Expats visit Vienna
We are American expats living in Italy since 2019. We haven’t let COVID 19 let us stop us on our mission to travel throughout Europe as much as we can. We’re only living abroad for 3 years, so our time is limited and nothing is going to stop us, not even a pandemic.
Of course, following the rules and restrictions have slowed us down a bit, but considering everything, we still have managed to do as much traveling as we possibly could.
Before the second wave of the coronavirus hit Italy, our party of 5 decided to do a quick getaway to Vienna. Our original plan was to visit Berlin, but infection numbers started increasing throughout Europe and our plans did not work out. To our surprise, Vienna did not disappoint!
It was a first, traveling on a plane during this pandemic. Masks inside the plane, sanitizing our seats, social distancing boarding, but the flight wasn’t so long, so it wasn’t so bad. We first checked into our hotel, which had very little people staying there. We dropped off our luggage, and headed out to start a day of exploring. Bonus: we were walking distance to the major sites!
Burggarten: park with many statues and green areas where people have picnics and enjoy a nice day
Mozart statue: located in the Burggarten park
Albertina Museum: we saw famous paintings by VanGogh, Cezanne, Matisse
Free Walking Tour
Even though it was free, our guide was very knowledgeable and made our walk around Vienna city centre very interesting. These are a few of the sites we saw with our guide:
Hofburg Palace: one of the largest residential complexes in the world, for more than 600 years it was the residence of the Habsburgs.
Graben: one of the central streets in Vienna, lots of shops and restaurants
Josenplatz: Joseph’s square, named after Emperor Joseph II, located in Hofburg Palace
Heldenplatz: historic square located in the Hofburg Palace, where Adolf Hitler announced the annexation of Austria to the Third Reich to the crowd here
Stephansplatz: home to the famous and one of the tallest cathedrals in the world, the walking tour ended here. We bought a ticket to go up and were amazed by the tile work on the side of the roof
Desserts you must try
We continued our days following our own tour guide, Me! Since I’m the family tour guide, I create itineraries for each of our trips for each day. On we went to visit:
Schönbrunn Palace
We took the subway from the Naschmarkt, a flea market dating back to the 16th century and got off right at the Schönbrunn Palace. There is so much to do and see, so plan to visit and spend the day. We toured the palace, had fun getting lost in the mazes, and ended our experience by visiting the zoo, the oldest in the world!
Spanish Riding School
The Lipizzan horses perform in the arena of the Winter Riding School in the Hofburg Palace. We could not make it to see them perform, but had a private tour instead. We got up close and personal with the horses and it was so worth it.
Prater Amusement Park
This was one of the highlights of the trip for our girls. Because of the pandemic, not many people were out, but we made the best of it anyway. It’s the oldest amusement park in the world. Taking a ride on the giant ferris wheel, you’ll see great views of the city. This is one of the landmarks of Vienna.
Inside Prater Park, you’ll find the Republic of Kugelmugel, a micronation. It’s an 8 m in diameter sphere where the artist who built it, Edwin Lipburger, got in trouble for not being able to show permits for the house. He was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail. The president at the time, prevented him from serving his time, and the house was later transported to Prater Park. Lipburger declared it a nation, but it was never recognized as such. It has 600 citizens, the president is now the son, Nikolaus Lipburger.
Imperial Burial Vault
Intended for the Habsburgs, this is where 12 emperors, 19 empresses, and queens have been laid to rest. Burials still take place here as the former Crown Prince, Otto Habsburg, was laid to rest here in 2011.
Viennese cuisine
One of the things we enjoy the most when traveling, is trying new food. We loved the food in Vienna. Before we arrive in a new city, we research not only the sites not to be missed, but the famous dishes we must try. We found this list on www.viennawurstelstand.com and tried most of these recommendations. Trying the food in a new city is part of its culture. You never know if you’ll like it, until you try.
Where to next?
For a quick weekend getaway, we totally recommend Vienna. One of the advantages to traveling during the pandemic is that there aren’t any crowds. We felt safe and followed all recommendations of keeping ourselves healthy. The next time you think of traveling to Europe, Vienna should be on your list of cities to visit.
Curious about where else this crazy bunch has been to, check out our other posts about our adventures across Europe!
