It takes a lot to get me in a bad mood, but today I struck more rude and unhelpful people than I have ever encountered, one after another; including some who refused to serve me (or look at me) when my German failed me and I spoke in English. Consequently, my visit to Vienna starts off on the wrong foot. Luckily this is a city known for its delicious cake (a well-known bad mood remedy), and after two pieces I am less grumpy and my expectations are adjusted. Travel can test your patience and understanding, and one bad morning out of 56 days is not so bad.
Vienna is where the Habsburgs ruled their empire for hundreds of years. It’s also the birthplace of the artist Gustav Klimt (see the movie Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren, they’re a bit touchy about it here), and Friedrich Hundertwasser (who moved to NZ and built the fancy loos in Kawakawa); Sigmund Freud; musicians Brahms, Schubert, Mahler, Strauss (Mozart and Beethoven lived here too); and at one stage Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky and Freud all lived within a few blocks of each other. The Baroque buildings are so ornate they look like fancy wedding cakes covered in royal icing, with a bronze statue put on top for decoration.
I’m staying a little bit out of the city centre in Leopoldstat, in a vintage apartment tucked behind a Hasidic synagogue. It is nice to be away from the designer stores and tourists (and the rude people), and to experience a slice of life as a local. There is a bar just across the street where a cluster of older men sit each night to share a beer and a laugh; the cake shop to the right has the best torte; and I have Ultravox on the stereo playing Oh Vienna 🙂
The hotdogs are huge here 
Sacher torte from Sacher hotel – chocolate cake with apricot jam inside 
Gustav Klimt art 
Women hold up a lot of buildings here 
There’s a Spanish dancing horse stable in the city centre 
This pic is from Google, I was curious about my neighbours and their outfits 
The Wien canal runs through Vienna and joins the Danube