Vienna"s Boys, Smoking & Wine

Vienna’s Boys, Smoking & Wine

Model of Palaces and Museum

We bike from the cathedral to Vienna’s landmark Opera House (Neo-Renaissance style).  John is most excited about getting tickets and manages to get two tickets to a Wagner concert with an aisle seat four rows from the front. He comes out excited and tells me the opera starts at 4 pm and ends at 9 pm! I think he is joking. However, he is not. I’m excited to see this Opera building but not sure about 5 hours of Wagner opera.  My love affair with Vienna has its limits. John is in heaven with these tickets and I don’t ask how much they cost. He has resisted buying from the powdered-wigged Mozart lookalikes on every corner who are trying to sell tickets to what he calls tourist concerts. He wants the "authentic" experience with Austrian people not tourists.  
 

Opera Video Outside Opera House

 

After an afternoon nap which seems to becoming a habit, we set out for more adventures. We go to Haus der Musik or also called Vienna’s House of Music. This only gets 2 stars in Rick Steve’s book while St. Stephen’s cathedral gets three but  turns out to be my favorite place. I wish we had planned more time to stay here. It has four floors with one floor including interactive touch-screen computers and headphones where you can explore the physics of sound. At the very end John picks up a virtual baton and conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. However, the music stops midstream when an orchestra rises to tell John he has screwed up. 

On another floor we spend an hour listening to the fascinating audio biographies of the famous Vienna boys ~ Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms and Mahler.   All thee great classical compers worked in Vienna and both Mahler and Brahms conducted the Vienna Philharmonic as well as composing.  These boys seem not to have had happy marriages or lasting rings but perhaps that is the price of genius.  Imagine being in Vienna in the 19^th century when these boys were composing and playing. 

I even start to find the powdered-wigged Mozart lookalikes handsome and intriguing. One of them tells me he is doing this work to make money to finish his university education in international economy.

Smoking. We bike home, get an ice cream and John checks Michelin for a great restaurant. He picks the restaurant named Harry’s Time, which has no stars but said to be “unusually pleasant.” We sit outside at a table next to the street with a park across the way. I notice several people at the table next to us smoking and am surprised for such a nice restaurant. The night before when we asked for a smoking-free table our waiter seemed surprised and put us 2 tables away from a smoking table. I am learning that Austria is a haven for smokers. I believe I have seen more young people smoking here than in any other city.  While there are supposed to be rules established by this more socialistic government about smoking they clearly are not enforced.  While you can’t have a non-smoking table at this lovely restaurant  you do have a choice between a 5 or 7 course meal and each course is a surprise. So we have no decisions to make and while John tries to convince me to join him in the 7-course meal I stick with 5 courses wondering whether I can even do that.  I order wine based on an email recommendation received earlier that day from a Seattle friend in Paris who said that I must try Gruner Veltliner or Gelbener Muskateller ~ dry, white Austrian wines that she thinks may be like the French wines with little sulfite and therefore fewer negative after effects. I don’t drink much alcohol anymore but since my friend is recommending this local cultural activity I feel compelled to oblige. Indeed the Muskateller is delicious, however, by the time we get to the 4^th course we ask the waiter to cancel one of the two remaining entrees as we are nearly falling asleep despite the delicious wine, food and beautiful plate presentations. Of course, we stick with the final course ~ chocolate torte, which is followed by a 2^nd coconut covered chocolate goodie with the bill and then a 3^rd chocolate on our pillow in our hotel.  Of course, I eat them all. Still think I am in love with Vienna despite its smoking habit.

St Stephen's Peeks Up at Square