Posted by Jason
*Happy New Year everyone! We wish you good health and good fortune in 2014. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, and we hope you continue to enjoy our adventure in the new year! :)
*Happy New Year everyone! We wish you good health and good fortune in 2014. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, and we hope you continue to enjoy our adventure in the new year! :)
We arrived in Vienna in the evening of the 3rd. After settling into our Airbnb apartment near Rennweg station, we had a late dinner at Dong Hai (East Ocean) Chinese restaurant nearby. We both agree that is the best Chinese food we've had in Europe so far, and the service was very attentive too!
On the 4th we went on a self-guided walking tour, using information from the Frommers and Rick Steves websites. We marveled at the stunning architecture, statues, and fountains sprawling all over the city centre. There are even Roman ruins excavated and on display in the middle of Michaelarplatz.
We had lunch at Buffet Trzesniewski, a popular hole-in-a-wall kind of place packed with locals and tourists alike for their delicious finger sandwiches. The institution, opened since 1902, serves 15 to 20 different types of open-face miniature sandwiches. All the toppings look like they went through a blender, and the ones we had were all s-blend-id! At €1.10 a piece (about the size of half a slice of bread), it was considered cheap eats in Vienna.
Not sure if it was the delicious cakes and pastries (they were all really delicious), or the fancy decor of the cafés (they were all really fancy), but Karbo's craving for the sweet stuff was in overdrive in Vienna. I gladly joined her in hitting up some of the recommended cafés in the city.
For our first taste of Viennese confections, we went to the famous Café Demel. We've heard the service in Vienna cafés and restaurants can be somewhat snobbish, and we were full-on expecting that at Demel, given its popularity and reputation. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly our server was. Do keep in mind, though, November is considered low season for Vienna tourism, which may have played a role in a more laid-back attitude in service.
For our first taste of Viennese confections, we went to the famous Café Demel. We've heard the service in Vienna cafés and restaurants can be somewhat snobbish, and we were full-on expecting that at Demel, given its popularity and reputation. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly our server was. Do keep in mind, though, November is considered low season for Vienna tourism, which may have played a role in a more laid-back attitude in service.
On our way home we stopped at a very unique candy shop called Snoepjes. It smelled so good on the street we had to go in. It was so cool to see candies made from scratch by hand! After tasting a few samples, we decided on a bag of citrus flavoured hard candies. If you are in Vienna you have to check out this shop, even if you don't buy anything, it's worth spending a few minutes there just to watch them make the candies.
On the 5th, we spent the morning at Sisi Museum, where we learned about the interesting life of Empress Elisabeth (a.k.a. "Sisi") of the 19th century Habsburg Empire. The museum is very well laid-out and worth a visit. It goes in-depth into Sisi's peculiar lifestyle, her relationships with her children, and her tragic death.
After Sisi Museum we went to Cafe Central for our daily coffee and dessert. We loved Cafe Central for its atmosphere and decor. High ceiling and marble columns gives it a classy look, and the live piano music provided some sophisticated entertainment. We ordered a "Kaiserschmarren" to share. This dense, yet fluffy, pancake was Emporer Franz Joseph's favourite dessert, hence the meaning of its name: "emperor's shredded pancake." The coffee here, like everywhere else in Vienna, was amazing.
For dinner we went to Figlmüller for its famous Wiener Schnitzel. Unlike the stuffed schnitzel I had in Salzburg, Figlmüller beats their tenderloin (only the best cut of the piggy) to a very thin sheet before deep frying to a golden crisp. The 14 Euro meal includes the huge schnitzel and a delicious salad. This 109-year old restaurant definitely gets a thumbs-up from us!
After dinner we met up with Christian, an Austrian friend of a friend who was nice enough to show us around Vienna at night. We started off in Cafe Hawelka for some cappuccino and "buchteln" (sweet rolls filled with jam, delicious but greasy). We walked around the city and had some very enjoyable conversations. We then ended the night at a mellow lounge for a couple of drinks.
The 6th was a lazy day. We left the house in the late afternoon and walked around the Museum Quarter (but didn't actually go into any museums). It was a little depressing to see the Christmas market being set up knowing we won't be here when it opens.
We went to Naschmarkt, Vienna's main food market, for a snack. The market has an entire row of sit-in restaurants as well as an abundance of stalls selling cheeses, olives, meats, fruits, kebabs, honey...and many many more.
We then visited Prater Amusement Park to check out the famous Ferris Wheel, which is supposedly one of the main landmarks in Vienna. It looked pretty impressive but we didn't feel like shelling out 9 euros each to ride it. The rest of the amusement park was kind of disappointing. Maybe because it was cold out, but there were very few people there and most of the rides were closed by 6pm.
November 7th was a sunny and warm day, which was perfect for our visit to Schloss Schönbrunn, the imperial summer palace of the Habsburgs. The majestic building is mostly in its original form since its construction in 1746 under Maria Theresa's reign. The entire estate is huge and includes several gardens. There are trails that lead up to the Gloriette, the emperor's old breakfast room that is now a cafe. We saw a fox on one of the trails! Neither of us have ever seen a wild fox before so this was super cool! Unfortunately it ran off before we could get a good photo of it.
During our tour of the Schönbrunn Palace we learned that Emperor Franz Josef's favourite dish was "tafelspitz", a traditional Austrian-style boiled beef. We figured if it was good enough for the emperor, it was good enough for us, so we went to Plachutta Wollzeile for dinner, a place known for its tafelspitz.
The traditional tafelspitz was made with rump steak, so that is what we ordered. They slow cook it in a rich broth filled with root vegetables. WOW, the beef was so tender and juicy, and the soup was so flavourful! The egg noodles they add as fillers were delicious too. Although the meal was pricier than what we expected (we even shared one order for an additional 8 euros and it came with extra noodles and veggies), it was totally worth it. What can I say, we love eating like royalty!
The traditional tafelspitz was made with rump steak, so that is what we ordered. They slow cook it in a rich broth filled with root vegetables. WOW, the beef was so tender and juicy, and the soup was so flavourful! The egg noodles they add as fillers were delicious too. Although the meal was pricier than what we expected (we even shared one order for an additional 8 euros and it came with extra noodles and veggies), it was totally worth it. What can I say, we love eating like royalty!
For our last dessert in Austria we went the traditional route again and had apfelstrudel from Cafe Landtmann. Arguably one of the best apple strudels we've ever had.
After dessert we strolled through the City of Music one last time while trying to locate some statues of famous musicians. It was a nice walk and we got to see parks like the Burggarten and Stadtpark at night.
Austria has been a treat (seriously), but its higher standard of living pushed us over our budget. We hoped that we would be a little more frugal in our next stop. Budapest post coming up!