Vienna Coffee Culture and Night Walks

Because of the sheer efficiency of the Viennese Subway, the U-Bahn, getting around and exploring Vienna was a very pleasurable experience. And while we may have only spent 3 days in the former imperial capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I felt that we really got to cover a whole lot of ground!

* St. Stephen's Cathedral, known in Austria as the Stephansdom, is Vienna's most important religious building and seat of the Roman Catholic Archiocese.

* Built in 1147, the Cathedral was the venue for the funerals of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Vivaldi, and contains the tombs of several Austrian nobles, including that of Emperor Frederick III, the first of the Habsburgs to become emperor, and Prince Eugene of Savoy.

* The scene outside the Cathedral, known as the Stephansplatz, is bustling with activity.

* Walking down the Graben, one of Vienna's most famous and glitziest streets; open only to pedestrians and full of high-end luxury stores, restaurants, and cafes.

* Coming across this beautiful pilar called the Pestsaule, or Plague Column, which is a Baroque-styled Holy Trinity Column erected after the Great Plague of 1679.

* Legend has it that Habsburg Emperor Leopold I vowed to build a Holy Trinity Column if the plague ended, which it did!

* Beautiful architectural styles blanket the whole city.

* And like most of the cities in Central Europe, churches seem to appear out of every corner.

* Vienna is also famous for its great tradition of coffee appreciation. In fact, some historians claim that coffee was first introduced to Europe from the Middle East via the numerous battles between the Polish-Holy Roman-Habsburg-Hungarian Alliance and the Ottoman Turks. 

* Today, traditional Kaffeehauskultur (Cafes) are still the most popular venues for meeting friends, gossiping, and reading the newspaper. In fact, there is a coffeehouse for every 500 people, making Austria the densest coffee market in the world.

* Don't ever let the Viennese people catch you entering a Starbucks, lest you be judged!

* It is very common for locals to head to cafes 4 times a day to conduct business and socialize! Being coffee lovers ourselves and wanting to immerse in their culture, we had our first traditional coffeehouse experience at the esteemed Cafe Diglas. 

* A very good day for a walk.

* With a little help from one of my favorite travel apps, City Maps 2Go, navigating Vienna was a breeze.

* For dinner, we had sausages and sauerkraut at the Rathaus, seat of the Mayor of Vienna and Town Council.

* Ahhhh Cafe Landtmann.. one of Vienna's most famous cafes. Due to its location near the Burgtheater and Rathaus, it is extremely popular with politicians, actors, and journalists.

* Founded in 1873, Cafe Landtmann is also famous for its cakes, to my wife's delight. Sigmund Freud, Father of Psychoanalysis, considered this his favorite cafe back in his heyday.

* Ending the day with this tall glass of amazing Franziskaner Weissbier. Cheers!