First Ring ~ An Old Vienna Love Affair Being Rekindled

June 2-6, 2015

The First Ring ~ An Old Vienna Love Affair Being Rekindled

(Part 1)

John bikes into center of Hofburg Palaces and Tresury

First Night. We took a relaxing train ride from Budapest to Vienna. When I was 18 years old I was in Vienna with girlfriends and was wondering how much I would remember besides the beer drinking and handsome men. John has booked us at a very small hotel called Das Tyrol, very near all the main tourist sites. I love these small hotels for their friendliness and uniqueness.  Indeed this hotel was especially unique with paintings of Donald Duck on the wall among other unusual decorations.  In our room we find fresh fruit and wine and are especially pleased to see a nespresso machine!  We go out strolling and I am immediately struck by all the families lovingly walking with their children, lining up for ice cream cones or sitting by the side of the street having Viennese coffee or wine. 

The atmosphere seems tranquil and laid back and I have to remind myself it is 6 pm Tuesday evening and not a Sunday. It does not seem like a big bustling city nor are there any skyscrapers. I stop at a Starbucks for coffee while John goes back to the hotel. Later I discover that Viennese coffee is cheaper and preferred by the locals. Like the Viennese people the coffee taste is more mellow. I must remember to do as the natives do.

Ringstrasse.  We decided to try our hand again with Citybikewein ~ city bikes ~ but this time consult first with our hotel manager to register via Internet and thus obtain the magic password. We successfully rent 2 clunky bikes (with 3 gears) and set off for the circular ring road known as Ringstrasse to Old Town, which is inside this circular ring. Bike rentals are 2 euros an hour with the first hour free and John feels entirely empowered with his I-pad and bike. As we bike inside the circle I am completely awestruck by the architecture of the palaces, the churches and museums. I want to stop everywhere to take pictures.

This city makes Budapest look pale like a child and clearly is in the same classic league as Paris, London and Rome.  While it is a collapsed empire that once consisted of over 60 million people, now the city with only 1.8 million people is still elegant, grand and amazing. I feel a love affair coming on, as this is fast becoming my favorite city. We find a place outdoors for dinner and I order Viennese Schnitzel of Veal while John orders salmon filet.  Now who is eating locally? Salmon in a land-locked country?  Nonetheless the schnitzel is not what I remembered and I realize it was the large white sausages (bratwurst) with hot mustard that I used to love here, especially when served with beer. Or, was that Germany? I decide to search for the sausages the next day.

The Morning After.  The next morning in our sweet hotel we have the best breakfast yet. John orders egg white omelets to have along side his donut.  I have fresh fruit and the same rather amazing donut. 

We decide to bike to the Spanish Riding School which we both remember being impressed with when we were here 40 years ago.  We are told we should get there early before the riding exercises start at 10 am. However, finding a public bike stall to lock our bike is more difficult than we thought. We arrive late to a very long line up. If we had read Rick Steve’s guidebook we would have known that we didn’t have to wait in line and could come back later to see Vienna’s renowned Lipizzaner stallions. Since this is not a performance but only horses practicing and mainly trotting most people don’t stay for the full 2 hours. When people leave new tickets are printed so prancing in later is no problem.  However, I tell John if he wants to be a tourist he has to learn to wait. He tells me that he prioritizes what to see by how long the waiting lines are.  We persist and eventually find seats on the 2^nd level in this Baroque hall with huge chandeliers. I think this hall seems smaller and less impressive than I remember it being at age 18.  We stay 30 minutes and leave a little disappointed. I wonder if memory embellishes loving experiences.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral

We bike to St. Stephens Cathedral the bull’s eye of the concentric ring circle of old town.  Here there are tour buses, horse carts and Mozart-style dressed agents selling music concerts designed for tourists.  This massive Gothic cathedral built from 1300 to 1450 has survived Vienna’s many wars, perhaps, because of the 450-foot towers which seem to reach for heaven. They took 65 years to build this tower and there was supposed to be a 2^nd tower, which was never completed because of lack of money. There is a sharply pitched roof covered with colored ceramic tiles in a zig zag pattern similar to the St. Stephen’s church we saw in Budapest. 

Main Entrance St Stephens

 

The church’s main entrance (the oldest part), done in Romanesque style has had a facelift and is much cleaner than the rest if the church which is almost black. This is an interesting contrast and I imagine it will look much prettier when completely sand blasted. Inside I look down a huge Gothic central walkway, that I am told, is more than a football field long with walls that are nine stories high. 

Center Aisle 

There are columns with life-size tone statues of Madonnas and babies.  There is a large, black marble altarpiece.  John thinks the cathedrals we have seen in Spain are much more beautiful than this one. 

I continue to be spiritually uninspired by Austria’s national church and wonder what is wrong with me as I watch hundreds of people gaze in awe at the spires. The organ looks plain yet interesting to me and I wish we could hear Mozart here. 

Three out of four Austrian people are Catholic and one in ten are Muslim. I would not accept a marriage ring in this cathedral.
I look for a place to have Viennese coffee but see a Starbucks.

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