There Are Elephants Here Too
March 5th, 2009
Natural History Museum, Vienna
Vienna, Austria – One night I’m walking by a live baby elephant next to Lumpini park in Bangkok on my way to pick up some fried noodles and the next day I’m standing in front of an elephant statue in front of Vienna’s Natural History Museum. Cold, grey and rainy Vienna couldn’t be any farther from hot and humid Bangkok. The streets of Vienna are impeccably clean and uncrowded, the buildings stately and historic, the people reserved. It’s a dignified city, with neither of the raw energy of Bangkok, nor the wide ranging diversity of New York. My first day in town I wandered into the Hofburg’s Imperial Silver Collection, passing through room after room of silver, china, painted ceramics, napkin displays, boxes of silverware, shelves of glassware and so forth. Glassware sets included 9+ pieces – a glass for wine, one for water, another for Rhine wine, a different one for sherry and still another for dessert liquer. Some of the dining sets had over 4,500 pieces meant for a medium-sized party. Yet, the food here, unlike the ornate court tableware of times past, is big and simple. Beef goulash, wiener schnitzel and pork knuckle are typical fare. Things you can hunker down over after walking through the wind-whipped streets, which is exactly what I had been doing.
Wiener Schnitzel, Naschmarkt, Vienna
In New York we might leave a coffee cup on the top of a car; in Vienna, it’s a beer, specifically local favorite Ottahringer, which is brewed in town.
Art History Museum, Vienna
Imperial Silver Collection, Vienna
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