[22] Café Sperl is an unrenovated alternative to more central tourist traps. Especially on a winter's day, there's nothing more welcoming than the overstuffed banquettes and a steaming, restorative bowl of Kürbiscremesuppe (cream of pumpkin soup, dotted with toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil) followed by a platter of smoked duck breast on baby greens.

Magic Flute impresario (and first Papageno) Emanuel Schikaneder built the neoclassical [23] Theater an der Wien from the proceeds of the show in 1801, a decade after Mozart's death. Beethoven's Fidelio premiered here in 1805, and he actually lived in the theater for a while. Look for Schikaneder's portrait as the bird-catching Papageno on the gate in the Millöckerstrasse.

Just a few screeching BMWs away from the Karlskirche, the [24] Secession Building comes off like modern-day Baroque with its fabulous cupola and exuberant decorations. Josef Maria Olbrich designed it for the avant-garde brotherhood led by Gustav Klimt (1897).

The stalls of the [25] Naschmarkt tempt stomachs of every culinary persuasion. Otto Wagner's elegantly floral Majolikahaus and its neighbor (at 38 Linke Wienzeile) are the visual equivalents to the feast that is the Naschmarkt, the sugary heart of the universe.

Plague survivor Charles VI commissioned the Baroque [26] Karlskirche from his imperial architect Fischer von Erlach (1656–1723), whose other souvenirs include the Spanish Riding School and the complex that became the Museumsquartier.

The Baroque [27] Palais Schwarzenberg is just right for you and your dog now that it's an elite hotel with a private garden. It is still owned by the princely family whose ancestors helped whip Napoleon at Leipzig.

At the end of World War II, what remained of Vienna was divided into four sectors. When the Russians left in 1955, they bequeathed to the city the [28] Liberation Memorial, which is unofficially called the Monument to the Unknown Looter, in memory of the Soviet occupation. In the summertime, the fountain in front of the statue shoots high enough to hide the monument—one example of Austrian humor.

The [29] Musikverein is home to the Vienna Philharmonic, whose vast and almost entirely male orchestra also services the Staatsoper, usually ranked one of the top three halls (with Boston and Amsterdam). The fabled New Year's Day concert featuring the same old waltzes invariably sells out. Want in? Consider bribery or homicide.

The [30] Hotel Imperial was built in 1863, when the new Ringstrasse reflected the boom times of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and it remains the official hotel of the Austrian republic. The suites on the second and third floors are period (avoid the modernized fourth floor). Guests have included Richard Wagner and Michael Jackson—no, this is not where he dangled the baby (Berlin's Hotel Adlon gets that credit), though there are balconies, if you are so inclined.