My Guide to Vienna

Here’s the thing about Austria… it’s amazing. St. Anton (an adorable little ski town in eastern Austria) is filled with natural beauty and endless opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. We were surrounded by mountains and it snowed every day, creating much more of a festive Christmas atmosphere than I heard back home in Chicago was providing. But after 4 days of amazing snowboarding and 5 nights of seeing what the apres ski town was all about, it was time to head east to Vienna where we would spend 3 nights, including Christmas Eve and Christmas. Everyone knows that Europe – especially Germany and the surrounding countries – are known for having the best Christmas markets.

Unfortunately most shut down on Christmas Eve or even the day before for the season, but we were lucky enough to find one that’s open through the first few weeks of January at the Schönbrunn Palace… which is worth a visit of its own anyway.

First stop…. Gluhwein! If you’re not familiar, Gluhwein is a spiced red or white wine served hot and if you’re lucky, they even throw a shot of Disaronno on top. DELICIOUS! Plus they give it to you in a real Christmas mug and let you take your yummy drink around with you while you shop at the individual stands. When you’re done enjoying your mulled wine, you can return the mug to any of the vendors for your 2 euro deposit back.  Delightful.

So long story short, even though it took a short time to get used to a bustling city again after being in St. Anton, falling in love with Vienna was easy to do.

Below is my short guide on how to make the most of out of the time you have in the great, imperial city:

• One of the first things you should do is take a ride on the Ring Tram. Don’t mistake it for the other public transportation trams that will quickly take you out of the city center (which we did). It’s the yellow tram that clearly says Ring Tram right on it. It only comes every half hour and most tram stops have a sign that will tell you when the next train should arrive. For 7 euro, you get a ½ hour ride complete with an audio guide that will quickly get you acquainted with the city and should give you a good idea of what you’d like to spend what time you have visiting. If you’d like the hop on, hop off version of the tour, it’s only an extra 2 euro and is good for a whole 24 hours.

• The Spanish Riding School is definitely worth a visit. The stadium itself – inside and out- is gorgeous, but we were only able to view a training session because we didn’t book tickets in advance. I heard the actual performance of the dancing horses was an absolute must see but honestly the training session was a tad bit on the boring side. So as soon as your trip is booked, get online and purchase tickets!

• Do not waste your time at the Sisi museum! Learning about Empress Elizabeth’s life was okay but the rest of it was just walking around looking at old plates and serving wear and having to fight an awful crowd… it was one of the worst flowing museums I’d ever been to.

• The Albertina Museum is a must see. Popular pieces from Monet, Picasso, and Munch are exhibited here but what really intrigued me was René Magritte’s work, a Belgian surrealist artist that I knew very little about before visiting the Albertina. I believe most of his pieces displayed right now are just temporary but no matter what exhibits are featured at the time of your visit, the Albertina is sure not to disappoint. The size of the museum is perfect; you don’t have to feel rushed in order to view all the art but you definitely leave feeling like you got your money’s worth.

• Viennese coffee house (Wiener Kaffeehaus): “Where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill.” This was my favorite part of visiting Vienna. The coffee is some of the best you’ll ever have and whether you feel like having a plain double espresso or a coffee with orange liqueur topped with whipped cream (which goes by the name of Maria Theresa), you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like in good company of locals and tourists alike.

Here are a few more of my favorite random shots…