Austria: Land of a Thousand Pastries

On our jaunt around Europe we stopped in Vienna. I'm not sure what I was expecting. I thought "Music, Culture" sure lots of great composers were from and lived in Vienna. The name also conjures up a desert we used to have in the 80's with some crunchy ice cream- but I'm sure it's just a phonetic similarity.


Anyway- It was not at all how I was expecting. (I don't know how I could expect much because I didn't even know they spoke German) To me, Vienna is like France and Germany got married, Italy catered and they had a baby made of Swiss chocolate. Hopefully it's not offensive to anyone in Austria, but it's a beautiful fusion of culture and it really does create it's own unique place. I loved it. Everything I saw reminded me of something and touched me in a completely new way. The streets were old and cobbled, the people were distant, but accommodating, and the food, honestly, the food was mostly Italian. The wieners were delicious and the pastries were unbeatable. Every where we turned there were delicious pastries and cakes, followed quickly by amazing coffees. It was so European and it was so wonderful.




We saw palaces and we even went into a shopping district where we found really old buildings that had been converted into shops. Everything was lovely, even the tour of the plague pits. We went on a tour of St. Stephen's Cathedral, famous for its plague pits. This old Catholic church is the resting place of Habsburg's family organs. Yes, organs. There were sealed barrels in the basement containing the remains of the families of this Austrian nobility. It also houses plague pits and many of the former clergy. The tour was given in German and English, but only because there were two people (My sister and I) who only spoke English. Vienna has seen 12 plagues over the centuries (I don't know if our current situation counts as 13...) and the problem of where to put the bodies was solved by using pits under the church.

We also found a concert. Vienna is full of concerts. Having been the home to so many famous composers the city seems to pride itself on all the musical talent it has living in the area. The concert we found was in a church and it was beautiful. Small seating, probably only 100 people and it was a string Quartet. The entire church was golden and amazing. We were lucky to find such a place.

Even the McDonald's is fancy here. 

We also found the "Butterfly House". Its a botanical garden filled with butterflies. I think it runs year round. The air was warm and there were butterflies everywhere.

Someday I hope to return. It is an amazing place with more to explore.

The shopping district