Vienna, Austria

The Stunning Architecture of Vienna

The train ride to Vienna was fast and comfortable. I even walked to the restaurant car and ordered myself a beer. Why not?

I'm loving how easy it is to buy transit passes and tickets on apps these days. The days of paper tickets are nearly gone. It's so simple to buy on your phone and not have to scramble at the bus stop or train station. We bought 48 hour Vienna transport passes while on the train and used it right away to grab a tram to our airbnb. And what a nice airbnb we scored! It had two bedrooms with the best beds of the trip. We had so much room to spread out and it even had a washer and dryer for laundry.

Our place was just outside of the city center so we hopped a metro into the center to get our bearings. We saw the giant St. Stephen's Cathedral with its trademark tiled roof. There were tons of people but we walked just a few streets away and things cleared out.

We were all pretty hungry by this point so we found the nearby 1516 Brewery for dinner. (1516 is the year they established the beer purity law.) We were seated outside and enjoyed beef goulash and a cabbage roll. It was a really nice dinner with good atmosphere.

We did a little joy riding on some trams before making a pit-stop at the airbnb. DD#1 and I left my mom to have some quiet time while we headed out to explore. We enjoyed the dark and peaceful streets before finding a delicious gelato spot. Gelateria la Romana was the best of the trip. Amazing! We called it a night ready to dig into Vienna tomorrow.

Vienna in a day

Today was our only full day to explore Vienna so naturally, I got up early for a run! I made it all the way to Schonbrunn Palace and couldn't believe the enormity of the grounds. I took some pictures and decided to take a combo of a bus and metro back to the airbnb.

We grabbed a quick pastry and coffee breakfast and walked through a local market before taking a tram into the center. We used the good old Rick Steves guide and took his recommended tram tour around the center of Vienna. We hopped on and off the tram to see various sights. First up was St. Charles Church. We decided to pay the hefty $10 admission because I thought there was an elevator to the top. Only stairs. Sorry, Mom! Still, it was a gorgeous church with a massive organ and views overlooking the city.

Next up was the Belvedere Palace. Tour groups were taking over the place so we were happy walking around the outside taking pictures of the massive exterior.

We continued around the loop taking a quick break for gelato and more coffee. We took so many pictures of the beautiful buildings that honestly started to blend in together after a while. Sometimes I think of how dramatic it would be to take just one of these magnificent structures and plop it down anywhere in my hometown. People would come from miles to admire such a beautiful building.

Naturally, there was another Mozart statue.

We saw a bit of modern Vienna as well and the little streams that feed into the great Danube.

We stopped at a cafe for a Viennese torte. The Sacher torte was a little disappointing, I'm sad to say.

We took a metro a couple stops away to explore a famous shopping street called Mariahilfer Strasse. We popped in and out of lots of stores. DD#1 and I shared a yummy doner salad. (Tasted better than it looks.)

On a whim, we decided to check out a roof-top bar at the top of a shopping mall. The view was incredible and we had the best time looking over the street below and church just across the way.

We continued down the long pedestrian street and decided it was time to head back to our apartment to regroup. We grabbed a few snacks along the way and Mom got too cozy to leave. DD#1 and I didn't venture much further. We went around the corner to a small Indian restaurant and had a nice meal outdoors. It was a nice end to our time in Vienna. I hope to return to Vienna someday when I can enjoy the city at a more leisurely pace. Still, this was a nice taste of what is often voted the most livable city in the world. I admit, the Viennese people looked like a pretty content bunch!

Back to Prague tomorrow for the big move-in for DD#1.