A Rainy Day In Vienna

It rained most of the night and most of the day, so my activities outside of my apartment were pretty much limited to necessity only. While I was out, I did take a couple of random pictures that I thought were cool. I found the description of Puntigamer beer humorous. It says, Puntigamer: the "beery" beer! I've never seen beer used as an adjective before. The next picture is the view down a random side street in my neighborhood, but I though it was a beautiful view between the buildings with the church in the background. If you don't agree, too bad! The last picture is the neon sign for a Kebab stand on Mariahilferstrasse, not too far from my apartment. Kebab is short for Döner Kebab in Turkish which literally translates "rotating meat." It took me a while to get used to this because in Germany the short name is Döner, and in Austria the short name is Kebab. Regardless of what they are called, they taste great. If you haven't tried one because you are afraid of eating the meat in one of these places, you are missing out!

A Day at the Belvedere

The Belvedere in the 3rd district was one of the many palaces I did not have an opportunity to visit last summer, so I decided to spend some time this afternoon checking it out. As I entered the complex I have to admit that I was not too impressed at first. The first picture is what I later found out is the Lower Belvedere (the middle section of it at least), and actually started out as a garden villa for Prince Eugene of Savoy in the early 18th century.

As you walk behind the Lower Belvedere you can see the Upper Belvedere which is the real point of interest, at least to me. The Austrian Gallery Museum is located inside the Belvedere, but I did not go in today. I think I am going to wait until the weather is nicer so that I can come back when the gardens are in season and the pools and fountains are full and running.

The picture on the right is a view of the Lower Belvedere across the gardens from the Upper Belvedere. In the distance you can make out Stephansdom's steeple. The last picture is the other side of the Belvedere Upper.

I was happy to find out today from a friend of mine that one of our favorite restaurants has a location near my apartment. Last summer I was introduced to Centimeter, a restaurant where you pretty much can get a lot of good food for not a lot of money. They have several foods that they sell by the centimeter, such as their breads with various toppings, or you can get a 2 meter sausage, or better yet you can even get a wheel barrow full of food! I usually eat the Schnitzel, and they give you about 1.5 portions, but I also love their breads. It goes without saying that this meal should be accompanied by a beer or two!

Stephansplatz Part II

As promised, here are the pictures from inside the cathedral.











I'm sorry about the quality of these pictures, but I had to use a longer exposure time with my camera and my hands weren't that steady I guess. The main organ (Hauptorgel) in the rear of the church is the largest in Austria, and is spread out along the entire back of the cathedral. The majority of the organ speaks directly into the nave, and two smaller divisions speak into the left and right aisles. The choir organ (Chororgel) is the instrument that gets used the most and unfortunately, I have not heard the main organ yet. I am hoping that I can get a private tour of the instruments at some point and get the opportunity to play both. In order to get an idea of the actual scale of the organs and the building, please note that the tallest pipe in each of the two instruments is 32'!

The tomb pictured above is the tomb of Frederick III. Under his reign, Vienna obtained their first Bishop. The other picture is a view down the nave from the rear of the cathedral. Stephansdom is not one of the largest cathedrals or churches that I've ever been in, but the size is still very imposing and impressive.

The picture on the right is just of the area outside of the cathedral. I only put the picture of Trzesniewski up here for Colin (I know that a sign is not too much to look at!). I know this was a favorite place of his to eat, and also for me. They serve small, open-faced sandwiches with various toppings, most of which have some kind of egg or cream cheese mixed in. For not too much money you can get a tasty lunch, and I swear that the sandwiches are addictive! They have several locations throughout Vienna, so you don't need to go to the original in the 1st district if you are in the mood!

A Busy Weekend So Far

Well, it was the typical Friday night for me I guess. I met a friend of mine, Ted, and went to the 7 Stern Bräu (49-Stiftgasse), a favorite restaurant and brewery or mine in the 7th district, for a few drinks before going to a party in the 18th district. The food there is great, and my favorite dish is the Käsespätzle, a dish consisting of small oval-shaped noodles, onions, cheese, and bacon. They brew 7 of their own varieties of beer including a chili beer which I am told tastes like you are drinking a sausage! I've never tried the chili beer, but the beer they brew with hemp (Hanf) has a unique taste to it. I wasn't aware that hemp was a very popular flavoring for beer in Europe during the middle ages until, at least according to the menu, the 1516 German Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) specified that you could not produce beer with any ingredients other than water, malt, and hops.

I decided today to head down to Stephansdom (U1,U3-Stephansplatz), the mammoth cathedral that is at the very center of Vienna in the 1st district. It is such a large building and it is packed so close to the surrounding buildings that it is really difficult to get a good picture of the outside. Unfortunately, my pictures of the inside also did not come out so well, so I will retake and edit those in when I get a chance.

I attended Mass at the cathedral today and the music was incredible. The prelude was J.S. Bach's Chorale Prelude Jesus Christus, unser Heiland; during the mass, they performed Haydn's Salve Regina in G Minor for solo-quartet, continuo, and strings; and the postlude was the Mozart Kirchensonate in E-flat major. Colin mentioned to me that the services at the cathedral were a great place to hear good music for free, and I'd have to agree! I'm going to post some pictures of the organs in the cathedral as well, but I need to retake them.

After Mass I walked down Graben, one of the main streets and shopping centers in the 1st district which is open to pedestrian traffic only. Towards the middle of the street you find the Pestsäule (plague column) which commemorates the end of the plague which struck Vienna in 1679.

When I was researching this sculpture I was surprised to learn that so many different artists collaborated on this project and that the overall design changed multiple times before its completion in 1693. At the other end of Graben is the Julius Meinl, an international grocery store of sorts where you can pretty much find anything you want from around the world. I am really hoping that I can find the ingredients to make good Tex-Mex for those times when I miss home cookin'!

Well, I guess this blog thing is going to be good for me because it's going to force me to learn the historical details that I tend to ignore a lot of the time! More to come...

A little background on Vienna

Vienna (Wien) is the capital of Austria and is by far the largest city in Austria with about 1.7 million people inside the city limits, and 2.2 million within the metropolitan area. The city is divided into 23 districts, and I live on Seidengasse in the 7th district. The first district is the old town of Vienna, and the Ringstraße, the street that surrounds the first district, was built on the site of the former city walls. In the mid-19th century, these walls were torn down and the Ringstraße was built, as well as numerous buildings in various historical architectural styles (I'll post pictures of many of these in the next several weeks). The Ring actually has several names depending on which part of the city you are in, but "Ring" always appears in the name. The 7th district is one of the neighboring districts just outside the Ring.

Finally, my first post!

Well, it took me long enough to get this blog started, but I still feel like I am settling in here in Vienna. I arrived on Sunday, February 4th and stayed in the Westend Hostel up near the Westbahnhof train station. After a week, I finally found a good sized apartment in an excellent location, but the only catch was that it was unfurnished.

Here's a picture of the entrance into the apartment.
It's in an older building, but the entire place has been updated and we were able to get internet no problem. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that I have a roommate named Toby from Cologne who is studying medicine here in Vienna.

The kitchen is the place where we usually hang out, and it is a pretty good size with all of the usual appliances. I know, the kitchen is dirty, but that's because I actually have time to cook right now! Sorry I couldn't get a better picture of the kitchen, but the angles were difficult.

I bought the basics at IKEA for my bedroom, but eventually I'm going to buy a small used sofa and more shelves and storage. Overall, it is a really large sized bedroom with ceilings around 12 ft tall (or 4 meters I guess!), although I had a really tough time trying to get a good angle for a picture. To answer your question in advance Mom, yes, those are 2 different color curtains and we did that on purpose.

Now that I finally have my blog started, I am going to try to add posts at least 3 to 4 times per week with pictures of Vienna, the people I meet here, and from any other traveling I do while I'm here. Keep in touch everyone!