Austria Part 2: Vienna

Vienna! The second and final stop on our brief Austrian tour. First, you must know that it's a BIG city. With over 2 million people, it's Austria's biggest city and the capital.

After getting settled into our 5th floor apartment and saying a little prayer of thanks for the lovely elevator (did we mention earlier that our 4th floor apartment in Florence did not include an elevator???), our first order of business was to study the map and attempt to figure out the various public transport lines. There are no shortage of subways, street cars, and buses for navigating this beautiful city, but figuring out where they all went was a bit of a challenge. 

After a few rides in the wrong direction, we eventually got our bearings and did some exploring. 

Apartment and views from our apartment:

The very cool Hundertwasser Haus:

The old town square features the magnificent St. Stephens cathedral.

Our favorite Vienna sweets – Manner bars and Hot Chocolate:

Highlight of Vienna – #1

Vienna is home to painter Gustav Klimt. A visit to the Belvedere Place provided an opportunity to view several of Klimt's painting, including his most famous one: The Kiss (a bucket list sighting for Lisa!).

A bit of Jeopardy trivia for you: Klimt painted it in 1907-1908 and originally called it The Lovers. And even though most posters, mugs, bags, decks of cards, umbrellas, and various other souvenirs frame it like this:

... it's actually a square painting, so this is what the no crop/full view looks like:

Exquisite!

Highlight of Vienna – #2

When I worked at Wiley, one of my jobs was to manage our international sales partners. Through that work, I got to know Karl Kaiblinger who was our Austrian/German partner. During one partner conference, we played a hysterical round of golf (he had never played before) that I'll never forget. During long conversations at various conference dinners over the years, Karl would always invite me to Vienna where he lived. He clearly loved his hometown. So when Michelle and I made our plans, I contacted Karl and arranged to meet up one evening. And boy did we have a great time! Karl is enamored with Vienna, and he was happy to show us around and share all of his stories that only a local would know. Here's a photo from our pre-dinner cafe stop:

Thanks, Karl, for your wonderful Vienna hospitality!