Vienna Visit

Dinner at Reinprecht, an outer suburban wine tavern, selling wine from the latest harvest. A palace concert.

Quick Tips:

Visit the summer palace of the Hapsburgs. (I could live in this sort of holiday house!)

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking around the city is easy if you choose a central hotel. The shopping in the centre of town is good. Public transport is available to places such as Grinzing, or join a tour.

The hotel had large rooms with very large, comfortable beds and a quiet air-conditioning unit that kept the room at a very comfortable temperature for sleeping. A real bonus after being either far too hot or far too cold in other hotels.

The bathroom had a reasonable bath complete with rubber ducky. (Nice souvenir.... Thanks Hilton Vienna!)

We had a problem with the room safe, which had been locked by the previous guest (dumb!!!). A technician was there within 5 minutes and the problem was fixed! Great service! The hotel had a gym and sauna but no pool. (2 out of 3 aint bad!) It was very conveniently located quite close to the park and the station.

Breakfast was at the usual high Hilton standard. Excellent coffee and fresh orange juice and a good range of cereals, yoghurts and hot food. (We are happy with a hotel with good beds ....quiet air-conditioning and great food.... the Hilton scores on all measures!)

A word of warning..... don't use the in room telephone. The Hilton does have a unique way of charging for telephone calls that involves a complex exponential multiplying effect!! (a real shock)

Traditional Austrian Fare, well presented in a very unusual setting. The walls were adorned with musical instruments (our room was mostly stringed instruments) and the most amazing collection of celebrity photographs I have seen. Look for a very young Richard Gere. This photograph looked like it pre-dated his appearance in "An Officer and a Gentleman." Liz and Richard Burton shared a wall with Pavarotti.

Considering the number of people in the restaurant the night we were there, the food was quite good. Takes some skill to produce good food in this sort of volume. All meals on offer were traditional Austrian Cuisine and there was a bit of friendly swapping amongst couples to sample a wider fare.

The wandering minstrels played well, and played longer when tipped. They were certainly good and entertaining. (Well, what would Austria be without its music? ) Schnapps was the pre-dinner drink on offer. Very strong! (But also very nice!)

Other relics around the place date to Napolean's battles in the nearby fields. The restaurant dates back to 1843.

This is one restaurant where you could spend hours just looking at the decorations and still not take it all in. Well worth a visit.

Heurigens are outer suburban wine taverns, usually selling wine from the latest harvest. Reinprecht is in a 300-year-old monastery with a terraced garden and offers grills as well as the usual buffet of cold meats and cheeses, sausages, pickled salads, roast pork and dumplings. Sad Schrammelmusik (19th-century Viennese dance music with violins, guitar and clarinet/accordion) is played here nightly and the atmosphere is lively.

The wine seemed to be more potent than it first appeared. Some of our group were "incapacitated" the next morning. Well, they were very docile, anyway.

The food was good and the music was lively. Reinprecht had atmosphere that added to the dining experience. The wine garden looked particularly inviting as the night was quite mild. Had we not been booked in for some serious culture in the form of a Viennese concert, we would have been happy to linger much longer.

Schönbrunn Palace (Vienna): This Hapsburg palace of 1,441 rooms was the summer residence of this powerful family that ruled much of Europe. This was regarded as the comfortable summer cottage of the Hapsburg family or more notably Maria Theresa. An amazing woman who ran a business empire from a bed, she was a good producer of children.... most of whom were married off to extend the empire.

The palace exceeded the size of the palace of Versailles on which it was modelled. Having also visited the palace of Versailles, this is no mean feat! It would take more time than we had availale to fully tour this palace and its grounds. Unfortunately, when we were there they were renovating. Why do all historic buildings sprout scaffolding when I visit?

One of he nights we were in Vienna (Wien) a concert was being conducted in one of the palaces. As this was an organised tour the location is unknown. However, hotel concierges will be able to help with finding suitable events. They seem to be a regular feature in Vienna.

This concert combined opera singing, classical music and ballet. A lot of "culture" for one sitting. The room (I assume it was a ballroom) was sumptuous and added to the atmosphere of the night.

A concert in Vienna is a must do activity.