Finally, finally, FINALLY getting to update this blog after a very whirlwind few months! This is Post #1 of my Europe trip, and we’re starting in the lovely Vienna!
Day 0: Kenji and I started our trip flying business class on Scandinavian Airlines to Copenhagen, then a codeshare of Austrian Airlines to Vienna. We arrived pretty late on the first day, so went strait to the hotel, the Hilton Vienna Danube, and then to sleep.
Day 1: We woke pretty early in the morning, really before anything was open, so we went upstairs to the business lounge for some breakfast since our room gave us access. We planned a little of our day, went to the concierge for some reservations, then headed out.
Our first day’s plan was to see the Morning Exercises of the Spanish Riding School for about an hour, then walking down Graben avenue to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, followed by a bit more walking to Karlskirche, and plans for dinner at the famous Figlmuller that evening. We mostly followed the plan, but took it a bit easy on the sightseeing as we were still tired, and Kenji still had a bit of a cold.
Of the day, I really loved watching the horses at the Spanish Riding school, but Kenji quickly got pretty bored, like I figured he would. It isn’t terribly interesting if you don’t know what they’re doing, but I could have watched all day!
My most favorite place, though, was definitely Karlskirche. Right now it is undergoing renovations on the inside which allow you to take an elevator, then some stairs, all the way to the top of the dome, allowing you the unique chance to see all the paintings and details up close! It was a really special experience.
Day 2: We started off our second day almost more tired than the first, due to a nap we had taken the previous day which messed with our sleeping schedule. We still got off at a decent hour, heading back to the area we were in the previous day to see the Imperial Palace Apartments, Silver Collection, and Sisi Museum. From there, we went to the Kunsthistoriesches Museum Cafe for a snack, then explored the museum. Kenji was too tired by that point to see Schonbrunn Palace, so we went to a late lunch at Plachutta, before going back to the hotel to rest up. We had planned to go out later, but ended up staying in the hotel.
The best part of the day was hands down the Kunsthistoriesches Museum, which ended up being my favorite museum of not only this trip, but of all I’ve seen in Europe! Their special Faberge egg exhibit wasn’t the greatest, but the permanent exhibits, especially the sculpture collection and Egyptian collections, just blew me away. They were wonderfully curated and certainly set the bar high! Plus, my favorite European artist Diego Velasquez also had a lot of his portraits there as well.
I really liked Vienna, but we just didn’t get to do and see as much as I’d hoped, due in part to tiredness from jetlag, but also because Kenji was getting over his cold, and got tired easily. But I guess that means it is just a good excuse to go back!