This is such a helpful forum, and I want to give you a description of a marvellous trip to Vienna last week (26 – 30 May). The weather was remarkably good all week, endless sunshine %26amp; very hot.
Arrived Monday on time in Vienna airport from Dublin at 11.00am. Got a Vienna Card at the airport as we intended much museum-ing, etc ! Took the S2 (not the S7) train %26amp; U4 to Schwedenplatz; staying in the nearby Hollmann Beltage Boutique hotel. Loved the hotel, very modern contemporary design, great breakfasts %26amp; service. Situated in a quiet side-street so no noise at night.
Explored wonderful Stephansdom cathedral including lift to viewing platform. Walked down Graben and visited nearby Peterskirche – so baroque ornate. Went to Plachutta in Wollzeile for dinner – Tafelspitz, exceeded expectations, melt in the mouth beef.
Walked down the marvellous Karntner Strasse to the Musikverein where we attended Beethoven’s Solemn Mass with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 150 person choir plus tenor, soprano, baritone %26amp; mezzo soprano. Wonderful. This was followed by coffee %26amp; sachertorte at the Hotel Sacher Café. Also wonderful in it’s own way !
Next morning Tuesday, early breakfast (7.30) then queued at Spanish Riding School for tickets for morning practice accompanied by music. Great to see the graceful horses and their ballet steps.
Did the tour of the Sissi museum with the very helpful audio guides. Most interesting story of Empress Elizabeth and her life. Afterwards saw the Nationalbibliothek and the opulent Prunksaal. After lunch in a café close to Hofburg spent the afternoon in the fabulous Kunthistorisches museum. Particularly sought out the Dutch Masters and the Velazquez. Had a coffee in the sublime dome area. That evening walked to the Opera House %26amp; attended a great production of Verdi’s Falstaff. The individual little screens at the back of seats with translations added to the enjoyment of a great evening.
Late coffee and pastry in a cafe in Graben.
Next morning to Schonbrunn on U4, only about 10 minute trip. Lovely walk around gardens, followed by a Grand tour of the palace with audio guide. Later, couldn’t resist going to the zoo; well worth the extra time. Using the Vienna Card hopped on Tram 1 for a ‘free’ trip around the whole Ring streets, great way to see the lovely architecture.
After a lovely Italian meal, walked to Konzerthaus for a 2 hour performance by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra. Very enjoyable and quite informal. Couldn’t end the day without an exotic coffee and pastry at the nearby Schwarzenberg Café.
On Thursday, last full day, went to the beautiful Karlskirche shortly after 9.00am opening. Stunning ornate-ness. Then walked to the Belvedere to see particularly the Klimt paintings including the famous ‘Kiss’. We wanted to look at further Expressionism paintings so went to Leopold Museum in MQ to see extensive collection of Schiele plus further Klimt.
Had lovely dinner of goulash %26amp; dumplings before walking to the Volkoper to see “Die Weberischen” courtesy of the Tiger Lillies %26amp; others. Even though the dialogue was in German ( %26amp; no translation screens !! ) it was still very enjoyable and of course the songs were in English.
Got tram D back to Dr K Lueger Strasse to see spot-lit Rathaus (town hall) %26amp; Burgtheatre. Took some photos.
Then to end a fabulous holiday had delicious coffee %26amp; marble coffee cake at nearby Café Landtmann.
|||
Great to hear that everything was fine! Come back as soon as possible!
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 12:26 am, September 30, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment