Good night; Vienna

T he bodies of the Habsburgs are buried in the Kaisergruft," says Heidi, my guide. I nod. "But," she adds, "their hearts are in the Augustinerkirche - and their entrails are in the catacombs of Stephansdom. It was considered a privilege for a church to have a piece of their bodies."

I wonder whether, lying hidden in the crypt of some city church, there is a little pile of Habsburg toe-nail clippings reverently encased in an ornate marble urn. It is a diverting image and one which seems to sum up the character of Vienna, a city where Imperial palaces cover a darker underworld, a city which inspired both Strauss waltzes and Graham Greene's The Third Man. It is the place where Harry Lime meets the Waltz King.

This year marks the anniversary of the deaths of these famous sons of Vienna. Johann Strauss, the master of the waltz, died 100 years ago in June. While it is 50 years since Graham Greene's fictional Harry Lime met his end in the city's sewers, in the premiere of the film The Third Man, the spirits of both still haunt the city. Vienna is nothing if not musical. Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven were all drawn to the city, while Schubert and Strauss were born there. Strauss senior, composer of the Radetsky March, used to provide the music for Imperial Court balls but expressly forbade his son from becoming a musician, feeling that there were more suitable middle- class careers for a young man. However, his son, who was said to have composed his first waltz at the age of five, paid no heed to his father and by the time he was 19 was playing all over the city, his jaunty waltzes and polkas attracting the young, as well as ethnic people who had migrated to the city from various parts of the empire. For the first time, music was played for ordinary people, not just the aristocracy. On my first evening I went to the Kursalon and joined an elegantly attired audience (the Viennese are not casual dressers) to listen to a Strauss concert. The music was familiar - after all, who doesn't know the Blue Danube - but seemed to take on a new life and resonance when played in such an appropriate setting. And even though there were plenty of tourists in the audience, there was also a good number of Viennese who needed no persuading to get on the dance floor at the end and join in. Their expertise was impressive and indicated plenty of practice, although my attention was drawn to a stout, toad-like man and his wife who whirled around enthusiastically with a sadly misplaced confidence in their waltzing ability. Vienna is a great place for a weekend break as it is very compact but full of things to see and do. The might of Austria's imperial past is reflected in the palaces, the most central of which is the Hofburg, a huge building which exudes a confident atmosphere. Inside, you can see the apartments of the Empress Elisabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Josef I. The highlight is her gymnastic equipment which she had installed in her Boudoir as a way of retaining her famous 19-inch waist. She probably needed it, as Vienna is famous for its delicious cakes and pastries, such as Sachertorte, a rich chocolate cake; Mohnstrudel, which has a poppy seed and raisin filling, and of course, Apfelstrudel, stuffed with apples. From the Hofburg I walked to the Opera House to join a tour of this imposing building. The building is high on most tourists' tick- list and tours are conducted separately for different language groups. Unfortunately, I didn't realise this and somehow managed to join a Russian tour, which made a change I suppose but isn't really recommended. Outside I am immediately assaulted by people dressed in frock coats and buckle shoes trying to flog tickets for that night's performance. While you have to pay to see inside buildings like the Hofburg and Opera House, there are others you can visit for nothing. To my mind one of the most stunning interiors is that of the Jesuitenkirche. Built in Baroque-style, it has richly carved pews; pillars of jade, pink and buttermilk marble and a magnificent trompe d'oeil painted ceiling. It was clearly designed to impress. Appearance is important in Vienna and nowhere is this more evident than in the local preoccupation with elaborate funeral rites. The Habsburgs started it, with their generous dispersal of body parts and their huge marble tombs, and the Viennese are still keen to outdo their neighbours in the "best tombstone" stakes. At one time, people even aimed to have eine schone leich - a beautiful corpse. The city has a Coffin Museum, while in the crypt of Michaelerkirche you can, if you are so inclined, spend a happy hour inspecting the half- rotted corpses that lie in uncovered coffins. Apparently this is particularly popular with school boys aged about ten. Later, I take tram 71 to the Central Cemetery, where about 2.5 million people are buried. I enter through gate two and soon find myself in musicians' corner where Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and of course Strauss, are buried. I am amazed, and slightly appalled, at the lavishness of the tombstones which tend to be elaborately-carved marble confections, designed presumably to overwhelm the onlooker. People will set up separate bank accounts to have a suitably impressive send off. Harry Lime was buried in Central Cemetery - although his first death was faked. Graham Greene came to Vienna in 1948 at the request of film producer Alexander Korda, who thought that the post-war city would make a good setting for a film. Greene came armed with the opening paragraph of a story he had once scribbled on to an envelope: "I had paid my last farewell to Harry a week ago, when his coffin was lowered into the frozen February ground, so it was with incredulity that I saw him pass by, without a sign of recognition, among the host of strangers in The Strand." The story goes that Greene was nearing the end of his stay and still had no inspiration for the film. Then he had some luck. He was staying at the Sacher Hotel which had been requisitioned by the British after the war and had lunch with a British intelligence officer. This officer told him about the underground police, who literally worked underground managing the extensive network of sewers that snaked for miles underneath the city, their entrances concealed as advertising kiosks. At the same lunch, Greene learned there was a large black-market in penicillin. "I had my film," Greene wrote later. He created Harry Lime, a penicillin racketeer who fakes his death to escape capture. He manages to evade the authorities by moving along the complex system of sewers. I joined The Third Man tour led by Barbara Timmermann, the daughter of Dr Brigitte Timmermann, a local expert on the film. She started off explaining that the film was not made in the sewers proper - it would have been impossible, but in an offshoot of the Danube canal that runs through the city. She leads us through a little door and down some steps. A ribbon of water stretches ahead of us, disappearing into a dark tunnel. Some people carry torches and I am soon grateful for them, as the darkness swiftly envelopes us. Our footsteps and voices begin to echo and someone squeals and says they have seen a rat. After we have been walking for a few minutes, I catch the sound of a zither: a young man is crouched in an alcove playing the haunting Harry Lime theme from the film. We huddle around him, watching him expertly picking out the notes. The light from the torches casts our shadows high on to the tunnel walls, making it look as if a group of ghostly giants has heard the music and come to join us. We walk on and eventually climb a black winding stair to emerge through the same advertising kiosk that Harry Lime used in the film. The tour continues: to the Sacher Hotel and then out to the Prater with its giant ferris wheel. Imperial Vienna is all about me, but I cannot shake the zither music from my head. Dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum ... need to know Getting there: You can now fly direct to Vienna from Edinburgh. Until May 9, 1999 a return flight will cost #199. Book through a travel agent or Austrian Airlines 0171 434 7300 The easiest way to get into the city centre is on the Airport Shuttle Bus which runs regularly and may even drop you at your hotel. Where to stay: I stayed at the Hotel Amadeus, Wildpretmarkt, just minutes from all the main sights Tel: 00431 533 8738 and Arcotel Wimberger Tel: 0043 152 1650 Getting around: Buy a Vienna Card which gives you access to the city's efficient public transport system, as well as discounts on many museums and galleries. It is valid for 72 hours. For further information: Contact the Austrian National Tourist Office, 14 Cork Street, London W1X 1PF Tel: 0171 629 0461, Fax 0171 499 6038 email: oewlon@easynet.co.uk

Copyright 1999
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