Page 140 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2023 SPECIAL CRUISE EDTION

We met at my accommodation, the newly and more than 1000 permits have already been
opened design hotel, Die Josefine, in the 7th granted to hobby gardeners. Matching the opu-
district. Just like Paris, Vienna is divided into lence of colors on the ground are the many
boroughs that spiral out from the city center. street art mentioned already. Every year, Vi-
“The first district is the historical heart while enna hosts the Calle Libre (Free Street) Art
districts 1 to 9 form the inner and 10 to 23 the Festival for mural and graffiti artists who ply
outer city”, explained Gabriele. “This district is their trade on dedicated spaces with “live
immediately recognizable by the street art and paintings”.
graffiti which is absolutely verboten (forbid- Walking past places like Mühlbauer, Vienna’s
den) in the Old Town”, she laughed. oldest hat manufacturer (the actor Brad Pitt is
At a leisurely pace, we walked a few blocks on a huge fan), and Naturkost St. Josef, a store of
the shopping street Mariahilfer Straße, before all things organic, we headed towards the cen-
turning into quieter side streets where I no- ter and emerged at the imposing Kunsthis-
ticed the flower beds, some of which were torisches Museum. It was built to house the
overgrown and others well-manicured. The treasures of the Habsburg family and includes
Baumscheiben (tree discs) project allows locals the biggest collection of Titian paintings in the
to “adopt” and tend to a green space in the city, world. In front stands a monument to Austrian

140 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2023