Vienna

One restaurant that you should certainly make a point of missing is Streireck. Nestled in the bucolic Stadt Park by the canal, it bears the dubious distinction of being the most pompous restaurant Dick and I have visited in recent years. Every element of the meal was an elaborate production, from slicing a piece of bread to snipping herbs from the pots on the tea trolley to serving microscopic food morsels on a hot salt stone. If the food was half as good as the pomp, we'd have loved the place, but it was, at best, non-descript. The only eye-popping aspect of the meal was the check. Come dressed to the gills with a wad of cash, or, better yet, miss the experience altogether.

Conversely, place that's worth every penny is the Imperial Hotel, housed in a former palace that has been impeccably restored and appointed with all modern amenities. It's pricy, but you do feel like royalty while staying there, from the magnificent stair case to the outstanding concierge service. The hotel boasts the best location in town, and you can never tell which head of state or celebrity will be a guest during your stay.

Vienna is known for its pastry shops. As you might imagine, it's one of the main reasons why Dick and I go there with some regularity. We heartily recommend to pass on Demel's, the city's alleged premier Konditorei (we believe it's its foremost tourist trap). Go instead to Gerstner's on Kartner Strasse, the main walking street. You can't go wrong with any pastry, from the European cheese cake to the Dobos Torte or any strudel (we especially like the plum strudel, with gobs of whipped cream, of course). They serve great coffee too, especially what they call Latte (supremely milky), and the atmosphere is vintage Vienna. Aida is another great pastry find, even though it lacks atmosphere. The pastries are outstanding, especially the Pariz Spitz, a chocolate mouse conical concoction enrobed in crunchy dark chocolate.

If a light meal and pastry is on your mind, try Mozart Café by the Albertina. It combines great atmosphere, good food, reasonable prices, sugar free cakes (egh) and great poppy seed torte.

Vienna is a cultured city, not just for music but also for some outstanding painting collections. See Hieronymus Bosch's Last Judgment in the obscure school of architecture, and a great collection of Breughel's (both senior and junior) and Rubens at the Kunst History Museum. The modern art displayed at the Leopold and the Museum of Modern Art is also great, but subject to the whims of specific exhibitions.

A write-up about Vienna would not be complete without mentioning our two favorite restaurant desserts. Dick fell in love with the powidel (prune jam) dumplings at Korso, which I found ironic since my dad loved that jam. I preferred the bowls of whipped cream and chocolate sauce at the same restaurant. My favorite dessert was the poppy seed dumplings at Drei Hussaren, a pricy and tasty relic of Vienna's past, which my dad recommended to us over 20 years ago. It's still going strong, and its lobster soup and breast of guinea hen in morel sauce are worth mentioning.

It would also be shameful to forego mentioning the naschmarkt, Vienna's great food market (although it pales by comparison to Barcelona's vibrant fruit and vegetable market or Siam Riep's squalor), and its unique jewelry stores, several of which date back to the Hapsburgs' splendor of 200+ years ago.

Many things combined to make Vienna a fun trip (although as you might have noticed, most of these things involved pastry crust). It was definitely a memorable visit!