Café Sacher Wien

by Wen Austria

This is where the famous Sachertorte originated and invented. The atmosphere is what you might expect - old world Vienna in a timeless historical setting. Beautiful and elegant atmosphere with the red furnishings and chandeliers. The prices are a little steep but overall it's a great experience.

Original Sacher-Torte

Here's the original Sacher-Torte with whipped cream. Really rich and dense chocolate cake. A little bit on the dry side. Although the Sachertorte isn't my favorite dessert, I know my Vienna adventure wouldn't be complete without it. 🙂

Original Sacher Gewürzgugelhupf

Viennese ring cake with sweet spices (ginger and candied oranges)

Böhmische Liwanzen

Bohemian pancakes with plum butter and plum sorbet.

30 minutes later...

Fall in Love with Vienna in Winter

by Wen Austria

Vienna in Winter

After finishing our trip in Croatia for a week, we were heading to Vienna.  It's the capital and the largest city of Austria. Beautiful architecture and delicious food. Home to both Beethoven and Mozart. We spent 2 full days in Vienna which was not enough to enjoy this beautiful city!

Albertina

This was a beautiful, old but modern museum.  Really well laid out exhibit halls. We enjoyed our visit, particularly the Edward Munch collection. We were actually here to see the Scream! :-O)

The Scream | Edward Munch

Saw The Scream!

Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum)

You can easily spend a few hours at this museum. Each room holds unique and interesting exhibits. The dinosaurs was what I loved the most and it was really impressive. The museum was most famous for the Venus of Willendorf. It was really cool to see it in person. Hands down, this was definitely the best natural history museum I have ever visited!

Natural History Museum Vienna

Venus of Willendorf

"The Venus of Willendorf is an 11.1-centimeter-tall (4.4 in) Venus figurine estimated to have been made 30,000 BCE" - Wikipedia.

State Opera House

The building was beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't book the tickets in advance. We took advantage of the showing of the Opera on the big screen outside the Opera house. It was freezing cold outside but totally worth it. 

Live videostream outside the Vienna State Opera House

State Opera House Guide Tour

We could not get any tickets to an opera performance so instead we booked a guided tour (separate tours in multiple languages) in the opera house. The 45 minute guided tour included stopping in some of the ornate rooms and the auditorium.

Café Sacher Wien

The cafe was just behind the State Opera House. We popped in to have some tea and Sachertorte since it was one of the most famous gastronomic foods to try in Vienna. It was a bit pricey but worth it!

Sachertorte

Gewürzgugelhupf

Böhmische Liwanzen

Concerts at the Mozarthaus (Mozarthaus deutschordenshaus)

The room was said to be the oldest concert hall in Vienna. Small performance beautiful room with less than 100 people. The venue was intimate and the sound quality was impressive. 

Concerts in Mozart’s House

Stephansplatz

Stephansplatz was a busy and popular square right in the center of Vienna.  It was a great pedestrian area surrounded by shops and cafes. During the holidays the city was very festive. Very atmospheric especially with he Christmas season.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

We visited St. Stephan's Cathedral at night. It was breath taking. The exterior and intricate design of tiled roof were stunning. We were there in the winter so it wasn’t very crowded.  

Manner Shop

Located right across from St. Stephen's Cathedral. Prices are around the same as local supermarkets. They also have Mozart chocolates and other fun touristy things. The shop was super busy but the service was pretty good. Great place to get souvenirs.

Belvedere Palace Museum

Went to see the famous “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt.

The Palace has stunning decoration inside with painted ceilings and marble floors which are breathtaking. 

Gustav Klimt | Kiss

When I saw the Kiss I was blown away by its power and exquisite beauty. It was so different when you saw it for real. 

Looked like it was snowing pretty hard while we were inside.

Hotel Bristol Vienna

The hotel was located next to the Opera House. The location was perfect, closed to the Palace, the pedestrian shopping area, and the Sacher Hotel. Our room was overlooking the Opera House which was awesome!

Good morning Vienna!

Snowing in Vienna