Iron Curtain & Ironman: Vienna (Day 14)

Hola todos,

Well, things were a bit cooler today, but certainly not cool. And we had a thunderstorm watch starting around 1 pm, so we needed to get going and do our outdoors stuff sooner rather than later so that we could avoid being drenched! (Packing wet laundry? Hard pass.)

As we took the subway to the city center, we accidentally got separated—I boarded a subway train right as the doors closed. Whoops! (But at least it wasn’t like the time we got separated as a family and shut down one of the main Paris subway lines during rush hour. Ask me about that later...)

We got reconnected and walked around downtown to find a cafe for breakfast and coffee. (Do you even know me if you don’t think that’s what we did first?!)

After a relaxing breakfast, it was time to find the Spanish Riding School, the oldest riding school in the world (built in 1735) and the only one in the world for the pure European Lipizzaner stallions.

We saw the stallions being transferred from the stables to their training and performance complex at the school.

We had tickets to the horses’ training sessions, so we got to see them practice certain jumps and moves with various trainers. The horses will train for up to 8 years and are treated and pampered like professional athletes (daily massages, custom meal plans, regular trips from the city to the countryside... I could get used to that!). Riders are trained themselves for 12 years before becoming full trainers. It was amazing to see the horses move so gracefully and elegantly and to learn a little bit about all the work that goes into their performances. (My mom is a horse girl and so this was her big thing. Even if you're not super into horse performance, they have cheaper standing tickets where you can still see them practice!)

This the training center. Our seats were this close to the action! [They didn't allow pictures or videos while the horses were out.]

After the training session, we quickly buzzed by the Austrian Parliament and Justizpalast nearby.

The Justizpalast, the seat of the Austrian Supreme Court. There is even a cafe on the roof open to the public.

The Austrian Parliament building, newly renovated.

Our next stop was a bit of a walk, but we had a time deadline to meet, so we booked it through the city. The Ankeruhr clock rotates constantly and keeps (almost) accurate time, but at noon every day it has a 10-minute show with organ music that goes through the full 12-hour cycle of figures. The clock is about 5 minutes behind, so we were worried at first that we missed the show or that it wouldn’t happen because nothing was happening. But not to fear! We saw the whole thing.

We grabbed a quick grocery lunch and then returned to St. Stephan's Cathedral (yes, again!) for a tour of the inside.

The entrance to the church included a free audio tour, which was an unexpected surprise but was so helpful. St. Stephan’s was built in 1137 (!? What?!) and has undergone centuries of redesign and continual renovation. It needed a new roof after a 1945 collapse (courtesy of the war, I think) and technically the cathedral still isn’t completed. It is also the seat of the archbishop of Vienna.

After cooling off in the church for a little bit, we headed off to the Imperial Treasury, which is a collection of Hapsburg and Holy Roman Empire treasures, as well as some ecclesiastical treasures of the Catholic Church from that part of the world. We also got the audio guide, which helped us sort through the literal hundreds of objects in the collection. And I’m a fan of sparkly and shiny, so I knew this was going to be a good visit.

The Treasury has the largest cut emerald in the world, several incredible bejeweled crowns, textiles and clothing, paintings, and a ton of jewelry. Honestly, the whole thing was kind of overwhelming since there was just so much to see. But it is so cool to see part of history through the collection of those objects, like the crib for Napoleon's son or the outfits worn by emperors on their official crowning days.

After getting a bit glitz-and-glammed out, we headed back to St. Stephan’s Cathedral, this time to climb one of its two towers. (The reason we kept going back and forth was to take advantage of the different closing times of the various museums and sights...) The larger South Tower is 137 meters to the top and (allegedly) 343 steps. The North Tower has an elevator, but the views aren’t as great. So you know we climbed the big one! I counted only 340 steps on the way up and 342 on the way down. Regardless, my legs were shaking after our descent.

 

We climbed that.

Views from the top!

We had worked up appetites for our next stop! Demel Cafe is a place with cute vibes (and the prices to match), but it’s a semi-famous place to get a bite of sachertorte, one of Vienna's famous recipes. This, like the New York Cafe in Budapest, is worth a bit of an expensive coffee and cake for the experience. The service is great, you can see the bakers making their various treats behind glass panes, and their menu is diverse for those with sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) and savory appetites alike.

Sachertorte: chocolate cake (not overly sweet), with layers of apricot jam and topped with chocolate ganache. Yum!

 

The inside of Demel Cafe. Such a vibe.

On our walk home, we stopped to get dinner. My dad and I grabbed some sandwiches at a food stand, but my mom got a bratwurst and a beer. No better way to end our time in Vienna!

Yes, this was a Budweiser--but it isn't an American Budweiser! It is technically a beer from the Czech beer company Budvar in the city of Budweis (that is the German pronunciation of the name, at least), and they have some sort of copyright agreement with Anheuser-Busch (the makers of US Budweiser) to not sell their beer in the US. And if champagne is only champagne if it is from the Champagne region of France, is Budweiser only Budweiser if it is from Budweis?

Overall on Vienna

Vienna was great! One woman I had met in Budapest had "warned" me that Vienna was "sleepy" and she thought it was a good thing I would be "just" touring it with my parents. But I disagree! I didn't find it "sleepy" or boring or any similar adjectives. I'm not really into the club/bar/party scene, but I thought there was so much to do for travelers coming to learn about the city's and country's history.

Three days was definitely a good amount of time to see almost everything. They were a full three days, and we could have gone a bit slower or stretched out some activities if we had more time. But the city center (where most of the tourism is) is very accessible and walkable and, if you don't want to walk, the subway has plenty of stops and comes very regularly.

One minor complication is that Vienna is still very cash-heavy. Compared to all of the cities I went to this trip, Vienna was the one with the biggest "cash-only" culture, even in tourist spots (including some restaurants and museums). If you're prepared, that isn't a problem. But it does take a mindset shift (and keeping eyes peeled for ATMs).

We have packing to do tonight and trains to catch tomorrow. We're definitely all sad to be leaving Vienna (and, for me, concluding this trip) but we've had an amazing time in this spectacular city!

Besos,

Tina the ExploraDora