that the people in the line were potential standees, who attempted to listen to the choir free.  Inside the church, I was guided to a balcony seat facing an altar.  The boys' singing voices were beautiful and magical, like voices from angels.  Although I could not see the boys most of the time, they came down from the third floor to the altar and performed the last song.  I really liked their performance and later bought their CD as my souvenir.  It was my best musical experience.  I also enjoyed having a photo session with one of the boys after the hour-long church service.  The video below does not play the same song that I listed to.  However, you can sample what I experienced in Vienna: 

Explore the winter palace, Hofburg:

Actually, Burgkapelle, a home of Vienna Boys' Choir, is located at Hofburg.  This winter palace offers so many attractions.  I bought the Sisi ticket, which let me enter the silver collection, the Sisi museum, and the imperial apartments at Hofburg.  (By the way, I could photograph only the silver collection area.  Photography is forbidden in two other areas.)  Honestly, I was not impressed with what the Sisi ticket showed me.  It was interesting to see a napkin with secret imperial knot and gym equipment that Empress Elisabeth, more famously known as Sisi, used.  However, that was it.  I just felt sorry for Franz Joseph, Sisi's husband, because she seemed to care about her more than anything else.  In my opinion, she refused her imperial duties but wanted all her privileges. 

I was more impressed with two other areas at Hofburg than what the Sisi ticket showed me at Hofburg.  The first one is the State Hall of the Austrian National Library.  This library was claimed as the most beautiful library in the world.  I believe so.  It was stunningly beautiful, as shown below.  It was a little difficult to find the right entrance of this library at night.  However, it was definitely worth a visit.  With the Viennese Card, I paid the reduced price of 6.30 Euro.  The National Library is located at the front face of the Josefsplatz. 

Another one that impressed me was also located at one corner of the Josefsplatz, which was the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.  I wanted to see the morning exercise with music, which was a more affordable choice than the performance (Vorführung) with music and stage light by luxurious chandeliers.  A ticket reservation for the morning exercise was not allowed.  Therefore, I went to a box office in the morning to buy the ticket, but no morning exercise was taken place on that day.  Instead, I decided to see the real performance at the standing room, which cost 18.40 Euro, with a discount from the Vienna card. 

There were a lot of people including standees when I entered the magnificent riding hall.  I recommend that anybody with a standing ticket should enter the hall earlier to find the best place to stand.  I personally think that two places are the best at the standing room section on the lower floor.  (I did not go upstairs.)  I recommend standing along the windows if you feel not confident of standing for a long time.  When you are tired, you can lean on or sit on the window railing.  However, I thought that the stage view was a bit far and limited by pillars.  If you feel confident of your strong legs, I recommend standing next to a pillar, which offers a wider and better view than the first one.  I could not sit there but lean on the pillar when I was tired.  Despite a long standing show, it was definitely the best horse show ever!  Beautiful white stallions really danced to the music.  It was amazing to see how talented those horses and riders were.  I was glad that I watched the real performance.  No photographing or filming was accepted during the show.  However, I found a video showing the performance by members of the Spanish Riding School.  You can see why I was impressed by it.

Visit the summer palace, Schönbrunn:

The Sisi ticket also allowed me to enter Schönbrunn.  I liked the Schönbrunn Palace better than the Hofburg Palace, mainly because of its beautiful gardens.  Those gardens definitely added charms to Schönbrunn.  In the gardens, I recommend visiting the Gloriette.  I especially like panoramic views provided by the rooftop of Gloriette.  From there, I could see the palace, its gardens, and the city's skyline.  Although it was a shadeless 20-minute walk from the palace to the top of the hill, the Gloriette was definitely worth a visit.  I heard that Sisi used to have a tea at the Gloriette.  I wondered whether the sporting maniac Empress walked to the Gloriette from the palace.  Or, did she use a horse-drawn carriage?  For me, there was a steam-train-like bus to the Gloriette.  However, I did not use the bus because I did not see it when I wanted to visit Gloriette.  I saw it when I walked down the hill. 

See the world of Friedensreich Hundertwasser:

If you like modern art, designs, architectures, and Antoni Gaudy, you should visit both Hundertwasser House (Hundertwasserhaus) and Kunst Haus Wien.  Both places show designs of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and are located within a walking distance.  

At first, I went to the Hundertwasser House via the metro and tram.  Getting off the tram at the Hetzgasse stop, I walked a little bit toward Kegelgasse and saw the colorful building with naturally inhabited greens.  This is an apartment building where people still live.  Therefore, I could not see the inside of the Hundertwasser House.  However, the outside look of the building was impressive, and it was fun to imagine how its interior looked like.  I wondered if greens were invading any residential space.  If you want to see the interior designed by Hundertwasser, you have a chance to see it at a shopping center called the Hundertwasser village across from the apartment building.  I could go inside this shopping village, which showed another example of Hundertwasser's unique design.  

I then walked north on Weißgerberstraße.  I saw an outstanding museum, whose front face looked like a checkerboard, called Kunst Haus Wien.  This museum designed by Hundertwasser exhibits his works as well as other artists' works.  You should enter the museum, even if you do not intend to see its exhibitions.  You should not miss looking at the museum interior.  Hundertwasser despised straight lines and right angles.  Therefore, even a floor is not flat.  This museum has a cafe as well as the museum shop with artistic souvenirs.

Stroll through the inner city, the first district of Vienna:
The inner city of Vienna means the first district (innere stadt) of Vienna.  This is the oldest part of Vienna where tourists come first and spend most of their time.  When I arrived in Vienna, I did what most of Vienna's tourists do.  I walked straight from the Vienna State Opera to St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom).  I turned left at St. Stephen's Cathedral to the Graben road.  I saw the outstanding Plague Column (Pestsäule) and then St. Peter's church (Peterskirche).  Walking on the high-end shopping street Kohlmarkt, I was welcomed by a huge entrance to the Hofburg palace.  That may be cliché, but you can sense everything about Vienna there: beautiful old buildings, coffee aroma, window displays of sweets, imperial and musical heritages, brand shops, street performers, and more.  In addition, it was easy to walk, because of a short and car-free zone.  You may want to explore small alleys off those major streets as well.

The inner city is framed by the ring road called Ringstrasse, which is build after former ramparts and moats.  Many sights, including museums and theaters, are located along the Ringstrasse.  It also has many picturesque landmarks, especially between the Vienna State Opera and the city hall (Rathaus).  However, it is not easy to explore just on foot.  I suggest that you should take a tram when you are tired.  I am obsessed to walk everywhere I can when I travel.  I walked on the Ringstrasse in a clockwise direction.  However, I was tired when I reached the Danube canal.  I simply took a tram to return to the Vienna State Opera.  I should have taken a tram from the city hall to the Danube canal, because it should be sufficient to see landmarks through a tram window between the city hall and the canal. 

I stayed at Delta Hotel Wien, outside the inner city of Vienna.  I paid 61 Euro per night, without breakfast.  It was affordable compared with hotels in the inner city.  On my first day in Vienna, a bus from the airport dropped me off at the railway station.  I walked to the hotel which was hard to find at first, maybe because the hotel was off a main shopping street.  However, I was satisfied with the hotel location, once I found the hotel.  Stations of metro, tram, and train are close to the hotel.  It was quick and easy to reach the inner city by metro.  Additionally, there were a supermarket, cafes, and restaurants on the shopping street near the hotel.  The hotel's neighborhood seemed safe too.  Returning to the airport, I learned to take a tram to reach the railway station instead of walking.  In my opinion, the hotel was conveniently located!  

In addition, the hotel's room was spacious and clean, with a big comfortable bed, air conditioning, and TV.  The room did not have a small refrigerator, although I did not need it.  The lobby had a computer with Internet, but it was not free.  I just used the hotel's computer because the hotel and Internet cafe in the inner city both offered similar prices.  Most of the hotel staff was nice and helpful.  When I asked one of the staff where I could do the laundry, she found a coin laundry near the hotel.  I had to take a tram to reach the coin laundry, which only had German instructions.  My task was successfully completed, but it took me a lot longer to do the laundry than usual.

From the airport to Vienna and vice versa:
I took a bus because it directly went to the south train station (Südbahnhof) near the hotel that I booked.  It was an easy ride, but I had nothing much to see from Vienna International Airport to the south train station.  It took approximately 20 minutes between them.  With the Vienna card, I paid only 5 Euro for a single ticket instead of 6.  (Currently, the south train station is closed down.  Instead, a new train station "Wien Hauptbahnhof" will open in 2012, near the former south train station.) 

Within Vienna: 
It is enjoyable to walk on pedestrian streets in the inner city of Vienna where such major sights as the Vienna State Opera, St. Stephen's Cathedral, and Hofburg, are located.  In other areas, you should take advantage of Vienna's great transportation system, which is safe and efficient.  I used trams and metros to reach many sights, which are located near those stations.  I recommend that you should buy the Vienna card which gives you unlimited free rides on metros, trams, and buses within 72 hours.  In addition, you can get discounts at many attractions, restaurants, and shops.   

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