Day Trips from Vienna

Vienna is referred to by many as a unique onion, with each of the urban layers surrounding the oldest historic centre being equally important to the overall flavour of the city. The Austrian capital therefore embraces all the traditions of a European city, from Roman foundations through to Gothic, Baroque and Historicism. Tourists are eager to visit Vienna because of the city's exciting combination of the royal- imperial flair of the past with the latest trends, the responsible cultivation of a precious heritage and charming traditions. But much more than old buildings turn Vienna into a city of beauty: one also finds excellent museums, fine art collections and world-renowned works of art in the city. Vienna boasts 50 theatres, including three opera houses and two theatres staging musicals, 100 museums. Serious music lovers have long considered Vienna to be just this side of paradise: one encounters music everywhere, from the sounds of a child practicing a Mozart piano sonata through an open window to street musicians playing classical as well as folk music. No other city has been home to so many composers of international renown: some, such as Schubert, Strauss, Schoenberg and Berg were born there, others, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms and Mahler chose to live there. Culinary culture is an integral part of the way of life that has distinguished Vienna for centuries. Viennese cuisine is perhaps the only cuisine in the world that is named for a city and not a country. Vienna has been influenced by many countries throughout the past ten centuries, something that may explainmuch of its attraction - and not only in the realm of cooking. The word Heurigen has long been part of the vocabulary of tourism in Vienna - no sightseeing visit to the city on the Danube would be complete without a visit to a Viennese Heurigen. Heurigens have become a synonym for some of what is best in Vienna: hospitality, gemütlichkeit, joie de vivre mingled with a little melancholy, good solid food and refreshing dry wine. In fact, as a uniquely Viennese institution, a way of life, Heurigens are second only to coffeehouses. VIENNA