The [3] Kärtnerstrasse's pedestrian stretch begins on the other side of the Walfischgasse. Please stand on the corner and watch Austrians wait for the light to change even when there is absolutely no traffic. Nothing is quite so funny and revealing of local character. And now—mach schnell!—march right up the Kärtner, past Swarovski, Fürnkranz, and of course the shops selling sausages, sandwiches, shoes, and hats with feathers. The glass-sided elevator in the Steffl department store takes you to the rooftop Skybar, great for evening cocktails and a remarkable view. The [4] Kapuzinergruft—or imperial crypt—is the spooky final resting place of many top Hapsburgs, including Maria Theresa, whose amazing fertility (16 kids) is recalled by a smattering of dead progeny and the otherwise unmemorable husband.

Need refreshment already? Try the tiny [5] American Bar, designed by architect Adolf Loos after a U.S. trip in 1903. It's in the tiny Kärtner Durchgang, off the Kärtnerstrasse near Stephansplatz.

Unfortunately, in 1990 local architect Hans Hollein was allowed to insert his repellent glass-sheathed [6] Haas Haus opposite the cathedral. Happily, you can't see it when you are inside the popular Onyx Bar.

The Gothic spire of the [7] Stephansdom rises above the souvenirs of Vienna's medieval past. Its vast interior is sheltered by the curiously decorative steep roof that looks like saintly knitting. Mozart's funeral service was held here, after which a hearse took his coffin from his apartment (long vanished) in the Rauhensteingasse to the newly laid out St. Marx Cemetery.

Only one of Mozart's many apartments still reflects his era—the [8] Figarohaus, in the Domgasse, where he completed his famous comedy about the uppity barber in 1787. After a much needed makeover, it now admits visitors.

Proceed to the handsomely traditional [9] Café Diglas, whose menu has gotten a bit adventurous, with glass noodles sidling up to Gulaschsuppe.

Immediately after boisterously welcoming Hitler in 1938, the gemütlich Austrians began shoving their Jewish neighbors into camps and moving into their apartments. Rachel Whiteread's [10] Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust, in the Judenplatz, commemorates the horror. The white cube evokes a library with the books turned inside out and all life bleached away.

The Renaissance [11] Griechenbeisl is touristy but also pretty and impressively historic, and the staff on a rainy spring night were solicitous. Mozart may have eaten here (waiters happily show his signature in an inner sanctum).

Tour Two
A long square (actually a filled-in medieval moat), the animated [12] Graben has boutiques, fountains, and multitudes carrying orange bags. They've been shopping at the fabled Meinl am Graben, a gourmet grocery store with a basement wine bar that serves everything edible, from fresh Perigord truffles to North American maple syrup.