The Kärntner Strasse (“Carinthian Street”) runs from the Staatsoper to the Stephansdom. First mentioned in A.D. 1257, the Roman Strata Carintianorum was part of the trade route to the Carinthia in Southern Austria. Fancy shops, cafés and hotels gradually displaced the wagons and drays. Today, it resembles a badly dressed U.N. summit, with tourist groups being shunted up and down the pedestrian-only avenue.
