Vienna - Day 5

Ascension Day, and a Bank Holiday in Vienna.  Shops were shut, but tourist attractions, coffee shops etc were open.

We decided to explore more of the Ringstrasse, stopping first at the Memorial Against War and Fascism by Alfred Hrdlicka:

Past the Albertina:

I wondered if the morning heat was beginning to get to me:

but no; what appeared at first to be a large pink rabbit was in fact a large pink hare...  It is a sculptural interpretation by Ottmar Hörl of the famous painting "Young Hare" by Albrecht Dürer, which is housed in the Albertina.

Another view of the Staatsoper:

Some of the pavement stars in the "Musikmeile":

I was later disappointed to read that these are slowly being removed, due to lack of public interest.

Across the Ringstrasse:

Into the adjacent park:

and there it was.

In 1991, on an after-dinner walk through the city, we had suddenly become aware of music drifting from the nearby park.  We had strolled in, to find this bandstand:

which was occupied by musicians playing Viennese waltzes.  The area in front was occupied by professional dancers, and all the surrounding space was occupied by tables being served by staff from the adjacent hotel:

Back then,  we took our seats at one of the tables and I ordered a white wine and a Coke.  The drinks came, together with the bill.  I nearly choked on my Coke.  "Make it last!" I muttered to Amanda, "this cost around £6!"  Pause.  "No, hang on, I did the calculation wrong.  It cost about £9! REALLY SLOW DOWN!"

To put this in context, £9 in 1991 is equivalent to around £19.50 in 2020 - for two drinks.  No matter: the wonderful memory remains clear, and we wouldn't have missed the experience for anything.

Amanda reminds me how it was done:

On through the park, where preparations were being made for the 2018 Genuss Festival (Culinary Festival):

After a further short walk we came upon the Johann Strauss Monument, which we had first seen in 1991:

Our next encounter - some kind of mobile parents and toddlers exercise class, making its way through the park and stopping occasionally to engage in various stretching exercises:

(When they encroached on the turf of the local Tai Chi class I feared a rumble of sorts might occur.)

As I said earlier, the Viennese take their mobile sanitary systems both seriously and humorously:

On, along the Wien which, in the park, is barely more than a trickle:

Another section of the Ringstrasse:

Monument to Karl Lueger:

Lots of interesting buildings:

The art nouveau Urania:

The Media Tower:

A distant view of the Spittelau waste-to-energy plant:

We later worked out that over the course of four days we had covered about 99% of the Ringstrasse.

We found ourselves at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Ruprechtskirche:

We ascended and made our way back to Joma, where our waiter from our earlier visit remembered us.

Apple juice and cake refreshed us, while Amanda wrote up more of the diary on which so much of this blog is based:

A slow stroll back to the Hofburg, where we sat and watched the world go by.  Paid our daily visit to the stables of the Spanish Riding School and purchased holiday postcards to send home.

Another view of Peterskirche:

The Opera House:

and up the steps to the roof terrace of the Albertina, from which another hare sculpture could be seen:

A view across to the Hotel Sacher, and Café Mozart:

The view past the Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice to our hotel:

We spent some time observing the diva-ish antics of this MAW (model/actress/whatever) engaged in some kind of photo-shoot:

"Oblique Column of Twelve Open Squares"  by George Rickey:

Down, and into Café Mozart.  We sat and soaked up the atmosphere, imagining Graham Greene sitting and writing large parts of "The Third Man" here:

As expected, the refreshments were excellent:

On the way back to the hotel, Amanda admired the embroidered back to this chair.  Once again I was forced to tell her that for 650 Euros she could make her own:

Back to the hotel, where I put my head down and Amanda continued with her book.

Out, and a return trip to "Ribs of Vienna" - to find that they were full to bursting and were accommodating only those with reservations.  However, not for the first time, my attempts to politely address the issue in German seemed to do the trick.  The manager recognised me from our earlier visit and suggested that we return in 30 minutes.  When we did so we found ourselves at a most acceptable table in the main basement area, in contrast to many who had reservations and found themselves in the more modern extension:

Emboldened by my previous experience, this time I went for a full metre of ribs:

We also made room for desserts with lashings of cream:

As I asked for the bill, perhaps the greatest compliment - the waiter asked if we lived in Vienna, and seemed genuinely surprised when we said we were English.

We sought out the manager to thank him and say our goodbyes and made our way slowly back to the hotel to collapse.