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Walking through old town Vienna I realized was how this was still the town of classical music as I was not expecting to see Mozart impersonators selling tickets to the Opera and hearing classics by Strauss strolling down the street. So cool!

In Vienna  convenience and grocery stores close around 7…so don’t wait to purchase water and goods after then! Of course restaurants and nightlife will still be open much later.

Day One: 

We hit up St Stephen’s Cathedral which was free to walk through. Inside there were two different towers you can pay to catch a view, the North had an elevator and the South was all stairs. The south has a better view so we elected to take the South tower and get our climb on!

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Views from the South tower

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Afterwards we took a walk through Old town:

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Vienna Pestsäule (plague column) 

Leopold I of Vienna promised to build a mercy column to end one of the plagues that hit Vienna in 1679- after many designs (the same year a wooden column was erected) it finally took on a baroque style that is prominent through Vienna.

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Sisi Museum & Imperial Apartments 

Part of the Hapsburg palace, it shows the life of Empress Sisi, who was super duper popular among the lat 1800s crowd. Social media back then was comprised of letters and huge royal parties, but the apartments show the living of the imperial family and also the much-gossiped-about life of Empress Sisi (originally of Hungary).

A quick history- Sisi (Elisabeth) was married at 16 to the emperor of Austria Franz Josef- a fact that she was not fond of. A majority of her life was spent being unhappy with court life, formalities, and obsessed with her hair, weight and appearance. After her son killed himself she became a full-time traveler preferring to avoid the court. Eventually while traveling she was assassinated by an anarchist.

We weren’t permitted to take pictures of the exhibit so normally one might think “who cares about this person?” but we found it to be super interesting. Don’t take our word for it though, go visit!

Day Two

Schönbrunn Palace

We purchased the Sisi Ticket- skipped the line at Schönbrunn and saved money purchasing it for the Imperial Apartments and the palace. The grounds and most gardens of Schönbrunn are free, but the tour and extras such as the Zoo, train, etc cost extra. We took the Grand tour and recommend the audio-guide with it (especially for busier times). Schönbrunn is the summer grounds for the royalty. If you thought the Imperial Apartments were a bit opulent and there were an over-abundance of parlors, just see Schönbrunn!

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We saw tons of people running through the gardens, and only scratched the surface of all there was to do on the grounds of Schönbrunn!

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Day 3

Today was more laid back, we decided to wander around Vienna a little bit and grabbed dinner at the number #1 TripAdvisor spot in Vienna while doing some wine tasting.

People sunbathing or "beaching" it up near the Danube River

People sunbathing or “beaching” it up near the Danube River

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Karlskirche

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Vinothek Weinkehr: One of the many wine gardens in Vienna, very highly recommended! Here a “wine garden” is a place to get wine (although they have other drinks) and also food. Kind of like a beer garden but for wine, and more affordable prices than fine dining.IMG_2267 IMG_2270

Lastly, we found ourselves a Mozart Ball for dessert.

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