Vienna

Vienna was definitely different from Salzburg. After we hopped off the train, we were in big city territory. It is the capital of Austria after all, and home to almost 2 million people.

Even though we were in a big city, the streets were fairly clean and seemed safe. We hopped on a bus with our tour group and headed to the Hotel Imperial. The hotel was gorgeous.. and yet again a place we would never book on our own.

The lobby had stunning green a gold marble floors, giant chandeliers and beautiful art hanging from all the walls.

We were spoiled.

And that was just the beginning.

Our room had not one but two balconies with pretty views of the city, a giant bed, and a chocolate cake waiting for us.... can life get any better??

We had been wanting to go on the Wiener Riesenrad.... or in English the Viennese Ferris Wheel. So we headed over to Prater  Park to see the city views.

It was a pretty clear day, and there is always something to look at from spires, to domes, to the river. We were a little disappointed though that we only got to go around once.

We ate dinner at the park, and then ventured onto Oktoberfest next door. It was a pretty cool sight to see, a majority of people there were dressed up in dirndls and traditional outfits. We walked around for a bit, tried something from one of the bakery set ups, and then took a cab back to the hotel, where we zonked out.

In the morning we headed to the famous Hofburg Summer Palace.

Fun Fact: The Austrian royal family enjoyed their summers there until 1918 when the monarchy was destroyed. Since the upkeep was expensive, they have separated a wing of the palace to apartments for normal people(to help pay for the upkeep of the palace), and still rent out the apartments to this day!

....Talk about a view to wake up to! The same guy that designed the gardens at Versaille, also designed these gardens.

 Aaron and I nerded out with our earpieces and were at the heels of our tour guide. There is something about being in the actual places that makes history much more interesting.

We walked through the elaborate rooms, gold leafed ceilings and grand hallways while we learned about the Hofburg family.

While at the palace, we also learned how to make apple streudel- a very common dessert in Austria. We sat in the cutest cafe with brick walls and small little tables and drank hot chocolate, and ate our own streudel while we watched the pros stretch out the dough and wrap it all up to bake. We loved it and were so impressed.

We got back and ventured out to visit the Naschmarkt. It's Vienna's open air market with spices, fruits, meats, veggies, baked goods and yummy restaurants.

Most of the restaurants had outdoor seating, and I loved that each chair had a blanket to cozy up to.

We ate a traditional Viennese food, and Aaron loved the steak.

Afterwards we visited the shopping center by the Opera house, and peeked into Zara, H&M and tourist stores.

And then we ate at Vienna's oldest restaurant- the Griechenbeisl est. 1447!

It was along the cutest cobblestone road and sooo charming.

I think Aaron ordered about 5 orange juices. And of course we had apple streudel for dessert!