The Altstadt, or old city, which contains about sixty thousand inhabitants, is completely separated from the suburbs, whose population, taking the whole extent within the outer barrier, numbers nearly half a million.  It is situated on a small arm of the Danube, and encompassed by a series of public promenades, gardens and walks, varying from a quarter to half a mile in length, called the Glacis.  This formerly belonged to the fortifications of the city, but as the suburbs grew up so rapidly on all sides, it was changed appropriately to a public walk.  The city is still surrounded with a massive wall and a deep wide moat; but since it was taken by Napoleon in 1809, the moat has been changed into a garden, with a beautiful carriage road along the bottom, around the whole city.  It is a beautiful sight, to stand on the summit of the wall and look over the broad Glacis, with its shady roads branching in every direction, and filled with inexhaustible streams of people.  The Vorstaedte, or new cities, stretch in a circle around, beyond this; all the finest buildings front on the Glacis, among which the splendid Vienna Theatre and the church of San Carlo Borromeo are conspicuous.  The mountains of the Vienna Forest bound the view, with here and there a stately castle on their woody summits.  I was reminded of London as seen from Regent’s Park, and truly this part of Vienna can well compare with it.  On penetrating into the suburbs, the resemblance is at an end.  Many of the public thoroughfares are still unpaved, and in dry weather one is almost choked by the clouds of fine dust.  A furious wind blows from the mountains, sweeping the streets almost constantly and filling the eyes and ears with it, making the city an unhealthy residence for strangers.

There is no lack of places for pleasure or amusement.  Beside the numberless walks of the Glacis, there are the Imperial Gardens, with their cool shades and flowers and fountains; the Augarten, laid out and opened to the public by the Emperor Joseph:  and the Prater, the largest and most beautiful of all.  It lies on an island formed by the arms of the Danube, and is between two and three miles square.  From the circle at the end of the Praterstrasse, broad carriage-ways extend through its forests of oak and silver ash, and over its verdant lawns to the principal stream, which bounds it on the north.  These roads are lined with stately horse chesnuts, whose branches unite and form a dense canopy, completely shutting out the sun.  Every afternoon the beauty and nobility of Vienna whirl through the cool groves in their gay equipages, while the sidewalks are thronged with pedestrians, and the numberless tables and seats with which every house of refreshment is surrounded, are filled with merry guests.  Here, on Sundays and holidays, the people repair in thousands.  The woods are full of tame deer, which run perfectly free over the whole Prater.  I saw several in one of the lawns, lying down in the grass, with a number of children playing around or sitting beside them.  It is delightful to walk there in the cool of the evening, when the paths are crowded, and everybody is enjoying the release from the dusty city.  It is this free, social life which renders Vienna so attractive to foreigners and draws yearly thousands of visitors from all parts of Europe.