Day 1:
We took the hotel shuttle to the city center where it dropped us off in front of the Vienna State Opera.
Right next to the opera is the busy shopping street of Kartner Strasse. We walked along the street and came across the beautiful Donner Brunnen Fountain.
After taking some pictures we walked further along the Kartner Strasse to the very busy Stephansplatz square. The square sits right in front of the St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
The exterior of St. Stephen’s Cathedral is very impressive.
After spending about half an hour inside the church we proceeded on Graben street. There are a lot of impressive high end designer shops along this street. After walking for less than 5 minutes we came across one of the most popular architecture pieces of Vienna, the Pestsaule. It is a holy Trinity column built to commemorate the ending of the plague in Vienna.
After further walking along Graben street, we reached the Peterkirche (Catholic Church of St. Peter). It is located on a small side street from Graben. The interior of this baroque church is very impressive.
After spending some time inside the church we walked along Kohlmarket towards Hofburg Palace. Soon we reached Michaelerplatz where sits the Sisi Museum.
We did not actually go inside the Sisi Museum but rather went through the courtyard to the famous Heldenplatz square. Although it is now just a parking lot in front of the Hofburg Palace, a lot of history happened here including Hitler’s famous speech announcing Austrian annexation to Germany.
Next we walked back to Michaelerplatz and turned on a street leading to the Austrian National Library. Karen is an avid book reader and she really wanted to visit the interior of this impressive building.
After about an hour, we walked back to the Vienna State Opera to catch our shuttle back to the hotel. We walked by the Albertina Museum where I had read about a highly rated and reviewed sausage stand – Bitzinger Wurstelstand Albertina. Me and Karen both tried some sausages which I downed with some tasty beer.
After taking some rest with all the walking we did in the morning, we visited a mall in Business Park Vienna right opposite to our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn Vienna South). It had a Billa supermarket where we did quite a bit of chocolate shopping for taking as gifts for folks back home.
Day 2:
We took the hotel shuttle again this morning to the Vienna State Opera. From there we walked along Opernring road to Maria Theresien Platz.
From there we walked to the Austrian Parliament Building.
After spending some time taking pictures of this majestic architectural attraction, we walked next door to Rathausplatz where Rathaus is located. However, the whole area was cordoned off for preparation of some event so we did not spend much time there.
Next we took the Vienna Metro U2 line to MuseumsQuarter station and walked to Naschmarket.
Naschmarket is a large open air market where you can find lots of restaurants, fruit stands, specialty stores and souvenir shops. We had been wanting to try some veal schnitzel after arriving in Europe and had read recommendations to try it out in Vienna.
After checking out several restaurants in the market, we finally settled on one of them and tried veal schnitzel for the first time. It was really delicious although was not too crazy about the potato salad that came with it.
After lunch, we walked back to the Vienna State Opera. As we had a train to catch for Budapest later that afternoon, we took the shuttle back to our hotel.