Vienna (Wien), with a population of about 1.7 million, was the largest city we had visited since Rome. In contrast to the succession of smaller cities we visited in Switzerland and Austria, Vienna is a modern sprawling city and it has something of a generic big-city feel to it. Still, the city has a beautiful old center, an enduring Habsburg influence, a variety of first-rate museums to choose from, and is noted for its excellent culinary and nightlife scenes. Our three days in Vienna were crammed full trying to take in all that the city has to offer. Between sights, we sampled local cuisine (in particular the city’s specialty – wienerschnitzel, and Nora’s favorite - cheese spaetzle), but didn’t make it out to partake in the nightlife (although it seemed most everybody else in our hostel was there for that reason only).
The historic city center (Innere Stadt) is surrounded by the Ringstrasse (Ring Road), a tree-lined boulevard built in the late 1800s on the former city walls. The majority of the city’s attractions are within or near the Ringstrasse. One of the highlights of this area is Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), a 13th century gothic cathedral with a beautiful brightly colored tile roof. Nearby are the Hofburg (Hapsburg Imperial Palace), Parliament and Rathaus (City Hall) buildings, the Opera House, and the Spanish Riding School. Just outside the Ringstrasse there is a heavy concentration of some of the city’s best museums. We chose to visit the Leopold Museum, with a fabulous collection of paintings by Austrian artist Egon Schiele (thanks for the recommendation Mike!), and the Kuntshistoriches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), displaying a huge collection of European masters including Peter Brueghel the Elder, Rubens, and Velazquez.
Beyond the Ringstrasse, we also visited the Schloss Schonbrunn (Hapsburg summer palace), which was quite obviously modeled after Versaille, and the Naschmarkt a large open-air farmer’s market (and flea market - on Saturdays anyway), and strolled around town and along the Danube Canal. One evening we also went to a screening of Orson Wells’ The Third Man, set in a post-war Vienna divided into four quarters by the occupying English, French, Americans, and Russians. Neither of us had seen the movie before, and it was fun to watch it after having explored the city (we kept recognizing scenes and whispering things like “We saw that today!”). Because the movie was actually filmed in Vienna shortly after the war, it was also interesting to see how much devastation the city experienced during the war and how much rebuilding has been done since.
Click on the photo below for our Vienna photo album.
The historic city center (Innere Stadt) is surrounded by the Ringstrasse (Ring Road), a tree-lined boulevard built in the late 1800s on the former city walls. The majority of the city’s attractions are within or near the Ringstrasse. One of the highlights of this area is Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), a 13th century gothic cathedral with a beautiful brightly colored tile roof. Nearby are the Hofburg (Hapsburg Imperial Palace), Parliament and Rathaus (City Hall) buildings, the Opera House, and the Spanish Riding School. Just outside the Ringstrasse there is a heavy concentration of some of the city’s best museums. We chose to visit the Leopold Museum, with a fabulous collection of paintings by Austrian artist Egon Schiele (thanks for the recommendation Mike!), and the Kuntshistoriches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), displaying a huge collection of European masters including Peter Brueghel the Elder, Rubens, and Velazquez.
Beyond the Ringstrasse, we also visited the Schloss Schonbrunn (Hapsburg summer palace), which was quite obviously modeled after Versaille, and the Naschmarkt a large open-air farmer’s market (and flea market - on Saturdays anyway), and strolled around town and along the Danube Canal. One evening we also went to a screening of Orson Wells’ The Third Man, set in a post-war Vienna divided into four quarters by the occupying English, French, Americans, and Russians. Neither of us had seen the movie before, and it was fun to watch it after having explored the city (we kept recognizing scenes and whispering things like “We saw that today!”). Because the movie was actually filmed in Vienna shortly after the war, it was also interesting to see how much devastation the city experienced during the war and how much rebuilding has been done since.
Click on the photo below for our Vienna photo album.
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