Vienna - Top 10 Attractions
 

About a year ago, someone started a thread on the top 10 attractions of Paris. Can someone offer their list of the top 10 attractions in Vienna? <BR> <BR>Of course Schoenbrunn and the Hofburg come instantly to mind, but what else makes the magical top 10 list??

St. Stephansdom, the Treasury, the Kunhistoriches Museum, the Opera House, the heurigans in the Vienna Woods.

the Prater!

don't forget the Spanish Riding School - the Lippizzaners!! <BR> <BR>:-)

My own top ten in no order: <BR> <BR>St. Stephens <BR>Hofburg - specifically the Treasury <BR>Shoenbrunn Palace <BR>Karlskirche <BR>Belvedere Palace <BR>The pastries <BR>Opera House <BR>Kunsthistorisches Museum <BR>Rathaus <BR>Burgtheater <BR>

-The Gloriette in the Schoenbrunn gardens <BR>-Grinzing, including the streetcar ride to it. <BR>-Karlskirche <BR>-Cafes - Griensteidl and Central come to mind <BR>-The Breugel room in the Kunsthistorisches Museum <BR>-The baroque architecture generally - all those palaces of the empire's old aristocracy <BR>-A steetcar ride around the Ringstrasse <BR>-The Flea Market on Saturday morning <BR>-The State Library at the Hofburg <BR>-the way the announcer on the subway says "Karlsplatz"

Bob, <BR>In no particular order: <BR>The Schonbrunn and Belvedere Palaces <BR>The Hofburg and its Treasury <BR>Beethoven's two former homes,one now a wine tavern, the other a museum, in Heiligenstadt, a Viennese suburb, the 38A bus will take you there. The bus then goes to: <BR>Grinzing and its heuringen. (At the end of the charming main street with wine tavern after wine tavern, you'll be surprised,Bob,to find a "Hooters"!) <BR>The Kunsthistorisches Museum (Fine Arts) and the Osterreichisches Museum fur Volkskunde(Austrian Folk Art) <BR>The Staatsoper tour and a performance there or at the Volksoper Wien <BR>A concert at the Musikverein with the Vienna Philharmonic <BR>Eine Grosser Brauner und Sacher Torte at Dehmel's coffee house. <BR>Finally, Naschmarkt at Line Wienzeile, a street produce market and on certain days one augmented by a flea market.

Thanks a million to those of you who responded. I now have a good working list thanks to your contributions. <BR>Despite the fact that I read the Rough Guide to Vienna, Fodors, and the Lets Go Austria guide, I have had trouble trying to prioritize them. <BR>I do have opera tickets for Die Fledermaus at the Volksoper. By the time I squeeze in some of the other places, I think Vienna will be like my last Paris trip: not enough time for all of it. I also have tickets reserved for a horse show at the Spanish Riding School. That should be a special treat. <BR>So my "dance card" is rapidly filling up. <BR>Now here is a blunt question for all of you: is the Schoenbrunn Palace really worth it??? I know -- Hapsburg Eagles and all of that stuff. I found Versailles to be interesting; it certainly drove home all I had learned about the French Revolution in my college French history class and then some. I have perused the guide books, but still cannot decide. So where would you rate Schoenbrunn on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being equal to a flawless diamond? <BR>

PS. Wes and others: I am staying at Der Altwienerhof. If any of you have eaten at the restaurant, do you think I could manage it for $100 for 2 people?? <BR>(I am not a wine drinker for some very good reasons of health. So would they <BR>evict me for being some sort of American heathen? Or summon the little men from the nearest Klapsmuehle? Klapsmuehle I am told by my German consultant is the German equivalent of nut house or looney bin. I think the more polite term is Irrenanstalt.)

Bob, although Schoenbrunn was just the Viennese attempt to keep up with the French, I found it more beautiful and well maintained than Versailles. The gardens alone are worth the trip, especially the Gloriette and the view from it.

Bob, <BR>Some comments about Schonbrunn: we were there in early October last year. The place was inundated with tourists (predominantly Japanese)despite our early arrival. You can take a self guided tour with an audio-phone that does provide a wealth of information. I think the lasting impression you'll come away with is the love and adoration Austrians had and have for "Sissy", Emperor Franz Joseph's wife, despite the fact that the palace was dominated by the presence of Empress Maria Theresa. There are exraordinary similarities between the lives of Empress Elizabeth (Sissy) and Britain's Princess Diana. <BR> <BR>Re dining at the Altwienerhof. Don't be intimidated by the menu posted in the restaurant's window. It features a seven course dinner that will put you back over $100.00 a person, more if you opt for various wines with each course. Any of the components of the featured menu can be had as a single entree at significantly less cost, particularly since you'll pass on the wine. The menu is creative, the presentation of dishes impressive; the waitstaff the epitome of professionalism. <BR> <BR>One final note. To prepare yourself for the Viennese experience, look for Frederic Morton's book "A Nervous Splendor" which details the events of 1888-1889 in Vienna. Morton, a Viennese, paints a portrait of Vienna and its citizens ranging from Freud, Mahler, Schnitzler, Theodor Herzl and Gustav Klimt to Prince Rudolf, heir to the Empire's throne and suicide at Mayerling. Well worth reading to get a feel for Habsburgian Vienna.

ttt for Alice

This thread is indeed a piece of pure nostalgia for me. Since I wrote it, I have been to Vienna twice. <BR><BR>First, thanks to all who contributed originally because the comments were right on target.<BR><BR>Secondly, now that I have been there a second time, I found one more place to add to the top 10 list, which must have a dozen places on it by now: The House of Music, or in German, Das Haus der Musik.<BR><BR>I would, however, have to rank it at the bottom of the top 10. I was expecting more than it delivered, but it was still interesting. Also, the ranking has a caveat: You must be a fan of classical music. Otherwise, memorabilia from the Vienna Philharmonic, the great composers associated with Vienna, and the Staatsoper mean very little.<BR><BR>At the time I was there, I was a little baffled by the fact that I saw nothing of Anton Bruckner. Either I missed the display, or he is not represented. I suspect the latter, because I don't see how I failed to see anything about him unless it was miniscule.<BR><BR>I think the Hofburg has to be divided into some of its constituent parts.<BR>And our trip to Sch&ouml;nbrunn Palace was worth a rerun: We did it again and found the second trip more interesting than the first because we knew more of what we were doing. Somehow, despite the monarchial grandeur, the palace seemed to me to be where people had lived and died. I could easily visualize the austere, unbending Franz Josef working at that desk and sleeping in that iron bedstead, and the tragic Sissi prowling the corridors in her anorexic attempts to escape.

Hi Bob,<BR> Thanx for bringing up the thread. Brought back great memories.<BR><BR> Did you get to Mozart's house on the Judenplatz?

No, I did not see that particular Mozart's house. He lived all over the place. Also, I somehow find it less than gratifying to see where composers lived, or to learn some of the details of their personal life. I know Brahms was not exactly the epitome of social graces, and I found long ago that anecdotes about his coarsness detracted from my appreciation of his music.<BR>Also hear about and reading about Beethoven's fights with neighbors and landlords does not enhance my appreciation of his symphonies and concertos. <BR>

Wish I had found this post before our trip last month :)<BR><BR>I loved Vienna...but way at the top of our list was the Vienna Boys Choir concert. That was the whole reason for our trip, and, as Dad put it, if we had got on a plane, flew to Vienna, went to the concert, and flew straight back home, it would have been worth it. Dreams do sometimes come true!!<BR><BR>Anne

Ira, <BR><BR>Are you referring to Figaro House, near St. Stephansdom? I really enjoyed seeing that, treading the same floorboards as the great man himself might have done while composing. It was the most interesting of the composer museums. <BR><BR>And Bob, I don't see why a composer's flawed personality should detract from the appreciation of his work. These were very, very gifted people, after all, not gods!<BR><BR>Next time, I'd love to see Franz Schubert's birthplace, among other museums I missed the first time. What other Mozart abodes are there in Vienna? And where can I see original manuscript scores? I missed the National Library, too.

Even though the thread was started in 2000, this is for others who are going in soon...<BR><BR>The Secession Pavilion (also known as the Gold Cabbage) - an pivotal Jugenstil piece of architecture - near the Karlskirche - Klimt's &quot;Ode to Beethoven&quot; is also located within.

Rebecka asks<BR>&gt;Are you referring to Figaro House, near St. Stephansdom? &lt;<BR><BR> No. This is a lesser site. When I was there a few years back the city was shoring up the &quot;Mozart House&quot; on Judenplatz. It turned out that they found the foundations of a very old synagogue.<BR> I was wondering what might have developed. Turns out that the new Holocaust Museum now occupies the site.<BR>

Thanks, Ira.<BR><BR>Just adding one additional recommendation:<BR><BR>The Imperial Crypt (Kaisergrust) was truly fascinating, albeit a bit macabre, for any history buff who wants to know more about the Habsburgs. It is a winding collection rooms housing most of the imperial family. The earliest sarcophagi date from the early 1600s and that latest one is that of the last Hapsburg empress, Zita, who died in 1989. Many of the coffins are works of art with elaborate, over-the-top sculptures of skulls, mourning figures and such. Most elaborate of all is empress Maria Theresa's double coffin (shared with her husband), and the simplest might be that of her son, Joseph II (Mozart's patron), who lies at seemingly at his parents feet. And yes, the star-crossed Sissi is there too alongside her husband Franz Joseph. Someone once likened many of these elaborate coffins to gilded soup tureens, and they may have a point. I know how much those Viennese love to eat! <BR><BR>If you do plan on visiting the Imperial crypt, I would recommend buying beforehand a guidebook with short biographies of the people buried there. It makes the tour much more interesting. <BR><BR>There was also an English speaking, interdenominational church full of friendly people right near the Dorotheum. These people really made me feel right at home my very first day in Vienna. <BR><BR>Reading everyone's postings remind me of how much I missed seeing in Vienna the first time. I will no doubt return! It is really one of my very favorite cities.