"Vienna from a Backpack" a Vienna Travel Page by Lhenne1

The winter of 2006 was COLD for Europe and Vienna was freezing. But the chills gave us more reasons to try the gluewein, beers and foods of the city.

I had visited Vienna as a kid many years ago, but truthfully remembered little. It was nice to renew some memories and see everything fresh.

We began our two-week excursion in Vienna on January 24th and took the bus from the airport right into the city. After getting out bearings, we began to wander, hopping on a subway and heading north, stopping at Karlsplatz to see the University and Karlskirche, then we continued to the Staatsoper and along Karntnerstrasse to St Stephens. It was now around noon, so we searched for a friendly and reasonably priced restaurant, ultimately settling for an average place called Original Wiener Palatschinkenpfandl (on Kollnerhofgasse) which had good schnitzel.

After lunch, the cold air and the jet-lag was beginning to set in. No worries, just stop and grab some gluwein (mulled wine). In order to jump-start our fatgue we climbed the tower of St. Stevens (3 euro to enter) and got some fantastic pictures, as well as warming up quite a bit.

As it got darker, we decided to have some more drinks (hehe, the backbone of any good vacation) and stopped in at The Porterhouse, a chic little restaurant where we had some Austrian wine and beer. We still had to wait until 11:00PM for a train, so we headed over to St. Ruprects and grabbed dinner in a cute, cozy bar right on the square.

When we were finished, we headed over to the Sudbanhof and hopped our overnight train to Prague, CZ.

After trekking through Eastern Europe for nearly 2 weeks, it was time to catch our flight home. We wandered around Stephensplatz and grabbed a brat and a beer for lunch at a small stand while we figured out where to spend the night.

With the help of a tourist desk, we reserved a room at the Hotel Viennart near Spittelberg and the Museums Quarter for about 65 EUR/night.

After checking into the hotel, we took a walk past Parliament and the Rathaus, where we stopped at the Eistraum-- or ice skating park. We stopped for a bit and watched the local kids skate around in the freezing, but suner afternoon.

We headed to the Votivkirche, through some narrow alleys called Molker Steig and back to the Rathaus park and the Eistraum for a beer. As dark approached, we wandered through the Volksgarten, Heldenplatz, and Hofburg, getting fantastic pictures of the city at dusk. After a few more beers (this town knows how to make em) and dinner, we decided to head home and get some sleep before the flight home the next morning.