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Early impressions of Vienna

Vienna, Austria - We've been in Vienna for a few days now, and I am here to provide our initial experience and impressions.

Food and Drink

  • MAST. Site of our second dinner. I would relay to you in more detail what we ate, but alas, the English menu is not available online, so a rough retelling from memory will have to do: We had the charcuterie plate (H thought this was "really f-ing good"), raw char (meh), carrots with peanuts, miso, and a crumbly feta-like cheese (yum), roast pumpkin with pumpkin seed oil and salty cheese (another yum), venison ragu, and MAST's take on Austrian street food sausage (somewhat more expensive than street food). The waiters wore Christmas-themed ugly sweaters. Also of note, we met again the proprietor of Gamper Bar, Balz, while we were in MAST as he was also dining there. Hannah recognized him from across the room and we stopped by his table at the end of our meal. He remembered us!
  • Offerl. This is a bakery where we ate lunch. Offerl's interior is decidedly grey. As in, everything is colored grey, including the clothing of the staff. It's part of the hyper-modern, minimalist design aesthetic. Offerl obviously has fantastic baked goods and bread. They also operate a kitchen and serve dishes. Hannah had the garden breakfast, an elaborate bean-based dish with an assortment of vegetables. While there, we met a young Israeli couple who were working one of the main Christmas markets. They were employed hawking some kind of kitschy nonsense (perhaps, wind chimes or fidget spinners) to tourists. But, they had recently been fired for not selling aggressively enough. They gave us the remainder of their walnut-frangipane croissant when they left (two thumbs up). 
  • O boufes. The lower cost sister to Konstatin Filippou, a Michelin two-star restaurant. We had the charcuterie plate, the ox tartar with egg (yes please!), a fava bean dish, and the pork belly with a sauce H pretty much drank from the bowl. H also had a very nice Austrian pet nat.
  • Naschmarkt. A large, cramped, open-air food market that runs alongside a boulevard. Vendors cover a range of cuisines, with some groceries and some prepared foods. Unfortunately, we rushed through this somewhat quickly on account of the weather (rain, cold) and my stomach, which was somewhat disagreeable that day.

Museums and Notable Sites

  • Schonbrunn. The stunning summer residence of the Hapsburgs. The Schonbrunn started its imperial existence as a hunting lodge in the 16th century and grew over several centuries into a palatial residence with ~1,400 rooms. The tour takes you through a smattering of these, including some of the major reception halls and the private residences of the imperial family. The palace is seen as an exponent of Rococo/Baroque architecture. The difference between Rococo and Baroque is subtle, since they're similar, but Rococo is basically the after-party that followed the already somewhat lively Baroque period. Roughly, the European artistic big-wigs of the period collectively realized that they were only going to get away with this flamboyant, extravagant stuff for so long, so they decided to really go for it with Rococo. Moving on, we learned a couple of interesting facts about the Hapsburgs while we were here:
    • The Hapsburg's preferred means of extending their power was through strategic marriages, not warfare.
    • Franz Josesph I was infatuated with his wife Elizabeth (Sisi), but she was probably not so hot on him. She spent most of her time away from him and his overbearing mother and later characterized marriage as a cruel institution inflicted on benighted young girls. 
  • Belvedere. The Belvedere was a palace built for an Austrian general, Prince Eugene. He was among Austria's more famous generals, which probably isn't saying much given their preference for conquest by marriage (see above). Prince Eugene was actually French, but his military service was stymied by French royalty following a scandal involving his mother, so he left and offered his services to the Austrians, who happily took him on. Furthermore, Prince Eugene was a diminutive man, and the Belvedere museum suggests that the French judged him unfit to lead for this reason. This was an error: Prince Eugene was later responsible (with the Duke of Marlborough) for defeating the French in three separate battles in the early 18th century. The French later corrected this mistake in judgment with Napoleon, also a man of insubstantial stature. Anyway, Prince Eugene built a stunning residence overlooking Vienna and some of the surrounding hills. It's gorgeous and today it's an art museum with famous works by Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, among others.
  • Leopold. Another art museum, this one more centrally located in Vienna near the Hofsburg (see below). The Leopold is principally known for its collection of late 19th and early 20th centruy Austrian painters, including Schiele, Klimt, and Richard Gerstl. 
  • Musikverien. Vienna's most famous music venue. We didn't watch a performance here, since none were available during our stay. So, we took the tour. Vienna, if you didn't know, is an epicenter of classical music: Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven all lived here and produced many of their most famous works in this city. Musikverien's most famous hall, the golden hall, hosts an annual new year's concert, which is televised around the world. This concert was originally conceived in 1939, to boost the morale of Nazi soldiers at the front lines, and it continues to this day, with a little less emphasis on  national socialism. 
  • Hofburg. According to wikipedia, this is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty rulers and today serves as the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria. We've wandered around the complex, which is large and sprawling and stunning architecturally, but we've yet to visit any of the sites (except the library, see below). We'll report more later.
  • State library. This is a stunning library built at the request of the Austrian emperor Karl VI. It contains some of Europe's oldest, most valuable, and most rare manuscripts. Unfortunately, due to the delicate condition of these texts, they never put them on display, but rather make replicas of them and put those out instead. Though, it is amusing to see tourists stumble over each other to take pictures of replica medieval gold leaf manuscripts.
Hofburg Palace

Egon Schiele

Donuts at Offerl

Karlskirche 

Ox Tartar at O boufes

Pork belly at O boufes

Belvedere Palace

Again, the Belevedere Palace

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Location: Vienna, Austria

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