Vienna for Dessert + 10 City Treats

A lone street somewhere in Vienna, Austria.

A lone street somewhere in Vienna, Austria.

Walking around Vienna feels like eating a meticulously rounded scoop of multi-colored sherbet ice cream out of a gilded coupe glass. It’s pastel colored and sweet and pristine and fresh and breezy and elegant. The buildings are immaculate, but somehow never hard. Despite their formidable composition, they look as if you touch them they’d be soft as silk.

In its entirety, Vienna reminds me of the beautiful glass menageries that house desserts with such perfect angles they look like the work of a protractor rather than a human. The ones you often see children and adults alike gazing at with admiration and wonder. The ones that house confections you feel guilty putting in your mouth because in actuality they lean more toward artwork than food.

My entire time here was a direct reflection of this state of mind. For some reason I was inclined to live my perfect day here every day; my perfect slice of chocolate cake. I didn’t rush. I wandered. I ate good food. I drank champagne. A lot. I rested. I wandered more. And photographed. And wrote. I meditated. I listened and paid attention. I discovered new music. I went to see an Impressionism and Pointillism exhibit. I cried through pretty much the entire display. I felt romantic. On top of all of this it rained every day, and I think rainy days are near perfect.

Vienna was my perfect dessert. It inspired me to indulge in my kind of perfect day and I felt no desire to do anything other than what I wanted to do. That kind of power in a city is mesmerizing.

Sadly, I couldn’t live in a glass house of perfect tarts, cakes, and puddings forever. As with any good dessert, too much can make you sick. I actually ended up leaving a little early. Not because I wanted to leave, but because I knew if I stayed too long I might lose my appetite. And what a shame that would be. I want to be able to have Vienna for dessert for the rest of my life.

10 City Treats

For a fancy dinner of traditional Viennese food: Plachutta

For coffee in an extravagant room: Café Central (it’s worth the wait)

For coffee laid back coffee and bomb cupcakes: Brass Monkey Coffee & Cakes

For the best sausages as heard from a local: Bitzinger’s sausage stand at Albertina

For the original Saucher Torte chocolate cake: Hotel Saucher

For champagne lovers: Moët outpost at Le Meridien Hotel

For any drink: Cafe Espresso

For some ridiculous Neapolitan style pizza with chill staff: Disco Volante

For a counterbalance to all the meat and potatoes, grab salad and sushi at: DO & CO Albertina

For a nighttime rendezvous: walk through Stadpark and then through Resselpark to see Karlskirche, it’s a sight in the dark

 

 

 


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