Day 36: Vienna

Yesterday, would best be described as "so good."

I hope you'll allow me to indulge you with many photos of yesterday's activities, because I have many favorites from the day and I want to share them all. But I'll try to restrain myself a tad. I should warn you now that this post is going to be a long one.

I started my day at the Hofburg Treasury, which houses the crown jewels of the former Hapsburg empire. The most impressive aspects of the collection were the age and condition of many of the pieces, some of which date back to the Holy Roman Empire. The collection was impressive to see, although all those kings, empires, and strategic marriages started to mush together in my head. I left feeling very out of practice with my European history, particularly surrounding Napoleon. When I got back to the hostel I googled the Wikipedia article on Napoleon, but after 5 paragraphs my head was starting to spin again. Now I remember why history was my least favorite subject in school.

Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, from 960 A.D.

Crown of Rudolf II, from 1602 A.D.

I had planned on renting a bike for the afternoon, but a noon-time downpour made me rethink those plans. I waited out the rain at the hostel, and by 3pm, the skies were looking much better. Vienna has a wine growing area on the northeast edge of the city, which I very much wanted to see and sample. In addition to the vineyards, one of Vienna's highlights is its wine gardens, called "heuriger," which offer traditional, cafeteria-style food and serve the latest releases from the local wineries. These heuriger are primarily clustered around the vineyards at the edge of town, in neighborhoods known (not surprisingly) as "Heurigen."

My guidebook had provided directions on getting to the areas, but the instructions seemed a tad complicated (take tram D from center to last stop, turn left out of station, take bus 38a to Nusseldorf stop, walk up hill...). During my rain-break, I had spent some time on Google maps and discovered that the nearest Heurigen was really only a mile from a subway stop, and that the various areas all listed separately in the guidebooks were actually only a mile or so apart from each other. So I decided I'd make my own gastro-wine walk through the various areas for my last night in Vienna.

I took the subway to the last stop at Heilingstadt, and then walked a mile to the Nussdorf Heurigen. My guidebook promised that the Nussdorf heurigers were far less touristy than those in other neighborhoods. After the quick walk, I reached my first recommended stop. Feeling a bit intimidated, I walked into the first heuriger and got in the cafeteria-style line. I don't think the proprietors would be thrilled to know that my first impression of the setup involved a sudden flashback to standing in line at Juicy's, the hole-in-the-wall barbecue place that was down the street from the Ford truck plant in Kentucky. Of course, this heuriger had a lot more positive ambiance.

Nussdolf Neighborhood

The first stop

Cafeteria-style ordering lines...but this is no BBQ

Anyway, back to the start of my gastro-crawl. I had no idea what I was ordering, but I pointed to what appeared to be kummelbraten (crispy roast pork) and asked for a small portion. After taking my tray and moving to the charming outdoor table area, a waiter came over and took my wine order (a bit standoffishly, I will say, perhaps he's not a fan of English-only-speaking-clueless tourists). I ordered a glass of the house white, which turned out to be more like a large cup of white wine. The pork was absolutely excellent, the wine was enjoyable, and by this point I had decided the evening was going to be brilliant.

Yummmmmmmm.....

I left my first heuriger, and feeling a lot less intimated (wine is a good cure for that), I popped into the heuriger next door. There, I ordered a spinach strudel and a glass of grüner veltliner. The wine lasted far longer than the strudel, which I quickly demolished because it was that good.

More yum...

Moving on, I discovered that the third recommended heuriger in the neighborhood was closed, but feeling both well-fed and wined-up, I started the 1.5 mile walk towards the next neighborhood, Grinzing. My guidebook warned that Grinzing was not much more than a quaint tourist trap, which basically turned out to mean that the waiters were wearing costumes and the outdoor courtyards included wandering accordion players.  After meandering through the streets and checking out the neighborhood, I made one stop in Grinzing for some dessert. The dessert I chose reminded me of cheesecake with raisins soaked in a light syrup. It was a bit disappointing, although that didn't stop me from eating the entire thing, along with a glass of red wine.

Grinzing

Accordion players

Dessert!

The guidebook had promised wonderful vineyards and views of the city, neither of which I had found yet. I decided I was going to need to head further north and uphill, which also seemed like a smart thing to do after polishing off an entire desert. I started to head towards a heuringer mentioned in my guidebook as having wonderful views of the city, but as not easily reached by public transport. I started the two mile uphill walk, and along the way found the vineyards and stunning views that I had been seeking. It was now about 7pm, and the evening was cool, but after a bit of walking, my fleece jacket was unnecessary.

Dessert burning time.

I find my first vines...and they are named after Bill Clinton? Not a bad choice, though...

The vineyards at dusk were wonderful, and as I continued hiking, the city of Vienna came into view over the top of the vineyards. I reached the heuringer and decided to continue the walk uphill, as I was having such a pleasant time, and the views were continuing to become more spectacular. I walked at least another mile and a half before the road began to twist away from beautiful views at the edge of the hill, and I knew that I was going to need to turn back or end up with a very long walk back in the dark.

Heading uphill

Vineyards with Vienna in the distance

Vienna, with the Danube river, in the distance

Me, having a great time.

I turned back down the hill, stopping at the heuringer I had passed earlier for one last glass of wine as the sun was setting. The restaurant courtyard was filled with families, misbehaving dogs, and impish children, which made for fantastic people-watching. As I headed down the hill, the moon was starting to rise, and I snapped a few photos of Vienna at night. The walk back to the subway station was about three downhill miles, and I was grateful for the change in incline.

Last stop of the night.

Vienna at night.

Feeling fairly exhausted, I rode the subway to my hostel and stepped through the front door at nearly midnight, where I discovered a raging party going on at the hostel bar. Some sort of touring party bus of mostly Australians had just gotten into town. After checking my email and locating a pair of earplugs, I headed towards my room to crash.

Sometimes, the consequence of staying in a hostel...is the Australian party bus.

Yesterday was my favorite day in Vienna, and one of my overall trip favorites. Today, I'm off to Salzburg for a daytrip and then Munich for the next four nights.