Summary. Vienna, Austria, is a gorgeous, high-class City on the Danube River known for it's Baroque architecture and cultural events. Vienna was the capital of the Hasburg Empire for almost their entire 650 year reign. The Hasburg's influence is on display through out the City, including the Hasburg's grandiose palace, Schönbrunn Palace. Vienna is also known as the Capital of Classic Music. In addition to the famous Vienna Opera House, the City has dozens of music halls, one of which we enjoyed an intimate classical concert. Vienna is also filled with coffee shops with amazing coffee and pastries. Vienna's public transportation is easy to navigate with a metro line just outside our Air BnB.
Day One in Vienna began with heading out on foot from our Air BnB to the U-Ban (Subway) to Schönbrunn Palace. The neighborhood where we stayed was a perfect quiet sampling of urban-Vienna.
Schönbrunn Palace is spectacular and should not be missed. See our blog dedicated to the Palace. Plan on spending several hours here, if not the full day.
St. Stephen's Cathedral. Next we traveled via U-Ban back to central Vienna to visit this central Roman Catholic Church in Vienna. Construction began on this architectural wonder in 1137. Built in the Gothic style of this medieval era, the Church's famous tower spire were not completed until 1433. A visit to the Church includes a tour of the main cathedral, catacombs, and south and north towers.
Stroll Historic Central Vienna: Historic Vienna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and formerly the capital of Austro-Hungarian Empire. Central Vienna has preserved its beautiful Baroque architecture through the years. Manicured city parks make for a perfect picnic spot for lunch and cafes serving Viennese coffee are an ideal afternoon treat.
Visit the Vienna Opera House. Located in Central Vienna, the Vienna Opera House was too large to photo from the exterior. This impressive 1709 seat Opera House offers guided tours but we just popped our heads in and took a brief self-guided tour to see the interior architecture.
More Horses. One of Vienna's top tourist attractions must be riding a horse-drawn carriage. We did not actually take a ride but we did enjoy taking photos of beautiful horses and their interesting carriages and carriage drivers.
Day One ended with returning back to our quiet neighborhood, away from the bustling streets of Central Vienna, and had dinner at the corner restaurant before resting up for another big sightseeing day.
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