Small Explorations, Small Transport

Here is one of the many art deco treasures of Vienna, small discoveries that make my little explorations worthwhile.

It was cold today here in Wien, a gray foggy day that chilled into the bone.  The sun that has graced us over the days of Christmas has disappeared.  Nonetheless, there were errands to run and missions to accomplish.  I was headed for Naschmarkt, the large market area along the Wienfluss and just a bit southwest of the Alt Stadt.  This is the area of Vienna that most closely resembles the Public Market in Seattle and, like Pike Place, Naschmarkt is an attraction for tourists and locals alike.  Several years before I set foot in Wien I had heard of this market but I misunderstood the name as "Noshmart" which is not far from the truth.  Food and drink stalls vie with produce and gourmet food stands for the euros of the passersby.  To walk through Naschmarkt is to be beckoned to in multiple languages with each vendor calling out for you to stop and sample the tasty tidbit they are holding out as bait.  Olives and meats, cheeses and candied fruit, nuts and sweets, all dangling before the crowd in hopes of making a sale. 

My only business here was a quick espresso at my favorite hidey-hole before heading to my cigar shop to purchase a bit of contraband for my Brothers.  Suitably buzzed and packing a few puros that are not allowed in the US of A, I headed just North of Naschmarkt for my real mission.  I was going to pick up on new kick-scooter and I was making the purchase with my new Austrian bankcard.  Exciting stuff!

Here is my new steed, glowing brightly on this foggy day.  The scooter has a sliding retractable handle and a folding foot plate and is equipped with a carrying strap.  Folded up, the thing slips under ones arm and can easily be carried onto the U-Bahn or tram car.  As a bonus feature, it sports the cutest little kick-stand ever conceived of.  Mounting up, I headed off on the maiden scooter voyage.  These things are great for Vienna!  The rear fender brake is easy to use and has a nice feel.  Having a handle is a novelty that takes some getting used to after years of riding a long-board.  I still ride goofy, but I spent the day trying to lead with both the left and right foot.  As I got a feel for the ride, I was able to ride regular as well as goofy, but I will always be stronger in the goofy position of right foot forward, left foot propelling.

More little Art Deco gems, hidden amongst the modern urban backdrop.

Riding down the bike paths of Vienna, I was thoroughly enjoying my new toy.  I rolled past our old apartment on Margaretten Gürtel and then south towards Meidling and the 12th District.  It was a long roll, but I was learning the tricks to jumping curbs and negotiating cobblestone sections.  I ended up at Wien Meidling and tried to find the bike route south to the homestead.  Crossing under the huge rail complex of the U-Bahn and Stadtbahn, I found the Meilding Freidhof instead.

There is not much that is lonelier than a Wien graveyard on a winter's day.

Before I could commit to the bike path south to Alterlaa, My Baby texted me to ask if I would meet her in the City for gelato and coffee.  This meant a roundtrip back to where I had bought my scooter, a long push-scoot back, but I quickly agreed.  I folded up my trusty little vehicle, tucked it under my arm and jumped on the U-6 back into town. 

Gelato, coffee, some window shopping along Mariahilfestrasse and then it was time to ride the U-6 back home for some warm comfort food.  Another fine winter day in Wien!  I can't wait to scoot about the 'hood on my new transport, but the night is very dark and very cold.  My little scooter is folded up in the corner waiting on new adventures, but it will have to wait until Morgen. 

Wanderwegs

They are called Stadtwanderweg and they form a network of hiking trails around the city of Wien.  Literally "City Wander Ways" the dozen or so looping trails surround the city of Wien and are accessible by public transit.   If you want to go for a hike all you have to do is throw some food and water in a pack, hop on the bus or tram that gets you to the Stadtwanderweg of your choosing, and off you go!   There are about a dozen different trails, all of them mapped and posted with signs.  There is also the Rundumadum Trail which forms a loop around the city and links up many of the smaller trails.   (I know, Rundumadum!?!?!  I did NOT make that up.)

The Wienerwald surrounds much of the city of Wien and starts abruptly at the edge of the city.  The transition is knife-like, city to steep hills and woods.  There is not much in the way of urban or suburban sprawl along the edge of the Wienerwald.  The Stadtwanderweg trails circle through the woods and meadows of the Wienerwald, climbing up and down the hills while offering views of the City or the Danube or Lower Austria.  (Parenthetical Geography Comment:  Lower Austria is not the southern portion of Austria, which is how it has stuck in my small brain.  Lower Austria is actually the Austrian state that surrounds Vienna and makes up the northern and eastern portion of Austria.  The land is lower in elevation as it slopes down to the Hungarian plain along with the Danube or Donau river, hence Lower Austria.)

It was a brilliantly sunny day offering warmth where the sun shown and chill in the shadows of the Wald.  We rode the 60A Bus to the start of Stadtwanderweg Sechs, disembarked at the Kirche, and set off up the steep hill into the Wienerwald. 

The lovely old-fashioned arrow signs mark the way.  They are almost always accurate.  It helps to take a picture of the map before setting out.  Just in case. 

It was a warm climb up the hills of the Wald.  After the chill and fog of the Wien nights, breaking a sweat was a blessing.  This would be one of those "sweater on-sweater off" hikes and we were glad to have it.  Stadtwanderweg 6 is about a twelve kilometer loop over the ridges and down into the valleys of Lower Austria to the south of the city.  The way offers some steep climbing, lovely ridge walking, and some surprisingly good views.

We broke out of the woods and into a large valley bathed in warmth.  The sun was shining directly on the fields in front of us.  Lunchtime!!  We baked like lizards in the solar glow, trying to soak up the heat at the same time we were wolfing down our sandwiches.  Glorious, glorious day! 

At the edge of the field was the Wiener Hütle, an inn for walkers and bicyclists.  There is also a small road that dead-ends here at the Hut.  Folks how don't wish to hike the loop can drive up to this meadow to wander about and enjoy the hospitality of the Hut. 

We climbed back into the woods, over another ridge, and then dropped down to the next valley with its busy roadway.  We crossed back into the Wald near the first village of Lower Austria south of Wien.  Here is where the arrow signs led us astray.  After a wrong turn towards the village and then a cross country jaunt through a field, we struck a wooded path that returned to the #6 trail.  The way was through the shaded wood and uphill, but much colder now without the sun. 

Almost without warning, we stepped out of the woods and into the wash of the late-afternoon sun in an enormous meadow.  The sweaters were back off and we frisked across the grass like puppies, picking up sticky goobers of mud on our shoes in some of the lower spots.

 
















The shadows get long early in the day at this time of year and we still had kilometers to go.  My Heart is really not four meters tall.

Kilometers to go, hills to climb, and the chill of the woods to contend with.  We completed the walk through the Wald and then the last kilometer through the lanes on the outskirts of Wien.  The walking got cold once we were back on the edge of the city.  We reached our bus stop but the schedule showed a 30 minute wait for the next ride.  It was too cold to stand still.  We continued down the Liesing Fluss towards Liesing Platz, adding another 2.5 kilometers to the walk.  Our dogs were barking a bit as we neared the big bus stand.

Crossing under the aquaduct with the last of the sun.  Liesing Platz is just a bit further.

We were hoping for an after-hike Eis (gelato) in Liesing, but had to cope with disappointment as everything was locked up tighter than a drum.  Footsore and chilled, we hopped our 62A bus and rolled along home.

What better way to recover from a vigorous walk than with slabs of herring on Brot?  Yummers!!

This is the third Stadtwanderweg that we have hiked together.  The city trail system is extensive, with lots of side trails and other regional trails branching off of the Stadtwanderweg.  A Brother could get himself good and lost trying to hike all of the possibilities.  It is also an amazing network for mountain biking.  I am seriously re-thinking my idea of buying a fixie/single-speed urban bike.  As of later this morning I will have a kick-scooter for urban transport, replacing the urban bike idea.  Given the great terrain surrounding Wien, it seems a pity not to explore as much as possible and a mountain bike would be the ideal tool for this.

Speaking of scooters, it is time for me to grab the U-6 train and head down to the 6th District to pick up my cute new transport device.  And so Friends and Neighbors, it's time to say "Ciao for Now!"

They Eat Horses Don't They?

In previous posts I have waxed poetic about how much I like Leberkäse.  Today I found myself heading into the Alt Stadt for some quality time at my cafe'.  As luck would have it, my route led me past Leberkas-Pepi, the best joint in town.  Leberkas is Wienerisch for Leberkäse and Pepi is the diminutive of Joseph.  I believe I refers to this spot as "Pipi's" in a previous post, but that was so wrong of me. 

I have tried Leberkäse , Chili-Käse, and several other of the variety.  At dinner the other day, I was discussing this with Herr Pacher.  He asked if I had tried the Pferde Leberkäse.  What?  They make a tasty meat snack from horses?   The culinary gauntlet had been thrown down!  

I know in the US of A that eating the noble steed is frowned upon, but this is not the case in lots of other places.  I mean, why is a horse noble and not a cow?  Is it because we don't ride cows?

Regardless of nobility or not, I wasn't missing the opportunity.  I sidled up to the counter at Pepi's and placed my order. Lighter be a mere 2.35 euro, I scuttled out the door with my meaty treat. 

All questions of propriety aside, I'm here to tell you that this is a fine nosh.  The flavor is excellent and the aroma satisfying.  I will be chowing the noble steed again, count on it.  By the way, that's the National Opera in the background.  How's that for pedigree?  

Mission: Liesing

I like to invent nonsensical or nonessential missions, quests for objects that are of little or no importance.  The motivation for these missions is not the purported object but an excuse to wander about without the need to admit it.  Now, Via the miracle of Blog-Time-Travel we can journey back to one of those nonsense quests.

Liesing is the name of the 23rd district here in Vienna and is the district that we live in.  It is in the Southeast of Vienna and compromises about thirty-two square kilometers.  The Liesing Fluss, or Liesing River, flows through Liesing from the hills of the Wienerwald and right on down to the Danube River.  The Liesing also runs very near our apartment and creates the greenbelt that is so often my route for exploratory missions.  Liesing "River" is a bit of hyperbole, at least most of the time.  The Liesing is more of a Strom or a Bach than a Fluss. 

We live way over on the Northwest edge of the 23rd District.   If we lived any further to the Northwest we would be in the 12th District, Meidling, home of the Wien hillbillies.  Ah, it is true, my poor mind is being influenced by the local stereotypes.  That said, Meidling is a bit on the local-yokel side of the spectrum. 

The Mission?!?!?  Oh, yes, sorry.  We needed grub and my Baby wanted some fish for dinner.  Due to the holidays the Liesing Farmer's market was open on Wednesday this week and there was usually a fish monger stall at the market  Voila!  A perfectly plausible excuse to explore the Liesing Fluss trail all the way to Liesing Platz, about 3.5 kilometers one way.  For a fish.  Sure. 

Bless High Pressure systems!  The sun was shining over the urban village of Alterlaa.  This is my regular route to almost anywhere.  The Liesing Fluss is in the foreground, past the footpath.

Heading upstream from our apartment about one kilometer, the Liesing Fluss disappears into a tunnel and thence under a busy Strasse.  I needed to find the river at the other end of the underground passage and continue on towards Liesing proper.

Going just from memory and a vague idea of the local geography, I did not find the other end of the river as quickly as I thought.  I did, however,  find the best tended graveyard I have seen in many a year. 

Aha!  The river, a path, a sunny day.  I thoroughly enjoyed the stroll along the river, alternating between the pathway and the flagstones as the way dictated.   The river ducks underground again at Liesing Platz and I walked under the Bahnhof via a pedestrian tunnel and into the bustle of Liesing Platz.  The bustle was lacking a fish monger stand, however.   New Mission, new mission!!

I walked to the Riverside, a small mall on Liesing Platz.  How about a new electric water kettle and a cuban cigar?  That's a mission, right? 

My "mission" accomplished,  I window-shopped my way back towards the homestead, stopping for a quick peruse of a bike store, an old fashioned Wurst Shop, and a toy store.   We still needed fish so I had to settle for the Merkur near the apartment.  Low and behold!  They had just gotten a nice shipment of salmon and it was on sale!  Now I could rest my weary dogs after I attended to my rumbling tum.

Lamm und Kalb, Stat!!!  My local and very good Kebap Stand.

You've got your Lamm gruppe, your Kalb gruppe, your Brot gruppe and your Gemuse gruppe all in one tasty pita.  What more does a weary walker want?

Frohe Weihnachten

It was a traditional Christmas, Wien-style.   In Austria Christmas Eve is the big night for family gathering, smuggling in the gifts under the guise of the Christkind, and decorating the Tannenbaum.  Minus the need for the Christkind, we gathered at My Heart's parents house to get festive.

The Tannenbaum was awaiting decoration, the table was groaning under the weight of holiday cookies, and there was even a dog frisking about hoping for a fumbled treat.  Rather than the smell of turkey wafting from the kitchen, the air was redolent with the aroma of Kraut und Schweinbraten.  I was in charge of the traditional untangling of the ornament hooks whilst My Baby and her Mutter filled in the blank spots on the tree.  Herr Pacher tended to the grub, monitoring the progress of the Schweinbraten and getting a mountain of Knodel ready for the last minute boil. 

Schweinbraten is the most traditional of Austrian holiday meals.  The enormous slow-cooked pork roast is accompanied by bowls of homemade Kraut and the aforementioned Knodel.  Knodel are giant dumplings that are common across central Europe.  Herr Pacher had the Semmelknodel stacked up like cannon balls, ready for the boiler.

Fashioned from bread, milk, egg yolks and other yummy stuff, the semmelknodel are boiled and served up with the rest of the Austrian comfort food.  It is good to know where your nap spot is before you tuck into a plate of these bad boys.  As big as your fist and packing the calorie content of a freight car, these are not light nosh.

Schweinbraten, an entire bowl of Kraut and two Knodel, enough food to for two days of forced march and not a light leafy green in sight.  Dinner was followed by more time around the table with Kaffee and even more baked treats.  It is a good thing that this is not my regular fare or I would be packing around another ten kilos somewhere in the middle section.

I will add but one other tidbit of information.  Here in Vienna holidays are really holidays, not excuses to shop.  Since Christmas fell on a Friday this year, pretty much every retail store is closed from early on Thursday until Monday morning.  When I say retail stores, I mean just that.  Grocery stores, shops, malls, the whole town closes up until the next workday.  It's family time, not shopping time.  There is no running off to the mall the day after Christmas and you had better stock up on enough vittles to get through the long weekend.

Wishing all of you around the world Frohe Weihnachten, Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas from Wien, its time to say "Ciao for Now"

Christkind

Here in Austria, the task of delivering the toys to all of the good little Kinder falls to the Christkind.  The Christkinder are the holiday sprites who spirit the toys into the house while the children are being distracted by parents or grandparents.  The goods won't come unless the real kids are out of the way.  Walk most around most any neighborhood on Christmas Eve and you will spot a grandparent or two herding a few kinder along the sidewalk or through the park.  They are keeping the tykes busy and out of the house whilst someone else plays the role of the Christkind on the home-front.

I was surprised to learn that the Christkind are actually an invention of Martin Luther.  During the Protestant Reformation, Luther cooked up the Christkind story to take the wind out of the sails of the Catholic Saint Nikolas.  Regardless, the Christkind are the main gift bearers in Germany, Austria, lots of what used to be called Eastern Europe and even parts of South America.  During these modern times of mass media, the Christkind are facing competition from the advertising invasion of images of the American version of Santa Claus.

Yes, Marco, and what does that have to do with anything? 

Behold, the Spittelberger Christkindlmarkt!  Named after the Christkind, as many of the Christmas Markts are, this is one of the really special holiday treats here in Wien.  The market is nestled amongst a few small lanes weaving back and forth through the 7th District of Vienna.

Enough history about the gift giving midgets, let's get on with the party.  Hot punch, lots of nosh, and shopping, that's what we are about here, not history lessons!  So, without further ado...

What says "Froh Weihnachten" louder than holiday lights, a crisp cold evening and a happy crowd?

Kaesekrainer hotdog and a baked potato in garlic sauce, that's what!  Okay, yes, AND the holiday lights.  And punch, lots of hot punch.  Right, right, the Lights and the crowd and the punch.  But I'm here to tell you, the garlic sauce doesn't take anything away from the whole scene. 

And... back to the punch drinking.  I had a lovely hot ginger and lemon concoction sans alcohol, natch, but most everyone else was imbibing a bit more in the way of a holiday spirit.  While the Schonebrunn Markt was great, the Spittelberger was the real deal, with lots more locals than tourists and an absolutely magical setting.  Up and down the small walking streets, the Markt wove through the evening on an intimate scale, seeming more like a village than a Stadt.  The stalls offered libations, big nosh, small nosh, sweet nosh and a wide assortment of crafts and gifts.  In the small world department the only coffee stall in the Markt was manned by the gent from the new coffee roaster that I had found that morning. 

It was another magical holiday evening here in Wien.  I love Christmas in this town!!  What a hoot!

Wien Essen

While not the incredible street food scene of Southeast Asia, Wien has a lively variety of food available for walking nosh.  One of my favorites is Leben Kässe, or, as pictured above, Lebenkässemmel.  The Semmel is the roll and makes the snack portable.  Pipi's is the best place in town for Leber Kässe and the locals queue up at the tiny shop in the Stadt. 

This meaty treat is really not liver cheese.  The original recipe called for lots of liver in the ground up and formed meat loaf, but these days it is usually pork and beef. There are various names and ingredients mandated by the German food laws, but here in Austria they are a bit more relaxed than our Deutsch neighbors.  My Austrian pals would chuckle at that jibe.

We do lots of cold nosh here.  A typical dinner (Abendessen) would look like this. Cheese, vege, pickles, wurst und Brot. 

Out on the streets, you are never far from a wurst or Schnitzel stand, often run by one of my Turkish Brothers.  

If you need a sit-down snack, Kebap and Turkish Pizza joints, or Imbiss, are everywhere.  The joint near my U-6 station serves a mean Lamm Kebap. 

Mmmmmm.  

Add in the holiday stands and a hot drink or a snack is always close at hand. 

Lots of calories to ward off the cold.  That's the ticket. 

If you count the chestnuts or potatoes roasting on an open fire, you're set.  Okay, it's a gas grill thingy, but it still works.  

I will concede that the food runs toward the meaty and heavy end of the spectrum, but it keeps a wandering Brother on his feet during these chilly days.  Today, however, the sun is shining. I must away up the river path to the farmers market in Liesing for some fresh fish.  A Haus Mann has his work to do.  

From a chilly and sunny Wien, Ciao for Now!

The Other Schloss

Vienna is old, even out in the 23rd District where we live.  Walking about the neighborhood is my favorite way to get acquainted and is also a good way to discover a mystery or two.  The main landmark around our neighborhood is Alterlaa, a huge modern apartment "village" built on a very large greenspace along the Liesing Fluss.  I walk through the complex most everyday on my way to the U-6 station.  There are about 3,180 apartments in the complex, all of them stacked up in buildings 23 stories tall.  The total population of this urban village is about 9,000 people and there is a two year waiting list to get one of the apartments.  My Baby is actually on the list, so who knows.  

Things did not always look like this out here south of the Stadt.  This was once open land, forest and farm, but things have changed as the city grew.  I like to get an overview of where my daily walk will take me and Google maps allows me to do that.  Very near to our apartment, at the end of Gregorygasse, is a large green space which I was curious about.  Vienna boasts a lot of parks and open space, which I like to try to incorporate into my wanderings.  The mission for the day was replacing the lights in the stove hood at our apartment which meant a walk to Bauhaus, the local hardware store.  And there was that odd plot of forest on the map.  Hmmmmmm...

I have included a little home-made map to put things in perspective.  The blue dot is where we live, just off Gregorygasse.  The big green space, well, that was the mystery.  So off I went.

My errand accomplished, I drifted down a few side streets until I was on a quiet lane of very nice houses on the one side and a decrepit brick wall on the other.  Behind the wall, sometimes topped with the remaining bits of wrought iron fencing, was a very large area of forest and meadows.  At one point I saw the remains of an old pillared gazebo-like structure in a clearing.  It was a tantalizing space, but I simply could not get inside.  Surely this park must have an entrance?  Where was the gate?

And here was the gate.  What I had "found" was Schloss Alterlaa (or Erlaaer) which is a private estate.  Wien is old, remember?   The first mention of this place dates from around 1244 when it was a castle. The present building, a baroque palace, was built around 1700. The chestnut lined lane of Gregorygasse was the entrance to this enormous estate. 

Gregorygasse as it is today. The chestnut trees are still there. 

The end of World War One was also the end of the Habsburg dynasty, but not the end of all of the rich noblity.  One of those nobles needed a place to live so Sir Hans Von Breuner bought this little shack.  Sir Hans had passed on, but the schloss is still in the family and no riff-raff allowed thank-you-very-much. 

Sir Hans built this dandy entrance and big iron gate to ensure his privacy.  No more grand open entrance under the spreading chestnuts along Gregorygasse. 

A little peek at the old homestead is all a Plebe like me is going to get.  

Now I know a bit more about my neighborhood and its history.  I retired to the garden for a cigar, coffee, and contemplation of climbing walls at the back of the estate.  Perhaps another day, once my visa in in the clear. 

Wien Christmas

What is readily apparent about a Viennese Christmas is that one does not have to pretend that it is winter.  There are no weirdly inappropriate Christmas trees basking in the Sri Lankan tropical sunshine or decorations drooping under a mild Seattle drizzle.  Wien in December is cold, grey and foggy, yet the streets are brightly lit and thronged with people.

Vienna is a tourist destination.   One cannot throw a cigar butt here without it bouncing off of a palace, museum, monument or cathedral.  Local touts dressed in goofy opera capes and cheap shoes hawk opera tickets to tourists who would never go to the opera back home.  There are Mozart concerts every day of the week,  double-decker "hop on hop off" buses, and polyglot walking tours.  The long tourist season runs from spring until fall, with the peak times being summer and the crush of August travel in Europe.  

Wien has another tourist season and that season is in full swing as I write this post.  Christmas in Vienna is a Big Deal.  Not only are the festivities a Big Deal to the locals, folks come from all over the world to experience the joyeux noel.   There are christmas markets everywhere, from shopping streets to palace squares.  Anywhere that a few huts can be fitted in there will be a christmas market. The market, big or small, will have booths selling gifts, some festive lights strung up above and, most importantly, a big bustling booth selling hot mugs of Weihnachtspunsch.  No Hot Punch, no christmas market.  It seems to me that the raison d'etre for these villages of HoHoHo is to give the locals a place to congregate, drink hot alcoholic concoctions, and freeze their tuckus' off.  Of course the freezing comes with while drinking, smoking and giggling.  And there really are chestnuts roasting.

Okay, I admit it, the damn markets are fun.  I have been won over to a new Christmas spirit, my inner Ebenezer shaken.  Hell, I will probably cook a christmas goose.  I am getting with the Wien Holiday program.  What's not to like?  Bundle up in warm clothes, go to the market, eyeball the cute hand-crafted knick-knacks, then settle in for a long night of drinking from hot mugs, eating thick, cheesy spatzele and giant pretzels while bunched up around open air tables where everyone else is doing the same thing.  Granted, I'm getting loaded on sugar and caffeine whilst the majority of folks are swilling the punsch, but it is still fun.  And whoa! I am here to tell you that if you mix two shots of espresso with one of the giant macaroons from the third booth on the left, a brother is going to get a buzz on.  

And guess what?  No shopping malls!!!  Unless one travels out to the edges of Wien, get ready for real shopping on really cold streets, then sweating in the store, then back out on the cold streets again.  Glorious!!

Okay, okay, so I hate shopping malls.  Not a big surprise, right?  

The entrance to the fairyland of the Schonbrunn Palace Christmas market.  Ponder this as you look at the huge edifice:  Someone used to live here.

The Christmas markets are scattered across the city.  There are the tourist magnets of the Rathausplatz and Karlsplatz markets in the Alt Stadt and the highly regarded Spittelberg Market, which is prized by the locals.   The choices are varied and flung across the cityscape.  For our Saturday-Evening-before-Christmas we chose the cultural market at the Schonbrunn Palace, former home of the Hapsburg Emperors and Empresses.

This was the one of the little shacks of Marie Teresa whose iconic image adorns refrigerator magnets and tea sets in every tourist shop in Vienna.

The market was arranged in a huge square on the even larger entrance courtyard of the palace.  The backs of the booths formed a nice defensive palisade, just in case the Ottomans decided to invade again.  The Christmas booths sell everything from Kitsch to Kraft, edible and non.  Heirloom ornaments are popular, but so are wurst and chocolate, honey and quill pens.  We swam upstream against the crowd, which seemed to have a counter-clockwise swirl as they circled the booths.  

Of course there is a tree and a damn big one.  There are bands and choirs, twinkling lights and Kriss Kinder Kind walking around on stilts.  Languages from all over the world bounce around amongst the crowd, but this is still an Austrian affair and the locals are out in force here.

The heart of the matter:  A punsch stand.  For about four euro, you get a ceramic mug of hot, mildly alcoholic punch.  The concoctions vary from booth to booth, but the theme is the same.  The mug deposit is 2.5 euro, keep the mug or not, as you can return the mug to any stand and get back your deposit.  One needs lots of calories to stand out in the cold all night, smoking and joking.  Pairing the steaming punch with heavy bowls of spatzele or kartofelen wedges keeps the revelers on their feet longer.

The christmas booths nestle right up to the main entrance to the palace, which adds a dramatic and over the top backdrop to the whole affair.

Yes, I admit it, I am getting with the holiday spirit here in Wien.  In this case, the mug is just a prop.  I was swilling espresso.  Drink, eat, smoke, laugh, stomp your feet against the chill, repeat as needed.  What else does a holiday party require?

I am sending out this post hoping that you, my Friends and Neighbors around the globe, are getting down with some good holiday cheer.  I have spent the last six Christmas seasons in places like india (scary, scary Santas!!) or Cambodia (It's a Holiday in Cambodia!!)  Truthfully, the holidays have mostly slid by quietly and without context.  This year, well, its more of a James Brown "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" kind of Christmas.  I am sure there will be more holiday stuff to follow, but from Wien, it's Ciao for Now.

Wien on Foot

Wien, like any other town, is best explored on foot.  After accomplishing my Haus Mann chores, which included trimming the hedge on this frosty day, that is exactly what I intended to do. 

Walk almost anywhere in Vienna and one will see Gemeindebau, the community construction buildings.  I refer to them as the Stadt Blocks, which is not correct but it suits my needs.  At the end of World War One the old Austro-Hungarian empire was but a memory.  In December of 1918 the Socialists swept to power in Wien, the capital of the newly formed (and much smaller) republic.  The city was in a shambles, suffering from the ravages of war followed by hyperinflation, poverty and disease.  In 1918 and 1919 the Spanish Flu would kill many across the city, including the great painter Egon Shiele.  The economy was shattered, the middle-class was all but broken and the working class no better.  By the early 1920's the financial situation stabilized and the socialist government of Vienna commenced a concerted effort to build housing for the masses.  The results of these efforts were the Gemeindebauten, often built around large open courtyard spaces and equipped with laundry facilities, kindergartens and bathing buildings.  The largest and most famous of these structures is Karl-Marx-Hof, located to the North of the city.  I had the pleasure of visiting Karl-Marx-Hof on one of my earlier jaunts this summer.

On each of the Stadt Blocks (forgive me, it is easier to write) is the year it was erected.  The first early boom of construction was from 1925 until the 1934, during which over 60,000 flats were created for the residents of Wien.  

While the socialists eventually fell from power in other parts of Austria, overcome by the conservative politics of the countryside, Vienna remained solidly in the socialist camp until civil unrest broke out in 1934.  This shadow of much darker things to come also saw the end of the first building boom of the public housing blocks.  Many more blocks would follow in the second building boom of the late 1950's and 1960's, but few of these more modern versions had the elegance and Art Deco grace of the originals.

 
George Washington Hof, just south of the Stadt, is a fine example of the Community Construction Buildings from the first building boom of the 1920's and 30's.  The archways lead to inner courtyard areas and public spaces.

Before I got anywhere near George Washington-Hof I had to walk and I had to walk a long ways on a typical cold and gray December day.  I usually delude myself with some trivial reason for a walk.  This day the reason was to stop by OBI, the giant hardware store, and shop for some special storage boxes.  I didn't really care about the boxes, OBI just being an excuse that happened to be in the right general direction.

A few hundred meters from our apartment is the Liesing-fluss, the Liesing River.  Running from the hills of the Wienerwald to the Danube and lined with walking and bicycle paths it makes a great route into the Stadt.  If you are with someone who warrants a kiss, there is plenty of mistletoe hanging from the bare trees.

I wandered along the little river past herons and the gray shouldered-shouldered Hooded Crows, keeping a steady pace in the cold.  The way meanders past parks and industrial areas, ducks under a few freeway overpasses and is generally lonely and lovely.  Leaving the Liesing, I turned due North up busy Trieste Strasse and then detoured into the Wienerberg, a large park and hill that is just South of downtown Vienna and the main Banhof.

Walking in Vienna is like walking anywhere except that no one speaks English and every so often I expect to see Jason Bourne go running by, being chased by Clive Owen.  I guess I will get over that when the police sirens start seeming familiar.  Will the sirens in the USA ever seem foreign to me?  I doubt it.

Back on busy and noisy Trieste, there is not much of a tourist ambiance.  Ugly housing blocks crowd the sidewalk on the East while soulless new construction goes up on the West.  The only thing of note along this stretch of cacophonous avenue is the number of brothels along the East side, more than four in a kilometer.  I don't think this particular bit of city street is in anyone's walking guide to Vienna.  Exploring on foot is not always a pretty business, yet a city without warts does not exist.  Better to see a place as it is.

And then I am past the train lines, past OBI (a bust) and into the part of the city that I love.  I hop aboard a tram for the Alt Stadt, gliding along Wiedener-Hof Strasse past wonderful shops and cafes, coffee houses and bakeries.  I have more to ground to cover.  There is my cafe to visit for a cigar and a coffee.  Then it is down Wiedner-Hof to meet my Baby when she gets off work.  I am a busy man with things to do. 

Not everything goes as planned.  Loos American Bar is my cafe'.  When I arrive, tired and ready for some sitting and smoking, I discover that the outside tables have disappeared for the winter and the tiny inside bar is full.  Gott in Himmel!!  Then my Baby calls to tell me that she has taken sick and is heading home early and thence to the doctor's office. 

At quick walk pace I am to the U4 station in a flash.  With the magic of the Viennese transit system, I step from a U4 train into the closing doors of the U6 which whisks me home to my ailing Sweetie.  Another day in Vienna, with many kilometers covered, draws to a close.

Editors Note:  My Baby is on the mend and all is well, except Loos will not have the tables out until early spring.  Mein Gott!!