Vienna, Austria - 26 to 29 May 2024

After a one hour delay in Krakow, it was an easy flight to Vienna. No immigration and I got straight on a train to the city. However, not the train I meant to get and I then had to jump on the local train which was a bit confusing.

Made it to Andaz Belvedere which is just out of the city centre, near Belvedere Palace. The hotel is pretty new and very nice.

I went for a coffee at a cafe nearby. Note the barista's uniform!

The cafe had these cute, two person booths...

I'm in Austria so had to have some apple strudel/pie!

That night I went up to the rooftop bar in the hotel for a drink and snack. It's called Aurora.

Nice views looking towards the city...

The next morning I caught a tram into the city to join a walking tour. The tram ride is about 20 minutes. Passed a lot of nice looking buildings.

Found an Australian Pub!

I had breakfast nearby - eggs benedict. Very slow service and it was pretty average.

The tour started here in the centre of the old town at Helmut Zilk-Platz. It contains monuments to the effect of war and fascism on Austrian history...

That's an art gallery. There are many!

Hotel Sacher is a famous and expensive hotel and the cafe is famous for the sacher torte...

Starting the walking tour...

Burggarten...

Mozart memorial...

These are one of the citygates...

The main ring road around the old town...

Hofburg Imperial Palace is huge and consists of many different buildings...

The main town square is called Stephansplatz...

Named after St Stephen's Cathedral...

The tour was good and though billed as a 'free tour', I tipped the guide EUR20.

I was tired now so went to a nice beer garden that the tour guide had recommended and had a beer...

And I ordered the Vienna sausage. This was not what I was expecting but it was quite tasty.

Once I worked out the tram it was quite simple and I caught them all over the place. 

I wanted to visit The Hundertwasser House, a colourful residential building, designed in the form of expressionist architecture. It was a 20 minute tram ride from the city.

Not much to do there so headed back to town. Passed a pretty church...

I went back to the hotel for a sauna and rest.

That night I headed back into town and went to a burger and gin place. You had to choose your gin and your tonic...

The burger was great...

Then caught the tram back to the hotel. Passed the Opera House...

The next day I went to the Art History Museum or Kunsthistorisches Museum. It's a beautiful building with a great collection of art. There was an ancient Rome and ancient Egypt section and a lot of art.

The entry fee was EUR21.

One of the reasons I wanted to go here was to go to the cafe. So I had an espresso and apple strudel...

It really is quite beautiful...

I then caught the tram to Schonbrunn Palace and had a walk around. It's huge. 

This is the back...

Walked up to here, know as the Gloriette...

Looking back at the palace...

I caught the train back to Karlsplatz and had a Vienna schnitzel for lunch. A real one has veal, not chicken. There was too much batter for me but the veal was nice...

Then I walked back to St Stephen's Church as I wanted to walk around it. This is the rear side and you can see it's quite stained. Apparently cleaning is a constant process...

From the front...

Then I caught the tram back to Belvedere and walked through the grounds of the Belvedere Palace...

Had a rest and then headed back to this rooftop bar called Organics Sky Garden...

It had turned very cold and they handed out blankets. But I couldn't handle it so I left after one drink...

There's a restaurant area called the Bermuda Triangle which was close by, so I walked there and had dinner.

The soup was great...

And the beef was good but pretty heavy with all those potatoes...

Next morning I went to the gym and then walked 10 minutes to the main station for my four hour trip to Prague. I travelled in the first class car which was not expensive and I was able to do some emails.

The lift in my hotel had the train timetable which was really helpful. You can see my train, RJ74 at 11:10...