We’re walking in the area of Vienna called the Innere Stadt. If we were in a city in France, the corresponding term would probably be Centre Ville. The idea is that it’s the heart of the city. Based on what we’ve seen so far, it looks like Vienna’s Inner Stadt is the place to be.
We’re walking on wide pedestrian-only streets lined with nice-looking buildings containing shops, restaurants, stores, and outdoor cafés. Nice!
Dessert in the Afternoon?
What’s surprising to us is how many people at these cafés are drinking coffee and eating scrumptious-looking goodies. All over Europe, we’ve seen bakery windows full of delicious-looking pastries, but we rarely see people eating them.
But here in Vienna, they’re really digging into the pastries! Fancy ones, too. Coffee and pastries. Oh yeah. I think I’m going to like this place.
Back home, if someone went into a restaurant in the middle of the afternoon and saw everyone eating pie, they’d probably say, “Hey you guys – it’s 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon. You can’t be having pie now! It’ll spoil your dinner. And besides that, it’s just not right!”
It’s clear that no one around here is shy about eating pastries in the middle of the afternoon. And yet, we have yet to see anyone who is, shall we say, American size. How do they do it?
Strudle
The pastry of choice here seems to be strudel. I see a lot of people eating things that look like different kinds of strudel. Mmmm.
We’re in Austria, so we can’t just say “strudel” the way we say it back home. If I walk into a kaffeehaus in Vienna and order a “strudel,” instead of a “shtroodel,” I’m going get a look from the server that says, “What part of Texas are you from, fella?”
(Europeans tend to think all American tourists are from Texas. But that’s a story for another time. Or not).
Anyway, it sure is nice in this part of town. Everything is neat as a pin. And there’s something interesting around every corner. On one block, there’s a huge sculpture that’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s called the Plague Column.
The Plague Column
The Plague Column was originally called the Pestsäuleos, meaning Pest Column. It was built to ward off pests like the kind that brought the plague to town in 1679.
The emperor at the time wanted to build something to show the folks he was doing something constructive to protect the town. (Even though he promptly left town when the plague showed up).
It took a long time for the column to take shape. The first version was built out of wood. The original designer died way before completion. Multiple other designers, sculptors, and architects contributed to the design for the next twenty years.
One would think that with all those contributors, the thing wouldn’t work aesthetically, but it does.
Weiner Schnitzel!
After more walking and seeing people eating all kinds of mouth-watering delicacies, we started to think about getting something to eat ourselves. We’d passed lots of restaurants, so finding a place wouldn’t be a problem. We were still tired from the flight, so we opted for a place that looked simple and easy.
I knew what I was going to have before I even looked at the menu: wiener schnitzel! I love wiener schnitzel. You probably know what it is, but in case you don’t, it’s usually pork that’s been pounded thin, breaded, and then fried so it has a nice crust. Think “chicken-fried steak” and you’ve got the idea.
Pronounciation-wise, they pronounce their “W’s” like “V’s” over here, so this dish sounds like “Veener Schnitzel.” (The “schnitzel” just sounds like “schnitzel.” Imagine that!)
So now, thinking of everything we’ve been seeing this afternoon, and keeping our pronunciation tips in mind, I already know exactly what to say when they come to take my order…
“I’m havin’ der veener schnitzel und ze shtroodel!”
To be continued…
