mr and mrs smith eats

Viennese love to eat and few places exemplify this more than the Naschmarkt (roughly, “Nibble Market”). Several blocks longs, two parallel lanes comprise the Naschmarkt. Trendy eateries mostly populate on side with produce stands and grab-and-go’s on the other. While December still finds more fresh fruits and vegetables than one might expect in this cold climate, most are now of the dried or jellied variety. What can’t be dried or jellied can certainly be pickled. Here, Leo t

The Imperial Porcelain and Silver Collection, the first stop on the Hofburg Imperial Apartments Tour, allows us regular folk to imagine what court life would have been like during the Hapsburg reign. First up, where a collection of copper baking pans. Beautiful on their own, one could only dream of the sort of elegant concoctions they produced. The vast silver collection is still used today for state dinners. Not all court services where stuffy. Many featured whimsical animal

Dinner in Vienna runs the gamut from casual to sophisticated. Before our night at the opera, we chose the more elegant Plachuttas Gasthaus zur Oper nearby. We cannot attest to their claim of being the original Weiner schnitzel (not to be confused with the American hot dog chain that doesn’t even serve Weiner schnitzel), but theirs was certainly the best version we had on the trip. Unlike many others which may be pork or chicken, this is the traditional, and more expensive, ve

With so much to see in this metropolitan, yet historic city, Vienna has numerous solutions for lunch on the go. As expected, there are no shortages of sausages, with Wurstelstands (sausage stands) on nearly every corner. There are many varieties: Burenwurst, Bockwurst, Weisswurst, Liverwurst, etc. They’re generally served sliced up on a place with a side of mustard or ketchup and a piece of bread. You eat a bite of sausage and then a bite of bread. They don’t put it in the b

Until 100 years ago, Vienna rivaled Paris as the cosmopolitan capital of Europe for centuries. Then, after World Wars I & II, Austria’s power and relevance greatly diminished. However, the appreciation of finer things that came with being the seat of the Hapsburg empire did not fade. Vienna still appreciates the luxuries of fine chocolates, coffee, and beautiful music. The civilized culture is most epitomized in Vienna’s plethora of cafes, many dating back generations. Here y