Vienna City

Took cab from the Vienna Airport to Meliá Vienna. After checked in and had some wash-up in the hotel room, I then took U-Bahn to the historical center of Vienna.

First agenda was to have schnitzel as late lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

Regensburger Hof

Building History

The current house of Regensburger Hof, built in 1897, was based on a previous one which dated back to the 14th century. For centuries the building functioned as a place for Regensburg merchants to unload their wares, fill their hungry stomachs and rest their heads. The monument of Johannes Gutenberg, a German inventor and craftsman, stood in front of the building.

Lugeck Restaurant

The "Lugeck" inn of the Figlmüller gastronomic dynasty has been operating in this building since 2014 (left photo below). Once walked into the restaurant, I began my order with a 'wiener schnitzel' as the main dish (right photo below). The schnitzel originated as 'wiener schnitzel' from Vienna, and is a slice of veal cutlet usually pounded thinly and breaded before frying. 'Wiener schnitzel' is considered a national dish in Austria.


I also got a potato salad (left photo below) and a cup of cappuccino (right photo below).
Taste was good as the one I tried back in 2010 in Figlmüller under the same restaurant chain.

🍔 Lugeck @Regensburger Hof
Address:	Lugeck 4, 1010 Vienna
Access:	Stephansplatz station of U-Bahn Line 1 and 4
Operating Hours:	1130 hours to 2400 hours; daily

After lunch, I began to explore the historical center of Vienna.

Vienna Historical Center

The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, as well as the late-19th-century Ringstrasse lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.

The Historic Centre of Vienna was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

St. Stephen's Cathedral, or Stephansdom in German, is the symbol of Vienna and also the very center of the city. Dating back to 1137 when it first constructed, the main structure of the cathedral was saved from several fires and wars. Reconstruction began after the WWII in 1945 and was fully reopened in 1952. The main entrance to the church is named as the 'Giant's Door' with two Roman Towers each standing at approximately 65-meters tall (left photo below). The most impressive structure of the cathedral is the 136-meters tall tower that stands at the south of the building (right photo below). It is the tallest church in Austria.


The interior of the church contains 18 altars and were exquisitely decorated (left photo below). The 'Wiener Neustädter Altar' at the north nave is composed of two triptychs. On weekends, the four panels are closed and only on Sundays that all panels are opened to show the gilded wooden figures depicting events in the life of the Virgin Mary (right photo below).

🎫 St. Stephen's Cathedral
Website:	https://www.stephanskirche.at/
Access:	Stephansplatz station of U-Bahn Line 1 and 4
Opening Hours:	0900 to 1130 hours; 1300 to 1630 hours (Mon to Sat) 1300 to 1630 hours (Sun & Public Holidays)
Admission:	Free to Main Nave. Rest of tours require admission tickets.

Manner Shop

Using St. Stephen Cathedral as trademark in its logo design, it is not surprising to find the flagship store of Manner located besides the cathedral in Stephansplatz (left photo below). The best-known product by Manner is the "Neapolitan wafers" introduced in 1898 and its basic recipe has remain unchanged to this day. Besides their famous wafers, there were also several other products on sale in this store (right photo below).

Grabenstrasse

Graben street, or Grabenstrasse in German, is one of the busy shopping streets in Vienna's city center. Most of the buildings in this pedestrian area origin from the 17th and 18th century (photos below).
Two fountains are found on the Graben Street. At the behest of Emperor Leopold I in 1680, the fountains were adorned with sculptures of Saint Joseph and Saint Leopold on both sides of the plague column.

• The Joseph's fountain, or Josefsbrunnen in German, is located on the west side of the column. St. Joseph was depicted in ancient garb and with a staff, bending down to a boy holding a scroll of Joseph's family tree (left photo below).


• The plague column, or Pestsäule in German, was built in the year 1679 at the peak of the pest. Only after the plague and the Turkish siege that the long planned and often rescheduled new construction of the plague column was finished in the 1694 (middle photo below).


• The Leopold's fountain, or Leopoldsbrunnen in German, is located on the east side of the column. St. Leopold was depicted in armour and with a ducal hat. He held the model of the Klosterneuburg church in his right hand and a flag in his left hand (right photo below).
  
  

Interesting Shops

One of the reasons to take a trip to this historical center was to visit the Hard Rock Café in Vienna (left photo below). This café was not even there when I visited the place in 2010. Opened on Aug 2014, it consists of a restaurant and a rock shop. This was where I got a shot glass embossed with 'Vienna' that had become part of my existing collections.

Another fascinating shop I saw was the Comic Store that had many figurines and shirts related to popular comic and movie themes (right photo below).
Took U-Bahn train back to the hotel to prepare for next day's meeting.

Donau City and its surroundings

The development plan for Donau City is a broad mix of uses: up to 70 % for office and commercial operations, while about 20 % for residential and the rest 10 % on cultural and recreational purposes. High-rise buildings such the DC Tower, IZD Tower and STRABAG Haus makes the Donau City a commercial district. The location of Vienna International Centre (VIC) makes it even more globalized with the occupation of several organizations from the United Nations in this building complex (left photo below). It has become one of the four United Nations sites along with New York, Geneva and Nairobi.

The Donau City was built on a former landfill between the Old Danube and the New Danube rivers. As part of the flood-control engineering project back in the 1970s, a long narrow artificial island, measuring 21.1-km in length and only 70 to 210-meters wide, was created to separate the Old Danube and the new relief channel (right photo below).
The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe of 2,850-km in length that flows through 10 countries in Central and Southeastern Europe. While explaining to my colleagues on the association between the Austrians and the Danube, I had to bring up the classic music 'The Blue Danube' to illustrate.

🛫 Travel Trivia
Though 'The Blue Danube' is a classical waltz, its tune is definitely recognizable by everyone. It was composed by an Austrian composer 'Johann Strauss II' in 1866. 'The Blue Danube' is so well-loved by the Austrians that it has become an unofficial Austrian national anthem.

Corporate Meeting

Company meetings can be boring and mind draining at times. At least a good meeting environment could help to reduce those non-productive elements. Floor-to-ceiling glass panels allowed natural lights into the meeting room that would definitively make participants feel at ease (left photo below). Situated on the high floors, it did provide a good panorama view of the Vienna city which could be relaxing to the tiring eyes (right photo below). Not to forget the aroma from roasted coffee often filled the room which have mind-energizing effects.
Due to the many agendas to discuss within the week-long meeting, lunch was catered by the company and taken in the meeting room. Though the selection was not wide compared to those of hotel buffet, it did provided me a fulfilling meal. Following were two of the typical food choices that I took during the four days meeting (photos below).
Dinner

Speaking of meal selections, surely there were much more choices for dinner in Vienna. Most often I would take a U-Bahn train to the city center in the evening after my meetings.

Decided to have seafood in this Nordsee restaurant on Monday evening (left photo below). Got myself a grilled fish fillet with fried mushrooms and a soft-drink (right photo below).
Fillet was fresh which blended well with the tartar sauce.

🍔 Nordsee International
Address:	Kärntner Str. 25, 1010 Wien, Austria
Access:	Stephansplatz station of U-Bahn Line 1 and 4
Operating Hours:	0900 hours to 2400 hours; daily

Went to Hard Rock Café Vienna for dinner on Tuesday (left photo below). Ordered a beef steak with mashed potato and boiled broccoli (right photo below).
Portion of the steak was satisfactory as a meat-lover.

🍔 Hard Rock Cafe Vienna
Address:	Rotenturmstraße 25, 1010 Wien, Austria
Access:	Stephansplatz station of U-Bahn Line 1 and 4
Operating Hours:	0930 to 2400 hours (Mon to Fri); 0900 to 2400 hours (Sat to Sun)

Due to other work commitments, I had to work on them in the hotel room even after a full day meeting on Wednesday evening. Therefore, called for a hotel in-room dining service where I ordered a beef burger with fries (left photo below). Disappointedly the food came in cold.

The meeting finally ended on Thursday and most participants gathered for dinner to celebrate it. I completely forgotten the restaurant name but could only recall that I ordered a Sirloin Beef Burger with spiral cut potato chips (right photo below). The burger was juicy but the chips were on the dry side.
Praterstern

Had the opportunity to re-visit Praterstern station of U-Bahn Line 1 and Line 2 after my dinner on a Tuesday evening. Reason was to stop by at the Billa supermarket to get additional food souvenirs for my colleagues in Singapore (left photo below).

While returning back to the station, I was surprised to see the same Chinese restaurant still in operation after nine years without any major changes (right photo below). Probably used to the changing landscape of Singapore restaurants where most would be relocated due to rising rental costs or at least had a major renovation after some years of operation. I would consider this 'exceptional' especially for a Chinese restaurant to survive more than nine years in Europe.
Rest and Relax

The meeting ended early on Thursday and I got a half-day free on a Friday morning. After breakfast and checked out from the hotel, I then deposited my luggage with the counter and took U-bahn to Stephansplatz station to the historical center again.

Hofburg Palace

The Hofburg Palace gradually came into my sight from the rows of shophouses along Kohlmarkt street (left photo below) and finally full view of the palace's St. Michael's Wing could be seen from the Michaelerplatz (right photo below).
Did not visit Hofburg as I already explored the palace back in 2010. Refer to the earlier blog on the write-ups.

Maria-Theresien-Platz

The Maria-Theresien-Platz is a large public square flanked by two near identical buildings, namely the Naturhistorisches (Natural History) Museum at its northwest and Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum at its southeast. On its southwest is the Museumsquartier for displaying modern arts. In the middle of the square stood the Maria Theresa Monument, and hence the name of the square 'Maria-Theresien-Platz'.

Natural History Museum Vienna

Back in 2010, I only could admire the façade of the buildings in Maria-Theresien-Platz due to the limited time and the packed itinerary. While taking a photo with the elephant sculpture outside the museum (left photo below), I told myself that I will be back to visit this Natural History Museum when I travel to Vienna again. Thankfully my wish was granted nine years later (right photo below).
The Natural History Museum Vienna, or Naturhistorisches Museum Wien in German, is one of the largest, oldest and most noteworthy natural history museums in the world. The current building was completed in 1889 and was commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830–1916). Measuring around 170-meters long and 70-meters wide, the building comprises two courtyards that each are surrounded by working and exhibition rooms. Today it houses a collection of 30 million specimens and artifacts.

The mezzanine and first floor of the intricately decorated facade display allegorical and mythological figures representing key elements of the universe, and its discovery and understanding by man (left photo below). The 100 square-metre ceiling painting above the grand staircase depicts "The Cycle of Life" (right photo below).


The roof is crowned with a 65-meters tall dome. Inside the dome there are eight pairs of figures symbolizing the scientific departments from the early years of the museum (left photo below). Currently a modern café is housed below this dome offering a resting place for visitors to take a break (right photo below).


Exhibition Halls

Collections cumulated over a period of more than 500 years are displayed in a systematic order according to the relations or chronological position in Earth History. Most items are exhibited in display cases made of dark carved wood that are the originals since the opening days of the museum (photos below). Walls of the exhibition area are often decorated with oil paintings to complement the objects displayed.
Hall 1 to 5: Mineralogy and Petrography, Meteorites

Extensive collection of native minerals such as copper (left photo below) and Nickel Iron (right photo below) were displayed.
Various mineral deposits (left photo below) and quartz (right photo below) were also exhibited.
Significant and precious specimens of jewellery materials such as emerald (left photo below) and native gold (right photo below) were eye-catching to visitors.
Raw material and half-finished stones are placed alongside with the finished cut and polished stones, such as the sapphire (left photo below) and red ruby (right photo below).

Hall 6 to 10: Geology and Paleontology

Fossils of various ammonites (left photo below) and packed lobe-fins (right photo below) provided evidence to the evolution theory.


Valuable specimen of the lower jaw bone with molar tooth of Mastodons, better known as mammoth, can be found in this museum (left photo below). Fossil of Confuciusornis sanctus from Liaoning Province of China preserved the long wing and tail feathers of the reptile (right photo below). It is only about 20 million years younger than Archaeopteryx and was a significant step closer to modern birds in evolution.


Model of the terror bird Paraphysornis standing at 1.4-meters was on displayed in Hall 9 (left photo below). The Pteranodon had an impressive wingspan of 7 to 9-meters but estimated to weigh only less than 36-kg (right photo below).


The Ichthyosaurus were marine reptiles evolved 245-million years ago and can grow up to 21-meters long (left photo below). These large reptiles died out before the extinction of the dinosaurs. The giant turtle Archelon ischyros lived about 74-million years ago and grew to more than 4-meters (right photo below).
The Dinosaur Hall is dedicated to dinosaurs and other saurians, including the displays of Diplodocus carnegii and Allosaurus fragilis in the center stage of the hall (left photo below). The animatronic model of a young Allosaurus fragilis often trigger screams from young children when it roars (right photo below).

Hall 14 to 15: Anthropology

Detailed figures in the museum re-enacted the life of early Hominidae (photos below).

Hall 24: Invertebrates

Invertebrates is a general term describing animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (backbones), which evolved from the notochord. Examples of animals in such category include sea stars, sea urchins, earthworms, sponges, jellyfish, lobsters, squid, insects, spiders, snails, clams, and crabs (photos below).

Hall 25 to 39: Vertebrates

The exhibition on Vertebrates began with the display on fishes. What caught my attention was the skeleton of an Ocean sunfish (left photo below). Next was the herpetological display that featured the taxidermized crocodiles inside large display cases (right photo below).
The ornithological collection on display spans over 2,500 specimens (photos below).



Living in dense forest and active only at night, it was rare to see the diorama of kiwis in various postures (left photo below). A specimen of the extinct Tasmania Tiger was well-preserved and displayed (right photo below).



Large mammals such as rhinoceros (left photo below) and hoofed animals (right photo below) are exhibited with a backdrop to depict their natural habitat.
Just like most other exhibits, large members of the cat family were also displayed in large glass cases (left photo below). Noticed that the skills of preserving the specimens were equally good and comparable to those of the Swiss (right photo below).

Spent almost 2 hours at a fast pace exploring the museum due to my afternoon flight. The admission ticket proved that I was one of the first few visitors to enter the museum at 9 am when it opens (left photo below). Before leaving the museum, I bought a souvenir book at EUR 24.90 in its museum shop for me to understand more on its collections (left photo below).


Overall, I was impressed by the vast collections of the museum and detailed chronological arrangement of displayed items. However, if those invertebrate specimens are displayed in diorama instead of large glass cases, it will be more educational for visitors to understand the interaction between the animals and their natural habitat.

🎫 Natural History Museum Vienna
Website:	https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/en
Access:	Stephansplatz station of U-Bahn Line 1 and 4, or Museumsquartier station of U-Bahn Line 2
Opening Hours:	0900 to 1800 hours (Thur to Mon); 0900 to 2000 hours (Wed) Closed on every Tuesday
Admission:	EUR 12 (adult)

Took the same route back to Stephansplatz.

Nordsee Restaurant

Back to this restaurant for a quick bite as lunch. Looking at its wide varieties, I was rather indecisive at first on what to eat while queuing up (left photo below). When it was my turn to order, my finger nonetheless pointed to the similar food I took few days back (right photo below).
Probably I was less adventurous when comes to western food.

🍔 Nordsee International
Address:	Kärntner Str. 25, 1010 Wien, Austria
Access:	Stephansplatz station of U-Bahn Line 1 and 4
Operating Hours:	0900 hours to 2400 hours; daily

Transport to Airport

Booked a limousine car at the hotel and it turned out to be a 7-seater sedan unexpectedly (left photo below). Just felt slightly uneconomical for one person to occupy the large space. Anyway there was no price difference on the type of limousine cars for this shuttle service.

During the ride, I took the final photo of Vienna city with Donaustadt bridge and Donau City in the background (right photo below). This trip did provide me with lots of memories but honestly I did not wish for a third visit to Vienna.
Boarded the connecting flight to Munich and then the long-haul flight back to Singapore. Flight LH 0709 landed safely on Singapore at about 4.35 pm.

With this, it ended my short business trip to Vienna.