European Vacation 2025

We started our day with a bike tour of some main sights in Vienna. Our tour guide had the best stories. It was one of the best tours we have done. These were some of the sights and stories as best I could remember:

Univ of Vienna founded in 1365, 650 years ago. Some 100, 000 students attend. It is the oldest German speaking university in Europe. Education, Healthcare, and social housing are free. They have higher taxes, but quality of life is good.

Vienna's Coffee scene is relaxed. They are never in a hurry and do not grab & go like we do. They may sit or even nap for an hour minimum in a cafe. The waiters do not like it if you ask to pay right away or ask for take away. They may even ignore you because they hate that!

Goddess of Wisdom at Parliament founded in 1881
30 plus tunnels discovered underground across from Parliament. Sinkholes have swallowed trees and one man rode into a sinkhole and was not discovered until the next morning. He had to explain to his wife why he didn't come home!!

1 queen in their history. She was 20 x pregnant so was always in bed and had to be served there and it was called bed in. John and oko in 1969 in Vienna hotel copied that with their protest and called it a bed in.

Best museums in world

Emporers castle has 18 buildings incl. Albertina which had an entrance for mistresses. The inner courtyard has the
Presidents office and the former chancellors sisi 's residence, now a museum.

Roman emperor had 4 wives people had to bow down or be killed. If a wife couldn't get pregnant with a son he would take them on a hunt and kill them by feeding them mushrooms...called a hunting accident!!

Horse carriages are popular. Historically, there were no whore houses, so prostitutes would pick up men in the churches then go and get into a carriage, giving the driver a secret word ( porcelin ride). The driver would cover the windows and they would do their business. They became known as rolling brothels
To this day, in the evening, people must pay a 50 euro minimum tip to the carriage driver to take them to a secluded spot, leave them alone for an hour for a short tryst in the carriage. Many will also hire one of these for their friends who may be getting married. They put beer and champagne inside ( may pretend to shaggy by rocking the carriage for an

Josef II statue, also called PrinceCharles of Austria in front of national library. He had 3 inventions wanting to make Austria more modern Europe's first garbage system, but people hated it. They would throw their garbage out the windows and they had to pay for it to be collected, whereas ,before, the pigs and chickens would eat the garbage. Now they had to pay for garbage collection and have to find ways to feed.their animals!. Then he paved the roads, and people hated it! They were so noisy because they could hear the 10000 horses on the paved streets. They preferred the smell of dust of gravel roads. Lastly he invented a cheaper way of burial with the use of 1 coffin which had a release button and the dead body would fall into the grave without having to bury a coffin. He was unlucky in love. His wife died and he fell into a depression. His sister thought she was helping him by giving him the letters she wrote. He discovered in the letters that she was lesbian and did not love him...not good for his depression!!

Training Center for Lippazon stallions born brown and turn white at age 3

Vienese will not stand in line. If you see a line, it's a tourist trap

Opera house -one of architects committed suicide bc king didn't like the look of it.

Green rabbit street stand, best sausage in Vienna

New market was full of casinos
Mozart 232:& kiss my ass sculpture on fountain. He wrote a musical about it. He lost all his money to the casino and hated the owner. The owner of the casino hired a guy to build the fountain in the square. He didn't pay for it, so the  architect changed the sculpture to a man's ass, the message being, kiss my ass and it faced the owner's apartment!

Hitlers speech in Hedenplatz or Heroes Square: No one uses that balcony for political speeches since 1938.

Hotel Imperial famous for Influential guests ( world leaders, rock stars, etc)

Hundertwasser Village - the designer avoided right angles on the outside.
The floors are flat, but in nature nothing is flat, so we need to use our senses. He had plants on the building because of the Green Movement in France .It is housing for those that make less than 3000 euro. It's the funkiest apartment building. One couple made over 100,000 euro touring people through the area.then, they got thrown out because they made too much!

Beer gardens are fast. If your drink is done, they fill it, so you have to say no if you do not want more beer.
Coffee houses are slow and the waiters will not bother you, so expect to sit for a long time.

Jewish square . There were over 200,000 jews to 20,000. In the Jewish Memorial, each book represents each Jewish person killed.

80% rent apartments instead of buying in Vienna.

We went to Stadtpark to eat some of the items we taste tested the day before. The rest of the day we relaxed at the apartment and played some cards. Another fun day.Lue lisää