1936 On the Continent

October-November. After the races you would do well to walk a little in the Prater or even in the Lobau, the great animal paradise, where from your path you can see stags grazing, and also wild boar and such-like beasts, of which you must beware at times when they have their young with them. After the walk you take supper somewhere in the Prater in the open air, good and not very expensive, and you can look at the crowd in the so-called Wurstelprater. This is the great pleasure ground of the poorer people—from the Hippodrome to the slip-in-the-slip, from the haunted castle to the shooting galleries and the waxworks, everything is there to delight the hearts of grown-ups and children. There you can hear the ancient Viennese dialect, see the true Viennese types of both sexes and learn—if you know enough “Viennese”—something of their wit.
    And now for the shopping. I take it that you have not come to Vienna to buy a fur or jewels. So I will limitmyself to showing you the shops where you can buy practical articles for everyday use, which you need whilst travelling. I have already shown you the perfumery shops, so the next thing is the lingerie salon of Lisl Edthofer in the Herrengasse, a house where you can get the finest ladies’ underclothing. Some of the loveliest hats in Viennese style can be got at Habig’s in the Kärntnerstrasse. From the Tyrolese summer hat to the latest thing in Viennese art work all are obtainable at Habig’s with excellent materials and workmanship. You can of course get dresses in numberless shops. First I must recommend the Viennese knitted goods. Let Frau Schwarz in the Augustinerstrasse, near the Albrechtsrampe, show you the newest models. You will see that the frocks knitted in Vienna, although they have rather the air of “sports” clothes, may also be worn for more dressy occasions in the morning or afternoon. At Zwieback’s in the Kärntnerstrasse you will find a splendidly organised international store, in which you can get all kinds of dresses from the smartest evening frock to the dressing-gown. Another very modern store to visit is Stone and Blythe’s in the Kärntnerstrasse; “Old Bond Street” and Robell’s in the same street can offer you the most intimate articles of underwear, ready-made frocks, stockings, all kinds of clothing.
    You can see that a walk through the Graben and the Kärntnerstrasse will as a general rule bring you all the shops you need. But do not forget that close to the Kärntnerstrasse, the Bond Street of Vienna, there is still the Mariahilferstrasse, where you will find many charming and considerably cheaper goods. The Viennese woman, as a rule, is as elegantly but also as quietly dressed as possible, and she is not bound to the Paris mode, adapting Paris creations to Central European taste, and thus arriving at the charming and original fashions of Vienna.
Shoes
    The Vienna shoe fashions are—as with nearly everything genuinely Viennese—a light-hearted mixture of English, Hungarian and Czechoslovakian influences. The best shoemakers in the town have established themselves in the Karlsplatz, and you will be interested to hear that they are English—Coyle and Earle. There you can get shoeslike a poem. Gardos, also, and Bencze will supply you with first-class footwear, likewise the Delka and Bally shops in the Kärntnerstrasse, or Bauer in the Fleischmarkt.
    If you are buying many things in Vienna you may need another trunk, and at the corner of the Kärntnerstrasse and the Opernring is Sirk’s, one of the best shops for this and all other leather goods. At Förster’s, in the Kohlmarkt, are watches and handbags, ornaments and glass, useful articles and luxury goods in great variety, and if you can leave the shop without having found the gift you wanted—you are indeed difficult to please. Then I should advise you to see the delightful vases and table ware at Wahliss in the Kärntnerstrasse, and at Lobmayer’s on the other side of the street there is attractive glass-ware made from the designs of well-known artists.
    And now you have doubtless spent all your available money and will have to make innumerable excuses to your husband. If you have bought wisely he will say the next morning: “You look like a Viennese woman.” And I hope you will be pleased.
Excursions
    There are some excursions which you must certainly make in order to acquire the reputation of “knowing” Vienna. One of these is the excursion to Gumpoldskirchen, a