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Vienna: Vollpension café, with love from Oma & Opa

Above/featured: Kühnplatz in the 4th district – 22 May 2022.

I never knew my grandparents, except for brief glimpses of mum’s mum, 阿婆, who died before I entered secondary school.

On a warm June day in 2022, I’m sitting in the basement of someone’s family home, lovingly decorated over decades by Omas and Opas. In Vienna’s 4th district, the idea behind Vollpension cafe is retirees do all the baking.

Upon arrival, a host seats me at a table where I’m presented with a “menu card” listing combination- and timing-options. Unlike other cafes in the city, one does not hang out or loiter here for hours, and that means there’s a maximum stay-duration for a specified combination purchase; that’s fine by me, as I choose one of the cake-and-beverage options. The server leaves to retrieve my cool drink, while I go up to the front counter and gauge the remaining options on Sunday mid-afternoon. I want something light on this warm late-spring day: Kardinalschnitt, made with sponge cake, meringue, and fruit jam. I order a slice of Kardinalschnitt mit Schlagobers (with whipped cream). Behind the counter is a kindly Oma to whom I relay in passable German I came all the way from Canada’s west coast to see this place. That impressed her enough that she asks me to come back for a 2nd but smaller piece.

There’s a good mix of ages among the staff. I chat briefly with one of the servers about what it’s like to work here at the café, the guests they’ve seen from different countries, and their favourite cake. Among some of the retired pensioners in house today, I have an additional conversation with a gentleman who has spent time with his family in Vancouver, Canada.

At the outset, some Viennese or Austrians might not seek this place out, although I can tell from surrounding conversations how much Viennese-German is being spoken. At any rate, this place works for me, and if I barely knew my grandparents, I can perhaps get a good taste and long look at life with Austrian grandparents, here at Vollpension in Vienna.

( Towards the end of this post is a 1-minute iPT6-video with a look inside the café. )

Vollpension, 4. Bezirk, Wieden, Wien, Vienna, Austria, Österreich, fotoeins.com

Inside Vollpension (X70).

Table 5 (X70).

Tables 6 and 7 (X70).

Table 8 (X70).

Front counter with daily offerings (X70).

Ameisen-Gugelhupf / Bundt cake with chocolate chips. No “Ameisen” (ants) were harmed or included in the cake-making process (X70).

Topfentorte / cream-cheese torte (X70).

Kardinalschnitte, made with sponge cake, meringue, and fruit jam (X70).

2nd, complimentary, but smaller slice of Kardinalschnitte, accompanied by cool unsweetened non-alcoholic lemon spritzer (X70).

Directions

Vollpension is centrally located on Schleifmühlgasse 16 with a second location at the MUK Wien (Music & Arts University of Vienna). Smaller versions of Vollpension might “pop up” elsewhere in the city during the summer season.

Public transport with Wiener Linien: in between U1/(U2)/U4 Karlsplatz and U4 Kettenbrückengasse; bus 59A to stop Schleifmühlgasse; or tram 1, 62, or Badener Bahn to stop “Paulanergasse.”

( View map location at OpenStreetMap )

My independent visit to Vollpension was neither requested nor supported. I made all images above on 22 May and 12 Jun 2022 with an Apple 6th-generation iPod Touch (iPT6) and Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (X70). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-n7U.

Vienna Ringstrasse & Architectural Historicism

Above/featured: Examples of the “Ringstraßenstil” historicism style at Maria Theresa Square, with Maria Theresa Monument at left and the Museum of Natural History at right. Photo, 15 May 2022 (X70).

• Can a street alone define its surrounding architecture?
• Do the buildings themselves establish the street’s visual impression?
• Is Vienna (un)fairly defined by the Ringstrasse and the inner city?

The answers, as always, are a little complicated.

Like many, I’m also fond of Vienna’s Ringstrasse (Ring Road), as a kind of “hello” and re-introduction to the city after my first visit in 2002. At 5 kilometres in length, the Ringstrasse is one of the longest streets in Europe, longer than the nearly 2-km Champs-Élysées in Paris and longer than the 4.5-km Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. The boulevard is surrounded by Prachtbauten (buildings of splendour), constructed in the architectural style of “historicism,” a big nod to classic “forms” reflecting structural “functions”. The late-19th century “Ringstrassenstil” (Ring Road architectural style) continued the practiced habit of choosing a historical style which best identified with the purpose of the building. For example, the Neo-Baroque architectural style is represented in the Civic Theater; the Neo-Classical style in the Parliament and New Palace; the Neo-Gothic style in City Hall and the Votive Church; and the Neo-Renaissance style in the museums, palatial mansions, Opera House, and the University.

On Christmas Day 1857, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper published an imperial decree written 5 days earlier (on 20 December) by Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph I. He ordered the demolition of the inner-city wall and the subsequent creation of a circular boulevard, bordered by grand buildings and filled with green spaces. The large outward extension of the inner city changed and influenced the urban development of Vienna, still seen to this very day.

It is my will that the extension of the inner city of Vienna should proceed as soon as possible, providing for appropriate connections between the city and the suburbs as well as the embellishment of my imperial residence and capital. To this end, I authorise the removal of the walls and fortifications of the inner city as well as the ditches around it …

– Emperor Franz Joseph I: 20 Dec 1857, published 25 Dec 1857.

On 1 May 1865, Emperor Franz Josef unveiled the Ringstrasse in an official ceremony, even though large areas remained under construction. Ringstrasse structures included the religious and the secular, as well as the public and the private. The Ringstrasse symbolized the power of the imperial state, and the growth of a new arts and culture scene with the increasing popularity of coffee houses.

It’s also important to note the architectural impact made by the Jewish middle- and upper-class to integrate within the Habsburg empire. For example, the families Ephrussi, Epstein, and Todesco commissioned architect Theophil Hansen to construct palatial mansions as visible manifestations and partial realization of the dream of many Viennese Jews: assimilation into and emancipation within Viennese society. (Viennese journalist and political activist Theodor Herzl might have had a different opinion about that.)

For residents and long-term visitors today, it’s entirely possible to fit into the unintended shape and mentality of the “modern” city: that the inner-city wall was simply replaced by a different wall of “economic class”, that the architectural callback to historicism “freezes” the inner-city in time, and that like many, I can live, traverse, and work in the outer districts and avoid entering the inner city.

For short-term visitors today, the Ringstrasse buildings form a golden shiny “ring” around the “fingers” of the U1 and U3 metro lines traversing through the UNESCO World Heritage inscribed inner-city. For these visitors, all that’s needed for their limited time in Vienna is the inner city.

( Click here for images and more )

Vienna: Lichtzeichen testament to Jewish presence

Above/featured: Lichtzeichen number 10 (Stumperschul) in the city’s 6th district. Photo, 28 May 2022.

From a distance, the light seems suspended in mid-air.

Closing the distance widens my realization: it’s an illuminated sculpture that has a curved warped shape on top. That’s also when understanding narrows into sharp focus when I stand directly underneath: the shape “straightens” out, revealing itself as a Star of David.

Lichtzeichen Wien (LZ) consists of 26 structures in the Vienna region, marking former locations of synagogues, schools, temples, and prayer rooms destroyed by the Nazis in the pogrom of November 1938. During the night of 9–10 November 1938, the Nazi regime organized and carried out a systematic attack against the Jewish population in Germany and Austria. The rampage in Vienna continued for several days; most of the city’s synagogues, temples, and prayer-halls were destroyed.

Launched by the Jewish Museum Vienna and Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz, an urban memorial project by joint collaboration of the Jewish Museum Vienna and the University of Applied Arts Vienna consists of identical columns, designed by artist Lukas Kaufmann. The commemorative project is called “Ot” (אות), which means “symbol” in Hebrew. Each “light column” sculpture stands about 5-metres high with a star of David, and includes the name of the former Jewish structure and an accompanying QR-code. Official unveiling of the memorial project occurred in 2018 on the 80th anniversary of the 1938 pogrom.

I visited and photographed all 26 Lichtzeichen locations in Vienna over a period of three summers in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

( Click here for images and more )

Vienna: Stefanie Herkner’s homestyle cuisine

I’ve been thinking a lot about my father who died in 2014.

What he passed onto me are: an appreciation for authentic dining with a minimum of pretence, interests in geography and history, and an enthusiasm for highway drives and road trips. He also loved woodwork, gardening, and tinkering with the family car. By contrast, I like to dabble with memories and the act of memory.

I’ve also been thinking about how he would’ve viewed my experiences in Vienna.

In Vienna’s 4th district, cook and author Stefanie Herkner owns and operates her restaurant, Zur Herknerin, as a living memory of her father, Heinz, and her family’s Slovenian culinary heritage. Much of her story has appeared in a variety of publications: how her dad’s famous restaurant, Zum Herkner, helped spark and redefine contemporary Vienna cuisine; how she went to London to study art-and-culture management; how her parents tried to dissuade her from the restaurant industry; and how she returned home to Vienna and opened her own restaurant in mid-2013.

That’s the kind of story to pique my curiosity.

With a reservation for the opening slot at weeknight service, I arrive 15-minutes early to moderate street-traffic and a set of open doors. The space is light, airy, uncomplicated, and welcoming. A couple of servers and kitchen staff are out and about, preparing for the dinner rush. Captaining the ship is Frau Herkner, her voice a firm, steady, and encouraging guide. I chat briefly with her: I’ve flown over 8000 kilometres across the world to have a meal here, and that my love of diners and small restaurants comes from Dad, who worked many years in many diners as cook and line-cook.

What’s familiar on the dinner table to many in this part of the world is relatively new to me. My order is a delicious introduction to the family’s central European background.

Krautroulade mit Petersilerdäpfel und Rahm (Serbian-style stuffed cabbage roll): ground beef and pork fried with bacon, tomatoes, bell peppers and carrots, diced onions; that extra fat is always the flavour enhancer. The meat-and-rice mixture is stuffed into large cabbage leaves, rolled and gently simmered with garlic and bay leaves. Add perfectly cooked cut-up potatoes served with parsley, and served with a dollop of sour cream.

Almdudler-Radler: cold draft beer mixed with Almdudler, Austria’s national and herbal lemonade. The combination is refreshing on a warm early-summer day, and I think its slight sweet-and-bitter “bite” goes well with the savory Sarma.

Apfel-Strudel: phyllo pastry filled with chunks of regionally-grown apples, with cinnamon and nutmeg; light but substantive; more apple than pastry. The last polish is a Melange for a smooth finish.

To achieve her goal of delivering family favourites to customers, she emphasizes:

“Unsere Zutaten sind biologisch, saisonal, regional oder vom eigenen Hof.”
(Our ingredients come from products that are natural, seasonal, regional, or from our very own farm.)

Before leaving, I catch Frau Herkner’s attention one last time. I tell her how much I enjoy the food, and how my experience feels like an accepted invitation into her family home with, if our faith allows, the spirits of our respective fathers, present in the kitchen and at the table.

Food and ambience.
Nourishing and warmth.
A lot of heart and muscle memory.
A lot of family memory and history.
I think Dad would’ve liked this.

Because I really did; I wanted to believe.

( Click here for images )

Vienna: 9 spots in the 9th district

Above/featured: Votivkirche (Votive church) from Schottentor – 20 May 2023.

Two visits: two months spread over two years.
A thousand kilometres of walking.
Hundreds of historical spots and locations tracked, spotted, and photographed.

It makes sense that out of Vienna’s 23 city districts, I’ll frequent some more than others. The 1st district, or the Innere Stadt, is unavoidable, because that’s where most visitors to the city will congregate. The 2nd (Leopoldstadt) and the 6th (Mariahilf) are districts where I had separate month-long stays. But it’s the 9th district (Alsergrund) into which I wandered through countless times, including tracking my way to the 18th and 19th districts.

Out of many interesting little spots in Alsergrund, I’ve highlighted nine examples from a historical “mélange” of architecture, Jewish culture, medicine, music, and physics. If you’re wondering about the Votivkirche (Votive Church) in the image above, I’ll have more about the church in future posts about Ringstrasse (Ring Road) architecture as well as the architectural works by Heinrich Ferstel.

( Click here for images and more )