Vienna

Looking back at the trip we did in May and to continue the Europe travelogue... here is the next part (better late than never!). So we took a train ride from Prague to Vienna and now I know why Vienna is listed as one of the best cities in the world. We only spent a day and half in Vienna, but we made sure to make the most of it!

Day 1 (Actually 0.5): We reached Vienna late in the evening and checked into a cute little airbnb apartment in the heart of the city, right next to the Opera house. The apartment was part of an old building from the 1800s and it had that old charm - A magnificent entry door, really tall ceilings in the hallway leading up the apartments, the tiniest and the slowest elevator that took five minutes to go upto the third floor... all the experiences that remind you that you are in a really ancient building! But the building was very well maintained, it was clean and it looked royal. The small apartment was extremly chic, and it was a perfect for our stay! 

As soon as we checked into the apartment and finished our 'Wow' screams at getting so lucky finding this place, we stepped out and enjoyed Vienese style coffee and pastries by a street-side cafe - This was my favourite memory of the trip!

Vienna is a busy city. People are fashionably dressed and the city has a very busy hustle to it. So different from Prague. 

To add to all the excitement, Megs joined us at Vienna.  After years of planning a visit to Megs in Europe, so glad that we could finally make it happen. And happiness = Old friends + new places!!

In the evening we walked past the Operah House, the old town center, and visited St. Stephens church just before they closed. Since we had so much to catch-up, T found a perfect place for dinner - Figlmüller. The food, the wine pairing, ambiance, service, the company... everything made the dinner an unforgettable experience!

Day 2: The Big Bus tour is the best way to visit a city when you are short on time. The tour also included a 3 hour walking tour around the Oprah house and Old town square and we caught some interesting stories from the tour guide. We covered a lot on the bus and toured the city via the big bus audio recording.

A photo tip - To get the best pics, we always went a little early to the bus and sat in the front bench of the double-decker bus. The glass in front shielded the hair from flying in all the directions and we got the best pics from a height.

The only place we got off the bus was to visit was the Schoenbrunn Palace and I think that was a wise pick considering that we were so short on time. The imperial summer palace built and remodeled in 1750s was a wedding gift to empress Maria Theresa. The palace has  over 1400 rooms, I cannot imagine how the queen decorated them - and here I have 4 rooms to decorate in my new place and after a year in the place, I am still not done! The grand tour allows visitors to see 40 rooms in about an hour's time along with a very well controlled audio tour. The palace exterior was very unimpressive, but the interiors were rich. Each and every room was so grand and majestic - the tapestries, the chandeliers, the paintings, the ballrooms, the gardens - everything was suited to the lavish lifestyles of the kings and empresses! 

After the palace visit and missing the last tour bus, the famished us took an uber to a close-by shopping district (Mariahilfer Straße) to have some beer, wine and sacher torte. T also boasted of his language skills to the uber driver and spoke in random Sanskrit and French to impress him! 

After strolling around the city some more, we had a nice hot thai dinner at 'Bangkok' restaurant and the tired feet called it a day. And we had an early morning train to catch to Budapest...coming up in the next travel blog post.

Goodbye, beautiful city!