Good Old-Fashioned Tourists, Vienna Edition

Day 1 in Vienna was all about getting the lay of the land, in more ways than one. There’s the obvious “what does the city look like” view, which the bus was great for. We saw a large swath of the city in sketch form, took in the environs, the geography and so forth. There was a whole ‘nother level that we were breaking the ice on, though. Like we said before, we’d been sticking to relatively familiar environments for our travel since we moved to Europe, and that had led to a high level of comfort – we weren’t likely to be surprised by the people or the food or… whatever, going to the same kinds of places. We only realized in retrospect that we’d maaaaybe possibly become a little nervous about breaking out of the routine, so going to an entirely new locale needed to work like some of us get into a pool – take a step, get used to the temperature, then take another step, then another, until you’re finally ready to sit down and get soggy. We eased into the shallow end of Vienna for that first day. Day 2 is when we sat down.

We began the second day much like the first, walking over to the train station to catch the closest stop of the Hop On Hop Off. Today were using it at least partially as regular public transit. We scooted in to the city center for about 45 minutes before being dropped off right in front of our destination: the Albertina Museum. Like a lot of the history of Vienna, the creation of the Albertina can be broken into major chunks: the accumulation of wealth under the aristocracy followed by the nationalization of the collection in the years after the first World War when the country transitioned to more-or-less democratic rule. The principal claim to fame of the Albertina rests in its world-class collection of prints and graphic works, with a significant number of works by Albrecht Dürer headlining the bunch. The “icon” of the museum is his stunningly rendered hare (which, bee tee dubs, is not really on display for conservation purposes – it’s a fake! A fraud! Ok, understandably, but still. . . ) but they’ve got a mountain of them. John actually preferred these amazing details of bird wings, but what does he know? Along with the “graphic works” there are also a nicely-curated selection of paintings. It’s more “Orsay” than “Louvre”, for space reasons if nothing else, but everything public-facing is first rate, and the temporary exhibition tracing impressionism (and beyond) from Monet through Picasso was particularly informative. Much like the Donatello exhibition we poked around in back in 2022 (and once again – what is this life we’re living when that’s a thing we can say???) the curators did a fantastic job of spelling out the lessons. You could watch the slow shifts, first as the impressionists broke away from literal representation of nature, and through their post-impressionist descendants as they increasingly unmoored themselves from reality altogether. Surrealism makes a lot more sense when you can see how it’s simply on the trajectory of an artistic idea. Practically overwhelmed by that walk through art history, it was a great change of pace to finish with Katharina Grosse’s exhibition involving a huge space completely given over to spray paint. It was riotously colorful, as you can see in the photo up at the top.

Included in our bus ticket was a free 90-minute boat cruise, so we caught the Red Line over to that stop, and hustled over (a few blocks) to catch the last tour of the day. It’s a nice boat, very clean and well-laid-out with indoor and outdoor seating (including an area downwind for smokers). On board table service for basic fare and beverages was available; the menu looked basic, but serviceable, with the variety of beer we were coming to expect as typical). The cruise itself was . . . meh. Very little narration, and all of it pre-recorded, so we had no context for what were cruising by. It would be a nice break, a chance to get off your feet and have a snack, especially during warmer months.

Dinner was at a rustic “classic Viennese cuisine” restaurant that opened in 1447, Griechenbeisl. We were hoping for a good meal, and we got exactly what they promised: classic Viennese cuisine. Nothing nouveau here, just food this city has been consuming for centuries. Beef Tartare, smoked salmon on blinis, vegetable cream soups that rotate through the seasons (we were offered parsnip, the week prior it had been pumpkin), crisp-roasted pig leg (made for two to share) . . . things like that. Lisa had the classic Wiener Schnitzel (veal pounded thin, breaded, and fried; served with a potato-cucumber salad) and John the Daily Special of roast pork (sliced) with spaetzel and gravy. We also ordered a side of steamed vegetables to share. It was delicious! The Schnitzel was moist and hot with a rich flavor complimented by the breading. The pork roast wasn’t quite as good, but flavorful, and the vegetables were perfectly steamed — still crunchy but not raw. We were tempted by dessert, but too full to be able to enjoy it.