Adam Albert von Neipperg

At the table

Staple diet of ordinary people

Ordinary people rarely ate meat and relied instead on flour-based dishes, legumes like peas, beans, and lentils, and porridges made from millet, oats, or barley.

What people wore

Traditional dress of Austrian peasants

Upper Austrian peasants commonly wore dark-gray jackets, red waistcoats with spherical metal buttons, and black leather breeches. They completed the outfit with tight buskins and broad-brimmed, shallow-crowned round hats.

Getting around

Coach vs. rail time (Vienna–Graz)

When rail travel was available, a journey from Vienna to Graz took nine hours, while a post coach took twenty-nine hours on the same route.

What it cost

Cost of game and poultry

In Nice, part of the Kingdom of Sardinia at the time, a capon, a brace of partridges, or a good hare cost 30 sols.

Music

The Ländler and Early Viennese Waltz

Around 1750, the Ländler, also known as the Schleifer, served as a popular country dance for couples and provided the foundation for the later Viennese waltz.

Daily life

Water, cooking, and food preservation challenges

Because many city wells were contaminated, residents often purchased water from street water-men, while cooking was done over open hearths or brick stoves that often left indoor environments smoky. Families preserved food by salting, drying, or storing items in cool, dark cellars to survive without modern refrigeration.