Vienna's 9th district excels at capturing the city's fresh and urban mood by housing a wide range of cultural activities and restaurants offering finest cuisine from all over the world. As many students call Alsergrund their home, new coffeeshops and bars pop up every month. Fortunately this welcoming place hasn't been flooded by tourists so far, so it clearly stands for the authentic and emerging Vienna while retaining its historical atmosphere.
The Strudlhofstiege is one of Vienna's most important Jugendstil - also known as Art Nouveau - buildings. In the center of the stairs there's a split fountain decorated with ornaments. Take the 58 steps and you get within seconds from Strudlhofgasse to Liechtensteinstraße, deeper in the ninth district. Thanks to a novel by Heimito von Doderer, "Die Strudlhofstiege oder Melzer und die Tiefe der Jahre" written in 1951, the stairs became world-famous. As soon as its dark, the place looks somehow Parisian and unbelievably romantic.
