Vienna

The most beautiful city of the tour to date, architecturally at least. Also hassle free getting here on Austrian trains from Budapest with a great breakfast to boot.

Having done 2 longish walking tours at our last 2 cities in Warsaw and Budapest, we decided to spend the afternoon on a Hop on Hop off tour bus but didn’t hop off at all and just enjoyed the ride :)

In the evening we went to the Vienna State Opera House to see Salome, the opera by Richard Strauss based on the play by Oscar Wilde. Bought the tickets last minute over dinner in Budapest, we were very happy with our seats and the performance. A modern interpretation of a disturbing story involving incest and decapitation!

For our second day and our first rainy day of the trip (been glorious sun all the way so far) we settled on culture. Visited the “Sisi museum” (life story of the princess and Empress Elizabeth), as well as the imperial  apartments she and Franz Joseph lived in within the Royal palace as Austro-Hungarian monarchs. A teaser for history buffs. She was assassinated by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni in 1898.

After a short chocolate and apple strudel break in the oldest cafe in Vienna, the Café Frauenhube (1824), we set off for the Museum of Applied Arts.

An amazing space with some fabulous art deco pieces. Was particularly thrilled to see that Margaret Macdonald Macintosh , spouse of Charles Rennie Macintosh, had a magnificent piece displayed next to one by Klimt

Exhausted by now, we retreated to our accommodations, surfacing in the evening to eat at a rather nice rooftop restaurant and the largest Wiener Schnitzel I have ever seen or eaten!

A fitting way to end our trip to Vienna. Early train to Prague in the morning.