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Farewell Vienna!

March 18th, 2009

Map of Vienna, Leopold Museum

Vienna, Austria – My last morning in Vienna I rushed around the Naschmarkt, the city’s famous outdoor food market, trying to take in as much as I could – cheese stores, butcher counters, pastry shops, oriental stores, bags of spices in the hundreds, turkish delight and all sorts of middle eastern sweets, wooden barrels of sauerkraut and pickles, tulips striking out against a misty haze. My 11-day trip to Austria was over and there was so much I hadn’t done. So many restaurants I hadn’t tried – the institutions, the beisls, the wine gardens and more. I never made it to the Jewish Museum, where there is supposedly a great poppy-seed strudel, or the Museum of Modern Art. I didn’t venture out into the mountains outside the city or to Salzburg. I didn’t make it to that fancy cocktail bar. What was it called? I didn’t go ice skating in front of the Rathaus, though I did have plenty of punsch there. I didn’t have the sachertorte at Hotel Sacher. There was so much I missed and so much I should have done differently. I couldn’t help but feel regret that I was leaving with so much more to see and eat.

Now I can only ask those out there who are planning on a trip to make up for some of my failings. Here are my suggestions:

Go to the Schonbrunn Palace as one of the first things you do. It was one of the last things I did, but it explained so much of the history of Vienna that I wished I had done it sooner.
Make reservations for restaurants. The restaurants that aren’t going out of business due to the economy are bustling. Reservations are essential.
Give the Naschmarkt a good chunk of time. I didn’t have much fun running around there while thinking about catching my plane. It’s a place for contemplative wandering.
Try the restaurants and bars below, which were recommended to me by very trusted sources.

Gaumenspiel, 1070 Zieglergasse 54, 526 11 08

Ein Wiener Salon, 1010 Stubenbastei 10/1, 660 654 27 85

Vestibuel,1010 Dr. Karl Lueger-Ring 2, 532 49 99

Schnattl, 1080 Langasse 40, 405 34 00

Steirereck, 1030 Am Heumarkt 2A in Stadtpark, 713 31 68

Mayer am Pfarrplatz, 1190 Pfarrplatz 2, 370 33 61 or 370 12 87

Wieninger, A-1210 Stammersdorfer Straße 80, 290 10 12

Hengl-Haselbrunner, 1190 Iglaseegasse 10, 320 33 30

Zum Schwarzen Kameel, 1010 Bognergasse 5, 533 81 25

Österreicher im MAK, 1010 Stubenring 5, 714 01 21

Grünauer, 1070 Hermanngasse 32, 526 40 80

Immervoll, 1010 Weihburggasse 17, 513 52 88