Vienna
Vienna has been an important city in central Europe for a very long time. It was originally a Celtic settlement, then a Roman military camp, and eventually the capital city of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, and the Republic of Austria. The historic wealth of Vienna is evident in its large, opulent, well-preserved historic centre. You can walk for hours without finding any consistently modern building. In spite of that, it has an excellent public transit system, a vibrant music and arts culture, and has been voted the best city in the world for ex-patriate residents for many years.
Day 1 - Introduction to Vienna
Arrival
First things first! Navigating the airport through customs to baggage claim is easy. While you're waiting for your luggage, you can join your fellow passengers in activating your eSIM, if you're using one for your phone. I will meet you at the airport with your tickets for the train into the city. Trains come along twice per hour (at :19 and :49), so we’ll check the time to see how quickly we need/want to hurry down. Then, in about 20 minutes, we’ll be arriving at Wien Mitte station.
Because it’s unlikely we’ll be able to check into our lodgings this early (it might still be before 10:00 a.m.), we will lock up our luggage for a few hours. I'll bring you to the locker facility.
Lockers are fairly large; you might be able to lock up two people's luggage in one locker. The cost is about $13 for the day, which we'll have to use; the other option is only for 3 hours, which won't be enough. You'll need an email address and your phone to lock up and your phone will do the unlocking later.
From here, we'll take an introductory walk around Vienna's Innere Stadt, probably starting with coffee and a breakfast snack! Our walk will take us past some of the interesting points of the centre that don't necessarily need to be visited.
We might pass:
- Hundertwasserhaus, a colourful and uniquely designed apartment building.
- Ankeruhr, an elaborate clock with figures from Austrian history that rotate around it at the top of each hour.
- Spanish Riding School, where we'll probably be able to see a few of the famous Lipizzaner stallions in their stalls.
- Schmetterlinghaus, another attraction we may want to visit. A ticket here is about $14.
- Wiener Staatsoper. The building from the outside is impressive. Guided tours of the interior have limited availability, but if we want one, it would be best to buy tickets ahead of time. Tickets cost about $24.
- Capuchin Imperial Crypt, the burial place of the Habsburg dynasty since 1618. If we want to visit, tickets are about $22.
- Various parks. Our route could take us next to or through the Burggarten and the Mozart monument, and/or Stadtpark and the Strauss monument.
Hundertwasserhaus
Once it's getting close to our check-in time, we'll make our way together back to the train station to pick up our luggage, and then to our accommodations.
We will likely be tired and feel a bit grubby after a long flight and a few hours of walking. Once we are checked in, we'll take some time for a rest, but we'll also want to be careful to work on getting ourselves accustomed to the new time zone. Here is a routine we have found helpful when we’ve had early morning arrivals:
Have a nap, but set an alarm for between 5:00-5:30 pm, to give yourself a nap of about an hour and a half, tops. When that alarm goes, get up. Take a quick shower to refresh yourself, brush your teeth, drink some water (no coffee right now!), and get back outside. This will feel rough, but you’ll perk up enough to get through the evening.
We'll go back downtown together to have supper at 1516 Brewing Co. Besides their own beer, there are lots of great foods on their menu - sausages, cheese spaetzle, pretzels, and more. I suggest sharing so you can try more than one.
After supper, we'll go for a walk down Mariahilferstrasse. This broad street and some of its side streets are full of shopping opportunities, hosting both major chain stores and small, unique shops. Even if you don't want to shop, I recommend walking for as long as your energy will carry you. Then we'll head back to our accommodations and get ready for bed. Our rule has been to stay up until at least 9:00 or 9:30 on the first night. Even with an afternoon nap, you should be tired enough to sleep pretty well through the night, which is the key to getting over jet lag as quickly as possible. You might wake up at a weird time, but do your best to relax yourself back to sleep until a reasonable waking hour.
Mariahilferstrasse
Schedule
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 8:30 | arrival |
| 9:19 (?) | train to Wien Mitte station |
| 9:45 | lock up luggage, buy transit passes |
| 10:30 | introductory walk |
| 3:00 | check in to lodgings |
| 3:30 | rest |
| 5:00 | get up & freshen up |
| 6:00 | supper - 1516 Brewing Co. |
| 7:30 | walk |
| 9:00 | bed |