Only in Vienna [antikvár]

IntroductionDie Straßen Wiens sind mit Kultur gepflastert, die Straßen anderer Städte mit Asphalt.(The streets of Vienna are paved with culture, the streets of other cities with asphalt) Karl Kraus (1874-1936)Vienna is surely one of the grandest, and at the same time most compact, capital cities in Europe. It is also one of the most fascinating. The plethora of available tourist guidebooks offers the undemanding visitor a fabulous (and effortlessly accessible) array of museums, churches, palaces and eateries, reflecting the history of the city from Roman times, via the Habsburg Empire, up to the present day.However, for those with a little more time on their hands, and for those who want to discover something of the place for themselves, this new guide has been expressly written. It only takes a few minutes of planning, and a glance at a decent street map*, to escape the crowds and the orchestrated tours and discover a different Vienna.Based on personal experience, and footslogging all twenty-three of the city's districts [Bezirke], the author will point the explorer in a new and unusual direction. This is the Vienna of Roman ruins, medieval cellars and catacombs; tranquil courtyards and romantic fountains; unfrequented museums brimming with fascinating objects; secret gardens and astronomical observatories; Art Nouveau swimming baths and ornate public conveniences (!); film locations from James Bond and The Third Man- not to mention artist Gustav Klimt's recently discovered last studio.It is also a city with a dark and sinister past, its forgotten Jewish cemeteries and Third Reich anti-aircraft towers still bearing grim witness to terrible times.As would be expected, many of these curious locations, all of which are both visible and visitable, are to be found within the narrow streets of the ancient inner city [Innere Stadt or Altstadt], Vienna's IS' district, some of which still trace earlier medieval and Roman thoroughfares. However, an equal number lie outside the old city walls (today's Ringstrasse boulevard built by the Habsburgs), in both the inner suburbs [Vorstädte] of the 18'^ century (thedistrictsand the district of Leopoldstadt), and the outer suburbs [Vororte]8 Introduction