Today we set our alarm for 8:00 am so that we could get up and out at a decent hour. But we just couldn't get up, and by the time we finally got out, it was around noon again. Guess we just can't fight nature.
We needed a better map than the one we had, so that was our first mission. After a stop at a nice cafe for our morning cappuccino, we ended up walking toward the biggest shopping street in Vienna, Mariahilferstrasse, passing through the beginning of the Naschmarkt. Mostly everything's the same and in the same place but we saw a few new things for sale.
Tower cakes, donuts shaped round and round to form a tower and then baked. You can see the forms they are shaped on in the background before going into the oven.
Here are some more mysterious mystery meats.
As we kept walking west toward the big shopping street, we saw some interesting sights along the way.
A Kindergarden school. This was not grafitti.
A group of Mongolian tourists.
An impromptu fashion photo shoot.
And then we were Mariahilferstrasse. Here's a stylish couple dressed alike. Wish I had thin legs like that.
I guess these city folks are used to such provocative ads that they don't even look.
Dressing a mannequin with the latest jeans.
Pumps and bag to match.
Try saying that locksmith shoppe quickly...100 letters, 9-10 syllables.
A new kind of muscle building machine where you don't have to work out, but it electronically stimulates muscle movement to simulate what happens when you exercise. They wanted Marty to try it, but we didn't have time enough for that. The idea is to protect you from injuring your joints while lifting weights. Pretty cool!
We finally found a great map at a Tabak-Trafik store and we got what we wanted. So now we went to the Metro Station and bought an unlimited 2-day pass so that we could take the metro as many times as we wanted within two days. That's different from the usual ten ticket carnet.
Everyone is on their electronic devices...this could be anywhere.
We decided to go to Sigmund Freud's House and Museum. It was a 6-station ride on the same U-Bahn 4 line nearest to our apartment, so it was an easy maiden voyage. The Vienna Metro is pretty simple, with only about 6 lines. Here's the station near Freud's house, Rossauer Lande, near what is still the Jewish Quarter today.
It's a nice neighborhood, and Marty saw some real estate that looked interesting. Maybe we could down-size to Vienna! While upscale, it's not Park Ave.
We passed the Vienna University along the way. It could be NYU. This is where Freud got his medical degree and lectured on neuropathology, and where he also had his first brushes with anti-Semitism.
And then we arrived. I got a shiver thinking he actually lived and practiced here.
With his daughter, Anna.
Here is his entrance foyer with his hat and cane. There aren't too many artifacts here, because when he and his family, only his wife and daughter, left Vienna in 1938 before the war broke out, he took most of his belongings with him as they fled to London. The only artifacts left here in Vienna are items in the Foyer and furniture in the Waiting Room. Through a family friend, he paid a large sum of money to the Nazis to let him get out with all his belongings. There is a museum in London too with all the articles he took with him. The other rooms in this Vienna museum have mostly photographs, with a lot of explanation, so you get the feeling of what it was like, and the history of his life. Still riveting.
Marty's in the waiting room waiting for his appointment and wondering why Freud is running late!
Here's a better view.
Freud actually got a Dr. of Letters Law Degree from Clark University in Wooster, MA.
OMG, his famous, infamous couch.
His study.
A mirror he looked into frequently.
An award he won, and the type of cigars he smoked.
His fountain pen and spectacles.
Two of his most famous treatises, one on Hysteria, and one on Sexual Theory.
Two books he wrote, one called 'Totem And Tabu,' psychological fiction, published in 1913. It describes resemblances between the mental lives of savages and neurotics, each with no internal boundaries. It is considered a landmark in the history of anthropology.
The second was 'Lectures for Introduction to Psychoanalysis,' a method of treating nervous patients medically.
Cocaine, his medicine of choice.
Here is the announcement to the world that Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis,
had died in London in 1939 at the age of 83. He had been suffering from cancer, and when it got so bad, he asked his doctor to administer a fatal dose of morphine.
The museum was pretty interesting, and sobering at the same time...what a life he had. We needed a pick-me-up after that, and so stopped at Cafe Freud just nearby. They actually had a table still reserved for Dr. Freud!
Then we wended our way back toward the Naschmarkt where we had a reservation for dinner.
Along the way we found a huge Asian Market.
All the labels were in Chinese, and translated into German. So here are Black Beans...SchwarzeBohnen.
When we arrived at the market in the evening, the stalls were all boarded up tight...it was kind of eerie.
But further along the restaurants were lively and a happening place. We've never seen another place quite like this and on such a grand scale...not the Paris Flea Market but maybe Kumkepe in Istanbul but not with market stalls like here. Does anyone know of such an expansive combination like this in the world? It's a real magnet!
We had a reservation at Nautilus in the Naschmarkt, specializing in all things fish. It just stood out as a classy place.
And it was...it did not disappoint.
It was a nice evening and the doors were all open. Even if you were sitting in the interior of the restaurant, you felt like you were outside. The good news is that this made for a very nice atmosphere. The bad news is that because it was all open air, people could smoke anywhere in the restaurant, and we just had to deal with it.
We started out with a delicious fish soup, oysters and Proseco.
All the fish was done perfectly. Marty had a perfectly cooked whole Bronzino, and I had 'Pete's Plate' (don't know the history of that name), which was a combination of grilled seafood...baby calamari and octopus, jumbo shrimp in the shell, and scallops...also perfectly cooked and all so tender they melted in your mouth, and grilled pepper and tomato garnish. I can't even describe all the other platters of fish that were being brought to so many other tables. We picked some good ones!
Marty is a master fish fillet'er...nothing is wasted!
After dinner we sipped our wine and just relaxed for a while, feeling no urge to rush (there is no second seating) and wanting to linger a while, like all the other diners. It's so civilized and so enjoyable. We could easily get used to this.
And then we mosied home to our apartment. What's nice is that although is is not right in the city center, it is within walking distance to Naschmarkt where we could go to every day...no kidding!
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