Since Jac nor I had ever been to Vienna, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. It’s a short flight from London, but there is a time change…..Vienna is one hour ahead. We arrived at the Hotel Imperial and it is very beautiful. We stayed in the Elizabeth Suite. It had wall panels of pale blue damask framed in Baroque gold. It had wonderful huge windows and a huge bathroom…..a must for Jac…….we have changed rooms in hotels because the bathroom was too small….that….thank God was not the case this time. We unpacked and started our exploration of Vienna. We took Barbara’s advice and took a horse and carriage ride through the city. My immediate reaction was the buildings looked like marvelous, butter cream, ornate wedding cakes…..good enough to eat. Some of the buildings were in a wonderful yellow color that was Empress Maria Theresa’s favorite color. Each day Jac had an itinerary of where we would go and what we would see. Since we would only be there 4 days we didn’t want to wander aimlessly thought the city, though we did do a lot of walking. The city was packed with tourists speaking many languages…..where is the economic crisis??? The restaurants and cafes were packed…..the museums and concerts were packed, but I must say the stores were empty. Does anyone really need to buy Chanel in Vienna….unless you live there. The very first night we purchased tickets to hear a Mozart concert at St Stephan Cathedral. The concierge made reservations at a lovely restaurant near the cathedral so we would not have to rush dinner.. We saw many things that day and then made our way back to the hotel. We rested, then dressed and had a leisurely walk to the restaurant, had dinner and headed over to the church 20 minutes before the concert. I asked Jac to give me the tickets and she looked at me with HORROR!!! She forgot the tickets!!!! I really thought she was kidding, but no……she had totally forgot about them. Since there are no cabs in this part of the city we had to run back to the hotel…..get the tickets….and run back. Oh, did I say it was 86 degrees and extremely humid! We arrived at the Cathedral …..dripping….about 8 minutes late and had to slink to the very front where our seats were…..I thought I was going to melt…..Jac somehow looked cool!?…as I always say “Men make plans and God laughs!”. The concert was marvelous! From then on we always made sure we had our tickets with us.
Louis and Jac,
I can’t believe you all are back so soon- what a whirlwind tour! To me, one of the great things about travelling is that the memories last forever. Thanks for sharing the pictures!
Celia
Louis, You have a second career in your hip pocket — as a travel writer!
Linzer Cookie report, please 🙂 (aka TheOwl)
Believe it or not…..I didn’t see one anywhere…..maybe I couldn’t see past the ice cream, but they definitely were not on any of the menus I looked at at the cafes.
Ah – sad! Well, next trip. If you ever get anywhere near beautiful Strasbourg, France – I can tell you the exact shop where they are sold. Sounds like you got to enjoy the local tortes though. So happy for your wonderful Vienna experience 🙂
All of the buildings in Vienna look like they were constructed “mit schalag”! And am happy to read that your and Jac enjoyed the fiaker rides. I always thought that Vienna was quite magical by night, which came at about 4PM when I was there last :-). I hope that you and Jac can return during the “season” to enjoy even more of Vienna’s treasures. Schlag on your hot chocolate of course and also the very bracing hot wine punsch sold in the kiosks throughout the First District. Welcome back home!
Louis & Jac,
Thank you for allowing us to be ‘armchair travelers’ through the sharing of your photos of the beautiful cities of Vienna and London. We are glad to have you both back safe and sound.
Dear Louis & Jac,
Thank you again for the lovely collage and vicarious trip to Vienna. The contrast between those “wedding cake” buildings and the blue sky is extraordinary! Walter and I try whenever possible, to take a carriage ride when in a new place; there’s something about it that let’s you soak up the atmosphere better than any other way … whether it’s Philadelphia, Quebec City or elsewhere. We’ve done the “forgot the tickets” a time or too also, sigh … So glad you had a wonderful vacation in Vienna; thanks again for letting us come along 🙂
Cathy in PA