Travel Diaries: Vienna, Austria Part I

I recently had the chance to visit the beautiful city of Vienna on a business trip. I went with my friend and colleague Antonia and we had meetings and work to do but we tried to make time to see a little of the city whilst we were there too and I fell in love. The city is so clean and well maintained that it's a delight to walk around and the buildings are spectacular. I spent a lot of my time walking around Vienna just looking up at the incredible architecture. I have way too many pictures of this trip so I'll be splitting it into more than one post and here comes the first instalment.

We stayed in the Mariott which was lovely, of course. We had a twin room and it was huge and the beds were so comfortable it was a struggle to get out of them each morning! I think some of the decor was a little dated- the carpet in the corridors had very 70s colouring and little things like the telephone in the room was old and grotty- a few small changes and it could have been amazing. But it was lovely still and I was really impressed with the breakfast. There were cooked options, fruit, cereals, yogurt, pastries and cakes, cold meats, fish and much more.

We arrived on a Monday and didn't really think about booking a table for dinner until around 7pm. We had a few places in mind and were just going to turn up at one but it's incredibly lucky that Antonia had the forethought around 7 to give them a call as everywhere was fully booked! We live on a small island where you don't need to book for anything so we were not expecting everything to be so packed on a Monday. Eventually we decided to just risk it and we hopped in a cab to the Do&Co Hotel for dinner at the Stephansplatz Restaurant. They didn't have a table right away so we had a few drinks in the Onyx bar. This place was super trendy and the crowd was so eclectic, eccentric and vibrant. Dogs inside everywhere is the norm in Vienna as is smoking! I wasn't happy to see that even in bars, cafes and restaurants, smoking inside is perfectly normal and non smokers are in the minority.

Still it was a fun night and once we got seated the food was nice and the service was very good. We didn't really order enough food as we weren't sure what the portions would be like- we went for Asian fusion so ordered some sushi bits but by the time we finished it was so late I didn't fancy ordering more proper food so we stuffed our face with dessert and lucky for me the martini bianco and wine dulled the hunger somewhat! I don't remember exactly what the dessert was but it was vanilla-y  and chocolatey and had Crème Fraîche and was just freaking DELICIOUS.

If you've got a bit of cash then I'd really recommend this place. It wasn't extortionate but it wasn't cheap either- you get what you pay for and it's clearly one of the places to be seen. It was all dark lighting, music and a great atmosphere. The bathroom was the cutest thing, it had a kind of chaise lounge with a magnifying makeup mirror at each end and a little black box filled with cotton buds, cotton pads and other items ladies might be in need of- a really lovely touch. We were excited as the restaurant is walled with glass and many reviews said you should go for the view alone as it overlooks St Stephens Cathedral but it was dark out and nothing was lit up so the view was not really anything to write home about at all- it's probably much more spectacular before nightfall.

 

The next day on our way to our meeting we took a walk through the nearby park. It was only very small but in Malta we have nothing like this so it was incredibly nice to be surrounded by greenery and trees, the scent of nature, ducks frolicking in the pond- adorable.

And of course whilst we were there we had to pay a visit to St Stephens Cathedral. Wow. Just... wow. There are no words that will do it justice. It's just so huge and imposing and magnificent and awe-inspiring. Apparently it's the most important religious building in Vienna and has become a symbol of the city across the world.

And the inside was just as impressive as the exterior. There was something beautiful to see in every direction. My words just aren't cutting it so I won't even try- the pictures speak well enough for this incredible building.

An absolute MUST SEE if you are ever in Vienna.