Vienna, Austria December 21 - 24, 2017

Vienna, Austria
December 21 - 24, 2017

Population: 1.8 million (2017)

2.6 million within surrounding areas, which is nearly 1/3 of the entire population of the country.

Known as the city of music and also the city of dreams because it was home to Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, etc. & Sigmund Freud.

The city centre was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

Along with Vancouver and San Fransisco, Vienna was voted "worlds most livable city". I can see that, but like Vancouver, it is a very expensive city also!

Craig had it all planned out for our arrival. From the airport we were taking the €4 pp train and then a quick walk to the hotel. Well, there was an accident on the tracks cancelling all trains from the airport until it was resolved. We didn't find that out until after we had purchased the tickets and found the tracks (would have been nice to know at the ticket office). So, Craig returned the tickets and we took €42 taxi! Brutal! We took the train back to the airport when we left and it worked beautifully.

Our lovely hotel very close to all the action. The common areas were beautiful and breakfast was excellent including male waitstaff that reminded me of a butler to the rich from movies!

Craig got a suite for us... sweet... lots of space with a wonderful Jacuzzi tub!

The complimentary dessert delivered to us minutes after we arrived. Nice touch!

Craig couldn't wait to dive in! 😋

Just in case we needed to escape, there was a convenient little ladder out to the fire escape that happened to have a lovely view of Karlskirche (below).

 Of course I had to go out on the fire escape to check it out!

Selfie...should have gone out to the corner so we wouldn't have that pipe in there... oh well.

Christmas time in Vienna! Priceless!

 

Minutes later we were at our first market - Karlsplatz (google translate says "platz" means "place" or "square"). This particular market was just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel.

Karlskirche (the "kirche" part meaning church) in Karlsplatz market area. Built between 1716 & 1737

A strange little merry-go-round where the two guys pedal to make it go around and ask for donations to take a picture of them. Later on when we returned to this market at night there were children playing on the structures inside the merry-go-round. Imagine having that job? Going around & around in circles all day? No thanks!

At the Karlsplatz market there were no sausages, so the first place he saw them he just had to try a Viennese sausage!

It took us a few to realize "Wein" = Vienna! The Swarovski Company was founded by Czech-Austrian in 1895. The crystal business is lucrative...Swarovski had a revenue of 2.6 billion Euros in 2016!

St. Stephen's gothic Cathedral (Stephansdom in German) located in Stephansplatz was completed in 1160. It is one of the city's most recognizable symbols and is the most important religious symbol. It has been the place for many significant events in Habsburg and Austrian history. The tallest tower is 446 feet tall and is affectionately known as "Steffi". I wanted to climb the South Tower's 343 steps (147 metres high), but we didn't get there.

 St. Stephen's from the front entrance

Inside (from internet - it was too dark when we were inside)

Not long after the first sausage we had our 2nd!

Although a gloomy day, the main pedestrian shopping area was still beautiful all decorated for Christmas. Everywhere you look is gorgeous architecture!

Then heavy rain started ... despite it, we enjoyed our first look at Vienna.

Me & my Maserati

 cookoo... cookoo

Enjoying the city!

The markets weren't open yet here, so we had to come back again!

Trying to get a picture without anyone in it was not possible for me...

... but Craig managed to, of course! Patience grasshopper!

I think this was my favorite market of them all... Rathausplatz (we called it "rat house" just to make it easier for us). I bought one of these lovely Christmas ornaments marked below...when I took this picture I had not yet bought the ornament, but went back after.

Look at the size of those pretzels!!

Bigger than Craig's head!! Now that's big!

Wiener Rathaus in Rathausplatz. Wiener does not mean weiner... it means "of Vienna" I think. So Wiener Rathaus means Townhall of Vienna!

Lovely gingerbread

Sadly, I did not have room in my belly to try one of these enormous donuts!

What a good sport...

 

We thought of you Francine when we saw the baby Jesuses!

 

 

 This was the best tasting hot drink with berries and rum!

Votive Church (under construction)

 

I found the above church (Minoritenkirche (Minorites Church) very odd looking. It looks like this apparently because it has changed owners many times and often was destroyed as well.

We stumbled upon this gem while moving from one landmark to the other... it was time for a midday snack and this place definitely did not disappoint!

How quaint is this??

 Beauty everywhere you look in this city!

 I think that's a dude you're pretend-kissing Craig!

 The eating never stopped...

 St. Stephen's Church showing the tile design on roof. Very interesting!

 Christmas market at
Schönbrunn Palace; a former imperial summer palace of the Habsburg Monarchs

 Just starting to get dark... I look excited to see the palace & markets!

 pretty pretty

 Hmm... roasted nuts. We bought some macadamia nuts with a candy coating. Yum!

 You never go hungry touring these markets! After we were done shopping, we stopped in to Cafe Diglas (below) with cute little tutu's for lamp shades.

 The one & only schnitzel I had (pork). Craig had the chicken one, which, I'd say, was better.

 The washrooms were unique here... I was thinking "are they serious"? Thankfully, when you closed and locked the door behind you the glass was no longer see through! 😁

So glad we went back to see St. Stephen's at night and to drink another hot toddy - this one with Jack Daniels and we kept our souvenir mugs!  Oh wait, that wasn't until the last night...

Karlsplatz market closest to our hotel was a LOT busier at night! It was THE place to be apparently.

 The next morning we headed a bit out of town via the Underground to this amusement park to ride the old Ferris wheel (Reisenrad). Erected in 1897 it has been a significant feature of the city skyline and is situated in the Wurstelprater amusement park very close to the metro station. The diameter of the wheel is almost 61 meters! It was featured in the James Bond movie "The Living Daylights".

 Some of the cabins are specially decorated and you can host small receptions or dinner parties in them.

Up up and away!

 Next up, the Dizzy Mouse all by my lonesome. Craig didn't want to feel ill the rest of the day!

Sitting in a spinning roller coaster by yourself is a little tricky to not slide around all over the place. Especially when the operated says "you don't need the seat belt"!

 Marilyn outside the Madame Tussaud's Wax museum in the amusement park

 Next we found Belvedere Palace and markets. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvedere,_Vienna

 

This was unexpected; Soviet War Memorial (Hero's Monument of the Red Army). It was built to commemorate 17,000 Soviet soldiers killed during the Vienna Offensive in WWII. Vienna was captured by the Soviet Forces on 14 April, 1945. There also are American, British and French occupation zones.

A more local market we stumbled upon

 

And finally, our souvenir mugs!

Departure morning we went for a walk. The sun decided to come out on this, our last day.

Craig thought this sign was funny!  We highly recommend a trip to Vienna for anyone thinking about it! We enjoyed the Christmas market time, but summer would also be lovely with all the gardens.