Beautiful blue sky with little to no clouds. Temperatures in the high 20s all afternoon, but the humidity is not too bad. Lots of walking today. We need to walk off the calories from the eating and drinking. Being indulgent means you pay a price. Hmmmm, still worth it....
We left our hotel around 11:30 am with the goal of reaching Naschmarkt. Our friend Wolfgang Schuler recommended spending time there. The walking directions provided by Google Maps were faulty so in the end we needed to rely on my iPhone GPS to navigate our way there. It was worth the effort. Many stalls selling foods, spices, meats and other essentials for the locals. In addition, many casual restaurants where you can eat inside or outside. Of course, they all sell liquor with their meals. Another advantage to being in Europe. It is a very long esplanade running a number of city blocks. Kind of a Granville Island feel, but not really...Very exotic foodstuffs being sold and many ethnic groups were represented ranging from Indian, Chinese, more Asian, middle Eastern and most European food styles. The restaurants were varied in terms of menu, thus representing the multi-national foodstuffs. One question though given this is outside is where are the bathrooms? We learned that some of the restaurants have bathrooms and there is one place with public toilets. Best not to use a public toilet though.....
There were stalls of dozens of spices that we haven't seen before. Many types of fruit, peanuts, vegetables etc. We understand that this can be a real hangout for Viennese on weekdays and weekends. Totally understand that.
Example of a vegetables and fruit stall in the Naschmarkt.
So many bread styles - European bread is the best in my humble opinion.
Figs on steroids - Lana holding her iPhone to show the size of the figs.
OK, of course we need to stop and have some lunch in Naschmarkt. We sat in a place around 1:30 that was in the shade. We both felt like salads given our carnivore dinner last night pretty much filled us up. I had my first beer (I think?) which was a dunkel beer. Dunkel beer is dark beer and can be heavier than lagers and ales. This was a Viennese brewery and very yummy. My salad was fairly simple as you can see. It was listed as a mozzarellateller salat. Pretty much a caprese style salad, but with avocados and a delicious fillo pastry filled with a type of cheese. Wow, yummy and the salad was good too. Lana had a mixed plate of couscous, tzatziki, hummus, olives and marinated vegetables. Simple, but delicious. She washed this down with a ginger lemonade.
Next stop was Wien & Co. It is located very close to Naschmarkt and has a good selection of wines from around the world. Plus, a bar where you can eat and/or drink. We purchased a good quality Gruner Veltliner wine and Lana bought some flavoured chocolate squares to make hot chocolate the European way. We boosted their wifi with their knowledge of course and given how slow it was we ordered a white wine spritzer at the bar. On a hot day like today, even with being inside an air conditioned room, it was perfect.
Our next adventure was to finally have a Sacher Torte dessert cake. The history is this dessert was the favourite of royalty and it became the favourite of Vienna. It is a chocolate cake with a thin later we think of fruit jelly. It is covered with chocolate ganache that might be flavoured with raspberry. According to our sources, the best is found at Hotel Sacher. Plus, they have the patent on the original Sacher Torte recipe. Given we are now very close to Karlsplatz we had to go there. Check out the picture Lana took below. We ate at the Hotel Sacher cafe and of course outside as we were lucky to find a table. Very popular with tourists and most people order this dessert. It was very yummy, but not sure why all the fuss? It was a good dessert for sure. So nice to sit outside against the street though and enjoy dessert with a glass of white port. Relaxing and so civilized! :-)
Given we are in Karlsplatz we decided to visit Staatsopernmuseum (Opera Museum). It is very close to the famous Vienna Opera House. Too bad we arrived at 3:20 pm as the last tour of the Opera House was at 3 pm. Oh well, perhaps another visit to Vienna. I am an opera fan, although not highly educated in its past or nuances. I love attending the opera with my two friends Hedy and Maryanne in Vancouver. I/we thought it would be interesting to see their Opera Museum given opera made much of its reputation and impact from Vienna. Very cheap at about 3 Euro each although it wasn't very large although it was informative. It was super hot in there as it was not air conditioned. We were about the only people when we entered, but by the time we were close to finishing it swarmed with other people. Probably got out of the Opera House tour?
Some of the costume exhibit
Picture of the wall where most of the historical info is found and you navigate from left as you enter. Costume exhibit on the inside and other small rooms you can enter that have more specific historical info.
A very easy day and in no rush to get anywhere. Beautiful blue skies. I did see a Chinese lady carrying an umbrella to protect herself from the sun like in Vancouver. Hey wait, that was Lana! LOL
Back to the room and Lana had a 45 minute snooze. We wanted to eat some more authentic Austrian food so Lana found a promising restaurant that was not in the Innere Stadt and had good reviews. Gasthaus Wickerl was in a neighbourhood east of the Innere Stadt and could be reached by switching subway trains. The U4 takes us along the river and comes above ground at various places. What is really cool is how they have used the sides of the river to ensure people can enjoy it. Lots of restaurants, walks and drinking establishments.
Restaurants in behind and tables toward the walkway. Many people drinking and eating and enjoying the views and outdoors. Of course, lots of smoking as well. So many different ethnic food choices as well. People having a great time. Plus, there were trampolines, beach volleyball and other activities located here.
Right beside the river as you can see.
Oh yeah, we were on our way to the restaurant. We found it pretty easily. Located in a cool neighbourhood and good for our experience to get out of the neighbourhoods we had been in and explore something different. Gasthaus Wickerl is a neighbourhood hangout serving authentic Austrian food. Service was personable and the food mediocre, but overall finding this neighbourhood and eating under the sky made it worthwhile. It was dark by the time we left. Being in Europe means when you want the bill you need to get the server's attention and that can take some time. Then, the server brings the bill which you pay on the spot. You never leave the table without paying the server in person.
We enjoyed a great walk in perfect temperature under a clear sky. Gentle breeze enhanced the walk. Very quiet streets as we are out of the tourist zone. By the time we returned to our hotel room it was around 9:30 pm.
This is our last night in Vienna and we will miss it. We could return and see much more of the city and that may occur some other year. On the other hand, so many places to see and experience. We have the floor fan on high volume pushing the cooler air into our hotel room through the open window.
We need to pick up our rental car by around 10 am which means we should set an alarm given the last couple of days experience at not being up early.
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