Vienna: An Imperial City

By Author: Bonny Kominek
Total Articles: 230
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Vienna, the capital of Austria, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Boasting dozens of the finest examples of Baroque and Romantic architecture to be found anywhere, it is a strikingly beautiful and impressive city.

Vienna is the sort of city where, as you wander around, you almost stumble from one astonishingly beautiful building into the other. The city centre itself is relatively small and many of the main sites are just a few hundred yards from each other.

Vienna is most famous for its music and particularly the opera. It is one of the few cities in the world to retain traditional balls, and every year over 200 hundred are held throughout the city. The Opera House is the location for one of the most famous, and is a striking and impressive building.

The Natural History Museum has over 20 million different artefacts, some of which are the sole example of their kind in the world. The 25,000 year old Venus of Willendorf is one of the museum''s most important pieces, though tiny, whilst at the other end of the scale the massive, complete skeleton of a Diplodocus is one of the few complete skeletons ...
... of dinosaurs anywhere in the world.

Vienna also plays host to some of the biggest and most influential international organisations on the planet. OPEC has a major base in the city, as does the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and a number of other UN organisations. These are all based in one enormous complex not far from the Donaupark, one of Vienna''s major open spaces.

Other sites to see include the Hofburg and Schonbrun palaces both former imperial residence. The Hofburg is now the official residence of the Austrian president, whilst the Schonbrun is home to the oldest zoo in the world. You should also take a ride on the Riesenrad, the Viennese equivalent of the London Eye.

With so much to see and do you''ll find yourself getting through a fair few miles of walking, so you''ll probably need some sustenance. Fortunately wherever you go in Vienna you''ll find street vendors selling Austrian cuisine, most notably sausages, and potato fritters and horse chestnuts in the winter.

Vienna is one of the premier cities in the world and an amazing place to visit at any time of year. There are so many things to do and see that you could easily spend a month there and not even begin to cover it all. A city break in Vienna is guaranteed not to disappoint. Bonny Kominek, a freelance writer, wrote this article after a memorable trip to Vienna with Octopus Travel and recommends their website for a broad selection of Vienna hotels.