Arriving Vienna

Driving into Vienna it seemed like another large city at first until we finally spotted some beautiful buildings toward the city center.  Our hotel was immediately impressive, very modern and contemporarily styled, with a strong Ikea feeling in the lobby that carried throughout and in our rooms as well.  We had a great view out our windows over the hotel courtyard which was setup with tables for eating.  The floor-to-ceiling glass door on the courtyard side had no balcony but offered a terrific view.  We later learned from the maids that the door and the window opened from the top, leaning back and pivoting on the bottom.  This allowed a lot of nice breeze in from outside and we slept with them open each night.  The are a few photos of the room in the Photo Albums section.

After dinner in the hotel we joined a group from our tour and attended a wonderful, intimate concert of Mozart and Strauss in a small concert hall in the historic district.  Photos of the venue and the concert are in the Photo Albums section.  It was a very intimate setting with less than 200 people attending.  Our tour director arranged for our seats to be in the first two rows, so we had great seats.  It was a perfect way to start our time in Vienna, since Vienna is the city of music.

The history of Vienna is extensive and complex, and I cannot do it justice in any way here.  Instead, I strongly encourage readers to take a few minutes and read The History Of Vienna to better understand it and the places we visit on this trip.  Take note of the Habsburg section, as they are significant to Vienna and Austria's history.