Sunday, November 23, 2014

The Magic of Vienna

We had a delightful Christmas Eve several years ago in Vienna.  It began with a concert in this church, next door to the Piaristenkeller Restaurant.  The Restaurant arranged for chamber music and carolers to perform in the church before dinner.
This is a view of the interior of the baroque church.
The Piaristenkeller restaurant features a huge wine cellar that occupies the tunnels under the monastery that used to be connected to the church next door.  They had wine barrels for tastings that were large enough to sit inside.  It was Christmas in Vienna, so of course I had my winter coat.
The wine vaults deep underground are elaborately paneled in fine wood, with brass hardware.  Many of the areas for wine storage are set up like a safety deposit box, requiring two keys for someone to open and remove the wine.  It must be very expensive wine.
The Piaristenkeller Restaurant also has a museum that is a collection of hats from the Imperial Hat Collection, as the ancestors of the owners of the restaurant were friends of the Austrian royal family and ended up with many of the royal hats.  The restaurant includes an area where guests can help themselves to a hat to wear for the evening, if they want to play dress up with their dinner.  We didn't.

1 comment:

glenda said...

Would love a glass of that wine that had to be accessed with two keys.

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