Initial Viennese Wanderings

Our first three days after moving in involved some local walks, the heuriger visit, and a longer walk into the zentrum to visit St. Stephen's Dom, Vienna's cathedral. I'll do separate posts on our heuriger experience and on St. Stephen's. 

At the Praterstern (a big intersection and terminal),
a few hundred meters from our apartment, the huge
Tegetttoff Monument, commemorating Baron
Tegettoff's great victory at the Battle of Lissa (not
to be confused with the Battle of Issa)...an 1866 naval
engagement of ironclads in a war with Italy; and you
thought it was just a cell tower in clever disguise

Marking the birthplace of Max Steiner, one of the 3 or 4 greatest
composers of Hollywood's Golden Years; also one of my favorites
(along with Korngold, Waxman...)

Our first building of interest, the Dogenhof, sort of a Venetian
Art Noveau (the Doge was the ruler of Venice)

And there's the Doge with the city's flying lion emblem

Interior of the (Italian) resto at the Dogenhof

Nestroyhof, nearby

Still not sure whether this was Bowellism or 
sculpture

Another art Nouveau nearby

Danube Canal...we live about a block from it

So far, not as "blow you away" architecturally as Prague, but
plenty of interest to us

For example

One of the greatest of all Hollywood writers/

directors/producers

Over the top eastern church

Next door beauty

Interior of the church

Interior of one of several shops now occupying its narthex

Julius Meinl's Kaffee Imports...muy famoso 

Reminiscent of some buildings we've seen in Paris

Yes, they do caryatids, atlantines and such here...we'll see
whether Vienna rivals Prague in that important respect

There certainly are other buildings of note,
some of which we'll note

The Lugeck building and square

With its statue of Gutenberg...two observations:
1) Gutenberg is so important no one even bothers
with nor knows his first name, and 2) he never
set foot in Vienna nor Austria...the Viennese, 
from Emperor Franz Joseph (Frankie Joey) on down
thought Gutenberg important enough, culturally, 
intellectually, to recognize, despite his never gracing
Vienna with his presence

Mozart did considerable time in Vienna, site of some of his
greatest hits, e.g., the Marriage of Figaro

Composed in this house; but it did not all end well

Yet another beauty

Helpful model of the StephensDom area

Actual caryatids

The Urania building, where the Vienna River enters the Danube Canal

From a bridge near our apartment, the famous Prater ferris wheel
(go watch The Third Man; now)

Staid Vienna's response to Prague's Dancing House

Wilkommen In Wien!

Sunday, October 9, the RegioJet (a train) whisked us from Prague to Vienna in a mere 4+ hours. A few stops, and top speed recorded on my phone of 51 mph. But it got us where we wanted to go. Moving from the Hauptbahnhof to our next apartment was the smoothest ever, via an easily found tram and a 200 meter walk. Our landlord was waiting for us, gave us an extended introduction (it was his former apartment; he and his family have moved on to something larger), in English, too, and we spent the remainder of the evening unpacking, moving in, and so on. It has become almost a ritual for us, getting the introduction, photographing (documenting) everything, checking everything out, deciding where things should go, etc. We'll be here nearly three weeks. We spent our first day exploring the neighborhood (Leopoldstadt, very near the Prater, a couple blocks from where the Wien River comes into the Danube Canal), the next a trip out to Neustift am Walde and dinner at old friend Furhrgassl-Huber, an heuriger, the next day a walk into central Vienna and a visit to St. Stephen's cathedral. All will be blogposts, of course. Eventually. Today, October 13th, we are taking a bus to Bratislava, Slovakia, for a day's visit and, for us, a new country and capital. Später mehr...

Wilkommen in Wien!

Schnitzel und Sturm, mit Salade (Sturm is very new wine; lots
of fiber...); Vicki's having the grape juice

Prague Out-Takes, 3; Sbohem A Dêkuji; Ještě Jedno!

This is what happens when you step back from the table at the
ham and sausages stand

Niche market

Self-serve pivo (beer) at Nase Maso; Ještě jedno, por favor

Still processing this one...holy vessel for testing the
viscosity of transubstantiated wine?

Makes you wonder what a "smash burger" is

That feeling when you realize your phone is not
in your traveler's bag

Neo-classical Subway

When only the finest will do

Most official signage is in English, too, and most people speak
English, too, especially if they want to sell you something; the
Czech language is impenetrable, to us, and seeing it everywhere,
with all its diacritical marks, and having no clue as to either its
pronunciation nor meaning, gave us headaches; and so it was a
great relief to encounter this place...

They don't have food trucks, but they do have
post-card and fridge magnet tri-cycles

Today's wedding limo

Beautiful sculpture in an Old Town hotel

Motoring on the Vltava

Processed bread is not good for swans and other waterfowl, nor
for humans, either! Worth clicking to enlarge and reading

Another sculptural reading scene that appealed

As the weather began to chill, we started seeing 
more outer-wear, especially these interesting full-length,
sleeveless down coats, many below the knee; what
message do they send?

More Caryatids, Atlantines, And Telamons

I know some readers just can't enough of the caryatids, etc., and Prague has more such than any other place we've been...so here are a few more from our Prague wanderings...