So a couple of week ago I went on the first jaunt of the New Year.

Boo from “Does my blog make me look fat” had invited me to spend a few days in Vienna with her. She was organising a work conference and planned on spending a few days before it in the City, exploring and have a little City break.

Her company had said that we could stay at the hotel prior to the conference (for a small supplement) as a thank you for organising the event.

Well, of course I jumped at the chance.

We booked early flights which meant I caught the train and stayed at Boo’s house the night before as she was close to the airport.

The train to Reading

When the alarm went off at 4am, I really felt as rough as you could imagine. None the less, we got a taxi and got to the airport.

Rough as…..

We left from Heathrow on a very early flight; 7am on a Thursday morning.

High above Germany

The bonus to this was that we arrived in the City around 1030am.

Going outside of the airport, we flagged down a taxi which was a lovely comfortable top of the range BMW. 35 minutes later and we were pulling up to our hotel, The Falkensteiner Wien Margareten which was just stunning.

Although check in wasn’t until after 3pm, our room was ready and so they let us have it.

Lovely Big Room

And what a room it was!

Views of the City from our room

Hugely spacious, twin beds, office space and a floor to ceiling window looking out over the area. The bathroom was gorgeous (although had a frosted full length window that faced into the bedroom.

Perfect for Make-up and Hair

Huge Shower

There was a dressing area and plenty of storage space. I have to admit, it was probably one of the best rooms abroad I had ever stayed in.

Working Space

Well, we speedily unpacked and got ready for our first adventure.

That was when disaster struck. I got my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera out and realised I had left the memory card in my PC at home. This meant the camera was next to useless as it has no internal storage facility. Arrrrgh!!

We went to the reception and explained the dilemma and was pointed to a large shopping area, Mariahilfer which was a few stops away on the tram. We set off to hit there first as I really  needed something to store my photographs on.

One hour and €25 later and a 64GB memory card was mine.

Then we set off for the important stuff. Our first place to sight see.

This happened to be the Schönbrunn Palace situated a little way out of the main City Centre. Schönbrun was the Summer palace of the Royal Family and is located in beautiful gardens. Sadly this time of year there is very little to see in the gardens, however the inside of the Palace was so sumptuous and beautiful.

Schonbrunn Palace

We did the Imperial Tour which took around 60 minutes, before seeing the Silver Collection and the Furniture Collection. We spent around 2.5 hours walking around the wonderful location, seeing everything from forks to beds to tapestries.

Schonbrunn

It was just so ornate and splendid that I was absolutely gutted that you were not allowed to take Photographs in the main areas!

Front of the Palace

We caught a tram back into the old town which our next destination was located. The Hofburg Palace which also a Royal Family residence but was inhabited during the Winter months.

Little Chocolate boxes given to esteemed guests

English China

Table Centrepiece

This too was the prettiest of buildings, with apartments fit for the King, literally! Again, no photography was allowed in the main apartments which I was gutted about.

Table Settings

How many Spoons?

I had so many things I wanted to get photo’s of, and I was unable to do so. I do understand though that the flash from some cameras can be quite harmful to the collections, so cannot help but agree with the rules.

Dinner service

However we were allowed to take photographs in the sections which held equipment and artifacts used by the Royal Family.

Official Table Decorations

So that was at least something.

Intricate Napkin Designs

When eventually we had finished the tour, we came out of a totally different exit which was far from where we started.

Rear of the Hofburg Palace at Night

But this was a good thing!

In the distance ahead of us was the most beautiful lit up building. We didn’t know what it was, but just headed towards it.

Simply Beautiful

On arriving there, my rudimentary German told me it was the Rathaus, or Town Hall. The lights covered the whole building and outside there was an Ice Rink and a “track” going around the rink for speed and lane skating. I could also see wooden chalets which seemed to be serving drinks. Multi coloured changing light were in all the trees.

Illuminations

It really was a sight to see, which we would have missed if we had not exited that building at that location.

Next to the Rathaus was the Parliament, which also was a beautiful building. I satisfied my shutterbug heart by taking lots of photographs.

Parlament

By this time evening had fully set in and it was pitch black. And freezing cold.

Coupled with the fact that for some reason my right shoe had developed a leak and my foot was icy cold and very wet.

Rathaus and Ice Rink

We decided to try and find something to eat at a local hostelry and Boo found an Italian place that seemed quite nice and was nearby.

Making our way there we had no idea if it was any good or not. We asked for a table of two and it was so busy that we had to wait around 15 minutes to get a table. We honestly didn’t care as it was warm and dry and we could watch as the cooks kneaded and prepared the pizzas!

We found out later that the restaurant “L’Osteria” had been rated as the best Italian in Vienna for the previous five years.

Well, I have to admit, both Boo and I were blown away by what we got.

I ordered the Braccio de Ferra which was a pizza with cheese, garlic, spinach and a fried egg.

I was a little perturbed when they placed a greaseproof paper mat the size of a bicycle wheel in front of me. But stranger things have happened.

Placemats?

I had to obviously order a beer, which I have to say was fantastic. It really went down a treat after all the walking around.

A well deserved Beer

When the pizza arrived, I was amazed. It was HUGE and was less than €10.

I had to take a photo with a fork on the pizza just to get a realistic size comparison. But even better than the size, the taste was out of this world. Fresh, Hot and so very tasty.

My Pizza!

Although feeling  very nervous and a little stupid, I was determined to use some of the German I knew.

I psyched myself up and apologised for only having  a little German. Our waitress said “It is ok, I speak English”

I carried on speaking in German, requesting the Bill. I couldn’t have been that bad, as she knew what I wanted and I got the cheque.

I have to admit I impressed myself a little as I haven’t used any German for over 22 years and I was surprised just what I remembered!

Feeling Pleased with myself

I went back to the hotel a very full and smiley girl!

We had a couple of drinks in the bar before retiring to bed early.

Stunning atmosphere

It was a very sophisticated bar, with a massive cocktail menu….. well it would have been rude not to try one out? I went with the Bulleit Apple Pie Cocktail, and bloody delicious it was!!

Cocktail Time

We had a full day planned on Friday which included visits to see the Lipizanner horses at the Spanish Riding School

Cheese!

Watch out for the next installment……

Till next time

Txx