“Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” – Richard Aldington

It was the 13th of November 2018 and it was foggy, cold and raining when we went for our first breakfast in Vienna. Beautiful and calming scenery from the Hilton Vienna Danube Waterfront

First on the agenda was the Vienna Museum of Art and History or the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Very impressive dome and staircase at the entry if I should say so myself. It is the largest art museum in Vienna and one of the most important museums worldwide.

The Kunstkammer houses one of Cellini’s most famous works, the Cellini Salt Cellar.

On display are countless art pieces and valuable objects collected by emperors and archdukes of Habsburg.

And of course we can’t go to Vienna and not have the original Viennese coffee!

Just a short walk is the grand Hofburg Palace which is in the centre of Vienna. Entrance to the museum is directly below the great copper dome called the Michalerkuppel and this serves as the official residence and work place of the President of Austria.

We then strolled in the vibrant city centre and most famous street in Vienna – Graben Street.

Here we saw the most prominent Baroque sculpture, the Plague Column, which was erected after the Great Plague epidemic in 1679.

Our tour director gave all of us 2 each of this Mozartkugeln which is a candy made of chocolate balls. It can be found in almost every shop in Vienna.

Cute attires of these horses and horse drawn carriages.

A giant Pink rabbit sculpture made by the German concept artist Ottmar Horl can be seen outside the Vienna State Opera.

Love this sculpture but I can’t seem to find out what it is.

Some of the stores in the main street.

A monument against war and fascism and the two halves represented that. This is a granite, marble, sandstone and bronze made by Alfred Hrdlicka

This is the “Staff in Iron” on display on the corner of Graben Street and is safely behind glass covering. Legend says that this ancient tree trunk riddled with nails is for good luck.

Best part of the day was lunch. Hubby and I and I guess many from our tour group went to the Sacher Cafe.

Sacher Café is known for having the best slice of chocolate cake you can find anywhere. Their world-famous cake, known as the Original Sacher-Torte, was the creation of chef Franz Sacher who was asked to make a dessert for a Hapsburg royal party in 1832 while only 16 years old.

Vienna is also known for the original Wiener schnitzel (schnitzel made of a thin, breaded, pan fried veal cutlet).

After lunch, we went on about a 15 minutes walk to the St Stephen’s Cathedral which is the most important religious building in Vienna.

The interior is very impressive, with much attention given to the details.

The cathedral is well known for its intricately designed tiled roof. So up we went via an elevator to see the majestic view from the top!

Saw this miniature replica of the cathedral on our way out.