Vienna - Part III

On Sunday morning we went to the Hofzuckerbäckerei Demel a famous Viennese bakery and chocolatier to get some pastries and coffee for breakfast. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves and simply write that I’m pretty sure we clogged a couple of arteries and heightened our risk for diabetes given our selections.

In the back of the shop you can even watch the bakers preparing the cakes.

Our next stop was Schonbrunn Palace, which is the Habsburgs’ equivalent of Versailles. We had purchased our tickets in advance online, so we were able to bypass the large crowds that had already formed at the main ticket counter.










The self-guided tour took about an hour and provided a nice overview of the palace and the Habsburg dynasty. Fortunately, there was a complimentary audioguide, as I seemed to have forgotten much of the details that I learned in high school about Austrian history and the Habsburgs.

For lunch we headed back towards the city center to meet up with one of my good friends from business school, Madeleine, and her husband. They suggested a restaurant called Café Landtmann and it turned out to be a perfect choice given the good food and ideal atmosphere for talking and catching up.










Emilie and I went with the Wiener Schnitzel and Sachertorte.










After lunch we visited a few more Christmas markets to buy some gifts.












We then stopped by the Belvedere museum, which is housed in the Belvedere Palace (pictured below), to see some works by Klimt and other Austrian painters.

By this point it was getting late so it was time to head back to the hotel to grab our stuff and then leave for the airport. On the way, we passed the Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral).

Vienna - Part II

After lunch we walked around the Hofsburg Palace a bit more. Given the palace’s size, you could easily spend a full day touring the various public wings and surrounding area.

We then went to the Wiener Christkindlmarkt, one of the many Christmas markets in Vienna. Like other such markets, it basically houses a seemingly endless array of stalls with people selling Christmas-related goods (ornaments, nutcrackers, music boxes, etc.) and food / drink (gluwein, candy, sausages).



















The atmosphere was very festive and people were definitely having a good time (particularly after warming up with some glasses of gluwein).

After the Wiener Chistkindlmarkt, we headed to the Kunsthistorisches museum (houses the Habsburgs art collection, including works by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Bosch, and Brueghel) and the Leopold Museum (modern Austrian art, including Klimt and Schiele). The Kunsthistorisches museum was particularly impressive – the architecture and interior design alone were worth the visit.





















After the museums we walked through some more Christmas markets (a trend that would continue on Sunday) and then headed back to the hotel via Karntnerstrasse, a street famous for shopping (fortunately, we were only walking through).











We were a bit pressed for time, so we grabbed dinner – some bratwursts – along the way. The tight schedule was due to the fact that we had tickets to see the Barber of Sevilla at the main opera house – the Staatsoper.

The opera itself was very nice, but it was the operahouse that truly stood out. Unfortunately, the early fight (we were up at 5am) finally caught up to us during the second half of the performance and by the nearly 11pm finish we had definitely reached our limit.

Vienna

Our flight from Geneva to Vienna went smoothly, and our early arrival left nearly a full day to explore as we had originally planned.

Our first stop on Saturday was Hofburg Palace, which is the former home of the Habsburg dynasty and currently serves as the residence of the Austrian President. It’s a massive complex with numerous wings.

We began the tour by seeing the Imperial Apartments – namely those of Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth (better known by many as “Sisi”). While it was interesting to see the 19th century décor, the most memorable aspect of the tour was learning about Sisi’s fondness for the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland (where we live) and her ultimate assassination at the hands of an Italian anarchist in Geneva.

The next stops in the palace were the Austrian National Library and the Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury). I really enjoyed the library, in particular, with its beautiful architecture and design. It dates back to the 1700s, is known for having the first card catalogue, and houses a vast collection of manuscripts, rare books, maps and globes.



















We then walked around the palace for a bit and saw some sites including the Augustinian Friars' Church and the Spanish Riding School. The following are some pictures of statues along the way that I found interesting.













For lunch, we at a restaurant that overlooks the Hofburg gardens. It actually felt a bit like a greenhouse with all of the glass windows, but it worked out well given the nice weather.

The view was really beautiful, overlooking a large park covered in snow. Apparently it is rare to have so much snow in Vienna during early December, so we really were fortunate with our timing.

Off to...Geneva

We were supposed to fly to Vienna tonight, but our flight got canceled due to the snowstorm. As a result, we’re staying at a hotel in Geneva for the night before catching a 7am flight tomorrow morning.

I spent most of the day watching the Geneva airport website to follow the scheduled arrivals / departures. And as the day progressed, it became clear that a delay (best case scenario) or cancellation (most likely scenario) were in the cards.

Ultimately, we learned about the cancellation from the Geneva airport website and never heard from the airline itself. And by the time we found out about the cancellation, it was too late to cancel our hotel for the evening. I assume that we’ll be able to get the related cost reimbursed by the airline, but I imagine that the process will be a pain.

All things considered, we are fortunate that there is a 7am flight tomorrow morning. Assuming it takes off as scheduled, we’ll basically get to the hotel in Vienna around the time that we would have otherwise been starting the day anyway.

Snowstorm

The snow has continued since my return and today evolved into a complete blizzard. The storm wreaked havoc on the city of Lausanne, basically shutting down the metro and much of the other public transportation.

I made the mistake of trying to buy some winter boots after work tonight. I need them for my trip to Vienna this weekend and my procrastination forced me into an evening of hiking through the snow in a suit with dress shoes that seemed better suited for ice skating.

Initially, it seemed like things would go smoothly, as I caught the bus by work and began the trek according to plan. Things fell apart shortly thereafter, however, as the bus got caught in the snow and the metro apparently shut down mid-stop requiring a non-emergency “emergency evacuation”.

As a result, I was forced into walking the remainder of the distance and my dress shoes were not fit for battle. Given the steepness of some streets in Lausanne, I was basically relegated to baby steps in an attempt to avoid falling / sliding (I was not 100% successful in that regard, though I never outright fell). I kind of looked like a newborn deer that hadn’t quite figured out how to stand up / balance yet.

Fortunately, once I got to the store everything went smoothly. I had already found online the pair that I intended to buy, so it was just a matter of trying on a couple of pairs in order to get the right size.

Here are some pictures that I took during the walk home (the public transportation was still hors service).











And here’s a picture of my front patio.