Austria
Vienna

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
    • Day 2

      Wir werden platziert

      December 14, 2019 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

      Der heutige Tag begann wieder mit Kultur. Wir besuchten die Nationalbibliothek, genauer gesagt, deren Prunksaal aus dem 18. Jahrhundert. Der ist schon sehr beeindruckend. Die Wände sind voller uralter Bücher und die 20 m hohe Decke ist kunstvoll bemalt.

      Da wir noch frisch und ausgeruht waren, besuchten wir auch noch die Augustinerkirche nebenan.

      Der Naschmarkt darf bei einem Wienbesuch natürlich auch nicht fehlen. Auf dem Weg dorthin kehrten wir in Landtmanns Museum Cafe ein. Unterwegs waren wir schon am Cafe Mozart vorbeigekommen, vor dem eine Menschenschlange darauf wartete, von einem Ober in Grüppchen hereingerufen zu werden, wenn mal wieder ein Tisch frei wurde. Und auch wir im Museum Cafe wurden von einem jungen Mann in Empfang genommen und platziert. So ist das halt in Wien.

      Auf dem Naschmarkt war es voll, bunt, und es duftete nach Obst, Gewürzen, Gebäck und auch Fisch. Außerdem nach Glühwein, der dann selbstverständlich getestet wurde.

      Nach dem obligatorischen Abstecher zum Hardrock Cafe ging es zum Weihnachtsmarkt am Karlsplatz. Dort gab es dann einen sündhaft teuren Hut für mich. Superschick. 😁

      Wir streiften noch kurz den Donaukanal und pausierten bei Bier und G'spritztem im "Zattl", bis es Zeit wurde für unser Abendessen im "Melker Stiftskeller". Auch dort wurden wir platziert.

      Das Gute dort ist, dass man das Essen schon wieder abtrainiert hat, wenn man die hundert Stufen zum WC absolviert.

      Es war ein rundum schöner Tag, und die Füße tun sogar weniger weh als Gestern.
      Read more

    • Day 3

      Rathausplatz Christmas Market

      December 15, 2019 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

      Are you kidding me with this, honestly. Disney. This Christkindlmarkt is one of the big boys, and we walked past several little ones afterwards. Mulled wine v nice but honey wine even better. You pay a cup deposit and if you want to keep the cup you just don't return it. These were pretty cute but we got the 4 euro back. Quite tempted by the ice-skating course but process seemed to require an awful lot of steps.Read more

    • Day 3

      The walk home

      December 15, 2019 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

      Via two more Christmas markets, a fancy mall area, two long thin doggos, and eventually, two electric scooters which whipped us along the final kilometre for about 4 euro, which is reasonably steep but worth it for how much fun they are - they're everywhere, spread across about five different companies, these ones were Kiwi Ride or something. Brilliant.Read more

    • Day 3

      Von Uniformen, Unterhosen und Koffern

      December 15, 2019 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

      Als nächstes kulturelles Highlight hatten wir uns das Heeresgeschichtliche Museum - kurz HGM genannt - ausgeguckt. Dort findet man alles, was es aus den letzten 400 Jahren über die Militärgeschichte Österreichs zu wissen gibt. Untergebracht ist das Museum im alten Wiener Arsenal, einer ab 1849 erbauten Kaserne. Verkehrsgünstig gelegen und in Kanonenschussweite zur Innenstadt. Zumindest damals. Heute ruhen die Kanonen, das Motto des HGM lautet schließlich "Kriege gehören ins Museum".

      Wenn man sich für Geschichte interessiert, ist das Museum unbedingt einen Besuch wert. Uns hat es gut gefallen. Besuchermagnet ist vor allem der ausgestellte Wagen, in dem Erbprinz Franz Ferdinand am 28.6.1914 in Sarajewo angeschossen wurde, seine blutige Uniform und die Chaiselongue, auf der er dann letztlich verstarb.

      Nach so viel Krieg und Tod brauchten wir eine Stärkung, die wir in Form von Glühwein und Kakao auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt am Schloss Belvedere fanden. Dort dürfen zwar keine Hunde hin (wurden aber trotzdem durch die Menschenmenge geschleift), aber die Möwen fühlen sich dort pudelwohl ... falls das geht.

      Zurück in der Stadt gab es Backhendl im "Zattl", dann die Koffer geholt und ab mit dem CAT zum Flughafen.

      Dort nahm man es heute besonders genau. Jürgen wurde fast bis auf die Unterhose gefilzt, und ein verdächtiges Paket Tempotaschentücher wurde beschlagnahmt. Auf die Rückgabe nach Feststellung der Harmlosigkeit derselben verzichteten wir.

      Dann wurde unser winziger Koffer rausgefischt, weil der Flieger zu voll war. Der Platz fürs Handgepäck war knapp. Britta und Frank hatten Glück, sie konnten sich mit ihren 2 - in Worten Zwei - Gepäckstücken an den Argusaugen des Personals vorbeimogeln.

      Aber das Nobelschröderparken hat wieder hervorragend geklappt. 😁

      Nun noch ein Radler und ab ins Bett.
      Read more

    • Day 8

      Hello Vienna

      December 23, 2019 in Austria ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

      Dale and Dommy drove us back to Bratislava this morning and the heavy rain. We caught the bus back to Vienna where Jakob and Elisabeth met us and took us back to their apartment building - we also met Ashleigh who is their Australian exchange student. After a lovely hot lunch we went out at about 4.30 to walk through two of the many Christmas markets here, having a look at all the lights and stalls and tasting some hot punch. We met up with Jakob’s dad Alois at a restaurant where I had a classic Wiener schnitzel - yum!
      We are staying in a spare flat that they own on the same floor of the building which is very nice.
      Read more

    • Day 9

      Christmas

      December 24, 2019 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      We discovered that Christmas for the Rosenberger family (and most Europeans) is celebrated on the 24th. The day started with a beautiful breakfast of breads, jams, cheese, spreads and coffee with the family. This was a leisurely meal in the sunshine coming in the windows. We caught the underground train with Elisabeth and Ashleigh to the city centre to buy some tea and then got back on the train to the Schoenbrunn palace. There would have been a long wait for tickets to go inside so we met up with Jakob and just walked through some of the gardens and up a steep hill to the summer house for a nice view of the palace. The weather was nice and sunny so we looked around the Christmas market for a bit and had some hot food for lunch. Not long after returning back to the flat, the family had plans to meet up with friends at the Prater which is the big amusement park across the road. We went up on the Ferris wheel just as the sun was setting.
      The Christmas dinner was delicious - salmon and rice with a pavlova dessert made by Ashleigh. The three boys followed this with a quick concert of carols on their instruments - recorder (Jakob), bassoon (Flo) and french horn (Lucas). We then opened the presents while enjoying some champagne.
      We accompanied the family to midnight mass at their local Catholic church. This was a very different experience to see the ceremony and tradition of their service.
      We finally got to bed close to 2 AM.
      Read more

    • Day 10

      Vienna from on high

      December 25, 2019 in Austria ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

      Today we got up a bit later due to the late night and enjoyed another lovely breakfast around the table. Jakob, Alois and Lucas walked with us to show us a bit of the local area including the Prater (big park with includes the amusement park), Jakob’s school and the church. It was fun to have a behind the scenes look at the church rooms and even up into the attic space! Jakob had all the keys!
      Alois was keen to drive us to a look out spot at Kahlenberg which commemorates the victory of the battle over the Turkish army. There were quite a few tourists here and despite the sun, the wind made it pretty freezing.
      He then took us to a huge monastery nearby called Stift Kloster Neuburg - the adjoining cathedral is gothic in style on the outside with a very ornate Baroque decoration inside.
      Finally we drove to the Donauturm (Danube tower) which is fairly new (1964) and about 150m tall. We went up in the lift for another view of the city. All this in their electric Renault car which can be charged in their home garage!
      Read more

    • Day 11

      Walking Around Vienna

      December 26, 2019 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

      Elisabeth kindly organised for us to have a friend of hers (who is a professional tour guide) give us a walking tour of the inner city. She showed us much of the medieval history of the buildings and explained a lot about the history of Vienna.
      We had a quick bite to eat and a hot chocolate in a traditional cafe and then went on to check out the Imperial Treasury museum. Back at home, Alois made us beef Bourguignon for an early dinner.
      We had booked a concert of Vivaldi’s four seasons at St Charles church that night - it was wonderful to hear in such an impressive venue! Everything is easy to get to via the underground.
      Read more

    • Day 14

      Vienna

      January 3, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 1 °C

      Just a short stay in Vienna so we didn’t get to see as much as we’d have liked to, but packed a few sights into our 2 days. We started off at St Stephen’s Cathedral where we followed the hoards of tourists into the church and took the 343 step spiral staircase 67 metres up the South Tower to take in a bit of a view of the city. A few claustrophobic moments heading up as expected! The Cathedral had an amazing tiled zigzag roof which you can see in Ed’s photo. We had a wander through the Heldenplatz with some amazing Baroque architecture and gardens. Back to the Airbnb for some homemade Weiner Schnitzel. Yesterday we did a guided tour of the Concert Hall built in 1870 which was very grand! Wish we could of seen a concert as I believe the acoustics would be amazing to hear. A bit of a dreary weather day outside but we went for a walk in the gardens of the Schonbrunner Schlosspark next to the Schonbrunn Palace. I made Ed visit the big Greenhouse with me that was built in 1882 called the ‘Palmenhaus’. So many Australian plants and trees in there - makes you realise how fortunate we are with the native flora we have back home. Off to Prague in the morning :)Read more

    • Day 25

      Get around the Prater

      January 6, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

      Following our jaunt through Augarten to look at Nazi relics, we headed toward the Prater park with the hope of winter markets and possibly an amusement park ride or two (assumed it was mostly closed in the winter).

      Sweet Jeebers it was a winner. Roller coasters with no lines. Crazy high chair swings. Bonkers swinging pendulum things, and all the other theme park trimmings.

      We could walk up to any ride we wanted and jump straight on. There was a decent little rollercoaster to start, then the mammoth chair swing. It's 117m high, in a chain secured with some small chains with your feet dangling around in the wind, and I was petrified. I couldn't look around, up, or down - just dead straight the whole time. Lex enjoyed that a lot.

      To help calm down from this we moved straight on to the giant pendulum thing. Almost as high at its peak, but travelling a lot faster than the chairs-on-chains, with the added perk of tumbling you upside down. Loved the rush of it apart from the bit where it slows down and stops with us right up the top. Panicked a bit.

      That was it for heights based rides for me. Had a play with a couple of the go-kart tracks, and then gave a house of horrors/rollercoaster a crack. Being the big horror fans we are (not) this did seem a logical decision. The photo presented to us at the end of the ride proves otherwise (pictured).

      Grabbed one more indoor rollercoaster/laser show on the way out of the rides area and headed to the Christmas market for a glühwein weiß (mulled white wine). Great success for a non-planned afternoon.
      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Wien, Vienna, Viena, Vídeň, Vienne, Wiedeń, Viana, Вена

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android