Vienna for the first time

Think of me: I liked it so much that I cannot help telling you some little secrets you might want to know.

First of all, I proudly announce you I've been to Vienna with 100 Euros!

Well, thanks to Skyeurope and a ticket reserved two months in advance, I made it at 30 Euros, place included.

Lodged, then, in the fresh Meininger hotel, opened in the Columbusgasse, 30 meters away from the Kepler metro station.(U3) Brand new, as I said, IKEA furnished, with an all-you-can-take breakfast (1ox for the lovely brown buns!) plus 10 minutes free internet for everybody in the room, if the reservation is made online.

What other expenses you should keep in mind: the CAT - train that takes you from the airport downtown...9 Euros/person. BUT! If you go with friends and you are 3, I suggest you reserve a cab, online of course, here. The price from the hotel I was lodged in to the airport was 25, 5 Euros, so less than 9 euro/person, if you are three. I had to take it in the morning, since my plane was leaving at 6 AM, I made the reservation in time, a month before, and with no other phone call or email, ten minutes than the hour I was expecting the cab, the driver was there, waiting. For going around in the city, the 72 stunde (72 hours) ticket is the best, at 13, 60 Euros. It works on all buses, trams and underground trains, for 72 hours, as it is called.

Places to eat: accidentally we've had our first meal at Cafe Diglas, which proved to be in our guide, so our 6'th sense is still working.

Nice huge courses, choose a menu but only if you understand German, otherwise the waiter doesn't seem to keen to explain what it is all about. I had a potato-celery soup with thyme, and some ricotta ravioli, while my companions had a Kaiser schnitzel with chalots sauce with chestnuts and a Buchtel in vanilla sauce as desert, and some veal and mashed potatoes with beet and horse radish sauce plus a vanilla sauce over a baked apple stuffed with nuts and raisins.

*The menus were numbered, so the waiters dropped at our tiny marble table saying 1, 4, or 5 :).
The last day we dropped again at the Diglas, since it is very closed to the Stephan's Dome, for an apfel strudel. Very good, as we guessed watching on a wall screens how the people make it.

Sacher?

Of course! It was on my plan from the beginning. In a not so warm room, though atmosphere was cosy, *heat, people, the room, heat it!, we tasted the famous cake and watched the pictures on the walls. Keep in mind, the prices are high but any cent worth the hmmmm yummy cake with natural plain cream. Some 4 Euros a slice, 1 euro the wardrobe, and the 10% for the waiter, since in Austria service is not included on the bill.

Sissi!

Sissi is everywhere, in Vienna. So we decided it's the Schönbrunn Palace where we'll get to meet her better. As you can see on the Palace's website, tickets are available online. For those who don't want to spend their life in the small quite humble I would say palace (come on, I come from Becali's land!) there is an Imperial Tour, for half an hour in the most important rooms of the building. 9,50 Euros. For 12 Euros, the Grand tour take the visitors to another wing of the palace, important, as well, for history stands in small pieces, no?

Christmas!

Isn't it lovely to arrive in Vienna before Xmas? We loved the Christmas tree and market at the Schönbrunn Palace but we enjoyed more the Xmas market in front of the City hall. Plus the huge doughnut (I asked vanilla cream, got apricot jam, yikes) and the punch, yummy in a cold winter night.

For I forgot to mention: Vienna is really cold in november/december keep that in mind when you plan to see it during winter. But it's such a lovely place!