Taking Time to Be a Tourist

A few weeks ago, my parents came to visit me here in Vienna. They were here a week, which gave me my first real chance to drop everything and just tour Vienna. Before I had tried to see a site here or there, but was also going about daily life. Now I could marathon them all.

We had so much fun exploring the city!  I was their personal tour guide for the week, and we took the “E for everything tour”. That meant I got to see a few places that were still totally new to me. It’s fun to experience the places I’ve been before with my parents, but it was extra fun to try a few new things.

For as long as I have been in Vienna I have been meaning to go to the Belvedere. Eventually, I just decided to save it for my parents’ trip because I hadn’t gotten out there yet. We saw both the Upper and Lower Belvedere. They were built as a palace for Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1723. The Upper Belvedere didn’t stay that way for long, however. Pretty soon it was turned into the imperial painting gallery. It is still an art museum today. 

Visiting the galleries at the Upper Belvedere was pretty awe-inspiring.  Hanging art on stark white walls just isn’t the same as displaying it in a palace. And the palace is so intricate and beautiful inside. Some of the rooms are more plain, but there are quite a few showpiece rooms still left. Check out the marble hall, for example.

One of my favorite moments was when you first enter, there is this white, marble entrance hall with these magnificent, elaborate columns and in the middle was an inflatable Hulk by Jeff Koons. It was a bright pop of color in contrast with the hall. 

Copyright: Belvedere Wien No pictures allowed

  The collection of artwork inside was very nice. It covered quite a long time period, from medieval art all the way to impressionism and the Viennese Secession. The main event, of course, is their collection of works by Gustav Klimt. This included the famous “Kiss” painting, along with many other works. My mother is very into art and art history, so it was especially fun getting her take on many of the paintings featured. 

Seeing the galleries of the Upper Belvedere was great. The Lower Belvedere was cool too. There was an exhibition on the Vienna Congress of 1814 and some more fancy rooms. What made our trip out to the Belvedere more special, however, were the fabulous gardens. Everything that you could wish for in a baroque garden was there: decorative floral arrangements, fanciful fountains, and tree-lined walking paths. All framed by the two gorgeous Belvedere palaces. What a nice place for an afternoon stroll. 

While my parents were here I also wanted to make sure to take them to one of Vienna’s famous concert cafes. And there was one in particular that I had not visited yet, the famous Café Central. It opened in 1876, and has seen its fair share of celebrity guests, including Sigmund Freud, a popular figure in twentieth century Viennese cafes. We went one evening to hear the live piano music. Nothing tops sitting in a beautiful café listening to live music and sipping coffee. And Café Central was certainly beautiful inside.

 Another major bucket list item for all visitors to Vienna that I had not accomplished yet was seeing the Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School. Due to time constraints, we decided it would be best to go to the morning exercises. Pictures weren’t allowed, as they might disturb the horses. So you will just have to trust me that this was the fanciest horse arena that I’ve ever seen. There were statues and stucco on the ceiling and red velvet. Nothing like a rodeo in Texas.

The stallions were impressive as well. We watched them being trained. They were so graceful and precise. There is a special stance that they have to maintain as they do different runs and gallops. It was really remarkable and fascinating. You can see the promo clip here. Many people didn’t stay for the whole two-hour show, but we definitely did. They played “Viennese music” from Mozart, Strauss, etc. the whole time. Of course the end was the Radetzky March. We couldn’t clap because of the horses, so we all golf clapped along. 

Showing my parents around definitely helped me cross lots of things off of my bucket list. I only have three weeks left in Vienna now. Where does the time go!? But I was a bit homesick. So, seeing my parents was a real treat. These new highlights were just the cherry on top.