After a magical week in Paris with our daughter and granddaughter, Paul and I flew to Vienna, Austria for a week. Home of Freud, Klimt, Marie Antoinette, Mozart, Beethoven, and more, Vienna is a new city in a new country with a new language for me. Soon after arriving, I knew I needed more German than gesundheit.Thank goodness for Google Translate.

After a late night at Chez Papa Jazz Club followed by a very early departure from Paris, we were so happy to get to our hotel room.

After unpacking and resting a bit, we went to our hotel bar for an early dinner. Paul ordered wiener schnitzel, Austria’s national dish. Our delightful server recommended Krautfleckerl, a classical Austrian dish of pasta and cabbage, for me. She said her grandmother made it for her when she was growing up. It was wonderful, and I will definitely try making it when we get home.

Since we didn’t have a washer in our Paris apartment, we planned to use the laundry service at our hotel. When we saw the cost-four dollars for just a pair of socks, we decided to find a laundromat and do it ourselves.

After a ten-minute Uber ride and a little confusion, we found the laundromat. We always meet interesting people in laundromats, and this time was no exception.

In the laundromat, we talked with a young woman who was taking a year off after college before starting a job. She was traveling around Europe with her boyfriend. She was a huge help with the high-tech laundry system. We learned how to program the machine, swipe our card, and press start. Detergent is automatically part of the process. When we were almost through, a nice Austrian man retrieved a sock we had left in the dryer.

Vienna Walking Tour

I love taking a walking tour when I arrive in a new city but hadn’t booked anything before we arrived. We were so lucky to get a tour the next afternoon. And we were even luckier to get Stephan to lead our tour. He told great stories and gave wonderful tips. In two hours, he covered the history of Vienna, how the city was laid out (very efficiently), and the best things to see and eat.

We saw an amazing mosaic copy of The Last Supper at Wiener Monoritenkirche, a 13th century Gothic cathedral. Commissioned by Napoleon over 200 years ago, the replica is composed of twelve sections each containing 10,000 pieces of tiny tiles. According to Stephan, it is better than the original.

An Early Environmentalist

Leaving the church, we walked to a beautiful plaza with a statue of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 until his death in 1790. Brother of Marie Antoinette, he was ahead of his times in many ways.

Considered one of the first environmentalists (at least according to our guide), he made numerous changes to funeral practices. He restricted the number of candles that could be burned at funerals because he believed they could be better used to serve the living. And he supported the creation of coffins that used less wood and had flexible bottoms that opened to allow the bodies to return to the earth.

The Memorial Against War and Fascism

The most sobering part of the tour was our visit to the Memorial Against War and Fascism. We entered the Albertinaplatz in the middle of the walk-in monument. Dedicated to all victims of war and fascism, the four components of the memorial serve as a reminder of the darkest epoch in Austrian history.

The Gate of Violence, one of the components, is made of granite that was dragged by thousands of prisoners in Austria’s largest concentration camp, Maulthausen.

Another component, the Stone of the Republic, is also made of Maulthausen granite. Excerpts from the Austrian Declaration of Independence and the names of the men who signed it on April 27, 1945, are perpetuated on the stone.

Finally, we ended our tour at St. Stephens Cathedral at the center of Vienna. This beautiful church definitely deserves a longer visit.

Another Dinner in the Hotel

We took the easy option for dinner and returned to our hotel bar. I ordered onion soup, thinking it would be like the French soupe a l”oignon that I love. What I got must be the Austrian version-onions and broth with a little round of cheese toast on the side.

It was a great day, and I am looking forward to seeing more of Vienna.