YOu need multi layers so that as you step into shops ( at 30 degree C) you can un zip and stay cool before stepping into -5 streets. You need a hat, either a ski hat you can shake out (snow or rain) or a wool felt or leather cowboy hat. You need a waterproof outer with windbreak features. Jeans no as they will freeze on you. You may want long johns (no seriously) but you can get by with sheep skins/mink skins etc. Walking boots. The city runs on trams and unless you want to take taxis everywhere you will be in and out of hot and cold enviroments. There may be a Mall in Vienna but if so not a big one and only iwth boring shops. All big places will have lockers or wardrobes which will store your outside things.

A minute ago on TV weather:
Andechs -8C (west of Munich)
Holzkirchen -12C (S-Bahn to the south)
Zugspitze -20C, great for skiing
Winter is here.

Vienna
Tonight is snowing. Tomorrow is going to snow too. The temp for tomorrow is zero / both high and low.

Good shoes for that area are good rubber soles. Mephisto produces some excellent shoes with gummi soles. It forms the sides of the shoe and it's great in the snowy/rainy days.

When I left Sweden, wearing Swedish winter clothes, I thought I was going to be okay. Wrong. I had to buy a overcoat that day. It can be very cold there.

Blackduff

We are California kids and we've NEVER experienced cold like this before. It's freezing!

Images, we did buy winter jackets that have helped immensely and we plan on doing some more shopping for gloves, long underwear, and hats! It's like every part of your body that is exposed in someway becomes frozen instantly! It's the wind that is killing us. If it weren't for the wind I think we would enjoy going out more. Today we woke up to a nice thick blanket of snow which is beautiful! We're hoping that Salzburg will be white for Christmas as well. Christmas Markets start up next week....can't wait!

Oh and bilboburgler is correct when he/she says layer! The stores are so HOT compared to the COLD outside.

The shoes aren't an issue insofar as your luggage is concerned GillsinEurope, as you'll be wearing them. So if you haven't already purchased them I'd do so.

I'm very susceptible to the cold (but prefer cold weather to warm), and find that earmuffs are a really nice option (I use a type called 180s that go around the back of your head/neck, so not hat hair and no sweaty hair). I also use a muff for my hands, on top of gloves. Keeps me very toasty, and you may be able to find a muff that will double as a small handbag/wallet.

Sounds like Vienna is lovely.

Thanks so much for the update! The snow sounds magical. We're also Californian's originally, but have lived in the midwest enough years now that we are used to snow and ice. The wind, you never get used to.

It'll be challenging just bringing our carryon bags, as we usually do!

You don;t need "snow clothes" - there isn't any skiing in Vienna - it's flat.

But you do need winter clothes. This includes a winter weight coat (a waist length jacket will leave your bottom half freezing), hat, scarf, gloves and waterproofed walking shoes or booties, preferably with a ridged rubber sole good for sleet, ice or packed snow. And I think cords are better than jeans - dry faster and don't get so stiff when wet.

You'll also need a good sturdy folding umbrella.

Sneakers would be worse than useless.

Vienna is not flat and does have skiing - the area in the norhern part of the city is very hilly - exdample 18th 19thdistrict places like Nussdorf, Grinzing, Sievering, Neustift .
Panoramic views and good hiking available in the area of the Kahlemberg.
Vienna skiing and tobagganing . example the area at Hohe Wand including ski lift.

When I went to Copenhagen in the winter I bought an ankle length medium weight wool coat and it was fabulous. I had tights under my pants, then the boots I mentioned, silk under shirt, a knit T-shirt, and knit cardigan and my coat. With a scarf and gloves, I was quite comfortable most of the time. The silks are so light and thin that one day when it was really cold..the high was 18 F, I wore all three pair of the silk undershirts I had brought and they didn't add a lot of bulk.

The stores were too hot but it didn't seem to bother the "natives". I was sweatin' bullets even after taking my coat and cardigan off, and they were all bundled up and cool as a cucumber. Go figure.