Simmons European Vacation - Vienna

After our wonderful day in Munich, we hopped on a train at 7:30am and were whisked away to Vienna. I LOVE riding on trains!! It is one of the things I miss most about living in Germany. You can just chat with your friends or grab book and sit back and relax. This was one of the most scenic rides I've ever been on. It was all green rolling hills and very cute little farms.

In Vienna we stayed at this cute little hotel, Vienna State Opera Hotel. The location was great. We were right off Kartnerstrasse which is the main pedestrian area. It is full of shops, businesses and throngs of people. Even at midnight, there were still tons of people out. I don't know if I ever really want to live in a city like Vienna but I love the energy of it.

Our first stop in Vienna was the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The ground floor has a collection of artifacts from Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities and the second floor is a Renaissance art gallery. Again they had a great audio guide and we spent four hours there ( I could have spent several more days there). I am not an artist at all and so I spend most of my time in awe and amazement that someone could create all these fabulous masterpieces. Even the building itself is magnificent.

Brian was very set on having Wienerschnitzel in Wien (German name for Vienna) so thanks to our trusty tour guide book we found this cute little restaurant tucked in the heart of the city.

Every night from the end of June to the end of August, the city sets up a huge screen in front of city hall and as soon as it's dark show films of various types of performances (operas, symphonies and ballets). We saw a ballet of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set to the music of Mendelssohn. I usually am a fan of ballet but I like the very classical style you know pretty tutus and such. This ballet had a lot of modern elements and while somewhat interesting was not really my style. However, it was a lovely evening and it was nice to be under the stars enjoying some culture with the locals.

Vienna is beautiful at night with all the buildings lit up so we spent the rest of the evening wandering around. We were mainly in search of a ice cream shop and we finally found a place called Zanoni Zanoni. It is truly the best ice cream (it was actually gelato though I'm not sure of the difference) I have ever had. It was so good that we even had to go back the next day. We tried a number of flavors but apricot was the best. I don't think ice cream will ever be the same.

The next day started off with a visit to the Schatzkammer (treasury). They have the best display of jewels, ceremonial robes and religious artifacts in Europe (or on the Continent I should say since the crown jewels in London are also quite impressive). I have seen crowns and robes in pictures or movies but it was different to seem them in person and realize that nobility really did wear this stuff and it's not just stuff out of a fairytale. I can imagine just how magnificent the Royalty and Church leaders must have looked when they were wearing their jewel studded robes and crowns. My favorite and probably on of the most famous in the collection was this crown of the Holy Roman Emperor dated from the late 10th century.

We spent mid-morning wondering through downtown Vienna. Here are some of the sights we saw.

For lunch we wandered through the Naschmarkt. The Naschmarkt is a huge fresh fruit and vegetable market mixed with little food stalls and small cafes. I had a döner kebab which is one of my most favorite foods of all time. There are little kebab shops all over Germany and they were a staple of my mission. For those of you who have never experienced a döner kebab it is a lot like a gyro but is the Turkish version. It is a piece of thick flatbread cut open and stuffed with lamb meat cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off to order along with various vegetables, usually onions, cabbage or lettuce and sometimes tomatoes and cucumbers, and is topped with a spicy garlic sauce. It is delish!! Brian also enjoyed some applestrudel.

So after 27 hours in the wonderful city of Vienna, we were again on a train for our 4 hour ride to Prague.