Morbid Curiosity

Gruss Gott!
It doesn’t matter where one is in Europe. It’s hot everywhere! Vienna is not as bad as some spots.
Some of you are wondering what is the matter with me because I did not talk about food yesterday. Ok. We’ll have some pastry today. My friend Sartorias made a request--I do take them--but you are going to have to wait.
I trammed out to the Museum of Military History. It’s a grand building (surprise!) set in a beautiful park with a fountain, ponds, ducks and the occasional homeless person. The exhibits are first rate, but I cannot honestly recommend folks trundle out there unless 1) they are really interested in the subject 2) already know lots of Austrian History.
For example: Let us return to the summer of 1914. The heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand has been sent on a good will tour of Bosnia-Herzegovina because Austria-Hungry intends to annex it--in defiance of a previous agreement. Now FF is a pretty good guy. He respects Slavic Culture and wants Austria-Hungary’s ethnic minorities to have rights and some say in how they are governed. But this makes him dangerous in the eyes of Bosnian nationalists. You know where I’m going with this. They murdered him, and the result was World War I.
See, this museum has the fatal car on exhibit. FF’s chauffeur got lost and pulled over to consult his map thus making FF and the Archduchess Sophie sitting ducks for Gavrilo Princep’s bullets. There’s more. The bloodstained clothes he was wearing and the very couch they laid him on to die are there.
There are so many “if onlies” connected with World War I, but I think if it had not been Franz Ferdinand, the belligerents would have found another excuse.
Let us turn to a happier subject. My next stop (after a therapeutic dose of gelato) was the museum that exhibits the “left overs” they can’t fit in the Imperial Apartments or the Albertina. I can recommend the Hofmobiliendepot without reservation. In many cases these extra pieces are finer than the ones exhibited elsewhere. There are a lot more Sisi items here as well. I especially enjoyed were the Biedermeier rooms. And a most welcome feature was the chance to try out some genuine Biedermeier chairs and sofas! I saw some pieces that I thought would be at home at my place.
Since I was in the neighborhood I went to lick the windows on Vienna’s major shopping street Mariahilfstrasse. It reminded me of Paris actually--broad sidewalks choked with shoppers, puffing away on cigarettes, traffic, beggars. I recognized a lot of European chains. I had opportunities to nip in and refresh myself with perfume.
But here I am home and rehydrated. For my appetizer I have Turkish Olives. The big green ones are stuffed with almond. I expected the little black ones to be bitter, but no. They have a slightly sweet aftertaste.
The pastry? Well, not exactly what Sartorias asked for. I saw Tophentorte and Tophenstrudel but no schnitten. What I came upon today is called Tophensouffleschnitten, and it will have to do. Tophen is a curd cheese rather like cream cheese and the pastry looks like a piece of cheese cake, but it’s a bit less sweet and tastes more complex and to my tongue less cloying. It would go great with a cup of tea, but it’s too hot right now for that.