My husband, Hoyt, and I are pictured here with Rick Steves in Vienna, Austria. This was NOT planned (read below for the story). In case you’re not familiar with Rick Steves, here’s the scoop:
“Rick Steves is an American travel writer, author, activist and television personality. Since 2000, he has hosted Rick Steves’ Europe, a travel series on public television. Steves also has a public radio travel show called Travel with Rick Steves and has authored numerous travel guides.” (From his Google bio).
My husband and I went to this famed city in July, 2018, to experience its beauty, art, and music, as well as a chocolate cake dessert called Sachertorte, a delicious torte with apricot filling. It was originally cooked up in Vienna by an Austrian named Franz Sacher in 1832 whose family ran the Sacher Hotel.
This post is a little peek into our one-week’s experience in Vienna. It is impossible to cover everything we did and what we saw, so I’m just giving a little taste of our adventure. At the end of the post, click the first photo in the gallery to begin the slide show.
Guide to Vienna
For about twenty years, I have had my own personal tour guide galore: Hoyt Edge. He has planned our trips and provided on-the-go education and fun all over the world. Maybe you’ve read other of my travel blogs here on this website and traveled vicariously to Italy, Cuba, The Netherlands, Morocco, Greece, Chile, Argentina, Patagonia and more.
When we visit Europe, we highly recommend Rick Steves’ travel guides. For Vienna, where Hoyt had been before, we planned our sightseeing based on his loves plus tips from Rick Steves’ guide book to the city which describes the major, and some minor, places to visit including best times to see them, how to get to them, where to eat, and much more.
By the way, Vienna was our second week of a three-week trip that started in Krakow, Poland, and ended in Budapest, Hungary (one week in each city). You could say Vienna was the apricot layer of that chocolate cake trip!
Where is Vienna?
Vienna is the capital of the landlocked European country, Austria. “Vienna, Austria’s capital, lies in the country’s east on the Danube River. Its artistic and intellectual legacy was shaped by residents including Mozart, Beethoven and Sigmund Freud. The city is also known for its Imperial palaces, including Schönbrunn, the Habsburgs’ summer residence. In the Museums Quartier district, historic and contemporary buildings display works by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and other artists.” For more info from this source, click here.
Surprise meeting
The day Hoyt and I toured the Kunsthistorisches Museum—it houses the art collection of the ultra-rich Habsburg rulers—we stopped in the museum café for coffee and a Sachertorte. While relishing that chocolate and apricot treat, I looked up and saw two men entering the café.
“Hoyt,” I said, “there’s a guy who looks just like Rick Steves walking towards us. No, it can’t be.” I sipped my coffee and looked up again.
“Yes, it is!” I was so excited, I jumped up and waved. “Hi, Rick!” He smiled and came right over to our table, introducing his local guide, Gene Openshaw. We had a great chat with both of them, and Rick was kind enough to pose for a photo with us.
An additional coincidence was that Hoyt actually had Rick’s guide book sitting right on the table! He graciously autographed it for us.
Local inside story
If you go to Vienna—or any large city—I recommend you find a place within walking distance of the center of town. In Vienna we were lucky to rent an Airbnb apartment just around the corner from St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the town square. We booked several months in advance.
The apartment owner turned out to be a man who’d been in the Vienna Boy’s Choir when he was about ten years old. One thing I love about traveling is hearing people’s stories. According to our host, contrary to common belief, the travelling boy’s choir was no picnic for some boys who often felt unhappy about the schedule, the food (or lack thereof) and other issues like housing. Their letters home, often filled with complaints, were allegedly read by the chaperones before the boys could mail them. If the letters to Mom and Dad contained any “negative” information, the boys had to rewrite the letter and get it approved before it was mailed.
Moving Art
Art and music are everywhere in Vienna. Around the corner from our place was a most unusual clock, and we stood on the sidewalk one night waiting with a crowd of tourists to watch decorative figures move at the hour of 5 o’clock. “The Anchor Clock was built between 1911 and 1917 after the plans of the painter Franz von Matsch. It is situated on the oldest square of Vienna ‘Hoher Markt’ and represents a typical Art Nouveau design.” For more info, click here.
Another delightful treat was our chance to hear a string quartet performance in a small church called St. Anne’s. The venue was perfect for an inspiring night of classical music—Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven—performed live and up-close. (photo below). It was truly a “moving” experience! For info about the church and performances, click here.
A Royal Experience
The Schonbrunn Palace Tour is worth taking. Magnificient. For info, check it out here.
Vienna slide show
Enough chitter chatter. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, so here’s a selection from the more than 1,000 photos Hoyt and I took around Vienna.
Peg O’Keef
Gosh, I share your love for Vienna. Thanks for prompting my return visit, if only in my imagination for the moment.
Another fun site in that wonderful city (and not far from the location you described as your Airbnb) is the original Eden Bar, which served as the inspiration for the hotspot at Enzian.
Charlene L. Edge
So glad you enjoyed the flashback! Appreciate knowing about the Eden Bar connection. Small world.
Roz
Like Peg, I enjoyed this look at one of our favorites cities. It has been about 15 years since we were there, but we have fond memories of all those places–and more than a few pastries & coffee mitt schlag. I may have told you before, but our grandchild always says that Rick Steves if my God. He may be my travel god, and I have found a lot of special places from those books. I am a little jealous of this terrific picture of you and Hoyt with him. Thanks for continuing to write this blog for your fans.
Charlene L. Edge
Happy you enjoyed it, Roz. It’s such a grand city, chockful of delightful places and exquisite art, architecture, and music. History of the place is so mixed, of course. There’s a book I love that you might like to read called, The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund De Waal. It’s about his visit to Vienna. The New Yorker said, “A family memoir written with grace and modesty that almost belie the sweep of its contents: Proust, Rilke, Japanese Art, the rue de Monceau, Vienna during the Second World War. The most enchanting history lesson imaginable.”