Vienna

Weekend #2 in Austria - Vienna

We liked Austria so much on the road trip, we decided to go back. We went to Vienna to listen to music, see the city´s architecture, and eat cake.

The Music of Vienna

State Opera House

This was the view from our hotel room out to the opera house. In 2001, my uncle Ken took me to Central Park in New York City to listen to La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. This was my first opera and it got me hooked. It wasn't opera season in Vienna when we were there so no luck with listening to La Traviata again. I am sure I will find it somewhere else in Europe over the next year.

We settled for Vienna´s next best, Mozart! The concert included some of Mozart´s most well known pieces. Of course it was all tourists attending, but we really enjoyed it. The music was wonderful and entertaining. It was held in a small, beautiful theater. The musicians were all dressed up like Mozart. The singers were really impressive and had different costumes for each song.

Architecture of Vienna

Castle in Vienna

ehh... it was OK. Probably would have been more impressive if we had time to go inside and see the exhibits. Unfortunately, we tried to go see the big Ferris Wheel first. That turned out to be a strange carnival atmosphere with interesting people so we turned around and headed to the castle. This is the trouble with trying to see Europe in the typical American fashion of cruising through the city in whirlwind time. Next time, more of the castle.

Michael got a great shot of the old and new Vienna.

How would you like to re-shingle this place?
This church was partially under construction, but it´s beauty was still apparent in the roof. I have never seen another church like this and there were two of them in Vienna with a fancy roof.

Inside the church there were rows and rows of candles that were lit. The crowd of people in the church were treating it more like a museum than a church, so I liked escaping over to this area where it was a little more peaceful.

Hotel Bristol
Starwood made a wise choice in purchasing this ornate old hotel in Vienna.

Cool statue in the middle of other cool buildings. Really, the interesting looking buildings were everywhere in this city.

I don´t remember what this building was. I must have been low on sugar and in need of another piece of cake.

Hundertwasserhaus

Most unique building I have seen in Europe! In every city you will find impressive, fancy architecture. Hundertwasserhaus is a different kind of impressive than most historic buildings in Europe. Below is a quick description that I found online of the house.

The house was built between 1983 and 1986 by architects Univ.-Prof. Joseph Krawina and Peter Pelikan. It features undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. Hundertwasser took no payment for the design of the house, declaring that it was worth it, to prevent something ugly from going up in its place.
Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and three communal terraces, and a total of 250 trees and bushes. The Hundertwasser House is one of Austria's most visited buildings and has become part of Austria's cultural heritage.

Hudertwasserhaus - People live and work here!

Water Fountain at Hundertwasserhaus

Seeing this place really made our experience in Vienna. It was such a contrast from everything else that we have seen on our trips.

Bottom of the Water Fountain at Hundertwasserhaus
I took at least 50 pictures of this beautiful fountain. A few more are on my Picasa album.

The food of Vienna - CAKE!


We had a goal of eating 6 meals a day so that we could try all of the cakes here. I think the most we got to was five. I of course ate cake for breakfast both days. We went to the same restaurant for dinner each night because we liked it so much. If you are ever in Vienna, HUTH is a most see!




Maggie suggested for us to go to Cafe Mozart to have the famous Sacher Torte of Vienna. Just a few of the options at Cafe Mozart pictured above.





Neither of us were a fan of the Sacher Torte (above), but the great discovery of the day was, Mozart Liqueur (little gold bottle above the cake)! It is a chocolate liqueur that you can put in our coffee, on the rocks, or my favorite idea - on ice cream. Yummm! I bought a large bottle of it so there will be plenty for everyone when they visit me in Munich.





This was the Eiertorte at Hundertwasser Haus. DELICIOUS! Latte Macchiatos have become my favorite coffee drink since I came to Europe. Notice the complimentary glass of water I received? No? That is because it is the tiny shot glass way in the back! No free large ice water with meals in Europe!

Film Festival
We stumbled upon an outdoor film festival that had a large area set up for restaurants from around the city. The food was delicious of course and my drink was even better. A glass full of raspberries, juice, and an unknown type of alcohol. :)

WATER!!! Enjoying some free, cold water!

I have gotten used to carrying a water bottle with me everywhere I go in Europe because you get charged for water at every restaurant and there are never any drinking fountains. However, in Vienna they have these HUGE water fountains on the sidewalks and are labeled with Trink Wasser! or Drinking Water! Water fountains and a shot glass of water with every coffee, these people in Vienna are on to something!

Trip back to Munich

I think all of the sugar from the cake this weekend was getting to us. Just being silly in the airport waiting for our flight back to Munich.

The Austrian Alps

Bright blue lake in the Austrian Alps.

There is so much more of this tiny country that I want to see. Until next time Austria... bis dann.

Back in Munich at Marienplatz. This was Michael´s last time in Munich before he moved back to the U.S. so we wandered through the city to our favorite places. Perfect end to a great weekend.

Slideshow of all pics from Vienna.

Michael´s Pictures from Vienna