The
Sanct Stephans Platz Where The Cathedral Church Of Vienna, Called St
Stephans Kirche, Stands, Is The Largest Place In Vienna.
The Cathedral
is a very ancient and curious Gothic edifice, and the steeple is nearly 450
feet high.
I happened to enter the Cathedral one day on the occasion of a
solemn requiem celebrated for the soul of Prince Metternich's father. Had
it been for the son, instead of the father, many an honorable man
persecuted at the instigation of that most machiavelic of all ministers,
might exclaim in making a slight alteration in a well known epitaph:
Cy-git M - - ah! qu'il est bien
Pour son repos et pour le mien!
Among the other striking buildings in the old town is the Hofburg or
Imperial Palace, a very extensive quadrangular building, with a large court
in its centre. A Guard mounts here every day at eleven o'clock. It was in
one of the saloons of this palace that the celebrated Congress of Vienna
was held; a Congress whose labours will be long and severely felt by Europe
and duly appreciated by posterity, who will feel any other sentiment but
that of gratitude for the arrangements entered into there. The Hofburg
was built by Leopold VII in 1200. This building, from its being extremely
irregular and from its having received additions at intervals in the
different styles of architecture, has been aptly enough considered as the
type of the Austrian monarchy, and of its growth from a Markgraviate to an
Empire; in this, by the continued acquisition of foreign territories
differing from each other in manners and hi speech; in that, by the
continued addition of various specimens of architecture and style of
building in its augmentation.
VIENNA, Aug. 8th.
I am very well content with my abode at the Weisser Wolf, tho' it is not
a first-rate hotel. They are very civil people, and I have an excellent and
spacious room for two florins Wiener Whaerung per diem. Lodgings are the
only things that are dear in Vienna, every other article is, however,
cheaper than in any other city I have yet been in. All kinds of Hungarian
wine may be had at the most reasonable prices. I generally breakfast at a
neighbouring Cafe in the Fleischmarkt for the sake of reading the
Allgemeine Zeitung which is taken in there, and which is the only journal
having a shade of liberality which is permitted in the Austrian dominions.
From the hours of twelve to three, dinners a la carte are served at the
Weisser Wolf. For two and half florins W.W., I get an excellent dinner
with a bottle of Offener wine. The wine of Offen resembles much that of
Bordeaux in its quality and flavor. The tariff however of the dinners and
wines varies daily a few kreutzers, in consequence of the eternal
fluctuation of the W.W., so that every morning a fresh tariff is affixed
to the wainscot of the saloon where the dinners are served. Supper, served
likewise a la carte, is at its full tide between the hours of eight and
ten o'clock; and as Vienna is renowned for the celebrity of its beefsteaks
and cutlets, called here Rostbraten, these and a salad seem to be the
favourite dish for supper. My mornings I have hitherto passed in lounging
about the Kaernthner Gasse, St Stephen's Platz, Kohlmarkt, etc. For an
hour before dinner the fashionable promenade is on the rampart in front of
the palace of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen; in the evening on the Prater,
in a carriage, on horseback, or on foot. The Prater is of immense extent
and offers a great variety of amusements and sights. I generally return
home at night pretty well fatigued from my rambles.
There is another great inconvenience at Vienna, resulting from the
fluctuation of the current money, and this is that a stranger, dwelling at
an inn, is sure to be disturbed five or six times in the morning, sometimes
as early as five or six o'clock, by Jews who rap at his door to enquire if
he wants to exchange gold and silver against currency or vice versa. I
used to lose all patience at being so disturbed in the morning, and was
obliged in self-defence to put an affiche on the door of my room to this
effect: "Man kauft und verkauft hier nichts; kein Wechsler darf
hereintreten." "Here there is no buying and selling; no money changer is
allowed to come in," and I hereby recommend to all strangers not to treat
with these Jews, but on their arrival, or at any time they think fit, to go
to a banking establishment in this city, where every day after eleven
o'clock you can exchange your gold and silver for paper at the just rate of
exchange, as published at the Bourse, paying only a very slight premium,
and on leaving Vienna to go to the same establishment to change your
superfluous Wiener Waehrung for Convenzions Muenze or gold and silver
money. For when the Jews tell you the rate of exchange is so and so, you
conclude probably your bargain with them, and on enquiring at the Bourse
you find that the Jew has made a percentage of six or eight per cent, out
of you. Louis d'or are the best foreign coin to bring into the Austrian
Dominions. Next to them in utility are the Dutch ducats, or Geharnischte
Maenner as they are termed, from the figure of the man in armour upon them.
All other corns suffer a loss in proportion. The bankers in Vienna pay the
foreign bill of exchange in Convenzions Muenze, which you must afterwards
change for Wiener Waehrung, the only current money in Vienna and Austria.
But what makes it additionally troublesome is that here in Vienna there are
particular payments, which must absolutely be paid in gold or silver or
Convenzions Muenze, and not Wiener Waehrung; for instance the franking of
foreign letters at the post office, where they do not take the Wiener
Waehrung.
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