Our Vienna Dream

Blog title pun translation: “Are we in a dream?”

One of the best things about being in Turkey is easy access to Europe …or so we thought! Unfortunately, Ankara’s small airport and limited flights place extreme limitations on our ability to travel outside of Turkey. Thankfully, the flights to Vienna were doable, and we could justify the splurge with my birthday. And yes, it was a dream!

We got in Friday evening and checked into our hotel, Le Méridien. The hotel upgraded us to a suite, which was so artsy and colorful (and big!). In fact, the entire hotel overflowed with art and unexpected design elements. The shower was no different; I’m pretty sure it came from the future, or maybe just the Jetsons. And the best part: we were situated across the street from the opera house! [Please note the teacup bed!]

 

We got started bright and early Saturday morning with breakfast at Café Central, a sweet slice of Viennese history. Opening in 1876, the café was a regular hangout for Leon Trotsky, Sigmund Freud and countless others. I decided to embrace the Viennese culture and indulged in sweets!

From Café Central, we made our way to St. Stephen’s Cathedral. But even the walk over was picturesque!

St. Stephen’s Cathedral, more famously known as Stephansdom, is the heart of Vienna. The south tower, lovingly referred to by locals as “Steffl”, stands 446 feet in height, the tallest and most iconic architecture in the city.

Multiple iterations of the church have existed on the same plot of land. The front of the cathedral is Romanesque in style to honor the previous structure, while the rest exemplifies ornate Gothic architecture. The expansion of the church over the years can be seen here – quite interesting!

The structure we know today is largely the making of Habsburg Duke, Rudolf IV, who wanted to put Vienna on the map. He funded massive enhancements of the church, which covered almost an acre of land. The church was so impressive that it helped get Vienna a bishop in 1469, and thus the church became a cathedral.

The interior is truly breathtaking; you can hardly consume all of the exquisite details. The High Altar depicts St. Stephen being stoned but looking up to heaven and Christ, awaiting him.

One of my favorite pieces of art is the Wiener Neustädter Altar. It contains to triptychs, which can fold closed when services end. The ornate and gilded wooden art depicts the life of the Virgin Mary.

From here, we headed up to the north tower. It’s not nearly as tall as Steffl, but we had a nice view of the cathedral. Not to mention, we got an up-close view of the 230,000 colorfully glazed ceramic tiles that adorn the roof.

 

Fun fact about Stephansdom: Mozart married and attended mass at St. Stephen’s, and his funeral was held there.

We left the cathedral and walked to the Imperial Palace (also known as the Hofburg), which is the huge complex built by the Habsburg Dynasty.

We started with an audio tour through the silver collection. This may sound boring (and Meadows claimed it was – does he look bored to you?), but it was fascinating to see all the treasures that the family acquired.

Especially for a small country like Austria, the Habsburg wealth is unfathomable. Even this panoramic does not do justice to the gilded tablescapes of the Habsburgs. I would’ve loved to go to one of their dinner parties!

We then moved on to the Sisi Museum. The museum doesn’t allow photos, I encourage you to go see it for yourself. This section of the palace details the life and death of Empress Elisabeth, known to her family as “Sisi”. The museum documents her life from childhood to her unplanned marriage to Franz Joseph to adult life. We saw her clothes, jewelry, portraits; we really got a sense of the person she was …and she certainly wasn’t your typical Empress.

Her life interests many (myself included) because of her tormented life in the spotlight. Though she had endless money, beautiful clothes and the freedom to travel; Elisabeth detested the attention and battled depression, particularly after the death of her son. She oftentimes wore all black and carried a leather parasol to avoid being noticed. But for someone who hated being seen, she was unbelievably vain. She had hair to her ankles, which she brushed for hours, and she obsessed over being thin and avoiding wrinkles! In her later years, she coped by traveling without her husband. In 1898 during a trip to Geneva, an Italian anarchist assassinated Sisi.

Our last stop in the Hofburg was the imperial apartments. We found these even more fascinating now that we knew quite a bit about Empress Elisabeth. In her quarters, we saw her interesting exercise equipment, which kept her thin! The gorgeous rooms went on and on, concluding with a magnificent dining room. If only they allowed photos!

We then wandered around Vienna with no particular purpose. Even walking aimlessly led us to incredible sights…

Austrian Parliament:

Wiener Rasthaus (Vienna City Hall):

More of the Hofburg:

Finally, we decided it was time to chill. My Fitbit registered almost 20,000 steps for the day, so we decided to sit. Anyone who knows me knows that it is nothing short of divine intervention that our hotel had a Moët bar in it! So we enjoyed some birthday champagne and soaked up the lovely weather.

Shortly after, we went for drinks at SKY. Vienna has limits on how tall a building can be, so nothing extends higher than six or seven floors. “Sky” seems to be a misleading name; it hardly overlooks the city! We went based on a friend’s recommendation, and I’m not sure I’d go back. The drinks and company, however, were great 🙂

Our final stop of the night was my big birthday dinner. It’s not the most quintessential Viennese meal, but we booked a table at Dstrikt, the farm-to-table steakhouse in the Ritz. Nothing about it disappointed. Service, food and wine all exceeded our expectations! And just when I thought I would never eat again, we annihilated a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream!

The gorgeous view of the opera house surprised us on our walk back to the hotel. I hope we can see a show on our next visit to Vienna!

We explored the art in the hotel before calling it a night.

On Sunday morning, we’d hoped to Café Demel for breakfast, but it was closed. The walk was not in vain though; we got to see more of the beautiful city while most people still slept!

The Albertina art museum:

The Hofburg again:

 

Auf Wiedersehen, Vienna! We cannot wait to come back someday.