Day 9 – July 5: Vienna City Center

We only have two full days to see Vienna and it felt overwhelming this morning to try to figure out how to do that, especially without our trusty Rick Steves. After our free executive lounge breakfast we went straight to the Ringstrasse and went on the 30-minute tram tour that goes around the area, with an audio-guide that pointed out the sights as we passed by.  The Ringstrasse follows the path of the old city wall that surrounded Vienna until 1860 when Emperor Franz Joseph had the Medieval wall replaced with this huge boulevard to help modernize the expanding city.  The tram gave us a great orientation to the city and introduction to the amazing beauty we then needed to go explore further.

 The tram let us off close to the oldest church in Vienna, St. Rupert’s, so we walked a few blocks back to get a closer look and check out the inside.  The building that is there now was built around 1000 AD and as such is very simple inside, especially compared to the incredibly ornate places we saw the rest of the day.

Jim, Julia, and Rachel in an unintentional gray-dient.

We decided to follow a walking tour of the city I found online and started with the State Opera House.  Unfortunately, there are no performances during the months of July and August, but we did get to take a tour of the inside. Our Austrian guide learned English from a Scotsman so it was entertaining just listening to his accent.  And, the Opera House was amazing! Parts of it were original from about 150 years ago (when the Ringstrasse was built) and some were added/rebuilt after 30% of the building was damaged during the war.  

It is super impressive how many people they can seat – with only 500 seats on the orchestra level they can still fit over 2,000 for performances given the number of boxes and levels. Normal to high ticket prices prevail but I love that they offer standing room tickets for about $5 and that you can’t get those until 80 minutes before the show.  We got to see backstage which looks like a little city.  They never perform the same show two nights in a row so every day they have to completely change the set.  I wish we were able to see a performance inside…next time! 

We needed lunch next and decided to try a Lonely Planet and Hilton-recommend vegetarian restaurant. We got a table and took a look at the menu and knew immediately it was way too expensive for us -- it would have easily cost $150 for lunch for four.  So, we left as graciously as possible and ended up a nearby, much cheaper, pizza/pasta place.   Afterwards we walked through Castle Park and decided it was important we actually go into a museum while they were still open.  

Maria Theresa - the only female Hasberg ruler

We knew we really only would have time to do one museum any justice so we decided on Kunsthistorisches  (the Art History Museum), chose a meet-up time, and focused on the Old Master Paintings in the Picture Gallery.   Rachel and Jim were most excited to see paintings they knew by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

 After a couple of hours in the museum, we picked up our walking tour at the Sacher Café, home of the world-famous chocolate cake, the Original Sacher-Torte, made initially for a royal party in 1832 by Franz Sacher.  We orderd a slice of the torte and a slice of apple strudel, which we were plenty happy to eat but didn’t think they lived up to the hype.

Maria Theresa and her husband in this one

From there, our walk took us past the Anti-War and Fascism Monument, the Capuchin Imperial Crypt  (where we saw the elaborate tombs of just the bodies (organs stored in different churches) of Austria’s greatest rulers), Saint Stephen’s Square (and a very cool “nailing tree” that travelers pounded nails into for good luck), St. Stephen’s Church, Mozart’s Vienna apartment (where he wrote The Marriage of Figaro), a Plague Monument (built in 1693 after Vienna lost a third of its population to the plague}, St. Peter’s Church (where we walked in to a performance by the New Rochelle, NY High School Choir), and Am Hof Square (where many scenes from Orson Wells 1939 movie The Third Man were filmed).

After all of that, we needed to take another break from the tour (to be picked up tomorrow) to go to dinner.  After the lunch debacle, we decided to try another Lonely Planet-recommendation for vegetarians, but this one was a “pay as you wish” Pakistani restaurant.  Every day three vegetarian, two meat, and one dessert dishes are served buffet style and you can eat as much as you want and then decide how much you’d like to pay.  Great concept – and great food!

 After dinner, Julia was (as has been common this trip) wanting to stay out and see the city at night. Rachel was wanting to go back to the hotel.   So, we split up – Jim and Julia stayed out to walk all the way back to the hotel and Rachel and I headed back on the metro.  The lap pool had closed at 8:00 and the executive lounge happy hour ended at 8:30. We had just missed both but stayed in the executive lounge talking, drinking tea, and playing cards.  Jim and Julia stayed out another couple of hours as their walk took them through the Prater Parkland which has an amusement park.  They skipped the expensive, large, famous Ferris wheel from 1897 but found some other newer, taller, faster rides to enjoy!