I wrote this post back in 2005 for the first time, but it is still one of the most beautiful parks in Vienna. Besides, we recently discovered a wonderful restaurant just at the upper end of the park, the Steierer Stoeckl. So if you are in Vienna take a stroll, enjoy the wonderful fall colors we’ve been having this year, maybe you’ll even catch a glimpse of the deer living there, and finish it off with hearty Styrian fare and a glass of Sturm (the fermented grape juice before it becomes new wine).

This is one of Vienna’s most gorgeous parks. For starters, it is huge, we have yet to get to its last corner. It has ancient trees, large meadows complete with deer and squirrels, big white statues from the Biedermeier era, playgrounds, large alleys with inviting benches and hidden paths, a greek style pavillion and a little Brothers Grimm cabin hidden behind old oaks. Ancient trees, and some rare for these parts, could tell stories from the beginning of the 19th century, when the banker Johann Heinrich Geymueller, who owned the castle back then, added typical English landscaping to the park. We admired a couple of giant sequoias, so far away from home, but kings of their landscape.

The story of Poetzleinsdorf tells about a knight’s castle on top of the Schafberg. The inhabitants of this castle were grim fellows and possessed extraordinary physical strength. One of the knights was said to have overcome a bear with his bare hands. He then brought this bear home and trained him as a watchdog for the castle. The bear became very tame. Ever since they called this knight the Petzler – Petz is the nickname for bears in German fables. Therefore, the village belonging to this knight got the name Petzlersdorf.

While there are no more bears to be seen in the park, tame or otherwise, there is still plenty of wild life. It is not uncommon to see deer running through the paths of the forest, or grazing in the meadows. Very curious but shy squirrels watch us as we stroll through the woods. At the pond we can feed the ducks and geese. There is also a petting zoo complete with sheep, goats, chicken, turkeys and other fowl. My daughter, being the little carnivorous brat that she is, was already asking if we could take one of the turkeys home for dinner, and no, she did not mean to “invite” the turkey to have dinner with us.

Once the Viennese society of the 19th century enjoyed long strolls through the Poetzleinsdorfer Schlosspark. Now the park is open for young and old alike. Bikes and dogs are not allowed in it, so it remains a clean place of relaxation. We are looking forward to experiencing this park through all the four seasons. So far fall has been spectacular.

The Servitenviertel, another Grätzl (Viennese for neighborhood), is a well kept secret in Vienna’s 9th district. The name goes back to the Servite monastry that was built back in 1639. To this day the Servite church remains a beautiful baroque landmark in a quiet cobble stone plaza at the heart of the neighborhood. I was fortunate enough to stroll by there on a weekday, was drawn inside and then I listened to some beautiful pipe organ music that someone was playing, just me in a big empty church. The Pietà from 1470 is probably the church’s most valuable art work, but the whole interior has something very serene and peaceful about it, a very understated baroque, definitely on my top five Vienna churches list.

I started my walk with a nice coffee latte and an American rocky road cookie from Blue Orange. Then I headed to the Liechtenstein park to catch the last sun rays of a crisp fall afternoon. Aside from ancient tall sycamore trees the park also houses the Liechtenstein museum, a small museum of collections belonging to the House of Liechtenstein as well as other beautiful private art collections. I love their “world of baroque pleasures” Sundays when you can get in for a classical music concert in Vienna’s largest baroque hall.

Leaving the park and walking down the Liechtensteinstrasse towards the Lycee Francais de Vienne, where the French speaking expats send their kids to school, there are quite a few small stores to discover. Anne Morel, for example, has a wonderful collection of French shoes, flat shoes that are just as elegant as high heels, which proves again that French women have common sense and being fashionable doesn’t need to hurt. Should you want to explore the meaning of your shoe obsession or shoe dreams, the Sigmund Freud museum is just around the corner. One of the best book stores in town, Leporello, can also be found around here. In a world of Amazon and Barnes & Noble they stand for individuality, originality and personal service, chances are the owner herself will be ready to give you a review of the book you are searching.

As for myself, I am very much at peace with my shoe addiction so I continue on Servitengasse and down to the heart of the Servitenviertel to visit the Servite church. The street has a romantic flair, like it just came straight out of the 19th century, complete with street lanterns and cobble stones. There are cafes and restaurants that invite you to stay a while and enjoy. The Xocolat store and manufacturer, the fanciest (say most expensive) chocolates in Vienna, will be hard to pass by without even sneaking a peek. Circling back around on the Porzellangasse I passed by the Vienna International Theatre, where we watched a wonderful production of A Christmas Carol a few times.

The Servitenviertel is just another well preserved, self contained neighborhood in Vienna. No other neighborhood in Vienna boasts that many seniors and academics per square meter, which makes an interesting sophisticated inner city mix. Maybe that is why everything you need to live is right there: supermarket, restaurants, hair salon, church, cafe, fashion boutiques, chocolate, printers, ceramics, flowers, clockmaker, shoe repair and much much more. On a weekday afternoon quite peaceful, I liked it better than the cool urban Spittelberg (which I’ll be writing about), maybe everyone was out in the park enjoying the last of the Indian summer days….

View Servitenvirtel in a larger map

While I am working on part deux of our French summer vacation, I decided to post something quick about places closer to home. I am still trying to amuse my new Francophile self and since I can’t go to Paris on every whim, I decided to look for Paris in Vienna. Yes, yes, make fun of me all you want, I am aware that Paris is NOT Vienna, and thankful Vienna is NOT Paris…Yet, I have been falling in love with Vienna all over again since my trip to Paris. Let me explain. We have been living here for a long time now, Vienna is what we call home. We pass by historic buildings and famous castles every day and we are not amazed anymore. We walk through Schoenbrunn, once the playground of emperors, and all we can think about it is how to get away from all the tourists. Being in Paris has reminded me of how fun it is to discover something new. We have by far not discovered everything Vienna has to offer. So I am going on a treasure hunt through Vienna’s old districts and shall be reporting here of what I find. Six years ago there was not much information online other than the mainstream tourist attractions. There is much more available now, but it’s not easy to find. So I’ll have to do the leg work myself.

I started my journey last Friday in the Josefstadt. It is worth mentioning that this is a very urban area, close to the Rathaus, and it houses Vienna’s oldest English theater. I had some business in the Josefstaedter Strasse, which is also a very nice shopping street where you can find everything you need from kitchen supplies, books, gourmet chocolate, grocery stores to fashion boutiques. We then headed to Cafe der Provinz for a quick bite. My new thing is looking for french food in Vienna, so I had put this on my “check it out” list, and it was definitely worth the visit. They specialize in crepes and galettes, all organic ingredients, and they have all you can eat brunches on weekends, which are probably very busy times. We had a crepe with sugar and lemon and a ham and cheese topped with sunny side up egg galette. It was very tasty and surprisingly filling, it ended up being dinner. But the surprise of the afternoon was the baroque church of Maria Treu hidden away in the midst of a beautiful white washed cobble stone piazza. I was stunned to see this beautiful church just standing there one block away from all the modern hustle and bustle. In the dusk light I could not take a picture with my phone that would do it justice, but I will be back to take more pictures of it and the charming streets around it. There is a typical Viennese cafe there, Cafe Maria Treu, and they have set up tables right in the piazza so you can sit there and enjoy your coffee with a full view of the church.

I am sure more treasures like Maria Treu are hidden in Vienna’s old districts…and I will find them all. Stay tuned for more Vienna hideaway news.