EN: One Day in Vienna (Austria) with Children

For my grandmother from Prague, Vienna was the absolute reference point of the world. If my sister and I, when we were children, did not like, say, Czech dumplings (knedlík), we were immediately told that it was exactly the same as in Austria and with that the matter was fully resolved. That we - in our country Sweden - had grown up with different flavours, was at most an explanation of our tragic cultural illiteracy, but never an excuse for us to avoid any "habsburgian” dishes.

Personally, I allow my kids a little more elbow room. If, when we travel to Austria or the Czech Republic, they want to eat schnitzel every day, so I let them do so, as long as they also eat some fresh vegetables. “Unique delicatessen” such as sauerkraut they can discover by themselves with the time and maybe they will come to like it as much as I do.

During our children's autumn holiday this year we were out travelling and, when we visited Vienna, all of us actually ordered Wienerschnitzel (veal, as it should be). We were fascinated by the size of the meat. This hearty lunch was a perfect base for a long walk that took us to several of the big buildings along the ring road which the Austrian capital received after Emperor Franz Joseph I had ordered for the old city walls to be demolished.

And after this my first trip to Vienna I finally understand my grandmother: the monumental views around the University, the National Theatre, the City Hall, the Parliament, and the natural history and art museums remind you that this is a world metropolis.

But apart from this aspect of Vienna, the Czech part of me feels very much at home here: The residential buildings from the late 19th century could just as well be located on Vinohrady or Smíchov in Prague. Even the broken street paving or the romantic decadence of some houses had something wonderfully familiar to it.

- - -
Yes, I admit that Prague’s Vltava comes across as a small stream compared with Vienna’s mighty Danube!

 

 

 

 

- - -
Our first stop of this autumn trip was in Salzburg.

- - -
Deutsche Version (kommt mit der Zeit…) 
Svensk version