Austria Posts
Out of all the places in Europe on our bucket list, sad to say, Wien did not make the cut. When the cheap fare came up, we had to make a decision and truth-be-told, we all went back and forth for a little while. November can be hit or miss weather-wise, and it's not quite Christmas market time, but we decided to take a chance and just go with it. In all honesty, I was super excited to go back to Europe but not exactly sure what to expect. But I am learning that sometimes the unknown destinations and unexpected adventures are the most enjoyable, especially during the quiet off-season.
It's no secret that I tend to take a lot of pictures, but I do hope that we can look back on these images one day and remind ourselves of the lovely four days spent on a whim in this beautiful country. And I hope they serve as an inspiration for those of you who experience wanderlust like we do. So forewarning. There are a ton of pictures in this post.
Which brings me to Wien, a city famous for music, cafes, and vineyards on the city outskirts. We spent the first day, the next morning, and the last evening of the trip here. This corner, not too far from our hotel and the city center was my absolute favorite. The ivy and greenery. The lanterns. The architecture. I wanted to take it all in, and when I think of Vienna now, I think of this corner especially.
One of the first stops was St. Stephen's Cathedral.
The gothic-style reminded me of the duomos in Florence and Milan.
And of course, we love a good climb, so forget jet lag. The 343 steps up the south tower were calling. Foot shot by Adam.
I love a good view, and the church steeples rising high throughout the city caught our eyes.
And the church roof. How sweet is that.
The love locks in the tower reminded me of Italy.
"You guys, we are in AUSTRIA" was heard often. Throughout the trip, I kept reminding myself to live in the moment, and it is corners and sights like this that make me stop dead in my tracks and try to take it all in, savoring every minute.
Exploration and wandering through the city center continued.
and brought us to this lovely little park.
I love archways.
and cobblestone. Don't even get me started. It's like taking a step back in time or into a book.
Built in 1733, St. Peter's Church stands atop earlier churches dating back 1,600 years.
We sat in for the free 30 minute organ concert here (Mon-Fri at 15:00, Sat-Sun at 20:00). Not that I have a ton of experience listening to organ music, but listening to the pipe organ in a baroque setting like this was so, so beautiful.
By this time, we were getting hungry, so off to the market we went, wandering up and down the streets along the way.
I love markets and Naschmarkt was no exception. Just another reminder of why the food in Europe is so much better than here in the states. Fresh produce, bread, meat, and cheese. So SO good. And we loved selecting items from the different vendors for picnic-style meals.
A visit to the Wurstelstand for a quick and inexpensive dinner. Hello roots. You can never go wrong with a brat.
Followed by dessert, kaffee und kuchen, at Cafe Sacher. Vienna is known for this famous chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam called sachertorte.
I stuck with the classic hot chocolate.
Then we were off, across the street to the State Opera House where we hoped to secure cheap, standing room tickets (€3) at the side door for the evening performance.
We were in luck! Extra surprise; it was for an opera we had heard of, La Boheme.
In addition to seeing the opera house, I also really wanted to prance down the grand staircase. Which I did after we left.
Even from the nosebleed seats, it is a gorgeous venue. It was much smaller, but higher than I had imagined and fairly empty when we arrived.
But after a while, it filled up!!
After about 40 minutes into the performance, we were ready to move on, so off we went, prancing down the staircase and through the streets, passing St. Stephen's once again in search of gelato.
Adam loves his gelato.
Back over the river and to the hotel to get some sleep.
As much as I hoped to use points for a stay at the newest Park Hyatt during the planning process, my husband and friends were wise enough to use some of the Hotel Tonight credits from last spring (mentioned here) towards two rooms at Hotel Imlauer. The rooms were quite spacious for European standards, and we stayed two nights here, the first and last nights of the trip, for only $16 per person per night after the credits.
Kristina and I's room.
The next morning, we set off to visit Schonbrunn Palace before heading to the Alps and Salzkammergut (more on that here and here). These two had a blast navigating and driving the rented Mercedes through the city streets and on the autobahn.
It took a little while, but we finally got the GPS to work and located Schonbrunn Palace, which was the summer home of the Habsburgs. Side note - See the sign to the right that says no dogs. Apparently in Vienna, you can tie up your dog to the gate (bottom left) and all is well?!
Instead of taking the tours through the palace, we opted to enjoy the sunshine and explore the outside gardens for free.
I had way too much fun prancing down the palace steps!
The gardens were lovely and quite expansive. Gorgeous morning for a walk.
On top of the hill, overlooking the palace and the city, we stumbled upon this structure with a cafe inside.
While the pianist played lovely classical music, we enjoyed apfelstrudel, coffee + cocoa, and conversation. It was here where we really fell in love with the cafe culture and thus began our twice a day, every day cafe stops.
And once we had finished and were full, off we went down the hill.
The view of Schonbrunn Palace and the city from the top of the hill.
These flat trees were fascinating. I cannot imagine how much work goes into their upkeep.
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On our last evening in Austria, we explored Vienna's heuriger wine gardens, the vineyards in the outskirts of the city. This was one of the things I was most looking forward to in Vienna, and the neighborhood we selected was picture-perfect.
It was a Monday evening, so unfortunately the heuriger we had initially selected was closed (the guidebook was outdated), so we moved on to the next after enjoying the views.
And settled in to enjoy some Austrian wine and snacks. It was early evening and fairly quiet, but still enjoyable.
In warmer weather, it would be fun to linger outside in the courtyard and take in the vineyard views, glass of wine in hand.
Then we drove back to the hotel to check-in for our last and final evening before the flight home.
Earlier in the day, we had stopped at the grocery store and ate the leftovers for dinner.
Adam was pretty excited about the cheeses, but we had to talk him out of the €20 cheese and purchased two types of white cheeses instead.
Our attempt at dinner.
For one last time, we ventured out to a cafe for apfelstrudel, passing through my favorite corner in Vienna once again.
Adam got a little distracted by pizza at one point, and it was quite delicious!
But we did manage to find dessert.
Before lazily made our way back to the hotel, not wanting our time in Austria to come to an end.
So long, farewell, au wiedersehn, goodbye.
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