Olie: "I took 720 photos in Vienna!" And we were only there for 3 days and 2 nights but enough content to spread this visit across two blog postings. Vienna was as picturesque as we had expected - the only thing missing was snow as we were there over the Christmas break and it would be nice to see a White Christmas. However, we made up for this by taking a couple of day trips in the form of organised tours and having a romantic candle lit dinner at the Kursalon where Johan Strauss (The Waltz King) entertained his audiences with the 'Blue Danube' - Austria's unofficial national anthem.
Flight to Vienna
Our city break trip to Vienna began with an excruciatingly early 6am flight from Heathrow flying British Midlands (BMI) instead of Ryanair or Easyjet. This meant that we enjoyed some extra leg-room and complementary breakfast which is rare on our weekend trips. The flight-time was about 2 hours and an initial delay of 30 minutes due to fog on the Vienna side was lifted at the last minute, meaning we arrived on time at about 9am in the morning.
Hotel Am Parkring
We arrived on Christmas Eve and Vienna was a hive of activity within the shopping district - a long pedestrian mall in the heart of the Old Town; whereas the areas around the Ring Road (Ringstrabe) on the site of the old medieval fortifications, there was barely any foot traffic. From the airport we took the city CAT train into town and walked to our hotel. On check-in, the receptionist pointed out that Olie had requested a 'city view' room however one was not available so instead we were given one of the penthouse rooms with a balcony and complementary chocolates and cookies.
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| View from our hotel |
Architecture in Vienna
The architecture in Vienna was quite fascinating. There were buildings from every key architectural style - Baroque palaces, Greek Classical Parliament House in white marble and stone columns, Neo-Gothic churches and Art Deco apartment buildings that survived the bombings from World War II.
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| Parliament in the style of ancient Greece |
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| A wing of the Hofburg Palace |
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| Heroes square, statue of the Emperor Karl that defeated Napoleon's army |
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| Palais Coburg, next door to our hotel |
Vienna Tourist Information Centre
After check-in, we took a short walk to the main tourist information centre, expecting that nothing would be available on either Christmas or Boxing Day as the concierge had mentioned that the majority of shops and services would be closed from late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Fortunately, we had anticipated this 'quiet time' and had pre-booked our Christmas Dinner and Classical Music show online, but we were also keen to do a couple of tours to learn more about the history of Vienna (or Wien as it is known in German).
There were a number of tours available but the majority were closed for the winter season. In hindsight, had we known beforehand that Vienna was geographically located so close to Budapest (capital of Hungary) or Bratislava (capital of Slovakia), we could have passed our time by taking a high speed boat down the Danube to another city. Instead we booked ourselves into a tour known as 'Vienna Woods' and a 'City Tour' that included the Schonbrunn Palace - Summer Residence of the Hapsburg Empress - Maria Theresa, mother of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.
Christmas Markets
Similar to other European cities, Vienna has a Christmas market that starts around early December and finishes on Christmas Eve. We went out seeking to find this market at the Rathausplatz - a site holding about 50 little kiosks serving hot punch and mulled wine, bratwurst (including the cheese filled version) and different types of toast and potato puffs. The rum and orange punch proved too strong for us, but another version came with a little fork for picking up a variety of berries that were floating on the top. We stayed there for a couple of hours, taking photos and enjoying the atmosphere. But with the warm alcohol enhancing the need for sleep, we returned to the hotel and set the alarm for a few hours later to seek out dinner.
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| Punch - in these cute cups |
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| Jam filled donuts |
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| Viennese version of the pringle |
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| Gingerbread house, celebrating the season |
St Stephen's Cathedral
True to the concierge's word, around 6pm on Christmas Eve everything started to shut up. But with the Christmas lights decorating the street, and an enormous Christmas tree outside of St Stephen's Cathedral (the central point of the city), tourists were filling the streets just walking around or renting a horse and carriage to see the city sites and avoiding the cobblestone walk.
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| Inside St Stephen's Cathedral |
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| St Stephen's Cathedral spire and Christmas Tree |
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| Horse and carriages available for rent |
Michaelplatz
Walking back to our hotel, we admired the Christmas decorations hanging from the power lines across the different streets. The decorations ranged from colour full lanterns to modern flashing neon lights. As the temperature dropped, so did our enthusiasm for being outdoors.At our hotel we watched the skyline from our balcony, trying hard to stay awake for the Christmas countdown but lasting only until 10pm.
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| Trees decorated with lanterns |
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| Looked like glowing space ships |
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| Christmas tree outside Cafe Landtmann |
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| Christmas lights, Old Town Vienna |
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| Glowing red jaffa ball decorations |
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| Cute chocolate decorations |
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Olie: "I took 720 photos in Vienna!" And we were only there for 3 days and 2 nights but enough content to spread this visit across two blog postings. Vienna was as picturesque as we had expected - the only thing missing was snow as we were there over the Christmas break and it would be nice to see a White Christmas. However, we made up for this by taking a couple of day trips in the form of organised tours and having a romantic candle lit dinner at the Kursalon where Johan Strauss (The Waltz King) entertained his audiences with the 'Blue Danube' - Austria's unofficial national anthem.
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