Vienna is famous for its coffee house culture. So famous, in fact, that in 2011 UNESCO put it on the intangible cultural heritage list for Vienna. I put experiencing this culture high on my list of things to do in Vienna.

We started our day with breakfast at Cafe Central, one of Vienna’s oldest and most famous coffee houses. Famous former patrons include Sigmund Freud, Leon Trotsky, Stalin and Hitler. There is always a line waiting to get in.

A critical component of Viennese coffee house culture is allowing people to sit at a table as long as they want. Well-stocked newspaper racks are an important element of this “take your time” atmosphere.

A glass of water is always served with the coffee to show the purity of the water used to make the coffee.

I had a wonderful breakfast of yogurt, fruit, very hardy toast and great coffee.

Albertina Museum

After our delightful Viennese coffee house culture experience, we walked to the Albertina Museum. I first learned about the Albertina Museum when I saw billboards promoting “Monet to Picasso” on our drive from the airport.

We were amazed at how much our museum visit exceeded our expectations. The art was so beautifully organized and the gallery notes for each exhibit were like mini art lessons.

We started on the top floor at the “Monet to Picasso” exhibit. The permanent collection of around 500 pieces was donated by Herbert Bratliner, one of the great art collectors and patrons of his time. His collection ranks as one of the most important collections of modern paintings in the world.

In addition to the this beautiful permanent collection, we saw a number of wonderful special exhibits.

Robert Longo

American artist Robert Longo is known for monumental, hyper-realistic works, primarily in charcoal. Using photographs that record dramatic situations as models, he raises their visual impact to a higher power.

His pictures are huge, and we tried to imagine what it would be like to make such large charcoal drawings.

Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall is one of the best known artists of the 20th century. The Albertina exhibit included 90 works from all of his creative periods. He had a long career, spending the last day of his life at age 98 in his studio. At age 80 he created a painting for the ceiling of the Paris Opera House and another painting for the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York.

It was powerful to see so many of his works in one place. The exhibit did a fabulous job describing his life and influences on his work.

Franz Grabmayr

Franz Grabmayr grew up on a poor, small mountain farm. He was almost forty years old when he began painting exclusively. Using thick layers of paint, he creates almost-sculptural works inspired by the elements of water, fire, heaven, and earth.

State Rooms

We took a break from all the fabulous art to visit the historic staterooms. Before the Albertina was a museum, it served as the residence of Hapsburg archdukes and archduchesses. Twenty staterooms from this period are restored and decorated. Our walking tour guide recommended visiting them instead of one of the palaces to see royal rooms without the crowds.

The brightly colored, beautifully-decorated rooms provided a lovely view of an opulent life.

Leaving the state rooms, we almost missed finding the discretely-identified toilets.

Adrian Ghenie

After visiting the state rooms, we noticed one final exhibit. Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie’s paintings honor the work of Egon Schiele, one of expressionism’s most important visual artists.

Ghenie used small sketches by Schiele as the inspiration to create large canvases.The project, called “Shadow Paintings”, symbolizes the dark night of the soul in which individuals find themselves confronted with their inner shadows. The paintings were interesting but a bit disturbing.

Chocolate and Dinner

On the way back to our hotel, we got chocolate at the wonderful Swiss chocolate shop by our hotel.

Paul was so happy with his chocolate, and we made bets about how long it would last. Not long, I am sure.

After two nights dining in the hotel bar, it was beyond time to go somewhere new. Paul found a great Greek restaurant, Leto, a short walk away. We almost always have great food at Greek restaurants in Europe.

The food and service were excellent. I ordered an amazing dish of eggplant, feta and mozzarella with warm pita bread.

Strolling through the quiet little streets back to our hotel was a delightful end to our wonderful day.

After a magical week in Paris with our daughter and granddaughter, Paul and I flew to Vienna, Austria for a week. Home of Freud, Klimt, Marie Antoinette, Mozart, Beethoven, and more, Vienna is a new city in a new country with a new language for me. Soon after arriving, I knew I needed more German than gesundheit.Thank goodness for Google Translate.

After a late night at Chez Papa Jazz Club followed by a very early departure from Paris, we were so happy to get to our hotel room.

After unpacking and resting a bit, we went to our hotel bar for an early dinner. Paul ordered wiener schnitzel, Austria’s national dish. Our delightful server recommended Krautfleckerl, a classical Austrian dish of pasta and cabbage, for me. She said her grandmother made it for her when she was growing up. It was wonderful, and I will definitely try making it when we get home.

Since we didn’t have a washer in our Paris apartment, we planned to use the laundry service at our hotel. When we saw the cost-four dollars for just a pair of socks, we decided to find a laundromat and do it ourselves.

After a ten-minute Uber ride and a little confusion, we found the laundromat. We always meet interesting people in laundromats, and this time was no exception.

In the laundromat, we talked with a young woman who was taking a year off after college before starting a job. She was traveling around Europe with her boyfriend. She was a huge help with the high-tech laundry system. We learned how to program the machine, swipe our card, and press start. Detergent is automatically part of the process. When we were almost through, a nice Austrian man retrieved a sock we had left in the dryer.

Vienna Walking Tour

I love taking a walking tour when I arrive in a new city but hadn’t booked anything before we arrived. We were so lucky to get a tour the next afternoon. And we were even luckier to get Stephan to lead our tour. He told great stories and gave wonderful tips. In two hours, he covered the history of Vienna, how the city was laid out (very efficiently), and the best things to see and eat.

We saw an amazing mosaic copy of The Last Supper at Wiener Monoritenkirche, a 13th century Gothic cathedral. Commissioned by Napoleon over 200 years ago, the replica is composed of twelve sections each containing 10,000 pieces of tiny tiles. According to Stephan, it is better than the original.

An Early Environmentalist

Leaving the church, we walked to a beautiful plaza with a statue of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 until his death in 1790. Brother of Marie Antoinette, he was ahead of his times in many ways.

Considered one of the first environmentalists (at least according to our guide), he made numerous changes to funeral practices. He restricted the number of candles that could be burned at funerals because he believed they could be better used to serve the living. And he supported the creation of coffins that used less wood and had flexible bottoms that opened to allow the bodies to return to the earth.

The Memorial Against War and Fascism

The most sobering part of the tour was our visit to the Memorial Against War and Fascism. We entered the Albertinaplatz in the middle of the walk-in monument. Dedicated to all victims of war and fascism, the four components of the memorial serve as a reminder of the darkest epoch in Austrian history.

The Gate of Violence, one of the components, is made of granite that was dragged by thousands of prisoners in Austria’s largest concentration camp, Maulthausen.

Another component, the Stone of the Republic, is also made of Maulthausen granite. Excerpts from the Austrian Declaration of Independence and the names of the men who signed it on April 27, 1945, are perpetuated on the stone.

Finally, we ended our tour at St. Stephens Cathedral at the center of Vienna. This beautiful church definitely deserves a longer visit.

Another Dinner in the Hotel

We took the easy option for dinner and returned to our hotel bar. I ordered onion soup, thinking it would be like the French soupe a l”oignon that I love. What I got must be the Austrian version-onions and broth with a little round of cheese toast on the side.

It was a great day, and I am looking forward to seeing more of Vienna.

Paris is my favorite city in the world, and sharing it with our daughter and granddaughter made it truly magical. Thirteen-year-old Georgia has been interested in Paris since she started reading the Fancy Nancy books at age four. Samantha has not been to Paris since our family went for the first time when she was ten.

After settling in to our apartment, we started our adventure with a Bateaux Mouches ride on the Seine River. Georgia’s excitement seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time gave us a hint of how special this week would be.

Rain (which graced us almost every day) didn’t dampen her enthusiasm. We strolled the Champs-Élysée, and Georgia and Samantha climbed the 284 steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile. A beautiful rainbow and panoramic view of Paris rewarded them for their efforts.

Learning New Things

Paul taught Georgia how to use the efficient Paris metro system. By the end of the week, she knew which line to take and where to sortie (exit.)

Thanks to two weeks at Concordia French camp, studying online with Duolingo, and a few tips from me, Georgia was soon confidently ordering food and asking questions.

She loves to cook and especially enjoyed learning to make macarons.

At the Fragonard Perfume Museum, we learned about the perfume-making process. We took the perfume-making class and made our own unique scents.

Georgia truly embraced Paris’ culinary delights-chocolate chaud at Angelina’s, warm croissants from our neighborhood boulangerie, crepes on the street, fresh baguettes and more.

I was so proud of her openness to trying new foods. The first time she tried escargot, she was disappointed they were already out of the shells. We made sure they were still in the shells the next time we ordered them, and she did a great job getting them out.

Versailles

The rainiest day of the week was the day we took the train to Versailles. Even our socks were soaking wet by the time we got back to our apartment that evening.

The rain did not stop us from making a short detour on our walk to the Palace of Versailles to visit Saint-Louis Cathedral. Since the interior of Notre Dame is still closed, we used our day at Versailles to show Georgia the interior of a beautiful French cathedral.

The most opulent and famous room at the Palace of Versailles is the famous Hall of Mirrors.

Louvre

With all the amazing art museums in Paris, it was hard to chose which one to visit. The Louvre, Paris’ most famous art museum, topped our list. Since the Louvre is huge (one source estimates it would take 100 days to see it all), we booked a private tour. Nick, our guide, did a wonderful job showing us the antiquities Georgia most wanted to see. And, of course, we finished our tour seeing the Mona Lisa. I think the Mona Lisa doesn’t quite live up to all the hype but felt Georgia had to see it.

Last Night in Paris

We feel so grateful for sharing a week in Paris with our daughter and granddaughter. Seeing Georgia’s reactions to new experiences and hearing her impressions were definitely the highlights of the week.

Dinner at Chez Papa Jazz Club was the perfect ending to our magical week.