Vienna!

NOTE: This is a work in progress, so will be updating and refining first cut with more details as time goes on. Areas are marked PLACEHOLDER where there is more to be written.

Well I finally got around to making my Vienna blog. Good things come to those ... blah blah blah.
I recently took a trip to Vienna, and here is what I have to tell.

PLACEHOLDER: German language study

Vienna has been and is a center for artistic and cultural advancement. As an example, musical masters such as Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden (one of my favorites), Schubert, Brahms, and Strauss (Blue Danube) have either been born there or lived there at one point.

PLACEHOLDER: Artists, Klimdt ...

Something I recently learned is that Austria is "permanently neutral", something along the likes of Switzerland.

Below is a satellite image of Vienna centered on the InnerStadt (innercity), courtesy of Google. The Danube River is in the NE corner.

The first thing I noticed while flying in was all the windfarms that crossed the country. Apparently Austria is non-nuclear (though they willingly accept nuclear energy from their European Union (EU) partners in the grid).

PLCAEHOLDER: Nice family I stayed with...

OK, on to so sightseeing. We have the Hapsburg palace of the Hapsburgs who ruled for a good long time. At least we should think so because it is named after them.

This is where Hitler gave his speech from the balcony after invading Austria.

The Ratthaus, plenty of events going on here.


There are plenty more of amazing sights (churches, museums, shops) in the InnerStadt, maybe more on them later.

Of course we all get hungry, but being an American I need some good old fashioned fast food. This is when I came upon WienerWald (hot dog world roughly translated). Had a big piece of schnitzel, pommes frites (french fries), and a salad. The salad was quite good with a mixture of cucumber, saurerkraut, and lettuce. Won't find that at Mc'D's.

PLACEHOLDER: French Chef, goulash, stuffed peppers...

Who likes Coffee? I do. Apparently so did Sigmund Freud. Landtmann's is where he had his morning coffee everyday. The service is on par with the travel guides, so let us just say rudeness is the norm if you don't plan on spending at least 5 hours at the place (many people stay at a coffeehouse all day once they have their spot, so the waiter is in no hurry to get the check).



How about a little trip to the United Nations? Apparently nuclear energy policy is decided there (remember Austria is anti-nuclear) among other things. Waited in line (OK not really, knew somebody :) ) and got my pass to tour the place. Quite amazing how much of World politics can be concentrated in one place.



Alrighty, time for a little side trip. Lets go to the hometown of Arnord Schwarzenagger, Graz, Austria.

PLACEHOLDER: Park and town plaza

This looks quite familiar. Maybe where the shopkeep convinced me that the Cashmere jacket I bought looked quite fine upon me. Moving on...



Hello good woman, can you recommend a place to find a beer around here? (spoken in German by me.) Sure buddy, go up that hill over there (politely spoken in German back).



That is where I was standing, but had no idea of how high that hill was. Let us just say that is the closest I ever came to having a heart attack after climbing it. (Turns out it was Schlossenberg hill?) There is a castle and a restaurant on top.

After a couple drinks, and willing to move on, a kind soul informed me that there is a tram that goes down the hill (and also up DOH).



The next morning, I walked from my hotel to the Mur Island. Had some Eier (eggs) and stuff.



Back in Vienna, here is the inside of Stephansdom church. Not sure if they had unions back then, however they built things that lasted forever. We got to look at the cannonballs from the attacking Turks that got stuck in the walls like putty.



Time for a T&T from the exclusive Do&Co hotel. This is what is looks like sitting there.



I was always facsinated by this object. Turns out it was an incinerator designed by HunderWasser, a famous artist. They incinerate garbage and actually end up recieving more energy than they put in.

PLACEHOLDER: Hundertwasser house


PLACEHOLDER: Market and Pumpkin oil.

And finally, it is time for gifts. I get my girlfriend one of these handmade altmann & kuehne hand wrapped bon-bon thingies.

Pachelbel Canon

My Mother's favorite song. Hope she doesn't mind it has been modernized.