District 8 Josephsstadt

We explored Josephsstadt this week and it was really pretty. Josephsstadt is the smallest district in Vienna and it is very quiet and calm compared to other districts I have been to in Vienna. We ate lunch in a cafe and had traditional Viennese food. The goulash was delicious. It was exciting ordering food in German from the waiter. It is always fun to try out my German outside of the class room. Cafes in Vienna are so relaxed, the waiters never try to rush you out once you have finished eating, which is really nice and much different than in the US. We walked around the district and went window shopping. The district is very residential, most of the buildings are beautiful Baroque style apartment buildings. However, the shops in Josephsstadt are mostly small mom and pop specialty stores which were really fun to explore. Most of the stores in the more touristy areas of Vienna are large multinational chain stores which are not nearly as special as the small family run stores I found in Josephsstadt. We went into a beautiful very small candy store that was selling the cutest easter candy. There were marzipan rabbits, beautiful chocolate flowers, and all sorts of rainbow colored gummy candy. It was really fun to look at all the speciality chocolates and truffles. We also went into a family run toy store that sold carved wooden toys. The toys were very cute and whimsical. We also went into a small bookstore. It was so small it could only fit three people comfortably, but it was absolutely crammed with german novels. I bought a small book of Goethe poetry about flowers. It is all in German and I am hoping by the end of the three months in Vienna I will be able to read and understand the poetry.
We also went into three different churches. I am amazed by the number of beautiful churches and cathedrals throughout Vienna. Every church I go into is so extravagant and there seems to be an uncountable number of churches in the city. My favorite church we went into was Maria-Treu-Kirche. It was not what I was expecting from the outside. The church was decorated in a Baroque style, it had curved ceilings with intricately carved molding and gold leaf. The pulpit was covered entirely in gold leaf. The ceiling of the church has beautiful frescoed ceilings depicting biblical scenes. It was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been inside. We were the only people inside the church and it was really cool to be able to look at all the details of the church in quiet without being rushed. Some of the other larger touristy churches I've visited were so filled with people it was hard to appreciate all the details.
We ate cupcakes at a beautiful small mom and pop style cupcake store. The cupcakes were covered in beautiful frosting and they were delicious. It was the perfect way to end the exploration.