Day 8 - Oct. 21 - Reminiscing in Vienna

A disaster of sorts with the WI-FI in the apartment failing last night and this morning. After breakfast we packed up our laptops and went in search of a place to use them. Most fortunately, a small cafe very near the apartment was open and offered free WI-FI. We have learned that WI-FI in public locations is not common here like it is in the US, so we are very lucky to have this right around the corner. The Cafe Garage 01 is situated directly under the train tracks on the Viaduct - and you definitely hear the trains when they pass overhead. But, it somehow contributes to the urban-industrial atmosphere. The owner and staff are very friendly and welcoming, and later we learned that they know Luisa, the lady who owns our apartment.

Garage 01 Cafe - under train track

Took the laptops back to the apartment, and set out on Tram #1 again. This time we went a few stops to the end-of-the-line in the other direction - which took us into the Prater Park.

We stayed on the tram and went into the city, and walked past the enormous Baroque "Wedding Fountain", which was commissioned by Leopold as a monument to St. Joseph as thanks for his son returning safely from battle. It was desiged by Fischer von Erlach and built by his son (Fischer von Erlach Jr) around 1730. It depicts the marriage of Joseph and Mary.

Walked along some very "posh" streets, including Tuchlaubenstrasse,  with the famous international brand stores such as Hermes, Prada, etc. Nothing we were interested in! But, the cafes, coffee shops, wine kellers piqued my interest, and I made notes of places we might return to.

After finding a newstand with international papers, I spotted the new Park Hyatt Vienna. We used to stay frequently in Hyatts, and are still on their mailing list, and knew about this recent opening. We went in to look, and it was gorgeous. We had to stop for a pick-me-up in one of the attractive
lounges.

From there we went to our ultimate destination, Julius Meinl - an up-market "foodie" grocery. It was a great place - two floors of all kinds of "gourmet" offerings - chocolates, wines, cheses, meats, teas & coffees.

Julius Meinl

By then we were bushed, and when we spied a bus "haltestelle", we looked and discovered the electric bus would take us to Schweden Platz where we could connect to our Tram #1.

After another visit to the Garage 01 Cafe to check the Internet, Ron retrieved the car from the nearby parking garage, as it did not allow parking after 7 PM - even earlier on Fridays. I had researched the nearest Park & Ride facility, and it is very inexpensive (only 3 EU per day) compared to 30 EU or more in the city. (Learned this trick from our stays in Prague.) Since the P&R was in Heiligenstadt, an area with many Heurigers, I chose one, and we drove to Werner Welser.

Ron outside Heuriger Werner Welser - Heurigers display this branch to signify "new" wine harvest is available 

There we had a plate of fried appetizers and a carafe of "young" wine. We thought the atmosphere was a bit cold, and decided to walk to another Heuriger, Mayer on Pfarrplatz, one of our favorites. We have visited Mayer many times over the last 40-years. It is also known as Beethoven Haus, as Beethoven lived there in 1817 and worked on his 9th Symphony. He came often to Heiligenstadt hoping to find a cure for his deafness at the nearby sanatorium. We have so many memories - the first time we visited in 1973, a crazy American friend of ours decided when we left late in the evening to drag his umbrella along the rolladen (a kind of metal shutter) covering the windows of apartments along the street. Lights began coming on and irate voices were heard. We had to hurry out of the area quickly! Strange what young folks do!

Around the same time, my parents visited us, and we took them to Mayer, and sat right by the Kachelofen shown in this picture.

Ceramic tiles on stone oven provides heat

On another visit, another friend decided the small wine mugs were so cute, that she decided to pocket the waitresses' "tip mug" - fortunately, leaving the tips behind for the waitress.

As in most Heuriger, you choose from a glass case. This evening I had stuffed cabbage and Ron a typical sausage and kraut.

We then took the car to the P&R, which was a bit of a challenge, as we could not initially see how to pay. Finally Ron found out how, but didn't have the right change to pay for more than one day. So, he will have to make another trip out there tomorrow.

We rode the U-Bahn (subway) to Schwedenplatz and transferred to our #1 Tram. We made another visit to the Garage 01 Cafe to check the Internet. Then back up the stairs to our abode.