Sipping Viennese special coffee in the famous coffee houses, listening to the modern day mozarts' music on the streets, appreciating the medieval architecture, you have the opportunity to indulge in something that can make your stay special in Vienna.
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Coffee houses, a speciality in Vienna
|
|
Every place in the world is special in one way or the other. I felt Vienna probably is (or has been) special in its acceptance and adoption of new things or things that did not originate from its land. For example, the world famous musician Mozart is said to have settled finally in Vienna but not originally from Austria in olden times. He went on to deliver some excellent pieces of work living in Vienna. Beethoven, originally from Germany, chose Vienna as his place to deliver some of the well known symphonies. Even interestingly, Empress Maria Theresa of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, who had 17 children, was known as mother-in-law of Europe, as her children were married to the Royal families all over Europe. Having said that I noticed, Viennese are accommodative and rather receptive to tourists. The people are cheerful and pleasant, with whatever interaction for a couple of days, I had no incident that would make me think otherwise. I also found this city very clean, roads are well connected and maintained. Trams and Metros are equally clean, I think the reason is also attributed to relatively small number of inhabitants compared to other capitals of European countries. They say, Turks from the former Ottoman empire tried repeatedly to take over the city but never actually could. In the process, they left behind their skill of brewing great coffee. Vienna is very famous for its coffee houses. There are some traditional Viennese coffee houses that have become part of Viennese culture. You take a seat and ask for a coffee in one of these coffee houses, and spend endlessly enjoyable time amidst tourists and locals. They server coffee with cream and chocolate, a delicious treat for both visual appeal and taste. Interestingly, you are always served coffee together with a glass of mineral water. This I noticed, bit close to some of the middle-eastern way of serving tea and water together.
|
|
| Favourite spots: |
|
Since a weekend in Wien is too less a time, unless your eyes are bigger than your heart, I did a bit of inside Vienna and outside Vienna by sightseeing tours. One such tour outside Vienna is a bus travel through Vienna woods through the village that has famous bath houses built on top of natural hot water springs. There are even some open air bath houses, and you would need to line up for your turn in the weekends. I was told that water can be as hot as up to 33 degrees Celsius and has a lot of medicinal values for treating for long standing skin and bone related problems. Vienna woods situated at the foot hills of Alps offer you some breathtaking sight with lush green woods whistling to the tunes of Mozart. That is the place where the royal families built their hunting houses. On the way, you also come across one of the oldest monasteries, still operational with students coming from different places of the world, renovated to a large extent yet keeping the spirit intact.
|
|
| What's really great: |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Man overpowering the beast, the common sight on many buildings
|
|
One other interesting thing that you notice in the sculptures across Vienna is the olden day lifestyle of the people, more oriented towards power, war and hunting. When you walk around the city, you can not fail to notice carvings of men with their strong horses with an expression full of hunger for power or you notice strong men beating wild animals to death with crude weapons. Most of the reflections relate to men conquering the animal or men boasting their victory on a horse back.
|
|
| Sights: |
Public transportation is very well organized and relatively inexpensive. You can do a lot with a day pass of € 5 that goes well with any of the public transport carriers.
when you take the Ringstasse (Ring Street), you have several famous sights including museums and gardens.
|
|
| Accommodations: |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
A view of the church towers across Hotel Regina
|
|
I stayed in Hotel Regina close to the metro station 'Schotentor'. It is about 5 minutes to the Opera house by tram or metro. The hotel is situated in a quiet area and nearby famous park named after Sigmund Freud.
|
|
| Other recommendations: |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Inside the monastery, outskirts of Vienna amidst the woods
|
|
When you are in Vienna, take time to make a trip through the Vienna woods
|
|
Published on Thursday July 7th, 2005
|
|
Publish on Facebook
|
Thu, Jul 07 2005 - 03:58 PM
 by rangutan
| Great, with quite a lot of fine detail, "Wunderbar" |
Thu, Jul 07 2005 - 01:26 PM
 by mistybleu
Kiran,
This is a nice report, I enjoyed reading it.
Regards
Misty
PS, Mozart hails from Salzburg in Austria. |
Thu, Jul 07 2005 - 08:57 AM
by davidx
Very good report but I think a bit more hard information on more things worth seeing may be needed to raise it to 5*
Cheers, David |
Thu, Jul 07 2005 - 08:19 AM
by gloriajames
| Information: |
| Login if you are a member, or sign up for a free membership to rate this report and to earn globo points! |
|
| Austria |
|
|
|
| Belgium |
|
|
|
| Canada |
|
|
|
| India |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Israel |
|
|
|
|
