The lack of direct flights to Croatia from the US meant that we had a choice of transit points so we chose Vienna. Neither one of us had been before, so we decided to give ourselves a brief introduction. We stayed in an AirBnB in Stephansplatz in the heart of Vienna. The main highlight here is St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) in Vienna is one of Austria’s iconic buildings. A gorgeous Gothic cathedral, it is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna. Since it took us much longer than we expected to get from the airport to our AirBnB, I didn’t get to enter the crypt like I had hoped to in reminiscence of my many church visits in Rome. I also gave up the idea of walking up the many stairs to the top and took the elevator instead. But the view was worth the harried visit. The rooftop of St. Stephen’s Cathedral itself is rich and ornate. We had an awesome view of the city below.
Walking around Stephansplatz brought me unexpectedly to the Anker Clock (Ankeruhr). Honestly, I wasn’t sure what it was at first glance. It gradually dawned on me that it was a clock, a beautiful one at that. It was built in 1911 for the Anker Insurance Company as a bridge to connect two headquarter buildings. You can find it at the Hoher Markt. Apparently, at the strike of noon, it plays music and all the figures parade across. I did not get to enjoy this.
For dinner we had a great meal at Al-Zaytouna, a cozy Lebanese restaurant in Vienna. It was the night of the World Cup Quarterfinals and we tried to go the Strandbar Hermann to watch Brazil – Belgium but it was pouring rain and our Uber was getting lost so we ended up at a local bar. I was very happy to see Belgium persevere. On our way back to our AirBnB, in the rain mind you, I started the obsession that was to carry on throughout these holidays. Ice-cream or should I say gelato? We had been unable to find Eis Grissler earlier during the day, and I was determined to have the best of Vienna’s ice cream before leaving town. Finally, success, right before closing time! There’s something special about eating icecream late at night while dripping wet from the rain!
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.
Hi, I am Viennese and my husband is a Nzima from Ivory Coast, but his parents came originally from Alengenzure, Ghana. If any time you should stop over in Vienna again, please let me know. I would love to show you around. Thanks for all the interesting posts about the Nzima. My children learned a lot from it and love to read it.
All the best
Angela
Thanks Angelika. I am learning too through creating these posts.