Vienna.. the land of art, culture and music. The bustling capital city of Austria is an amalgamation of various cultures - pieces from the Ottommon empire right to the Bohemian empire and ofcourse German culture and traditions. Getting around the city is easy and all the sights are at walking distance. However, I had taken the Vienna City card which gave me unlimited use of the public transport - metro, tram or bus and also some discounts on the entry tickets for the sight. I had booked an Air B&B one stop away from Stephansplatz and it was very convenient.
As always I started off with a free walking tour ( I have decided I will do this in every city) by Good tours.. I like the little anecdotes shared by the tour guides, something you don't get to read in all the pre-planning research that you do. The tour quickly covers all the main sights but I also had my eyes on a few I had to do which weren't covered in the tour. St Stephans Cathedral is the most popular one, but the one that really had my eyes pop out was the Karls Kirche (Charles Church). A 80m tall church, situated quite close to the other sites, it has magnificent architecture both on the inside and the outside. There is also a lift, inside the church which takes you up to the dome to be able to see the beautiful frescoes up close! I don't really have a fear of heights, but when I looked down at the altar my heart did stop for a second. The church also has a VR facility which takes you on a ride on top of the church.. quite cool I must say..
Vienna was ruled by the Hofsburg empire and they were quite flamboyant. This you would see in the interiors of the Schonbrunn palace and Hofsburg palace which are absolutely gorgeous. Vienna also has a lot of expansive gardens with statues erected at various points of famous people; a good place to chill for a bit. There are many more sights to see but I did have limited time here and hence picked the highlights to visit.
For my evening, I had something exciting picked out. One cannot leave the land of Mozart without attending a concert. I am a music lover; listen to any kind of music and classical music is something that I enjoy. I picked a Joanas Strauss and Mozart concert - an evening well spent listening to the sound of a lovely orchestra playing famous compositions by Mozart and Strauss with a bit of ballet, waltz and opera, all in the beautiful Kursalon Wien venue right in the heart of the city....
Being a vegetarian, I had figured that I will live on basic food - forms of bread, egg, fruits etc in Europe. However, I discovered, much to my delight, that Vienna has plenty of restaurants in and around Karlsplatz which are completely vegetarian. I have had some yummy burgers, salads etc here. Highly recommended for all the veggies! For the non vegetarians Vienna streets are lined with the hot dog stalls called Wien Würstel and they are supposed to be good! And ofcourse the Schnitzel (which btw isn't Viennese)
I was coming to the end of my Viennese adventure and had saved the best for the last.... the Sacher torte! This is a chocolate pastry with a layer of chocolate on top. Simple as it sounds, it couldn't get better than this.. Finishing off the trip to Vienna, seated at the Sacher Hotel cafe, licking the Sacher cake and cream off my fork! #Life'sGood.
P.S. you get the Sacher cake in many shops but
the Sacher hotel is the one where it originated.
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