It is a cold December morning and Vienna is a study in gray. Gray sky, gray buildings, gray cobblestones. Even snow remaining from a week-old storm takes on a grayish cast.
Austria's capital isn't always monochromatic. It is simply that cloudy skies are often part of the forecast this time of year.Sunless streets coupled with high humidity make you think it's colder than it is. The thermometer says 32 degrees. It feels like 10 below.
The Arctic chill doesn't stop the Viennese from getting out. They stroll the streets of the city's historic first district. Many of them battle the cold with fur - fur hats, fur coats, fur collars.
When they lose the battle they retreat into the warmth of a coffee house for a hot drink and a pastry.
I lost the battle, which is why I am sitting in the Cafe Landtmann on the Ringstrasse opposite city hall. I prop my elbows on a small, marble-top table and wait for my fingers to thaw. I regard the elegant decor: dark wood paneling, velvet-upholstered benches, ceiling-high mirrors and crystal chandeliers.
The Landtmann is the biggest and most beautiful coffee house in the city, the epitome of Vienna's high society.
The waiter brings a cup of hot chocolate covered by a mountain of whipped cream. I warm up just by wrapping my fingers around the cup.
The Landtmann looks onto the Ringstrasse, the circular boulevard that surrounds the first district. Commonly called "the Ring," it is Vienna's most famous street and was built on the site of medieval walls that encompassed the city in ancient times.
Inside the Ring lies Vienna's historic heart.
There is the Hofburg, a maze of wings and courtyards that was the winter home of the Habsburgs, one of Europe's famous royal families. They ruled the Holy Roman Empire for nearly 400 years.
The Habsburgs as a governing dynasty are gone but their legacy remains. The Hofburg houses the Spanish Riding School, the Imperial Court Chapel where the Vienna Choir Boys perform, the Imperial Apartments that are open to the public and the Liturgical and Secular Treasury where the crown jewels are found. Every Sunday morning a musical mass is performed at St. Augustine's Church.
The Sigmund Freud House
Not far from the Ring, at Berggasse 19 to be exact, is the house of Sigmund Freud. The father of psychoanalysis lived in Vienna for 78 years. A Jew, he fled Vienna for London in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. He died there in 1939 from cancer.
His house in Vienna is now a museum. The consultation room, famous for its couch, is empty except for a few photographs and original documents. The photographs show the room as it was shortly before Freud left for London.
The waiting room contains some of Freud's furniture. He arranged his appointments so one person at a time occupied the waiting room. Patients left the consultation room through a door that led directly to the foyer. Patients never laid eyes on each other.
Such was the stigma of mental illness.
The house is open daily and guided tours are available if you make advanced arrangements.
Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
When it comes to music, Vienna stands virtually alone.
The list of composers who lived in Austria's capital city reads like a Who's Who of music. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Johann Strauss are among them.
Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756. He first came to Vienna at the age of six with his sister Nannerl and their father, Leopold. He and Nannerl performed for the Empress Maria Theresa at Schonbrunn Palace.
The family returned to Vienna in 1767 when Wolfgang was 12. He and Nannerl again performed for the city's dignitaries.
Wolfgang ventured back to Vienna alone at the age of 25, his heart set on a court appointment and a handsome salary to go with it.
The court appointment eluded him. So did the handsome stipend.
But life wasn't all bad. Mozart married Constanze Weber in a simple ceremony in St. Stephen's Cathedral. Two of their children grew to adulthood. (Constanze was pregnant for six of the nine years they were married.)
Although Wolfgang was a profligate spender, he occasionally earned enough money to make ends meet.
He composed some of his finest works in Vienna including "The Magic Flute" and "The Marriage of Figaro."
His friendship with Haydn solidified. "Your son is the greatest composer I know, either personally or by repute," Haydn told Leopold Mozart when the elder Mozart was visiting his son in Vienna.
Wolfgang's life ended all too soon. He died at the age of 35, 10 years after coming to Vienna, and was buried in a pauper's grave. Historians speculate that dropsy and malignant typhus complicated by exhaustion and undernourishment caused his death.
Mozart visited St. Stephen's Catheral one last time. The horse-drawn hearse stopped there on the way to the cemetery for a priest to bless his corpse.
The gothic spires of St. Stephen's are striking landmarks in the Old City. They help you keep your bearings in an otherwise confusing maze of narrow streets.
It isn't far from St. Stephen's to the Figaro House at Domgasse 5. This is one of 12 apartments where Mozart and Constanze lived during their years in Vienna and, as the name suggests, is where Wolfgang composed "The Marriage of Figaro."
It is now a museum, the rooms barren except for a few artifacts. Next to the salon where Mozart and his friends performed music is the room where he composed. Its ornate marble ceiling is the only suggestion of the heavenly music created here.
Musical crossroads
Vienna was a crossroads for musicians.
Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi died in Vienna as he was passing through on his way back to Italy. He was buried in a pauper's grave.
Mozart and Beethoven crossed paths, once, in Vienna. At the age of 17 and already established as a pianist, Beethoven came to the Austrian capital from Bonn. He played for Mozart one afternoon in his apartment.
Grief preoccupied both musicians. Beethoven thought of his dying mother in Bonn and Mozart worried about his ailing father who lived alone in Salzburg.
Mozart nevertheless noted Beethoven's talent. "Keep an eye on that young man. He will make a noise in the world some day," he said of him.
Beethoven returned to Bonn to witness his mother's death. When he came back to Vienna five years later, Mozart was dead.
Beethoven lived in 80 or so different apartments in and around Vienna. He was a difficult tenant. He worked late at night and as his hearing got worse, he played the piano louder. His neighbors complained.
Beethoven's hearing loss began when he was 25.
One of his apartments is in the Pasqualati House at Molker Bastei 8. It contains one of his pianos and a few other artifacts including a death mask.
From his rooms on the top floor he could look across the landscape to his beloved Vienna Woods.
Beethoven died at the age of 57 in an apartment not far from Freud's house.
Franz Schubert was born in Vienna in 1797. He lived in poverty and published only a few works before he died in 1828. A restaurant called The Three Hatchets publicizes the fact that it was one of Schubert's favorite places to eat. It is still in business on a narrow street in the first district.
Haydn was more fortunate than Schubert, Mozart or Beethoven. Employed by Prince Esterhazy, he made a good living and died a well-to-do man.
Immortality
In the Vienna Concert House, an art nouveau structure that dates back to 1913, I realize that Mozart, Haydn et al. have achieved a degree of immortality. The Hagen Quartet plays a piece by Haydn in a room named the Mozart Salle.
Their names, their music live on.
For information about travel to Austria, write the Austrian National Tourist Office, P.O. Box 491938, Los Angeles, CA 90049, or call (310) 477-3332.