Vienna: Grand, Historic and a Little Bit Fairytale, Vienna, Austria

On a recent river boat cruise, we stopped in Vienna and were immediately struck by its elegance, energy, and deep sense of history.

We were part of a walking tour for the first part of our day and then ventured out on our own for the rest. The walking started in The Volksgarten (People’s Park) the beautiful public gardens in the center of the city.

This post covers a day in Vienna where we walked and took the metro to cram as much as possible in one short day.

Roughly 30% of Austria’s population lives in Vienna, a city shaped both literally and figuratively by the Danube River, which cuts it in half making it feel like an island of its own. The Austrian’s actually don’t call the city, Vienna, rather, Wein. Our first impression was that, even though it’s a bustling city, it is a big walking and biking city for all.

In Volksgarten we soon came across what seemed a miniature Greek temple - stark white, columned, and perfectly symmetrical. It’s called the Theseus Temple, built in 1823 for Emperor Franz I.

Coming out of Volksgarten we next saw Heroes Square or Heldenplatz. The bronze statue is of Archduke Charles, one of Austria’s great military leaders. What struck me about the statue was the rearing horse balancing on just two hind legs. Pretty good work for the 1800’s. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).