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.