A half day at the Vienna market

Sandra and I spent almost all day Monday with four of the spouses of delegates touring the huge outdoor Vienna market. Needless to say, the experience was a new one for this non-shopper. The market went south from the city ring in the middle of an extremely wide (and fashionable) street. It was set up as two long rows that ran for a kilometer or two (or three - it was huge!). The first row (seen here) consisted of nothing but restaurants. At about 12:30, people appeared "out of nowhere" to fill the restaurants - each of which had a limited menu based on fresh bought ingredients.

The second row consisted of an immense collection of stalls at which everything edible was sold in groups of stalls selling similar items. First, were stalls selling every imaginable type of wine vinegar by the flask.
Next door, was a collection of assorted wine vinegars sold from the barrel.
Notice how the barrels of wine vinegar are stacked.
Then, came a series of stalls selling mushrooms (farmed and wild).
After that, came many stalls selling fresh fruit.
Who'd have thought that there were enough varieties of humus to merit several stalls?
Or enough varieties of stuffed peppers?
Mary and Paul having an intense discussion as they passed through the market.
Now, the market is not in some run down area of Vienna. Some colorful (and expensive) 19th century apartments line the street. Here are the Wagner apartments.
This guilded apartment building is next door.
Look at the quality of the decorations of the apartment building next to that.
At the top of the middle apartment building were gargoyles. I thought gargoyles were only for churches.
The time we spent at the market (including lunch for the group) was four hours I never expected to spend "shopping" (or sightseeing) in my life. It was pure pleasure.

Of course, Sandra, Mary and I had to go afterwards to Aida's for dessert and coffee along the street inside the ring where the high end pastry was sold.

All those years of attending business meetings and I never knew what these places existed! What fun!