Austria

So far our blog has four days from Austria, in Vienna in August 2021. Vienna is the second stop of a city trip that begins in Budapest on 11 August. After six days in Hungary we take the direct train to Vienna on 16 August. In the early evening Vienna welcomes us with rain and a thunderstorm, and after the heat in Budapest we are glad of the cooler weather.

On the first day there is warm apple strudel for breakfast at a café near the hotel. Then we explore the city centre on foot, with the Hofburg, the Volksgarten, the Parliament, the Heldenplatz, the City Hall and the monuments to Sisi and Franz Josef. You can walk around the Palace of Justice freely after a thorough security check, and from the cafeteria on the top floor we look out over Vienna. After the Anker Clock we walk on to the Hundertwasser House. On the way back we eat our first Mozartkugel with a view of St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

On the second day we are outside the Sisi Museum at ten o’clock, when it opens. With the tickets we bought online beforehand we do not have to wait in the long queue, and the ticket also covers the Silver Collection and the state rooms. We buy lunch at a Billa and eat it in the gardens of Belvedere Palace, about half an hour away on foot. In the evening we join a queue about 30 metres long outside Figlmüller, because for the past three months it has been serving vegan schnitzel too.

On the third day we walk through the Naschmarkt and take the U-Bahn to Schönbrunn Palace. We walk through the palace garden up to the Gloriette, then visit the Najadenbrunnen and the Rosarium. Back in the city centre we climb the 343 steps of the spiral staircase up the south tower of St. Stephen’s Cathedral and look down over all of Vienna.

On the last day we leave our suitcases at the hotel. At the Karlskirche we unexpectedly find ourselves at a live concert. To round off our visit we eat a piece of Sachertorte at Café Sacher. Then we pick up our suitcases, take the train to the airport and fly back to Basel.

In the city we mostly get around on foot, and take the U-Bahn to Schönbrunn and back. From the second day on we get breakfast at Henry and eat it outside with a view of the Hofburg or in the Burggarten by a small lake. Billa has a large range of food to go and many vegan products.