Written by Her
Vienna, Austria. 28th - 30th December 2016
Vienna, Austria. 28th - 30th December 2016
Arriving by Train
Having taken an early train from Budapest, we arrived in Vienna Hbf less than 3 hours later and just in time for lunch. We had pre-booked Vienna Pass cards (well worth the initial investment of €75 each) as they give you free access into all the main attractions and free use of the many hop-on hop-off bus routes. Immediately, having stepped off the train we could see that Vienna meant business, the city was entirely set up for tourists and information was aplenty. We also realised that there are enough museums, attractions, restaurants and districts to keep a tourist busy for at least 2 weeks so we were going to have to be ruthless in our choices.
We checked into our classy hotel (Motel One) opposite Vienna Opera House which turned out to be the best possible location for a short stay in the city and we hopped on a bus to the museum quarter. Once the court stables, the museum quarter now houses art museums, dance theatres and museums. It is the 8th largest cultural area in the world and in the centre was a lovely Christmas market where we got some gluhwein and cheesy pasta bakes.
Schonbrunn Palace
| Fed and watered we hopped back on a tourist bus to Schonbrunn. We knew we were losing time, it was 3pm and we intended to get the last bus back to the city. However, if there is one thing we learned about Vienna in high season, it is impossible to do anything in a hurry (be prepared to queue). When we arrived, the throngs of tourists were lined up at the ticket station. With our passes we had free entry but needed a ticket anyway. |  |
When we got to the counter we were told we couldn't enter the palace for 60 minutes due to overcrowding. So we waited. There was a mini Christmas market with musicians serenading the crowds.
 | There was also a Strudle show which we felt obliged to attend – for all of you I mean, not for the free struddle! A young male pastry chef enthusiastically showed us the steps involved in making the perfect Apple struddle, the secret being that the pastry must be soaked in olive oil to make it extra pliable for stretching super thin, not to mention getting all those extra calories in there. We enjoyed a slice which listening to some lame jokes in German, we were also glad of the warmth. |
Finally we gained entry to the famous Schonbrunn palace, us and at least 100 other people. Handed our audio guides (somehow I got one in French!), we were to follow the herd around the various elaborately decorated rooms, between barriers and sans photos. It was nothing less of chaotic as people pushed and shoved their way around the narrow walkway. Conscious of time, and not having the space to appreciate the interior, we didn't spend as long as we would have liked figuring out the unusual relationship between Sisi and Franz Joseph Habsburg.
The Palace itself is vast, excessively so, with over 1,400 rooms. It was the summer residence of the Austrian monarch (I can understand why they left in winter because the icy breeze would skin a cat). Within the complex there are enough activities to keep a tourist busy for at least a full day. It has a carriage museum, a hedge maze, an extensive garden, a zoo and the imperial palace itself.
The Albertina Gallery
| Lucky for us, we arrived in Vienna on a Wednesday, the only day that the Albertina opens late each week. After escaping the queues in Schonbrunn we were happy to have some space and peace to wander around some of the best art work in the world. We made our way through the great impressionists - Monet, Van Gogh and Degas, to pre-expressionists Munch and Picasso and finally to more contemporary works of Warhol and Katz. There was a separate film stills section and the largest print room in the world. We also got to walk undisturbed around the state rooms (or the residence of the archdukes of the Habsburgs). We were kicked out a 9pm after a couple of hours but it was well worth the visit. |  |
The Spanish Riding School
Getting a seat in the Spanish Riding school training session meant an early start for us. An hour before the starting time we headed to the ticket office only to be greeted by a queue of other eager beaver tourists (of which Austria seems to be full). We commented several times of the ferocity of these people and their lack of interest in manners or staying in their rightful place in the line. I have never had to fight so hard to stay at the top of the line, it became a serious competition between myself and a 60 year old German man - I won!
 | The riding school is the located in the Habsburg palace grounds and is the traditional riding school of Vienna’s famous Lipizzaner stallions who perform regularly. The school was first named in 1572 making it the oldest in the world. The horses are bred especially for the school in Western Austria. The morning session that we attended was not a performance but rather the public pays for admission to watch the riders in training with their horses. Each rider oversees one horse and they must ensure that the horse trains specific muscles to be able to perform certain moves (watch the video here). We watched the riders gently encourage the horses to keep their necks bent and shift their weight to their hind legs. It is said that the movements were originally developed to strengthen the horses body for battle. In 1918, the school opened performances to the public to help to pay for the upkeep of the school. Today riders come from all over the world to try to pass the entrance exam and become Lipizzaner riders in the school. |
Austrian National Library
Most definitely one of my favourite sights in Vienna, the Austrian national library state room is located in Hofburg palace since the 14th century. The library contains about 9,000 books dating from the Middle Ages, as well as globes and atlases within its 7 million odd collection. I was particularly interested in the map collection which dates to the 16th century. The globe and map collection made it into the UNESCO world heritage list and the world’s only public globe museum was opened.
| The room, although not that long is highly decorative. The ceilings are covered in 1730 frescos that would give the Sistine chapel a run for it's money. The walls are clad in rich wooden bookshelves which stretch from the ground up onto a first-floor balcony. Behind the walls of symmetrical books are secret doorways which reveal spiral stone staircases to the upper floors. Standing proudly in the centre of the room is a marbel statue surrounded by 4 baroque globes. Lining the parquet floor are glass cases displaying the most treasured books for visitors to admire.  |  |
Habsburg Treasury
In Hofburg palace, along with the imperial residence and Sisi museum lies the Habsburg treasury. Always attracted by bright sparkly things I insisted that we go to the see Crown Jewels. Inside the vaulted rooms, we could wander around the exhibition. Many of the items (crowns, vestments, scepters, orbs) had been taken by the Nazi’s to Nuremberg but we're returned to Vienna by the USA after the war.
 | While the crowns were incredible, two more interesting items were on display in the treasury. Firstly, a unicorn horn! Given as a gift to the Habsburgs, it was believed that the twisted tusk of a narwhal (whale) was a unicorn horn which would bring great luck. The second item was a large Agate (stone) bowl which was thought to be the holy grail. The bowl is carved from one piece of agate and is the largest of its kind in the world. The Habsburgs must have thought they were so sorted - the greatest luck in the world and eternal life…nice one. |
Café Landtmann
Opened in 1873, café Landtmann is famous for its clientele. A regular haunt of Signmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Marlene Dietrich and Max Reinheart (remember him from Salzburg). It is considered one of Vienna’s most elegant cafes and continues to attract celebrities like Burt Lanchaster, Paul McCartney and Hillary Clinton, so obviously, it was on our list! Situated just opposite the Vienna city hall, café Landtmann had the usual queue for a table but this time we lucked out and waltzed in within 30 seconds. Although it's not the cheapest place one could have lunch in the city, the food was good. I opted for the goulash soup and local cheese plate while himself went for the local delicacy of boiled beef. Very tasty and quite nice staff (which is a rarity in Vienna).
Directly across the road from the Café Landtmann is Vienna's Rathaus (City Hall). The beautiful Neo-gothic building is very different from other Viennese architecture and was one of the most striking buildings we saw in the city. After lunch we treated ourselves to some dessert from the bustling Christmas market stalls out front.
Freud Museum
| Identified by the giant red banner saying FREUD that hangs outside the building, we buzzed ourselves into the stairwell of the Freud museum. Making our way up the stone staircase to apartment number 5 which was Dr. Freud’s home and office, we were again greeted by a queue! Up and up we went, past the apartment, winding up the stairs the queue continued. The museum had decided that due to overcrowding it was admitting just 4 people at a time and there were at least 40 ahead of us! With time pushing on we decided to wait it out. The line moved pretty fast and it was worth the wait. The small but perfectly formed apartment was filled within information. |  |
Listening to our audio guides we were led from the entrance hall (where Freud’s travel chest lay – he loved to travel & collection interesting objects which he used to adorn his office), into the waiting room where patients would sit and wait to be called. His office was rather bare, with just a reading chair especially designed for him. The parquet floors and double doors continued throughout the apartment into the living quarters of the family where we heard how Freud, a Jew, was lucky enough to be able to leave Austria during World War II. He paid a leaving tax which amounted to 1/3 of his life savings but was lucky to get out alive as all four of his sisters were killed in concentration camps.
Naschmarket
An eclectic mixture of stalls and restaurants, naschmarket was a short walk from our hotel and a nice place to spend an evening. Whatever the mood is, there is surely something to suit in this market. We passed restaurants with seafood, desserts, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, German, Austrian, beer, wine or cheese. We popped in for some Dim Sum and Pho to relive the ole Asia adventure. It wasn’t half bad and the price was decent too.
St Stephens Cathedral
A final pit stop on our final day, we walked the exclusive shopping street of graben to get to Stephansplatz, the square where St. Stephan’s Cathedral loomed. Churches don’t usually blow my hair back but this one was a little different because of the decoratively tiled roof. The cathedral is one of the tallest in the world, so it's a little difficult to appreciate it all from the ground. The roof is decorated with coloured tiles (more than 200,000) which are laid in a mosaic pattern showing a double headed eagle – the emblem of Habsburg dynasty. The Cathedral took 65 years to build and unfortunately air pollution and smog have caused the outside to turn a black colour which is a little off-putting. Mozart’s Viennese home is located just around the corner from St. Stephens down a small cobbled alleyway so we took a quick look before hopping on the train to Prague.
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