Of all the cities we visited on this trip, the most urgent for me to return to is Vienna. There are two reasons for this: one is that I got sick with the flu and had some trouble standing up, and one is that I worked for most of the week. I was glad to do the work; the team in Central Europe is a lot of fun! But I didn’t get a chance to see as much as I would have liked. 

We had tickets for the Spanish Riding School, home of the Lippizaner horses. The building is quite unbelievable, both stark and baroque at the same time, quite a trick really. My family assures me the horse show was terrific, though I personally enjoyed the music while lying on the floor by the window trying not to pass out from the flu. If you like horses, this is a must see. 

The Stephansdom is in the heart of the city and certainly worth a visit. From the outside, it dominates the heart of the city and it quite interesting architecturally. From the inside, I found it to be more stark and cold than either the St. Matthias Church in Budapest or the old cathedral in Prague, so we didn’t stay too long. 

Sachertorte is such a famous treat, we had to try it for ourselves. The Hotel Sacher seemed a bit stuffy to us; they weren’t eager for us to even enter the lobby and we found it hard to get a chance at one of the small tables. But we did end up taking a Sachertorte and found it delightful. Well, perhaps the older ones of us appreciated the chocolate icing with a thin layer of apricot jelly on the cake a bit more than the younger generation. We’ve got a nice wooden box now and really, you’ve got to try it. Lots of fun. 

Our hotel on this trip was the Hotel aum Schubertring, where we had a really nice two bedroom suite. The hotel itself is on the top (fourth) floor of an older building which reminded me more than a little of an old-fashioned garret apartment from an opera or a novel. The hallway to our room was a bit narrow, and turned, and went down, and turned, and turned, and turned again, and again . . . . But the appointments were well done, the beds were very comfortable, the desk was helpful, and the location was terrific. If we just had a non-smoking suite it would have been perfect. Recommended. 

I missed a chance to go to the Schonbrunn Palace, but Leslie loved it, and the kids loved the zoo, which is the oldest continually operating zoo in the world. Leslie also loved the biography of Sisi, the former Habsburgian queen, which she bought after her tour. Wish I could have been there myself! Highly recommended for my next trip. 

Leslie also wanted very much to visit Freud’s house, so we made the walk on a Sunday afternoon. It’s really just like it was in Freud’s day; it’s a walkup to the second floor where he lived and where he had his clinic. What a fabulous way to feel like you’ve traveled 100 years back in time. The house, of course, is now a museum. They have a notebook in English that goes through about 300 different artifacts, pictures, and display items that are in the house. These really give you a lot of information about Freud and about fin-de-siecle Vienna (I’ve always want to use that phrase in a sentence). Very much recommended if you have any idea about what Freud is all about; perhaps not too much recommended otherwise but certainly a very nice walk. 

I had a brief chance to visit the Huntertwasser House which was certainly worth the trip. I love his stuff and this is just such a fun place to visit. I wanted to go to the Kunsthauswien but didn’t have the time.

Abby loved her tour of the Vienna State Opera, which is a dominating building near the center of town. They had a really nice tour which showed the fanciful interior and demonstrated how they changed the sets for a new opera each day. Wish I could have seen an opera but the schedule didn’t work out. 

I also wish I could have gone to more of the many museums in Vienna but I have to save that for my next trip. There is so much there, it’s hard for me to believe, plus it is all easily accessible within a few easy walks. For longer trips, the subway works very well and is pretty cheap. 

For Abby and me, a trip back to Istanbul; for Leslie and Andrew, back home.