After breakfast, and ablutions, I walked into the city. I made a determined effort to walk through “Neubau”. This is known as a “bohemian” area of the city. This was indeed verified by an interesting selection of shops, and restaurants. Many of the latter were serving food, and drinks from a number of non-Austrian countries. The former comprised of establishments selling vinyl albums, antiques, and assorted “knick knacks”.
The buildings suddenly became grander, and I was clearly back in the centre of things. I stumbled upon Heldenplatz. This is a huge area in front of the Hofburg Palace. This palace is where the Hapsburgs lived for much of their reign. Similarly to Buckingham Palace in London, there is a balcony which is clearly designed, and located for royal parties to be cheered at by the general masses.
This particular balcony has another importance however. It is where Adolf Hitler decorated the “Anschluss”. That is, the annexation of Austria by the Nazis in 1938.
Clearly not content with visiting one site of the darker history of the country, I then too myself to the statue of Dr. Karl Lueger. He was mayor of this city from 1897 to 1910. He is credited as being instrumental in the modernisation of the city, including expanding the water, gas, and transport infrastructures.
He was also a noted anti-Semite, and had some influence over the aforementioned Adolf Hitler. As with many statues across the world, his has therefore become controversial. The Viennese have however come up with a rather nice solution. For a start, the statue is extensively graffitied, and no particular attempt seems to be made to remove this. In addition, a competition ran very recently to the time of writing to come up with a way to contextualise the piece in modern thinking. The winner was a proposal to tilt the statue by 3.5°. The artist wanted it to look subtly “off balance”. Still standing, but visually unsettled. The intention therefore is to provoke people into questioning Lueger’s legacy rather than simply celebrating him. This was completed earlier this very year.
I enjoyed this way to tackle what is a known problem worldwide, and read the new information board with interest.
I had intended to visit the inside of the Cathedral, but found that it closes at 11:30 CEST every day other than Sunday. Instead, I arrived at the alternative plan to visit the Danube river. A 45 minute journey on the U3, and U2 lines took me there.
At first, I wandered “Donauinsel”, the artificial island in the middle of the river. By this time I was very much in the market for some form of refreshment. While the island was quiet, peaceful, and populated by the occasional sunbather, there was a dearth of sustenance of any description.
As I walked, I listened to the change of prime minister happening in London. I remembered watching the previous iteration of this at Tinto Summer School almost exactly two years before. I felt hopeful for Mr. Burnham that he might fare better than his recent predecessors.
I noted a number of areas on the opposite bank with chairs, swimmers, and people holding drinks. Many of them looked like they were enjoying the Viennese equivalent of “Silver Sands”.
This was confirmed when I walked back-and-round, finding myself at “Vienna Beach Club”. Some searching yielded a bar, where I asked for a “Patrón Paloma”. I was amused by the bar staff initially not understanding what seemed to be my very halting request in non-existent-German. However, given that they needed to look up this particular cocktail (which was on their menu), it may simply have been unfamiliarity with this combination of alcoholic, and non-alcoholic solutions. A supervisor handed them what looked like a recipe book, and soon enough I was on a deckchair engrossed in “The Hunger Games”.
The U2, and U3 lines took be back to Westbahnhof. Here, I picked up some supplies at the supermarket. I then used the “Foodora” application to order a delivery of Chinese food. I was nervous about the extent this would work given my lack of language, and lack of knowledge of local customs on matters of food delivery. However, I was able to watch on the application as my noodles were cycled through the streets of Vienna. They arrived speedily, and I met the cyclist outside the main door of the apartment block.
I enjoyed my noodles on my balcony. This was rapidly becoming what others describe as a “happy place”.
