Austria means porcelain, petit point, knitwear, leather goods, ski equipment and handicrafts and Vienna is the place to find them. The butique reigns supreme as a promenade down the main shopping streets will make all too clear. Vienna has a good selection of the country’s handicrafts, from Tyrolean wood carvings to enamel and wrought iron work. For antiques, take a look inside the Dorotheum, a unique clearing house for objets d’art which has been holding auctions for over two centuries. Music lovers will enjoy browsing through the scores of records and music at Dublinger’s.
For souvenirs, try the group of shops in the underground passage on the Opernring, and for everyday necessities (inexpensive toiletries, etc.) you could try two department stores – Gerngross and Herzmansky – on the busy Mariahilferstrasse.
Maria Stansky at the Hofburgpassage and Finny Skoan at 8 Kohlmarkt have a wide selection of petit point work. Evening bags and other articles covered in this Renaissance-inspired embroidery are not inexpensive but, considering the paintstaking needlework they require, the prices are quite reasonable. For Augarten porcelain, go to the shop of this name at Stock-im-Eisen-Platz, and also to Rasper & Söhne, Graben 15.
Leather goods can be found all three shopping streets mentioned above as well as quality stationery and desk articles and here, as in Germany, they have exquisite wall calendars which make useful gifts. Lanz or Tracht und Heimatkunst have charming dirndl folk-dresses of small-print cottons with solid-color aprons and, for evening, brocade versions with velvet trim.
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