leblogvoyage: wien (aka vienna)

we left germany and headed to Vienna, Austria (actually called Wien, but the english name is Vienna. Ann just found out about this English renaming practice and is quite upset about it). When planning the trip, we had not first included Wien, but once we decided to go with the five country railpass, we needed to - per the pass requirements - choose a connecting country that connected germany and italy. we picked austria.

Vienna turned out to be pretty cool. It definitely had the most consistently good youth fashion of any city so far. Tons of hipsters in nice jeans and boots combinations. And, weirdly, the most fashion "risks" so far. Beating everywhere else by far too much (and paris by more than one might expect).

Vienna looks mostly like this - they love huge buildings. and the baroque and neo-baroque stylings really suit the town's overall feel.

but before we get into vienna, on the train ride there (also, ann has discovered her love of trains. I quite enjoy them too. way better than airplanes. I love the just get on and go aspect. no security checks, no terrible cow herd boarding procedure) we ate in the dining car. it was a splurge that we really had fun with. ann got the sour cream potato and I got the goulash (a new interest of mine).

the dining car had skylights. it was, in the truest sense, rather grand.

back to vienna proper. we saw the danube and made a big splurge: we went to the musikverein to see a concert by the venice baroque orchestra and two rising star singers. we tried to get tickets at the box office in the afternoon, but it was "long sold out." so, we went back 45 minutes before showtime and I hustled an old hustler scalper into a pair for a great price. we dressed up like this:

the concert, even for two modest fans of classical music, was stunningly good. the hall is considered among the top three in the world. it looks like this:

an amazing night.

europe has been teaching me to like coffee (well, espresso anyway), and vienna sealed the deal. we went to cafe sperl based on a gridskipper recommendation (a handy website for travel tips) and it was an ideal vienna coffee house. I spent a while pondering what set the Viennese coffee house atmosphere apart from all other and I think it's down to lighting and high ceilings. the lighting is brighter than I would normally like, but really facilitates reading and is diffuse owing to the old school chandeliers. and the ceilings are high, but covered in intricate woodwork that has the essential feature of dampening what would otherwise be a cacophonous space. somehow, it's sort of *quiet* in these places, even when they're full of people. and they *don't play music*. no starbucks overhead jazz/norah jones. just wonderful silence and the din of hushed conversation mixed with the sound of white ceramic coffee cups clinking up against white ceramic saucers.

Here's the neighborhood:

Here's me suspiciously trying a random dessert at a pastry shop and discovering it's terrible:

(it turned out to be a chocolate-dipped cone filled with marshmallow-type goo of the weirdest consistency.)

most of our breakfasts for the last three weeks have looked like some for of this bread-and-cheese combo:

and this is how we do our laundry:

a note on the laundry situation: I am a bit prissy about garment care. at home, I follow the instructions on the care label rather closely. if it says "wash warm, hang dry" - then I do that. this trip has spurred a laundry liberation within me. I wash everything in hot sink water now, wring it dry and hang it up to drip for a while. it's rewarding. and freeing. I see myself travelling like this forever. two outfits and a few extra pairs of under-things. (our Exofficio brand underwear and Smartwool socks have been really wonderful. they are quick-dry, comfortable and anti-odor. I plan to use them on trips from now on.)

we couldn't leave vienna without trying wiener schnitzel. but we were a little schnitzeled out, so we went with wiener chicken-schnitzel.