Sachertort, Chestnut Blossoms

Nostalgia and hoary traditions have a way of appearing in bits and pieces on the faces and in the hearts of many European capitals, but here they are woven so tightly into the city’s fabric that one is hard put to believe the 20th Century has made much of a dent.

Hotels go up, last years’s London or Broadway play opens, fashions keep abreast. But the soul and spirit of Vienna still flow from another time, a time of native sons Haydn, Schubert and Mahler, fanciful baroque, fiacres with bowler-hatted drivers, quiet coffeehouses and hordes of Hapsburgs.

Those Hapsburg princesses account for much of the city’s beauty and charm. Sent to marry other European royalty, they were always advised to bring home a little something. Which is why Vienna’s museums have Breughel and Velasquez collections to overflowing, the Spanish Riding School and other treasures gleaned during six centuries of rule.

The Viennese even have their own German patois, a soft and lilting type of baby talk that they are prone to slip into at times, making them immediately recognizable in Salzburg or Stuttgart.

After two years of living here and three decades of numerous return visits, we see no reason to change our formula for what this town is all about: Sachertort, chestnut blossoms, Grinzinger wine, then blend to the Fledermaus Overture. A very soothing and satisfying potion.

Here to there: Fly Lufthansa or British Airways with one stop, Pan Am with two.

How long/how much? At least three days to absorb some of the instant 18th Century that Vienna has to offer. But let’s face it, the dollar’s nose dive has made most of Europe more expensive, Vienna no exception.

A few fast facts: Austria’s schilling was recently valued at .0857, about 11.6 per dollar. Mid-summers crowded, fall glorious, but Alt Wien really comes alive with music, opera and other cultural events during winter, a glittering time. Excellent trams, buses and metro system, a three-day pass on all for $7.85, fiacre ride for four around the central city for $26.

Getting settled in: Pension Christina (Hafnersteig 7; $72 double B&B;) is down by Danube Canal, with a small lobby and breakfast room having Art Deco overtones. Large, pleasant bedrooms, some with views of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The Pertschy family also owns two other pensions (Edelweiss and Pertschy), all fairly central, all good value.

Pension Carina (Alser Strasse 21; $52-$60 double B&B;, high season, $48-$52 October through February) is our old friend, Pension Zenz, spruced up recently into a real sparkler of white walls spotted with contemporary art, immaculate rooms, a very cheerful feeling top to bottom. On tram line to center in five minutes, folks here most friendly and helpful.

Hotel Rathauspark (Rathausstrasse 17; $94-$110, low and high season, buffet breakfasts) is an old palace turned into a fine and modern hotel a year ago. Moderate-size rooms with high ceilings, attractive contemporary furnishings, mini-bars, TV, full-length mirrors and down comforters to get lost in. Handsome dining room, small American bar.

Regional food and drink: Vienna is justly noted for its light-as-a-breeze schnitzels, but a tafelspitz of the finest boiled beef with a variety of cold sauces is equally traditional and delicious. Order it only at lunch, never dinner, as it doesn’t reheat well. Chicken is also treated with respect here: wienerish backhenderl, fried; brathenderl, roasted; paprikahuhn, in a marvelous creamed paprika sauce.

Vienna’s cooks also do wondrous things with old Austro-Hungarian Empire dishes: goulash, piquant stuffed peppers, pork and veal with a tart Gypsy flavor. And the Viennese love for pastries and desserts is legendary, our vote for the best tortes, Sacher or otherwise, being those at Demel’s.

Moderate-cost dining: Restaurant Leupold (Schottengasse 7) seems to get all of Vienna under one roof: five stuben and a more formal salon; doctors, students, musicians, business types and few tourists. Menus are classic Viennese, surroundings terribly gemutlich, set meal for less than $5, tafelspitz $13.50.

Hans Stiedl’s (Steindlgasse 4, behind St. Stephen’s) dates back to 1566, with stained-glass windows, traditional furniture, lots of atmosphere. Light eaters take their beer, wine and snacks in the Goesser Bierklinik up front, others in the cathedral-like room behind. Plan on opening a menu of many city specialties, running from $6.50 to $11 for main courses mit all the fixings.

Stadtbeisl (Naglergasse 21) slips in a little Tirolean atmosphere to go with a solid-Vienna dining card. Up front, beside the beisl, you’ll find a charming little room with lace curtains and century-old Biedermeier furniture. Again, pure weinerisch food at prices a notch or two above Stiedl’s.

Cafe Central (Herrengasse and Strauchgasse) has been one of the town’s best coffeehouses since 1876, perfect for a light meal. It’s been said that psychoanalysis, atonal music and perhaps the Russian Revolution were born in a Viennese cafe, because Trotsky still owes Cafe Central for a coffee.

Going first-class: Hotel Imperial (Kaerntner Ring 16; $188 to $300 double) is as Viennese as Franz Josef, who opened the place in 1873. Little can prepare you for the opulence and grandeur, marble halls and stairways, enormous size and regal appointments of the bedrooms.

Two others that come awfully close are the Bristol (Kaerntner Ring 1; $180 to $326) just across from the Statsoper, and Inter-Continental (Johannesgasse 28; $168 to $201) just opposite the Stadtpark.

It happens that the Bristol and Inter-Continental also have some of the city’s best dining: the former’s superlative Korso restaurant for a tafelspitz lunch or after-the-opera supper, latter’s Vier Jahreszeiten for marvelous lunches or elegant dinners under the magnificent chandelier of Austria’s Bakalowits crystal.

We have also had glorious meals for years at Zu den Drei Husaren, Hotel Sacher, Rathauskeller and the Stadtkrug.

On your own: Plan on a couple of hours at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, if only for the painting mentioned above. Also the Hofburg for a performance of the Spanish Riding School, Vienna Choir Boys or, with loads of luck, a ticket for Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” in the palace’s rococo Redoutensaal.

For lighter going, ride the giant “Third Man” Ferris wheel in the Prater and, as night comes on, take tram No. 38 to Grinzing and spend the evening singing, eating simple food and drinking new wine in a heuriger.

Some heurigen have lost a measure of their gemutlichkeit since we lived just above the village and passed them all on our way home, but Raimund Berger’s little place (Himmelstrasse 29) still has the old spirit. But remember, the last tram for town has a blue light and leaves at 11:45 p.m.

And spend one evening in a Viennese keller, listening to schrammel music and singing old songs sad enough to make a Marine sergeant cry in his wine. Urbani-Keller at Am Hof 12 is a good bet for the whole melancholy melange. Ask for “My Mother Was a Viennese” and get out your hankie.

For more information: Call the Austrian National Tourist Office at (213) 477-3332, or write (11601 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2480, Los Angeles 90025) for a brochure and map of the city, others on museums, opera, restaurants or other special interests.