Vienna Waits For You: Mike & Beth Go To Austria

In this special travel edition of the, “Hey, Are You Still There?” podcast, Mike & Beth are back from their recent trip to Austria. In this episode they’ll discuss their time in Vienna and the surrounding area. Lots of travel insights for vacationers from the US such as places to visit, where to eat, and how to get around. Below is a hopefully helpful timeline of the travel that is discussed in the podcast.

Vienna, Austria Day 1

• Motto am fluss for brunch after landing 
• St. Stephen’s Catherdral - large church in Vienna with tile on side of roof.  They were having mass. So we went back later; tallest church in Austria and is the cities most important Gothic Building.
• St. Peter’s Church - large baroque art and architecture - also having mass
• Albertina Museum - Had Monet, Picasso, etc.  
• Free tour in Vienna - Guru Walk - Free Tour Vienna - Part 1 Top highlights - free walking tour of the city - pay as you want
  • Motzart statue and facts
  • Hofburg Imperial Palace 
  • Learned about all the other museums in palaces
  • St Stephens and St peters
• Gastwirtchaft Purst - Dinner - had large barrels and cool art; very nice servers and authentic food
• Andaz Vienna Belvedere  was our hotel

Vienna, Austria Day 2

• Authentic breakfast at Cafe GoldEgg
• Belvedere - has Klimt and other cool art in a palace with grounds
• St Elisabeth - small church
• Belvedere Museum is in a baroque palace and in the manicured gardens get a great view of city center in the distance- 
  • Was a palace and had amazing art work on the ceilings; 
  • had large open rooms with wood and gold; 
  • lots of old religious art; 
  • we learned about how in the 15th century churches had alter pieces that would fold out - had wings in 3 pieces with art that showed Bible stories; 
  • Klimt the kiss and an unfinished piece  
• Butterfly museum
• Museum of natural history - largest meteorite collection; also is in a building that looks like a palace - so two for one to see the building and then all the rocks, Dino bones, animals and taxidermy awards
• Hao restaurant for Joshua whole crab and dumplings
• Took the tram (has 29 tram lines); Vienna has great public transportation with U-Bahn (subway), trams, and buses.

Vienna, Austria Day 3

Excursion from Vienna to Wachau Valley 

Wachau Valley is a region along the Danube River in Austria.  It has vineyards, apricot orchards, old towns and castles.

• Took over an hour to get to Melk where we started
• Melk - known for 11th century Melk abbey, a monastery on a high hill above the town.  Talk about the self guided walk
  • Ate pizza at Pasta e pizza - great service and food
  • Walked in a few stores - expensive area not crowded
  • Walked to the Boat in the park area
• Took the Boat to Spitz.  The town was empty.  We took at hike up to a castle - Ruine Hinterhaus - It is a tough hike but breathtaking views of the valley.  Castle in ruins but we went up the stairs and all around - only people there
• Back to boat to Krems - went into Aldi then walked around the town. Mostly closed; train back. 

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