Vienna

Innere Stadt.  Museums.  Coffee.

One of Matt's friends from business school attended a medical conference in Vienna, so we flew over and met up with him!  It was great to see John and catch up, as well as explore the amazing city.  It's such a beautiful place with stately buildings and well-tended parks, and we lucked out again with stellar fall weather.

 

We arrived late on Friday, several hours after John, but he powered-through his jet lag (from NYC) and we all headed to the Sacher cafe, to enjoy a glass of wine and taste the famous cake (which was yummy, indeed).  The hotel, which is adorned with dark wood paneling, chandeliers and red shades, is over-the-top opulent.  We also walked around the pedestrian area, which was pretty quiet since it was right around midnight!

On Saturday we shopped and strolled on the bustling Mariahilfer Strasse, where I finally found a pair of fall shoes!  I either had spring-y ballet flats, or tall fall/winter boots, but nothing really in-between.  

Pretty new shoes!

 

We also walked through the sprawling and beautiful Hofburg and looked into the Spanish Riding School, but missed the morning's performance of the famous Lipizzan horses.  It was so sunny and beautiful, we wish we had packed our sunglasses!  

  

We continued to the Graben in the pedestrian only area, where we admired the Stephansdom and its mosaic tiled roof.  We even climbed the 343 winding and dizzying steps up the Sudtürm, just to end up at a cramped indoor viewing platform!   The views were nice, but we were expecting to be able to go outside....

 

The Rathaus (townhall) was next, and it reminded us of the Glockenspiel in Munich.  It's also Gothic and adorned with red flower-boxes, which is quite magnificent.
 

 

We popped into several more churches and continued to walk around the city and take in all the beautiful buildings.  Of course, we also stopped in one of the famous coffee houses (kaffehäuser) to enjoy a light lunch along with fancy coffee creations and decadent cakes.  I think we overindulged a bit on this trip!

 

In the evening, we met back up with John, and another classmate from business school (Jessica).  We saw several little stands in the pedestrian area selling "Sturm", which seemed quite popular, so we gave it a try.  Sturm is a semi-fermented grape juice from the first grape harvest of the season (red or white).  It's the official start of autumn for many locals. The taste kinda grows on you.  Prost!

 

  
After the Sturm, and more coffee, we headed via subway to the Prater amusement park to see the world's oldest ferris wheel, the "Riesenrad" (Giant Wheel). It was built in 1897 and currently has 15 little red cabins that take approximately 20 minutes to make a full rotation. Count us in! The night views from the ferris wheel were dazzling.

   

For dinner we went to a traditional restaurant (modern design though) specializing in Schnitzel and Tafelspitz (boiled beef soup).  It may not sound exciting, but it's delicious and filling (and probably pretty fatty)!  The Tafelspitz comes out in a copper pot filled with clear broth and hearty veggies (carrots, turnips, potatoes, green onion), bone marrow and of course, the beef.  You ladle the sumptuous goodness into a small bowl filled with thin noodles.  You can then add the spicy horseradish bread dumplings that are served as a side, and dip in some pumpernickel bread - enjoy!  I'm glad I tried it (Matt had tasty Wiener Schnitzel).  With contended and full bellies, we slept very well that night!

Pictures of Townhall, pedestrian area and Opera House at night.

Sunday was another glorious day, and we visited the Schönbrunn Palace.  The grounds are huge and beautifully maintained.  We wandered around for an hour until our short tour of the palace itself.  It was an audio-guided tour of the interior residential rooms, which are largely in their original condition.  They're quite spectacular (no photos allowed inside though).