We awoke after a good night of sleep in our apartment right outside the Ringstrasse nice and refreshed. We had a pretty jam-packed day planned out. It was windy with scattered drizzles….you know, the one's that are just bad enough to be irritating. Though it was the wind that bothered the Missus the most. Everyone we asked around the city told us it's "always windy in Wien"! Though no one could tell us why.
We crossed the street and walked through the Stadtpark, then along Kärntner Ring, until we came upon the first place we wanted to see; the Opera House.
Many people consider Vienna to be the "capital of classical music" and the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) is the royal palace. Since its completion in 1869 a who's who of classical music and opera have performed here. Just looking at the names on the "stars" lining the walkways gives you pause…..
One block away you'll notice a very impressive wall and statue. This is the Albertina, that impressive wall was once part of the ramparts of the city. It later became the home of Empress Mary Theresa's daughter Maria Christina the Duchess of Teschen and her husband Prince Albert of Saxony.
We headed up the stairway to the large porch/balcony where we could watch the horse drawn carriages trot on by.
In spite of the drizzle and wind, it made for a very nice view.
The buildings in the area really do catch your attention.
We'd end up visiting the Albertina; which is now a museum the following day.
While taking in the view, we noticed the striking Monument Against War and Fascism (Mahnmal gegen Krieg und Faschismus) right across the street.
Rick Steves goes into great detail about this monument in his post. Built in 1988, each of the four structures details a different aspect and story of the consequences of fascism. It is a grim and haunting memorial.
That large split white statue is called the "Gates of Violence", the carvings are grave and striking. The bases of the statues were quarried at Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
The statue that really gripped me is this one.
It is a statue of a Jew forced to scrub anti-Nazi graffiti off the streets. After the Annexation of Austria to the Germans in 1938 (the Anschluss), in an act meant to humiliate and degrade them, Jews were forced to clean the streets of Pro-Austrian and Anti-Nazi slogan and graffiti. This, of course was the tip of the iceberg as it is estimated that over 65,000 Jewish citizens of Vienna were sent to concentration camps of which 2000 survived.
It started drizzling a bit harder as we took in the memorial.
We headed off in the direction of Saint Stephen's Cathedral, which we had briefly visited the night before.
The Missus wanted to explore the Cathedral in daylight and it would give us a respite from the drizzle.
Most consider this impressive Gothic church to be the heart of Vienna.
And we took a brief break here to first explore the interior a bit, then head back out to get a look at the amazing stone and art work on the exterior of the church
From the Cathedral we headed down the pedestrian street known as Graben. Back when the city was a Roman city known as Vindobona, a wall extended the length of the street. A trench was dug outside the wall, a graben. Which is how the street got its name.
There are several fountains on this street. That's Leopoldsbrunnen (Leopold's Fountain), above.
But what I really came to see was just a few steps away; the Plague Column. Like various Astronomical Clocks, Plague Columns have an odd attraction to me.
In 1679, Vienna was hit by the plague epidemic. It is said that one-third of Vienna's population succumbed to the disease. Emperor Leopold I was forced to flee the city. A wooden column of mercy was erected, later to be replaced by this Pestsäule.
There's a lot going on this plague column.
You see "Faith" with the help of a pretty vicious looking Cherub tossing an decrepit old woman (the plague) into the abyss.
You see Leopold himself, sporting quite an underbite which is caused by inbreeding and has been called "Habsburg Jaw".
Right across the way is the Peterskirche ("St. Peter's Church").
Taking a left on Kohlmarkt, you hit the ultra high rent district, with the Michaelerplatz and Hofburg Palace in view.
We walked into Demel; thinking of getting a snack and some coffee at this famous pastry and chocolate shop. But could not find a table to save our soul.
So we just ogled the pastries and headed on back out.
We thought about checking out Hofburg Palace…..
But we were getting a bit hungry and wanted something warm in our bellies. We'd had our share of hearty meals in Budapest and I had reservations for another the night before we left Vienna. So, I thought perhaps some Chinese food might do the trick.
We headed on down to the Naschmarkt, Vienna's food and produce market.
And a place that I'd read about. Named Tofu and Chili.
There are two menus at this shop; the one with Panda Express looking food and one that has Shanxi and Pseudo Sichuan type dishes. I think the Missus was happy to get some Asian food because She quickly ordered…..
Pidan (Century Egg) with Tofu.
Which actually wasn't too bad; a bit of spice from the chili oil, decent tofu, good saltiness from the soy sauce…it's hard to mess up this dish.
And a very awful Suan Cai dish…..which was pickled mustard greens with bean thread drenched in vinegar…..good lord, this was terrible!
I had done a bit of research and ordered the Beef Noodle Soup with Hand Pulled Noodles.
The beef, while being fairly lean had good flavor. The broth was super hot; perfect for a day like this one and not overly salty. And while not being particularly rich, had a decent beefiness and a decent dose of white pepper.
But the best thing about the dish were the hand pulled noodles; which had a decent chew, stretch, and doughy-heft.
It was just what we needed on a windy and damp day in Vienna.
Tofu & Chili
Linke Wienzeile 18
Vienna 1060, Austria
We were careful not too eat too much. Even though we'd seen quite a bit, the day was only half over.
We needed to get to our final destination.
But first, the Missus wanted to visit a classic Viennese Café .
Thanks for stopping by!
It's a dish that uses "Mukeunji" which is poggi kimchi that has been aged at least six months. It's got a much stronger fermented flavor and is what we eat at home. Along with Daejji Galbi; braised pork ribs; which here add a nice porcine touch to the dish. There's a couple of huge pieces of kimchi that is sliced before placing the pan over the heat. Throw in some nice and meaty king mushroom, tofu, enoki mushroom, ssukgat – what I grew up calling "shungiku"; chrysanthemum leaves, and some rice cakes, this makes for quite a comforting meal.
