Vienna holiday: Alive with the sound of music where old and new co-exist
I am dancing to Dexy's Midnight Runners at 2am in a former brothel.It's hardly the Vienna I pictured, in which frauleins in high-necked blouses serve up pastries, while the sound of Schubert oozes over snow-surrounded imperial buildings.
Horseplay: Vienna is a city of light, colour and style - as the tall spire of its Rathaus demonstratesTanzcafe Jenseits is a high-spiriteddrinking hole in the 6th district. It is cramped and red-walled, andthere isn't a stationary soul in the building. Everyone is dancing. Youcould well say that it's alive with the sound of music.Twenty-fourhours earlier, I was watching a rousing performance of Mahler's NinthSymphony at the iconic Musikverein concert hall - something that wasmore in line with my pre-conceived vision of Vienna, a city that hasbeen home to musical greats such as Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss.It is a city where music is treatedwith reverence. During his time as director of the Vienna State OperaHouse, Gustav Mahler - for whom 2011 is a big year. It is the 100thanniversary of his death - insisted the lights were dimmed and that noone should leave or enter the auditorium between movements.
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- More on Vienna in our Austria section
- Mozart versus Maria in Salzburg
- Having a ball in glorious Vienna
The emperor allegedly asked him: 'Is music meant to be serious? I thought it was meant to make people happy.'Back in the Tanzcafe - and to the noiseof Seventies remixes, after one too many Ottakringers (local beers) - Iwonder the same thing.
Regal behaviour: Emily basks in the grandeur of the Hofburg PalaceVienna is a city easily explored. I walk everywhere. My visit is like a trip through the centuries, picking out everything that has been b! eautiful enough to survive.
The Ring Strasse, once an area of impenetrable walls built to keep out the Ottoman Turks, is now a loop of architectural relics from the 740-year reign of the Hapsburgs (the dynasty that controlled Austria, and much of central Europe, throughout the Middle Ages).
Buildings like the Opera House and the Hofburg Palace reek of flamboyance - exactly as the Emperor Franz Joseph intended.
Elsewhere, the 19th centuryarchitect Otto Wagner's Postsparkasse - a hulking bank - remains one ofthe most important examples of the Secession movement - all cleanlines, steel and shiny glass.Anelegant lady with exquisite poise hands me a glass of champagnedecorated with violet petals. 'Sisi loved violet sweets, but she wasanorexic -- she was obsessed with beauty,' says Sissy Schranz owner ofSisi Vienna, a fashion boutique selling a modern take on traditionalViennese design.
Sheis talking about her namesake, the infamous wife of Franz Josef -- theoriginal Austrian beauty, Empress Elisabeth. Her 18-inch waist --unusually slim for the era - and complex character (she fled realityafter her son committed suicide in 1889) make her a figure of nationalintrigue.
Sissy the younger tells me: 'We aim for timeless elegance with a touch of eternal empress'.
Sissy Schranz (left) runs a boutique that pays homage to the tragic 19th century Empress Elizabeth - while (right) Emily gets stuck into her curious plate of potato, spinach and fried egg at the iconic Cafe Museum
The whole city feels like this tome. I take a tram to the 3rd district, where Gustav Klimt's most famouswork The Kiss hangs in the Belvedere Palace. Our guide tells us: 'Hewas a very erotic man developing a sensuality that didn't exist before.He painted his subjects nude and added the clo! thes aft erwards'.
WhenKlimt unveiled his hot-cheeked muses, all swathed in gold with exposedbreasts, there was an outcry. But as I stare at his paintings - thoughslightly marred by their ubiquity on postcards and chocolate boxes - Ijust see beauty. Thereare 110 museums in the city, but the Leopold, in the chicMuseumsquarter offers a conclusive look along the artistic timeline,showing the move from Gothicism and Baroque styles through the city'sartistic heyday, before the First World War brought an end to theAustro-Hungarian Empire.Freihausviertel,in the city's 4th district, is known as the creative, liberal quarter.What was once a poor area has sprouted galleries, cafes and kooky shops.
It is home to what Marc Jacobs calls: 'The number one in the world for vintage'.Iamble to Flo Vintage, vendor of everything from YSL power-suits to sexyMad Men-style dresses and a regular haunt of Kate Moss, StellaMcCartney and co. I peruse vintage togs spanning 100 years of fashion,wishing I had a spare 3,000.Back to modern day, I arrive atGabarage, a design shop specialising in 'upcycling' -- using wastematerial from industry as raw materials -- for a variety of objects:bags made from truck tarpaulins and ring binders; jewellery fashionedfrom wing nuts and skis; seating concocted from wheelie bins.
A slice of life at its finest: Vienna is famed for its cafe cultureMy hotel, a nicely contemporary option, is The Ring. I find out that a host of rock royalty has stayed here, including Marilyn Manson, who left some surprising souvenirs for the chambermaid to find in his room.The next morning, along the Wien River, I find Naschmarkt -- Vienna's biggest market. There are rows and rows of snack-sellers, including the Euro Gegenbauer vinegar brewery, offering 70 types of tongue-tingling vinegar, from asparagus flavour to cherry.On Saturdays, a flea market assembles here, touting everything from beautiful art nouvea! u whisky decanters to broken stilettos.At the heart of the market, I drink tea and embrace the modern caf culture at Deli. There's a strong Turkish influence in this area. The olives are massive and breakfasts come with falafels. It's around 11am; a man with a plaited goatee reads the papers; a DJ plays jazz. The smoky, impossibly cool ambience is more Manhattan than old-school Europe.The traditional coffee houses, with cream buns piled high, waiters in black and beautifully dated interiors, are still thriving. I dine at Caf Museum, which, once the meeting point of movers and shakers, now displays a creaky datedness.
But there is no faulting the food. The are plenty of meat-eaters in the room, delighting in schnitzel - as I gobble down an interesting plate of sauted potato and creamed spinach with a fried egg.
Echoing through the ages: Totems of Vienna's musical heritage are everywhere, including in the Stadtpark, where a golden statue of the composer Johann Strauss plays an eternal violinTowering above the river is the futuristic, three-month old Sofitel Stephansdom - another hotel that shines like a beacon with its kaleidoscopic video ceiling. I drink cocktails at the 17th floor 'Le Loft' bar, and look out over the Gothic spires of the 850-year-old Stephansdom cathedral.It may be a city that is soaring into the 21st century, but Vienna has no intention of forgetting its past.
Travel Facts
Double rooms at The Ring (0041-1-22-1-22, www.theringhotel.com) costs from 325 (281) per room, based on two sharing, including breakfast.British Midland Internatio! nal (BMI ) (00844 8484 888, www.flybmi.com) offers up to five flights a day between London Heathrow and Vienna. Fares start at 99 return, including all taxes and charges. The CAT (City Airport Train) runs from Vienna Airport to the heart of the city, and costs 16 (14) return.
For more information about Vienna, visit the Vienna Tourist Board's website, www.vienna.info.A 72-hour Vienna Pass costs 18.50 (16), and covers all travel on trains, trams and buses for 72 hours, as well as discount entry to 210 museums and other outlets.
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