Hallo Wien (Vienna)
Johann Strauß Monument
St Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom)
Plague Column (Pestäule)
St Peter’s Church (Peterskirche)
Fiakers (horse-drawn carriages)
Demel
The Hofburg Palace
The Hofburg Palace
Neue Berg wing of the Hofburg Palace
Theseus Temple in the Volksgarten
Palace of Justice (Justizpalast)
Sausage selection at local supermarket.
Leberkäse
Museums Quartier
Library at the University of Vienna
6/4/19
After 3 months of hard work, we finally got our official semester break. We were given two weeks over the Easter period, and I decided to make the most of it with a twelve day trip to Europe. My first stop was the beautiful city of Vienna, where I would stay for four nights. Luckily for me, I had a friend who lived there who was gracious enough to show me around her city. I had flown out of Edinburgh at 6:30 in the morning, so on my first day, we just took it easy and checked out some of the main sites.
Some of the highlights were the Johann Strauß monument, who was a famous Austrian composer. Next we saw St Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom), which is the main Catholic church of Vienna (built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles). Nearby was the Plague Column/Trinity Column (Pestäule). It was constructed to remember those who died in the Great Plague epidemic of 1679. We also went inside St Peter’s Church (Peterskirche), which is a beautiful Baroque church.
While we were walking around the city, we saw a lot of horse drawn carriages (called fiakers). Fiakers were popular in Vienna from 1860-1900 - the carriage drivers were often interesting characters and some performed as singers. These days they are only used by tourists for the price of an arm and a leg (a 20 minute tour costs €55, and 40 minutes costs €80).
We stopped for a coffee at Demel, which is a famous pastry shop and chocolaterie, that was established in 1786. An interesting thing I found was that in Austria, you are always served water with coffee. Its so simple, but ingenious. I wish that was done automatically at home.
Next we wandered around the Hofburg Palace complex, where the Hapsburg emperors of the Austro-Hungarian Empire lived (now the Austrian President works here). We also walked through the People’s Garden (Volksgarten) and past the Palace of Justice (Justizpalast), which is the Supreme Court of Austria.
We bought an afternoon snack at a local supermarket - a traditional Austrian snack called leberkäse. Its essentially fritz with a crusty edge, served with sauce and melted cheese in a dinner roll - very yummy.
That night we feasted on a traditional Austrian meal, and for dessert, one of the best cakes I’ve ever had - a home-made sachertorte, which is a chocolate cake, with a tart apricot jam separating the layers.