Wednesday, August 3, 2016

A Weekend In Vienna

Rathaus at night
Ah Vienna. What a beautiful, beautiful city. Last year at this time Dave and I were traveling through central Europe and spent a weekend in Vienna. We absolutely fell in love with its old world charm, touches of Bohemia, coffee houses, architecture, glorious statues everywhere (previous post) and endless gardens. One weekend was not enough and I am sure we'll be back to visit.

We spent our first evening in the old city center at an outside film festival in the Rathaus Square. We slid in to the audience with the locals and enjoyed the city through their eyes. Something that I just love to do. 

The following day we got up early to explore the city and returned to find a jazz festival back at the gardens that surround the Rathaus. There was a light rain, but no one cared. We grabbed a late lunch and a table under an umbrella and sat back to listen and enjoy the music. We were there all afternoon and into the evening just listening to great music, sampling local food, wine and beer. One of things about the places we visited last summer was that at the heart of so many of the cities it wasn't an endless tourist trap full of souvenir shops. It was a place that the locals still enjoyed themselves. As much as I love to travel, I absolutely hate feeling like a tourist. 

Each morning we found another one of the coffee houses of Vienna to try with my favorite being Cafe Mozart. We tried the more famous Cafe Central, but it was absolutely over run with tourists. Cafe Mozart was the right blend of tradition, amazing food, perfectly steeped tea and a current newspaper in English. Exactly how I wanted to spend Sunday morning. After breakfast we took off for more walking through the side streets of Vienna. Anyone who follows me on Pinterest knows I'm slightly obsessed with doors. The older the better for me. I love how they capture history and architectural beauty. 

We ended our weekend with a walk through the gardens of Schonbrunn Park and a tour of the palace. Hard to believe anyone lived this way, but leave it to the Habsburgs. The grounds were originally created as a fenced hunting grounds, and a little hunting lodge Palace was built as an addition to the original mansion. Seriously, click the link and check out how expansive this place is. The shaded walking gardens were beautiful and a welcomed relief in the heat of summer. We spent quite a bit of time strolling through them as we waited our turn to tour the palace. It was redecorated in the 1740s in a Neoclassical style with plenty of ornate gilding. Not really my style, and I would have been happy to just keep wandering the park for the afternoon. 

We loved our time in Vienna and have since talked about returning and spending more like a month to explore the city as there is just so much to see and do in this beautiful place. For the rest of photos from the weekend you can see them over on my Pinterest.

15 comments:

  1. I love the cafés in Vienna!
    Beautiful door! I must check out your other doors on pinterest!

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  2. I can feel your love for the city in your writing. I have no doubt that you'll be returning for a longer stay :)

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  3. Vienna sounds like the perfect European city to visit. It is so much fun to enjoy the simple things in life like tea the way the locals do (and people watch of course). The city sounds full of fun too with a film festival and jazz festival on the same weekend. Schonbrunn Park looks amazing! Although I find extravagance ridiculous I do daydream of living in a period palace with expansive gardens. :)

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  4. I'd love to visit Vienna! It's wonderful you have such lovely memories and I do hope you're able to visit again one day!

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  5. It's always nice to read about your travels!

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  6. Wow! It looks amazing. I love how you say Neoclassical isn't really your thing. I used to work in a Georgian house (At Colonial Williamsburg) and thought the architecture was super dull!

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  7. That is so cool that you are able to jet off to these awesome places for weekends! How fun!!!!

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  8. WOW!! Gorgeous!! Loved looking through all your pictures! Would love to travel to here one day! Truly breath taking!

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  9. Before I ever leave a comment on your blog, I have to first visit all of your links! I love your Pinterest Boards (Gute Fahrt!!!) Better than any photo album I may have in my possession! I have to say, the atmosphere at Cafe Mozart is much more enticing than my local Starbucks! And the history...well...I could spend hours imagining what went on there years ago!

    Thanks for sharing!

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  10. How weird that you were just in Venice and I just finished a book set there (Death in La Fenice). Venice itself felt like a main character in the book and I was fascinated by the maps of the city. I am so jealous you were there in person. Your photos are wonderful. Sounds like an amazing trip!

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  11. I love the statue of Athena holding Nike the Goddess of Victory! And I'd love to visit Vienna some day too.

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  12. Yes, you can officially commit me. Just checked your blog today and realized you were in Vienna not Venice! OK - time for new reading glasses. Hope you had a good chuckle over that one! BTW, your Pinterest boards are beautiful.

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  13. Lovely post!!!!
    Besos, desde España, Marcela♥

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  14. I want to visit Vienna within the next year :)

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