The Robbi Route

Sunday, June 28, 2026  

And Monday, June 29, 2026

Walking around Vienna feels like passing back in time while concurrently being invited into its  existing liberal, modern and even an “I don’t care what you think about me” vibe.  Culture abounds with it’s royal underpinnings and a Who’s Who list of native born, groundbreaking composers (Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Strauss, Haydn), scientists (Freud, Doppler), architects (Wagner, Loos), and painters (Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka).  Cathedrals and churches are stately and opulent, grand palaces go on for acres, showcasing lavish architectural styles and housing endless rooms of masterful and Gigantic art pieces, jewels, weapons and furniture.  Baroque stylistic touches and architecture seemingly touch our entire surrounds – gold, gilt, gold-plate, flourishes, gigantic statues that are whimsical and stately – plus as well, a pop culture “popping up” (HA!) wherever my eye goes! 

More than half of Vienna is parkland, filled with ponds, trees, gardens – and statues. The Palace Garden – a green belt – that was once the backyard of the Hofburg, and now a  people’s park, has an iron and glass pavilion built in 1910 with playful Art Nouveau touches.  According to a tourist brochure, “about fifteen percent of the capital’s total area is used for farming, with around a third of the agricultural land given over to organic operations.” (wein.info) Besides the plentiful vineyards and wine production, snails are cultivated, mushrooms are grown out of coffee grounds (a resource which is virtually in endless supply in Vienna) and bee boxes found about the city (including on some of the museum grounds) produce honey!

Vienna is the capital of Austria, the cradle of classical music and the home of the rich Habsburg heritage and empire. Buildings still reflect the elegance of the 18th and 19th centuries, when Vienna was the forefront of the arts and sciences. Edifices hundreds of years old are intermixed with newer construction reflecting the city’s rebuilding after severe bombing by the Nazis in World War II.

“For much of its 2,500 year history, Vienna was on the frontier of ‘civilized’ Europe. Located on the south bank of the Danube, it was threatened by Germanic tribes (in Roman times), marauding Magyars (today’s Hungarians, 10th century), Mongol raiders (13th century), Ottomans (the sieges of 1529 and 1683), and the USSR (during the Cold War it was surrounded on three sides by the Iron Curtain).” (Rick Steves guidebook). Hitler promised jobs along with a return to greatness and the Austrian people gobbled it up.  Sadly, it sounds very familiar.

After breakfast we had our Field Trip to the Third Man Museum for WWII history.  Owner/Collector/Aficionado  Gerhard Strassgschwandtner is passionate about this important chapter in Vienna’s storyline, and I found myself hanging on his every word (I have Never been a fan of war history). Nor have I seen any war movies and so I was unfamiliar with, “Third Man” which was a European noir thriller released in 1949 set in post-World War II Vienna, starring Orson Welles and telling a tale of intrigue in a city afraid of falling under soviet Rule.  Gerhard quipped, “a little diplomacy is always nice” regarding working with Orson Welles who he called a Diva!!  

We assembled in a room that barely accommodated we thirty, flanked on the perimeter by posters and artifacts, sharing space with a 1936 projector – from which we were shown a two minute clip from the movie!  Gerhard says he has 3,200 items (including a zither -which I think he said was in the movie…?) I have many pictures of the five small rooms of memorabilia, yet they really don’t portray its impactful message without seeing this lovingly curated collection firsthand, accompanied by a passionate, sometimes quirky oration of one who doesn’t want the evil of Hitler and the Nazis to be forgotten, who wants the heroes, survivors and victims to be remembered and who wants to verbalize his appreciation of the post war improvements in his society after the Allies triumphed and the post war ravages could be mostly be left behind – at least the structural and political ones.

“Austria was under Nazi rule from 1938 to 1945. During a World War II bombing attack, several hundred people were buried alive when the cellar they were using as a shelter was demolished. Austria was led into World War II by Germany which annexed the country 1938.  For seven years just before and during World War II, there was no Austria. In 1955, after 10 years of joint occupation by the victorious Allies, Austria regained total independence on the condition that it would be forever neutral (and never join NATO or the Warsaw Pact). To this day, Austria is outside of NATO (and Germany)” (Rick Steves guidebook)

Then it was time to head to the Kunshistoriches Museum and Gerhard was our guide (a long time profession of his as he curated his museum, teaches film students and conducts tours of his Third Man Museum)!  And we took a bus!  Ruby arranged for us all to have an All Day pass on Public Transit -SO MANY OPTIONS for those who live here (and visit)!!  BTW, like in Munich, pedestrian signals feature both gay and straight couples.  

But before the museum we had a coffee break with several places pointed out to us, including Café Sacher, which is known for its famous chocolate cake, the Sacher torte: two layers of cake separated by apricot jam and covered in dark chocolate icing, usually served with whipped cream.  The jury is out as to how good it really is. Also pointed out were Café Tirolerhof and Demel Bakery, each having histories of local patronage, lavish decor and amazing pastries!

As a navigational bearing and piece of history, The Old Town is bound by the Ringstrasse, a circular road marking what used to be the city wall.

The Kunsthistorisches Natural History Museum  was built in the 1880’s to house the private art and scientific collections of the empire and to celebrate its culture and power.  It was all so Over The Top and Mind Blowing!!!  Our entrance along the grand staircase was crowned by a massive statue of Theseus slaying the Centaur and columns of various, gorgeous marbles!

We enjoyed many rooms of art by Masters and Gerhard gave us incredible backstories to countless pieces that expanded my enjoyment!!

We saw works by Caravaggio, Raffael, Bruegel, Rembrandt, Titian, Jan Davidson de Heem, Vermeer (his The Artist’s Studio/The Art of Painting).

There are so many cultural sites to see when visiting Vienna, and our short timeframe as well as the “heat wave” made it difficult to see them all! Some did better than others! I spent some time finishing up a basket for our tour leader and so I used that as an excuse not to get out playing tourist the last half of my day.  

We had a wonderful farewell dinner, in the lower level of restaurant Hush that seemed like a cave but it was still sweltering!!

Goodbyes are So Difficult – my second round this trip! I know I will be keeping in touch with several of the people I met and I hope my path will cross them all!!  Ruby, our leader was awesome, and I might just  be a Rick Steves tour convert!!

Monday, June 29, 2026

I plan to cover some additional sites in Vienna, because I just didn’t get to them all and there are so many worthy of sharing – plus the ones I experienced on Saturday that I did not detail!  I wanted to conclude by noting that I did go to the airport with another group to share costs, and even though I was not leaving Vienna today, it was nice to see the lay of the land at their small airport (I often get anxious about the connecting pieces of my travel). I have a flight out tomorrow, and I’m staying at the Moxie hotel, a Marriott property.  It’s actually attached to the airport which will make it easy for me to do my last leg back to the USA!! I’m anxious to see my family!  Fun and trendy art around the hotel made me laugh – especially in the elevators!!

Auf Wiedersehen!