"VIENNA – to be savoured slowly" a Vienna Travel Page by tiabunna

“Has Vienna got through to you yet?” my friend Katherine asked. Well no, at that stage it hadn’t, though I was quite enjoying myself.

My wife and I both had our own “must see” interests before our visit, derived from enjoyable memories of films and television. Pauline wanted to visit St Stephan’s Cathedral, which features in the opening credits of the TV series “Inspector Rex” (produced in Austria as “Kommisar Rex”) about a super smart police dog. For my part, I’d always associated Vienna with the classic 1949 film “The Third Man” – not to mention the haunting theme played on a zither by Anton Karas. During our visit we satisfied those particular priorities, and many more besides.

I’m unsure where Vienna did ”get to” me, but I’d guess somewhere between the “Terracotta Army” and the Rathaus (City Hall). Maybe it was the Kunsthistorisches Museum? In any case, Pauline now declares that Vienna is her favourite city and I’d have to say that, putting aside the “tourist tinsel”, it is a remarkably impressive place and also a strong contender for my “favourite city”.

So what makes it tick? Probably the surprisingly unified baroque charm, interspersed with occasional flashes of gothic. Add to that a lot of history, some great museums and an unbeatable musical heritage, plus friendly people and charming streets, and it’s a hard combination to top! And yet – and yet …. if asked for the single “top highlight” of our visit, I’m not too sure that the invading Terracotta Army of the great Emperor Qin Shi Huang of ancient China (like us, there only briefly), didn’t steal the show for me!

There’s much that we didn’t see on this visit, but as we’ve said before, that leads to the great standby excuse for another trip: Next Time!.