VIENNA

The cold weather continued into Vienna, but we still loved every minute of it. The city is so classy, beautiful and vibrant. We arrived at our hotel, the Levant Parliament, and were immediately blown away. The hotel was super modern and the staff were exceptional. We relaxed there and had a lovely dinner in the very cozy and cool dining room. The food was delicious and the Prosecco and Gruner Veltliner were even better.

Our dear friend Doris gave us some tips, which led our first day of exploring. Our first stop though, was to get Mavreen another novel to read. Thankfully the hotel receptionist recommended a fantastic international bookstore which carried exactly the book she was looking for. We then headed to the Sacher hotel to have their famous chocolate torte and Weiner mélange coffee (which Doris told us we must try). We walked past the beautiful Opera House and did some window shopping as well.

As the day progressed, the weather grew colder and wet, and so it seemed appropriate to head indoors. We hit the Albertina Museum which was showing 3 fantastic exhibits: Andy Warhol, The Impressionists, and Jacob Von Alt. We both enjoyed it thoroughly. After the exhibits we walked through part of the Hofburg complex and saw some of the Spanish horses in their stalls. We lit some candles in St. Michels church, which was not only one of the most ornate we had visited on this trip thus far, but was also incredibly moving with its overwhelming energy.

After St. Michels, we wandered through Hofburg a bit more and then stopped for dinner. Delicious Italian. On our walk back to the hotel, we stumbled upon the beautifully lit Parliament building and the massive outdoor skating rink. Their were tents with beer and donuts and sausages and pretzels…families having fun and skating and dancing to the blaring tunes. So fun. Had we been winter sport people, we would have joined in. Instead we took pictures and looked at them over drinks back at the hotel ☺

We have been gone for over 2 weeks and the laundry bags were overflowing. We thought it would be a great idea to do laundry in Vienna, the morning before our next train to Venice. Our hotel, being as helpful and sweet as ever, offered us their laundry facilities at their sister hotel just a few blocks away (for free). This is where we had our lesson on European washers and dryers – they apparently don’t dry. 4.5 hours later, lesson learned.

We had another great dinner and quick stroll through more of Hofburg while killing time before our train. Next stop Venice – let the eating really begin!