![]() This musical tradition created the prestigious Viennese institutions that tourists enjoy today: the opera, Boys’ Choir, and great Baroque halls and churches, all busy with classical concerts.Īs we split up the bill and drain the last of our coffee, the women take opera tickets out of their purses in anticipation. The waltz was the rage and “Waltz King” Johann Strauss and his brothers kept Vienna’s 300 ballrooms spinning. Vienna enjoyed its violin-filled belle epoque, which shaped our romantic image of the city: fine wine, cafes, waltzes and these great chocolate cakes. Beethoven was a famous figure, walking - lost in musical thought - through Vienna’s wooded parks.Īfter the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna shaped 19th-century Europe. They taught each other, jammed together, and spent a lot of time in Habsburg palaces. Composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Mahler gravitated to this music-friendly environment. The Habsburg emperors of the 17th and 18th centuries were not only generous supporters of music but also fine musicians themselves (Maria Theresa played a mean double bass). Vienna may have lost its political clout, but culturally and historically, this city of Freud, Brahms, a gaggle of Strausses, Empress Maria Theresa’s many children, and a dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors remains right up there with Paris, London and Rome.Īs far back as the 12th century, Vienna was a mecca for musicians, both secular and sacred. Sharing coffee and cake with Viennese aristocracy who live as if Vienna were an eastern Paris, and as if calories didn’t count, I’m seeing the soul of Vienna. “Dogs are the preferred child,” she says, inspiring pearl-rattling peals of laughter from her friends. I ask Loni about Austria’s low birthrate. ![]() The average Viennese mother has one child and the population has dropped to 1.8 million. Today’s Vienna is a “head without a body,” an elegant capital ruling tiny Austria. Then Austria started and lost World War I - and its far-flung holdings. In 1900, Vienna’s nearly 2 million inhabitants made it the world’s sixth largest city (after London, New York, Paris, Berlin and Chicago). My grandparents are Hungarian.” Gesturing to each of her friends, she adds, “And Gosha’s are Polish, Gabi’s are Romanian, and I don’t even know what hers are.”įor 600 years, Vienna was the head of the once-grand Habsburg Empire. “We are a mix of the old Habsburg Empire. “A true Viennese is not Austrian, but a cocktail,” she says, wiping the brown icing from her smile. Loni, the elegant white-haired ringleader, answers my questions about Austria. They’re buzzing with excitement about the opera they are about to see - talking of long-dead Viennese composers as if they were still neighbors and even bursting into occasional bits of arias. Thankfully, a coffee party of older ladies, who fit right in with the smoked mirrors and chandeliers, make me feel welcome at their table. Munching Europe’s most famous chocolate cake - the Sacher torte - in Cafe Sacher, across from Europe’s finest opera house, I feel underdressed in my travel wear. Here’s one of my favorite European memories from Vienna - a reminder of the fun that awaits us at the other end of this crisis. Included in price: ERV cancellation insurance ( - ) Power costs ( - ) Final cleaning (Basic cleaning is always carried out by the guest) ( - ) Laundry (initial supply of bed linen and towels) ( - ) Local tax ( - ) Interhome plants 100'000 m2 of flowering fields to save the bees ( - ) Wireless internet access (WIFI) ( - ) Deposit information: Breakage deposit in cash ( - ) : 200.0EUR # we’ve had to postpone our travels because of the pandemic, I believe a weekly dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. (later arrival is possible for an additional fee). Facilities: washing machine, dryer, iron, hair dryer. Large, open kitchen (oven, dishwasher, 4 ceramic glass hob hotplates, toaster, kettle, microwave, electric coffee machine, Capsules for coffee machine (Nespresso)) with dining table. 1 large room with 2 double beds, satellite TV, international TV channels and flat screen. 1 large double bedroom with Dressing room with cable TV, international TV channels, flat screen and fan. Large living room with cable TV, international TV channels, flat screen, hi-fi system, DVD and fan. Spacious and bright, stylish and cosy furnishings: large entrance hall. On request: airport transfer to the holiday accommodation. ![]() Nearby attractions: Oper 100 m, Stephansdom 700 m, Karlskirche 600 m, Kärtnerstrasse 50 m. Supermarket 100 m, restaurant 10 m, bakery 50 m, café 10 m, pedestrian zone 50 m, 1 minute walk to the centre, tram "1,2,71,D Oper" 200 m, underground station "U4, U1 Karlsplatz" 150 m, park "Burggarten" 350 m. Short-stay parking zone (fee), time: 09:00 - 22:00, Monday - Friday. In the house: lift, central heating system. In a central position, in the heart of the city.
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