Vienna
Following the dinner last night and our subsequent meeting with Deryck the tour guide, things weren’t looking all that rosy in Vienna, and after another lousy night’s sleep, there wasn’t much cheer around the breakfast table. Deryck, to his credit, was still putting on a cheerful disposition, but the atmosphere on the bus that morning wasn’t the greatest. The couple who had the room beside ours had also opened their windows through the night to try and cool the room down and had woken to the smell of cigarette smoke in the early hours, thick enough to make the lady sick.
As mentioned in our previous blog, we’d managed to sort out a new room with an additional cost with the concierge and the offer was also available to the rest of the group, but I don’t think anyone else took them up. We certainly couldn’t have managed another night in that room though, so after breakfast we gladly moved our bags into a larger room upstairs with a balcony that looked out over the glass roof of the dining area. I think the problem we have as Australians is that we equate the star system with quality, and unfortunately when it comes to hotels, that’s simply not the case. A hotel can be an absolute dive, but so long as it has all of the criteria to meet the standards of a 4 or 5 star, it’s in. In my ideal world, hotels would be rated by category, with Category 3 being a standard 3-star affair, and Category 5 being the top of the line. Star ratings could then be used to rate the actual quality of the hotel. In this case, the hotel we’re currently staying in would be Category 4, but would only be rated at 3 stars.
Anyway, with the angst of last night still hanging over our heads, we assembled outside to board the coach for a trip up to the Vienna Woods, the forested highlands that sit along the northern and eastern edges of Vienna, and have long been a playground of Vienna’s rich and famous. Akin to the Blue Mountains in Sydney or Mount Dandenong in Melbourne, they were close enough in times before rail and road for the rich to build their summer holiday homes in which to escape the stench and heat of the city, but as transport options became faster and cheaper, they opened up as a day trip destination, until now they are home to many commuters who choose to work in the city but rent in the more affordable outer suburbs. The woods are under threat from urban expansion, and there are many conflicting ideas about preserving the trees and wildlife, versus opening up more affordable housing.
Our first stop was the at the Church of St Othmar in Mödling, which was built into the hillside above the city in 1673. During the Ottoman invasion and siege of Vienna in 1683, many of the citizens of Mödling took refuge in the church – in times past invaders would simply ignore them and carry in towards Vienna, however on this occasion most of the citizens were either slain or taken prisoner to be sold into slavery, and the church was nearly totally destroyed.
Outside the church stands a much older building – a charnel house that was built in the 12th century, although the larger Baroque roof wasn’t added until after the Ottoman massacre, when the charnel house also became a bell tower to warn the citizens below of impending attack. The church interior is quite beautiful, and includes an elaborately decorated pipe organ. Just nearby stands a towering brick and mortar aqueduct which to this day brings fresh water into Vienna from the nearby Alps.
After leaving Mödling, we next headed through the hills to the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz (Holy Cross), founded in 1133 by St. Leopold III of the House of Babenberg. The Cisternians were a breakaway group from the Order of Benedictine who sought to return to a more monastical way of life such as what would have been practiced during the time of St Benedict – practicing austerity over wealth and returning to manual labour such as agriculture.
The Cistercians were renowned for their architecture and were at the forefront of several architectural movements. This is evidenced throughout the abbey, such as in the chapel building that flanks one side of the main courtyard – originally it had no opening to the outside as it was solely used by the monks, and the simple arches above the windows reflect the style of that period, however in later centuries as the town outside the monastery walls began to grow, the townsfolk needed somewhere to worship, and a doorway was built into the external wall. At the time the Gothic architectural style was beginning to take shape, and the pointed arches above the doors here were an early example of this.
Entering into the chapel building it was clear that this building reflected the simple lifestyle the monks came here seeking – there are relatively few decorations other than those with religious significance, and the stone work is largely unadorned save for several areas that were added much later during the rule of the Hapsburg dynasty. Even the stained glass windows are for the most part monotone rather than brightly coloured, an exception being in the well room that was redecorated at a much later date. Originally it housed a simple bath where the monks could wash themselves to absolve themselves from sin, however as time went on the fountain became more elaborate, and the high mineral content of the water also contributed to the decoration, forming large stalactites around the bowls.
We passed through several more rooms with various uses, and it soon became clear that our guide for the day, Wolfgang, was very knowledgeable on the subject, and possessed a wonderful ability to pass on that knowledge in a way that was clear, understandable and highly entertaining. After the disappointment of the Prague tour, this one turned out to be one of the better tours we’ve experienced.
Following on from the monastery tour, we made our way in the coach back through the Vienna Woods, past the spa town of Baden that was founded in Roman times. Public transport in Vienna is amazing, and you can actually catch a tram from Vienna all the way out here, although you have to be prepared for a long slow trip compared to that you would normally expect if using the motorway. I say normally, because on this occasion as we approached Vienna, we observed a car vs truck incident in the outbound lanes that saw all lanes closed and a traffic jam stretching back 20km into the heart of the city.
This being a Wednesday, traffic in the city would normally be reasonably light, at least by Viennese standards, however with over 20 official Christmas markets currently on in Vienna, the roads were swelled with tour buses and private vehicles. At least this gave our guide plenty of time to point out all of the magnificent buildings along Vienna’s famous Ringstraße (Ring Road) as we did our circumnavigatory tour.
After the tour of the Ring Road, our bus parked up momentarily behind the magnificent Vienna State Opera building, and it was here that Vanessa and I broke off from the group, having no wish to join the afternoon street walk and visit to Schönbrunn Palace, even though the guide for those tours would be the same as the morning. Instead we walked a little way down along the Ringstraße to a restaurant we’d seen where the chefs could be seen through the front window breading Weiner schnitzels for the lunch time rush. By the time we reached the restaurant we were too late to reserve a table, but they directed us instead to their bistro a few doors down, where the same schnitzels could be ordered. It turned out to be a fortuitous move, because Gulasch & Söhne (Goulash and Sons) turned out to easily be the best dining experience we’d had all trip, with a young man working front of house who was cheerful, friendly and very obviously a foodie. When we asked about the delicious potato salad that accompanied the equally delicious schnitzels, he waxed lyrical about his grandmother’s recipe for Austrian Potato Salad, saying that the one here was the only thing he’d ever had that came close to his memories of that wonderful dish she used to make. Unfortunately, he didn’t know the exact recipe, but we’ve since looked online and will definitely be trying out a few when we get home.
Something we’ve noticed here is that tipping in Vienna (and Prague too) has begun to become an expectation rather than a bonus for good service – we have even been asked for a 10% tip when buying a mugful of Glühwein, and some restaurants have even had the gall to include a 10% or 15% tip in the bill automatically. Which is a shame, because it lessens the impact when you tip for service that is truly wonderful, such as what we had here. After paying the bill, and leaving a proper tip, the waiter came over to our table with a couple of glasses filled with a generous serving of pear schnapps, something to warm our bellies before we stepped into the cold air outside. He explained that his grandfather and he used to make pear schnapps together, and he had been taught that the way to a healthy life was to drink a small glass of schnapps before and after every meal. His grandfather is 86 and as strong as an ox apparently, so maybe there’s something in that.
After the restaurant, we wandered up to Maria Hilfertraße, one of Vienna’s premier shopping streets, where Vanessa bought a couple of nice tops to wear out for dinners. We then hopped onto the U-Bahn, the underground railway, where for a few Euros we were able to ride just a few stops to the station nearby our hotel. Dinner that night was at a French café, it was OK without being in any way amazing, and the food wasn’t exactly authentic French, but after the excellent lunch, we didn’t really care. The ten minute taxi rides to and from cost us a pretty penny, and the driver on the return leg insisted we pay in cash, which ate into our Christmas market reserves a lot. In hindsight, we would have been better to hop back on the U-Bahn, with only one stop to travel from our hotel to the restaurant, where there was a subway entrance just down the street. Ah well, you live and learn…