Of course, when the drive to the airport is smooth and you avoid the worst of the daily traffic jam, something else happens. This time around, it was a security-check screw-up. The lady had decided that every item needed a different tray – it was unthinkable that a backpack and a fanny pack could coexist in the same space. Unfortunately, the tray system had broken down and was not moving. Travellers got stuck explaining “there are no trays” while she yelled “one item per tray” in a never-ending cycle that took at least five minutes to break.
My plane left at 8:40 and I landed in Viena a few minutes ahead of schedule, around 11:30. That gave me enough time to reach the train station and take the 12:19 S7 train to Rennweg, which was the very convenient station next to the hotel (I had booked something near a transport hub; the fact that it had a direct connection to the airport was direct was a plus we discovered later). I got myself a snack, and walked to the hotel to check in and meet D****e, who had arrived a few hours earlier. After she had freshened up, we headed towards the Austrian National Library Österreichische Nationalbibliothek while she told me that she had come on the same flight as Hyde, and gave me updates on all her Japanese friends’ status as they converged onto Austria.
As we walked, we entered the Unesco Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna, recognised in 2001 and placed in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2017, due to urbanistic pressure. One of the main elements in the Viennese architecture is the Hofburg, the main imperial palace of the Habsburgs in Austria. At the end of WWI in 1918, the Austria-Hungary Empire came to an end, and since then the palace has been repurposed – different parts of it may be visited, such as Sisi’s quarters, the Riding School, or the library itself (and all its branches).
The seed of Austrian National Library Österreichische Nationalbibliothek dates back to Emperor Karl VI (Charles VI), who established the court library around 1739. The building was erected in the Baroque style, designed by Johann Fischer von Erlach. Its main feature is the State Hall Prunksall, which houses the book collection amassed by the Habsburgs, particularly some 15,000 books belonging to Prince Eugene of Savoy. The library hosts around 200,000 volumes in dark walnut cases that reach the ceilings, decorated with frescoes. The floors are marble, and here and there stand world globes and sculptures by Lorenzo Mattielli. Oh, and there are secret doors within the shelves that lead to hidden rooms. We only visited the State Hall that day, but I would come back to the Papyrus Museum on Monday.
A couple of days prior to our arrival, Hyde had tweeted (or whatever) that there were posters of his show throughout Vienna. One of them was easy to find – it had the Neogothic Votive Church Votivkirche in the background. D****e wanted to find them all, and I wanted to see the church, which was unfortunately closed. Also unfortunately, it seemed that all the weather forecasts for the few days I’d be in town had been… wrong. Despite announcing mild spring temperatures, we got hit by a heatwave. I am okay with heat but… I did not have appropriate clothes for it so… whoops. Despite the weather, we walked a lot, and did a lot of checking for the posters as we did. We may have spotted around 20 or so (and only after the concert checked if we could unglue one).
I was getting a bit dizzy, so I suggested stopping for a snack. We sat at a McDonald’s Hyde ordered food from once, so it fit our theme. D****e had a map of locations that were more or less related to Hyde’s activities in town. Following that, we stumbled around the church Kirche Maria am Gestade. In front of it stood a figure of Minerva, holding a little owl in one hand, a crown in the other. I thought it was a street art installation, and I wondered about the placement, but it turns out to be something for the… European Congress of Radiology, which took place in March, and had a Classical gods and goddesses theme, maybe because there was a very important person there called Minerva Becker.
Kirche Maria am Gestade (Mary at the Riverbank) is a catholic church built in the Gothic style between 1394 and 1414. It is one of the few actual Gothic buildings in town, and was popular amongst sailors on the Danube – it stands on the former fluvial terrace of one of the now disappeared flows of the river. It is not a big church, with a narrow nave and a 56-metre tower slightly newer than the body of the church. It was a very pretty structure that I enjoyed a lot.
We walked a little towards the town centre and ended up at Kohlmarkt, from where I got a view of Michaelerplatz and the Hofburg palace. We turned towards Graben to find the Column of Pest Wiener Pestsäule, a High Baroque column built to commemorate the victims of the plague epidemic of 1679. It was designed by Paul Strudel, but many other sculptors had a hand in it, apparently. Erected in white stone and gold, it represents from the highest level down, the Holy Trinity, the angels, King Leopold I, and his citizens.
Next, we visited the Baroque church Peterskirche (St. Peter’s church), built in the first third of the 18th century to replace and earlier Romanesque one. After two failed designs, the main architect was Francesco Martinelli, who drew inspiration from St Peter’s in the Vatican. Hence, it was the first domed building in Vienna. It is however very… small, erected in a very confined space in a crossroads, it feels cramped.
Eventually, we made our way towards Café Landtmann, which calls itself “Vienna’s most sophisticated coffee house” to have dinner with some of D****e’s friends who had also come from Japan. Though it is one of the iconic places in town (and also held a connection to Hyde, hence why they wanted to go), dinner was a mess. Five of us were crammed into a tiny booth, the eatery was bustling and there was barely any space. And jet-lagged excited Japanese is no way near understandable by my poor language skills. They decided they wanted to share everything, which I thought was a mistake – very little space, large plates difficult to share… But I’m not going to raise a ruckus out of food of all things. I’m just going to order an alcohol-free cocktail (actually a raspberry-lemon lemonade) that matches in price all the beer and alcohol they are going to order.
We shared „The Legend“ („Die Legende“: Viennese Schnitzel made from the finest cut of breaded veal, parsley potatoes, leaf salad, cranberry jam and a lemon wedge); Viennese Beef Goulash (Wiener Rindsgulasch, with bread dumpling, goulash crunch and pickled cucumber); White Asparagus (Spargel with beurre blanc, chives and buttered panko crumbs); Landtmann Sausages “à la bonne heure” (Landtmannwürstel à la bonne heure, boiled sausages in goulash jus with mustard mayo, horseradish, goulash crunch and a hand roll).
I ended up mostly eating the bread with the Schnitzel lemon and the salad. I had not realised the goulash would have so much garlic on it. Finally, they ordered coffee and Kaissermarn (shredded pancakes) as dessert. In the end, it was 40 bucks per person for a cramped mediocre experience. The staff was nice and people-watching interesting, from people super dolled-up because they were coming from / going to the opera, to ripped jeans.
We left and walked back to the hotel. After a long shower, we went to bed, but I did not sleep much and was definitely up at sunrise. That helped with the following day’s insane plans, which included breakfast…
