Vienna, Austria

What we did:
- Met in the hotel lobby around 9:30 when Trent/Steph finally woke up. Headed over to hit one of the famous Viennese coffee shops from the 1800’s "Cafe Sperl” - Hallmarks of the town, they all have large wooden booths and are littered with worldwide newspapers. Each tout all the famous intellectuals that have holed up there over the years. This one even had old pool tables!
- Sufficiently caffeinated, we headed out to walk the town. Vienna is sprawling without a truly central old town so it was more daunting to figure out where to go. Started off wandering into a super cool open-air market with shops peddling a variety of local and international foods and knick knacks. Lots of little beer gardens that of course sucked us in for beer/wine!
- Walked over to the famous Hofburg palace for a self-guided tour of the grounds that was the Habsburg empire’s winter residence. Incredibly impressive buildings, churches, and gardens right in the heart of town.
- Walked through the shopping district, stopping for Sally’s 1st gelato of the trip! Saw the famous St. Stephens church and walked the intricate interior for a bit. Not a group to be too touristy for too long, we then headed to find a rooftop bar!
- Walked the river trying to find one, but none opened before 3pm on a Saturday. Not sure if we have to question American’s excessive drinking habits or the lack of drinking across Europe? We vote the latter.
- Found a spot at the trendy rooftop bar “Sky @ Steffl” overlooking St. Stephen's cathedral. Enjoyed our drinks and played the game “pigs”. Steph was pumped to have finally used them after we’ve dragged the two little piggies to bars across Europe and never played. Sally with the runaway victory!
- Headed back to the hotel to change for the night. We then walked over to the beautiful grounds of the Schönbrunn palace, where the Habsburg’s summered. These people truly had a dynasty, this place was MASSIVE! We had some regrets at not having enough time to walk through the elaborate gardens. Super impressive!
- Enjoyed a good old fashioned Austrian dinner on the grounds and then headed over to the palace orangery for a Mozart concert! Vienna is super proud of it’s Mozart heritage so only fitting that we do it right with a concert sprinkled with opera. Good time and well done!
- Exhausted, we didn’t even have a night cap in us so we headed back around 11ish to sleep! On to Prague.

What we ate:
- Late breakfast at the historical “Cafe Sperl” Viennese coffee shop. Cappuccinos for all. Steph/Trent had egg scrambles, Doug an Austrian apple strudel and Sally the Austrian layered cake.
- Dinner at “Das Schloss - Restaurant Schönbrunnen”. Doug got the Schnitzel! Steph and Sally the Austrian goulash and Trent a plate of meat. Local wines and then split a strudel and Kaiserschmarrn (cross between pancake and funnel cake).

Fun facts -
- After Mozart died at age 35 (under mysterious circumstances) he was buried in Vienna in a mass grave as was common at the time. Years later once it was realized what a legend he was, they unearthed the grave to try and find him. They somehow found what they thought was his jawbone and then using a piece of hair from a wig he wore in Prague were able to conclude they actually did find him. His jaw is not in one of the museums 🧐
- Schonbrunn palace was built to attempt and compete with Versailles but came in 1000 rooms smaller (compared to 1400 rooms). It did however have a bigger orangery which they were super proud of (where we did the Mozart concert)
- Mozart performed a concert at age 6 for the royal family at that palace. Little prodigy early on.
- The famous Marie Antoinette, archduchess of Vienna, killed in the French Revolution was born in Schonbrunn palaceLäs mer