Wandering Fel

I did not blame my cousin for getting lost at Cafe Konditorei Aida because the cake display is enough to make one sweettooth human being lost in what seems to be cake wonderland. Aida is a franchise chain of 34 espresso bar and pastry shops in Vienna and they had been around for a long time, since the World War II to be exact. To make itself distinct from its modern competitors, Aida has been reluctant to change its coffee flavour for example, by refusing to add flavoured coffee to their list of beverages like its competitor, Starbucks.

Aida’s specialties are cakes, pastries, doughnuts, coffees, teas, ice cream and merchandises (including gifts). Since Aida had always been decorated in salon look with overwhelming theme of pink, the coffee chain is more popular with the ladies. Although I don’t think men nowadays show disgust toward this feminine color. 

I ordered one item each from Aida’s cakes and pastries. The original Viennese Mozart Cake (EUR 2.90) is described as dark sponge filled with the finest nougat and pistachio marzipan, encased in light chocolate fondant icing. It’s basically a chocolate cake filled with nougat and pistachio marzipan. The cake was nice but to be honest, it’s hard to see the Austrian failing at making chocolate related stuff because after all chocolates supposedly taste the best in Europe, no?

The “Golatsche” pastry is described as finest flaky pastry with a light Austrian soft cheese filling. Claimed as traditional favourite in the coffee house, the pastry is indeed flaky and yummy. There are a lot of comments in Tripadvisor about rude services and stuff at Aida but I suppose sometimes it may be due to frustration during busy times. Thankfully, I did not meet any rude service during my visit to Vienna. 

In order to prevent waist destruction after consuming many sweet stuff, it’s time for me to continue wandering around Mariahilfer Strabe, the longest shopping street in the city of Vienna. By lunch time, the street is totally crowded by people, especially since it’s Saturday. 

Not only clothes boutique and department stores, you can also find many souvenir stores along the street. By now, you would have probably realise that there are so many stores displaying Mozart. Well, this is not a surprise because after all, Mozart is a true born Austrian and he’s what you can call a classical genius. He used to perform in front of the royals. His life is not all about fame though because apparently during those dark days, the life of a musician is not really easy after all. Struggling with finances and diseases, he died when he’s only 35. Oh gosh, that’s pretty young I have to say. It seems that the life of musician nowadays may not be any better but at least in terms of health, hopefully the modern musicians live longer days now. Everyone’s fighting hardship anyway on this fallen earth. 

Uhh okay, before this post going toward its darker mood, maybe I should take a peek of what kind of items being sold in a typical souvenir store in Vienna. You can basically find all sort of goods such as bags, teddy bears, kitchen stuff, t-shirts, jackets, caps with has the word “Vienna” or probably “Austria”. I don’t collect this kind of stuff but my mother was pretty excited whenever she can find pretty magnets to add into her collection of fridge-magnets-around-the-world. 

Vienna has its own street food to offer such as fried seafood stuff (shrimps, calamari, etc) and sandwich/ wrap. The fried seafood selection kinda reminded me of Old Chang Kee back home. The concept is basically similar, selling fried stuff. The portion that the street vendor gives in Vienna seems to be more although it’s justified by its higher price tag as well. 

It seems that all tour guides love to bring its tour participant to stores such as Swarovski. I suppose Indonesian love to shop A LOT and the tour guide will surely earn commission whenever they manage to lead customers to buy some stuff from the stores. Swarovski is everywhere in South East Asian but I think the price of its products sold in Vienna seems to be priced lower compared to the ones in Asia (probably due to the crazy mark-up). This is really one huge piece of crystal, I can’t imagine how much it costs. Probably not as expensive as diamond, for instance, but it sure is still expensive. 

Another spot which is 90% visited by tourists is Hard Rock Cafe. I don’t collect any Hard Rock merchandise although I used to frequent Hard Rock Cafe in Singapore quite a fair bit of times back in my early-20s days. My friends and I were into live band and Hard Rock’s strong rendition of long island tea back then. Hard Rock Cafe in Vienna has some interesting display to check out though such as concert memorabilias. There is a piano which was used by Coldplay and even a black magician hat which was used by Will I Am from Black Eyed Peas. Hmm, I haven’t heard Black Eyed Peas for a while. Kinda miss their old songs like Where is the Love. 

Cafe Konditorei Aida is located at: 

Singerstrabe 1, 

Vienna, Austria

Cafe Konditorei Aida’s opening hours:

Monday to Friday 7AM - 10PM

Saturday to Sunday 8AM - 10PM

 Hard Rock Cafe is located at:

Rotenturmstrabe 25,

Vienna, Austria

Hard Rock Cafe’s opening hours:

Monday to Thursday 9.30AM - 1AM

Friday to Sunday 9.30AM - 2AM

On the way to the main shopping street, I passed by the symbol of vienna, St Stephen's Cathedral. The cathedral looks pretty Gothic from its outward appearance. It is probably due to the heavy Baroque influence during its construction and renovation period. The cathedral is 107.2 meters long and 34.2 meteres wide and it has four towers. You have to climb 343 steps of staircases to reach the tower room. There is a total of 13 bells hang inside the cathedral. The most popular bell of St Stephen's Cathedral, the Pummerin, is located in the north tower. As most of famous cathedrals scattered all around European cities, St Stephen's Cathedral is also functioning as final resting place for important people such as Emperor Friedrich III. Easter concerts and Advent concerts are held annually in the cathedral. Guided tour of the cathedral and the catacombs is available on a regular basis. 

The main street lies right after Stephenplatz where St Stephen's Cathedral is located. There are several people walking around on an early Saturday morning despite it's being too early for some stores to open. Most stores open after 10AM but I suppose cafes open earlier, probably around 9AM-ish. Almost all major department stores can be found on this street selling clothes, leather goods, furniture, accessories, books, and Austrian souvenirs. If you prefer for vintage goods, you may want to check out the alleys instead of the main shopping streets for the boutiques. 

I would have stuck to the main street of Mariahilfer if it's not because of my cousin who wanted to hunt down some branded stuff and hence, dragged me along for her hunt of Louis Vuitton's stores. Turns out, LV store is located at the quieter corners of the shopping area, near to Mariahilfekirche Church. I read online that the road is often besieged by high number of bums because of the nearby location of homeless shelter "Gruft" located at the base of the church. I did not see any or probably missed out because of the number of crowd flooding the area when the clock hits 11AM. The green-roofed Baroque church was built between 1686 and 1689 for the Barnabite monks (a religious order, I suppose). Nowadays, there are no more Barnabite followers in Austria although there are still a small number of convents exist in Italy. 

I could not believe that my cousin is not satisfied by visiting LV alone, she is now dragging me along in her hunt to find another branded store, Hermes. Well, thanks to her "hunt", we kinda stumbled into the Graben, a shopping street where the plague column is located. The origin of this popular street dated back to the old Romans century. Most of the buildings here originated from the 17th and 18th century and you can find shops with long tradition. Those shops which have already been popular in the times when Austria was ruled by emperors such as the porcelain factory Augarten, the court jeweler Heldwein and the court perfumery Nagele & Strubell. 

If you are wondering why there is a statue which is named the Plague Column (Pestsaulen) in the middle of the shopping street in Vienna, well you are not alone. Back in the year 1679, Vienna was visited by a nasty visitor named Yersinia pestis, a bactery which caused a plague which killed many people. Initially, I thought that the idea of building the column is inspired from Moses' action in the bible. You know, the one where the Israeliets sinned and then they died one by one bitten by poisonous snakes. Those who look upon the bronze serpent on pole erected by Moses were saved from the punishment. But the story here is kinda different from the biblical one. The emperor who reigned when the plague swept through Vienna, Leopold, vowed that if the terrible plague were to leave the city, he would build a monument as a symbol of gratitude. And that's how this column came about. 

Thankfully the plague did not last until the modern day of Vienna. Because otherwise, we would not be able to enjoy the beautiful autumn scene of the city if the plague persist until today. 

Mariahilfer Strabe's stores opening hours:

Monday to Friday: 9AM to 6.30PM

Saturday: 9AM to 5PM/6PM (Malls open until 8PM)

St Stephen Cathedral's Guided Tour Schedules:

Monday to Saturday: 

Between 9AM and 11.30AM and

Between 1PM and 4.30PM

Sundays and Public Holidays:

Between 1PM and 4.30PM