Up Your Nose with an Onion-Dome

Vinny Barbarino (John Travolta's character on Welcome Back, Kotter) had nothing on the Austrians and their smack in the face they gave the Ottomans when they tried to seize Vienna.  The Battle of Vienna marked the end of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe, virtually keeping Europe from becoming an Islamic state.

Dotting the landscape throughout the Wachau Valley and all through Austria, we have seen onion-domed churches everywhere.  Fashioned after mosques, these domes are topped with either a cross, denoting a Catholic church, or a rooster, representing a Protestant church.  This was the Austrians way of saying, "In your face."

Several culinary legends are related to the Battle of Vienna.  One legend is that the croissant was invented in Vienna, either in 1683 or during the earlier siege in 1529, to celebrate the defeat of the Ottoman attack of the city, with the shape referring to the crescents on the Ottoman flags.  Just one more "In your face" action by the people of Austria. 

So, to paraphrase Vinny Barbarino, Up Your Nose with an Onion-Dome