Vienna: World's Most Livable City of 2018

When I got home from my European adventures last month, I did some research to find out why I enjoyed Vienna. My sister Vicki and I spent a few days there the first week of September, 2018.  We had fun walking everywhere - the retail stores, the gardens, the Habsburg complex, the downtown embassy neighborhood, and the restaurants and dock areas along the Danube River. Back then, I hadn't realized it placed number one last year in the world's most livable cities.

This major European city was one of the "residential" homes of the Habsburg Dynasty's kings and rulers for several centuries. That's why green patina domes dominate the city's old town area.

And the infamous Saint Stephen's Cathedral . . .

. . . through the centuries of architectural upgrades financed by the Habsburg Dynasty, it becomes more and more grand.

Besides the architecture, the various Habsburg princes, kings and rulers could afford to hire artists and musicians to amuse themselves. Vienna was a hotbed for musicians - Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, to name a few - as well as a hotbed for the elite of Europe who preened and attended balls in Vienna all year long.  Imagine arriving in a gold-gilded carriage through this "covered porch" (below photo) to attend a ball . . . with perhaps a 50-piece orchestra on the side while you get out of your carriage?

Architects, painters, statue mold makers, and construction crews were busy for centuries in Vienna.

See the horse on the third floor balcony? It's a stuffed horse.

There's a dazzling array of over-the-top architectural styles because the Habsburg Dynasty could afford it all.

Hundreds of statues in this city, particularly horse statues.

The horse is an important part of Vienna's history and culture. The Habsburg Dynasty needed a strong stocky military horse as well as a carriage horse to impress folks, something noble and grand and preferably all white with an arched neck and high trot. Ta-da! Enter the Lipizzan . . . Vicki and I paid for pricey tickets just to watch their morning exercise at the Spanish Riding School arena.

Ticket prices for their actual performance in this Spanish Riding School arena range from $85 to $235 per person (USD). The seats are in the second and third floor balconies around the entire arena, and during a performance, all the chandeliers and wall scones are lit, giving it an impressive "ballroom" look while the horses dance and leap to classical music.

The $235 seats are probably in this section (below photo) on the second floor balcony.

We got a walk-through their stalls (no photos were allowed but Vicki cheated to get this shot).

The bridle and saddle rooms are ornate, organized and immaculate.

The 30 or so stallions were amazingly well-behaved (no antics, most stallions have a few bad manners, these didn't), and the highly-paid riders who apprentice and maybe get accepted for this position each have a groomsperson who takes care of their horse! When they dismount after practice, a groomsperson walks into the arena to take over (loosen the girth, remove the bridle, halter on, take the horse back to its stall, etc.). It's an orchestrated high-brow type of horsemanship, and very traditional - two women were allowed into this elite group about ten years ago.

The capital city is also home to many embassies.

Was this city always rich and gifted? Click here for a quicky but fascinating read about its' troublesome history in the last one-hundred years. I suspect all the killings, bombings, splintered neighborhoods due to Communism and WWII, the lost of 200,000 Jewish citizens (65,000 sent to gas chambers), and almost losing all their prized Lipizzan horses (click here for an excellent book describing how they were saved with help from the US Army) gave Vienna's citizens pause. Perhaps many of its older citizens remember those troublesome days. Perhaps that's why it's citizens, an international mix of European heritages for centuries, acquired a joie d'vivre attitude, enjoy life in the present.

Enjoying things like restaurants with old charm . . .

Enjoying peaceful outdoor restaurants . . .

Enjoying fresh-cut flowers everywhere, hundreds of flower shops! Vienna folks love their flower displays.

Enjoying fresh-baked goodies (no cellophane packages here) . . . . .

And window shopping! I'm not a window shopper (I hate shopping) but Vicki and I loved walking around this city and stopping to gawk at store window displays. Vienna's style in clothes and home décor is classic and unique, and the city streets are walkable and fun. We did a lot of "oohing" and "ahhing" at things behind those windows.

The "Anchor Clock" is fun, too.  Click here for a YouTube movie of the dancers with the music.

Their gardens with many sculptures and statues and fountains are fun, too.

The photo below looks a bit boring here, but when I stood there on the steps going up to another pedestrian plaza area, I looked back and saw all those folks totally relaxing on those purple things and strolling, the parked bikes, the guy pushing that wheelchair out the entrance door, the folks sitting at the outdoor restaurant under umbrellas, the fast-food street stand, and that's why I took this photo. It was a view that made me smile and feel good about life in this city. I think this scene is sort of a microcosm of why Vienna is a very livable city; people are relaxing and enjoying the city.

And another observation of its joie d'vivre culture; its tram cars were free. When Vicki and I stepped up into a tram car, there was no place to pay! We looked at others getting on the tram, no one paid! Hmmmm . . . .

Danube River Bike Trail from Passau, Germany to Vienna, Austria - Post 1 of 2

     My sister Vicki and I arrived in center-city Vienna the last week of August 2018. We miraculously found the metro bus to our hostel which was centrally located in Vienna's old town and museum district. Our dormitory room overlooked a beautiful courtyard.

But there was little time to sight-see in Vienna as we had an appointment with a bike rental shop the next day to get outfitted. With much anticipation, we were going to bike 200 miles of the Danube River Trail, from Passau, Germany back to Vienna, Austria. Six full days of biking; about 30 miles each day (map below). We'd return to Vienna the following week to do some sight-seeing.

The Danube River Bike Trail is a small part of the larger European Rivers Route.

Vicki had already booked boutique hotels along the bike route, so we knew exactly how many miles we had to bike each day, in good or bad weather. We were excited to begin this adventure!

Note my gear in my rear basket? That was all my gear for seven days. The rental bike shop kindly stored our non-essential gear in their basement. Note my padded bike seat? I brought my old bike seat from Texas and had the bike shop switch it out with their skinny uncomfy one.

Behind the bench we sat on (photo above), was the Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church (photo below). I'm not a church-goer or Catholic, but I stepped inside to say a little prayer for us.

With minimal gear and maximum excitement, we rode our bikes in busy city traffic to Vienna's train station.

By the way, see the horse carriage driver's cigarette?  Austria's per capita cigarette consumption is slightly less than the Czech Republic (which ranks number 8, Austria ranks number 20, Germany ranks number 33, United States ranks number 69).

At the train station, we mingled with hundreds of travelers. Do you see Vicki and her bike?

With help from another bicyclist, we lifted our bikes up the train car's steps, and hung up our bikes on a hook.

There was a train connection half-way to Passau which we missed because we couldn't read German platform instructions; no problem, wait three hours for the next train. Vicki made good use of a very informative book written in English on how to get around and what to see.

Our learning curve for finding the correct public transportation busses and trains and subways was pretty steep every where we went in Europe, but that was part of our exciting adventure.

Passau is just over the Austrian border in Germany where three rivers converge; again, no border check. It's a wonderfully scenic town, a quintessential Danube River town that hasn't changed much in the last several hundred years.

The Danube River Bike Path, for the most part, is next to the river. That's Vicki in the photo, far right, on the bike path. The fall leaves were just beginning to turn colors. See the castle up the hill, top right of photo? There were castles and monasteries peeking out from almost every mountain top along the river.

Before officially starting our 200 mile ride the next morning, we explored Passau. Saint Stephen's Cathedral is a beauty! It houses Europe's largest pipe organ. We attended it's pipe organ recital that day.

Saint Stephen's Cathedral, built in 1682.

They're cleaning the exterior of Saint Stephen's Cathedral.

Parish Church of Saint Paul, built in 1678 (below).

     The mail carrier (photo below) gets around on a bicycle. I've noticed that the bicycle culture in Europe is completely utilitarian. Women in dresses, men in suits, many wearing dress shoes, women wearing heels, normal office work attire, they're pedaling a clunker of a bike, smoking a cigarette sometimes. Biking in Europe is primarily a quick and easy way to get around vehicular traffic (especially delivery trucks that make frequent stops on the streets), plus the tiny streets and alleys are easier to negotiate on a bike.

 Flammkuchen is the best!!! Why don't American pizza shops sell these? It's a crispy vegetable and cream-cheese based pizza.

Next morning bright and early, we begin our adventure! To be continued . . . 

Teaser: the weather is intermittently rainy and cold, and I fortunately have a spare innertube.