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25th May 2026: Hyde, Jeckyll, and everything in between {Vienna & day trips, May 2026}

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It was the morning of Hyde’s concert in Vienna, aptly called Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL in Wien. D****e wanted to go and wait for the singer at the entrance of the Wiener Konzerthaus, so I headed off on my own to wander around. I got my coffee at a bakery, and started exploring the area. Our hotel was very near the Orthodox cathedral Kathedrale Z. Hl. Nikolaus in Wien. The building was erected in the Neorussian style, using blueprints by Grigory Kotov and consecrated in 1899. I think it was open, but I was still halfway through my coffee and I didn’t want to try and enter with my drink in hand – much less have to toss it. Besides, it was close to the Russian consulate and there were a few armed soldiers around, which made me a bit nervous.

Russian cathedral with bulbous towers

I walked farther downtown and came across a little square, home of the Hochstrahlbrunnen. This fountain was built in 1873, to commemorate the opening of the new high-pressure water supply system. It tries to symbolise the Alpine water coming into the city by sprouting water upwards – and due to some fluke, the morning had created a rainbow.

Fountain with a rainbow running across

I was pretty sure that the Vienna Museum would be closed since it was a Monday, but I checked anyway as I was literally around the corner – it was. Thus, after waving at St. Charles’s Church Karlskirche, I went on towards the city park Buggarten, where the Riding School horses are sometimes taken to literally prance on grass. No luck – or maybe it was already too late in the morning as it was pushing 9:00. I continued along until I reached the Austrian Parliament building Parlament Österreich with the impressive monumental fountain Pallas-Athene-Brunnen depicting the Greek Goddess Athena, patroness of wisdom and war, holding a spear on her left hand, and Nike, goddess of Victory, on the right. The parliament is erected in a Historicism style, evoking a Parthenon building. Both the façade and the statue are decorated in gold.

Neoclassical building with the statue of a Greek goddess standing in front

As the previous times I have visited Vienna (… this sounds like I am in Vienna a lot), there was something going on in the square / park in front of the town hall Rathaus, which made photographs difficult. However, on the other side of the street, the Hofburg rose garden was open to visitors, albeit a bit withered in the heatwave – it was barely 9:30 and there were no shadows whatsoever, which for me is… weird. I mean what better place to plant trees than an actual garden?

Rose garden with a neo gothic building in the background and a blackbird jumping on the grass

My first ticket of the day was for the Papyrus Museum Papyrusmuseum, which was supposed to open at 10:00. It is part of the Austrian National Library Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, and located inside the Hofburg itself, but accessed from a completely different area. There was an automatic glass door that opened if you got close, but there was a “do not enter” notice on it. Beyond the door, automatic access turnstiles, and what looked like a ticket counter with a lady behind it. In the hall with me, a few other people wandering around, as if waiting. At 10:15 I decided to risk someone yelling at me in German for ignoring the sign and went past the door, placed my e-ticket on the machine and went in when it bleeped green. Nobody uttered a word, so I followed the directions for papyri. A nice gentleman looked at my ticket at the entrance of the small museum and waved me in, so I started exploring.

The collection comprises originals and copies mainly from Greece, Egypt, and the Arab world, including pieces that date from the 460s BCE. Some are pieces from epic stories and religious texts, but most are way more mundane – trade contracts, such as credit agreements and leases. Highlights include a piece of the tragedy of Orestes written by Euripides himself, which even records the musical notes for the performers’ chorus. One of the most important pieces cannot be seen as it is too delicate to show, it is an ancient map of the world. But the main event is displayed in a small darkened room – a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead in all its hieroglyphical glory.

The Book of the Dead (actually, “Spells of Coming Forth by Day” [rw nw prt m hrw]) is a collection of funerary texts dating back from the New Kingdom. It comprises the magic spells that would assist a dead person’s journey into the underworld and the afterlife. They were compiled during a period of over a thousand years. A number of these spells would also be carved or painted on the walls of the tombs or the sarcophagus.

Samples of papyrus from ancient history

And what else was visitable on a Monday morning that appealed to yours truly? It is true that the fine arts gallery was open but let’s be honest. It is right opposite the Natural History Museum. We all know where I am going to end up – any natural history museum, in this case the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. And to my surprise, the staircase was empty for a few seconds and I managed a photograph!

Baroque staircase with a decorated ceiling

Not being in any kind of hurry, I was able to explore the wards I had not visited before, which included biodiversity. While taxidermy is not an art that draws my attention, I’ve really learnt to appreciate the small glass models of marine animals from the 19th century – read: I adore them. I walked around the second level first, which deals with extant fauna. After I was done, I decided to have lunch in the Kuppelhalle Café for lunch, where I tried an amazing drink with apple juice and sparkling water and something advertised as meat loaf which was… some kind of stew but was very nice.

Afterwards, I continued down to level 1, where I strolled around minerals, fossils, mammoths and the origin of man. That included the dinosaur hall and the pièce de résistance of the museum – the Venus of Willendorf, a 30,000-year-old figurine of a carved in limestone. The figurine is about 11 cm tall and depicts a naked faceless woman with large breasts. It is speculated that she is either a fertility charm or the self-portrait of a real woman (who would not have been able to see her own face as mirrors did not exist). It was found in north-east Austria in 1908, in an archaeological dig near the town of Willendorf, hence the name.

I finished my visit in the temporal exhibition “Good collecting, bad collecting”, which reflects on the origin of some of the pieces that museums have – whether there is a specimen or a lot, and the difference between conservation, display and research. A chilling corner told about how during Nazi occupation, some Jewish individuals were coerced to sell their collections, especially fossils, to the museum for pennies. Recently, under the Reparation Act, the museum has been trying to locate the rightful heirs to those exhibits – some of them have been found, others have not replied, and even some have donated the items back to the museum.

Natural History Museum artefacts: taxidermies of sharks and an elephant seal and dioramas of primitive fish and Neanderthal men

Natural History Museum artefacts: some fossil bones, a reconstructed dinosaur skeleton, skeleton of a mountain lion, statuette of a small fat woman

I headed out and stopped at Starbucks for a drink, then by a bakery to buy sandwiches that I could take to D****e at the venue, and for us to have dinner after the concert. I ended up distributing a few of those amongst her friends waiting there – I got paid back in yen, too, hilariously. I stayed about an hour, but turned out that as they waited Hyde had used another entrance, so the group had been unsuccessful seeing him. Once we had confirmation that all the musicians were in, we decided to head back to the hotel for a while to get dressed up. Or down. My nice clothes were too hot for the weather… In the end I managed a combo that would sort of work – and not have me die of heat stroke.

Wiener Konzerthaus is an early 20th century concert hall. It is not one of the grand classical halls, but was conceived for festivals, more accessible to the general public than the Musikverein. It currently has four halls, the largest one being the one where Hyde’s concert was to be held – the Great Hall Großer Saal, which seats 1,840 people. A few more, probably, with the extra hand-placed rows, but it was not sold-out. There had been a bit of a turmoil among the Japanese fans about the dress code, and whether formal attire was required, to the point that the organisation had to issue a mini-statement on “no dress code”.

The doors of the building opened an hour before the Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL in Wien concert, but once inside, we got stuck in the reception area, waiting until access to the actual seating opened. This is a tactic to have people wait around the bars and spend some money, I know, but I still find it weird. Unlike Great Britain that checks at the entrance doors, tickets would be checked inside. Once the process finally started, I headed to a worker using a wheelchair, because nobody else seemed to want to go to her. Thus, we were amongst the first ones in. Once we went upstairs, the actual Großer Saal was still closed, so we had to wait again.

There was a pamphlet on sale, which was barely a folded brochure with the setlist on. The price was 5 € and in theory only one per person. The system could be tricked by going to a different person to buy the pamphlet each time… But to be honest, it was almost daylight robbery, and I’m not sure who would want to hoard them.

When we finally could access the venue, seating in the first few rows was a chaos. There were two rows of chairs for guests of the Austrian organisers and some of the people who had come from Japan, and then the first row of the actual venue, which was already labelled second. Or something. It was very confusing. After a lot of shuffling and reseating, we were all ready and the concert started at 19:35. My seat was great for views (no photography allowed though, unless you were an Embassy aggregate) on the first public row, which actually I think was the real fourth row. Unfortunately, it was not that great for acoustics – I was right in the middle of the trombone’s sound flow, so at times that was everything I could hear (I am told this was not a problem in the recording or other rows behind).

My general impression of the Hyde Orchestra Tour 2026 JEKYLL in Wien was not entirely positive. The assemble of musicians is credited as “Vienna Super Orchestra” Kulturverein Orchester Wien, conducted by Lorenz C. Aichner. If the role of the conductor is “study and understand the pieces really well”, I did not feel like he did his homework – he kept pushing the instruments to go louder when he should have been tempering them to make sure the main vocalist’s voice carried over. He was also very bouncy during the wrong songs. It gave me the impression that he felt it was his show, which it wasn’t.

While the names of most of the musicians were not disclosed, we knew that Hyde brought multifaceted musician hico (Hiroki Horiko [堀向彦輝]) as “coordinator” and pianist – he actually was the one giving the calibrating note to the first violin. Also from Japan came Hiroshi Kido [城戸紘志] on drums, Masato Ishinari [石成正人] on guitar, Junichi Sunayama [砂山淳一] on bass, Yuho Yoshioka [吉岡悠歩] and Chihiro Takahashi [たかはしちひろ] on backup vocals and Hidefumi Usami [宇佐美秀文] as “manipulator”, which I think it means in charge of the synthesiser.

The setlist was:
  1. Die happily (from the Jekyll album)
  2. SSS (from the Jekyll album)
  3. Maisie (from the Jekyll album)
  4. So dreamy (from the Jekyll album)
  5. Honey. This is actually a L’Arc~en~Ciel song, but one of the few that Hyde holds all rights for. Hence, it’s used and overused. Although it is a ballad and fits the overall tone of the concert, I did not particularly care for the Bossa nova version of it.
  6. Nostalgic (from the Jekyll album)
  7. Glamorous Sky. I’ve never been much of a fan of this, but I really enjoyed it in Paris, so I’ve started to warm up to it.
  8. Tattoo (from the Jekyll album). I’d say this was my favourite song from the new album.
  9. Final Piece (from the Jekyll album). I really liked this.

Local gourmet segment. Apparently, a staple of the Jekyll Tour is eating something famous from the place where Hyde is performing at. In this case it was, of course, Sacher-torte – actually a small Sacher Würfel cube that he gulped down in one go. He also slipped in a trademark “are you fucking ready, Vienna?” Though at one point he did introduce himself in German, most of the communication was in English. He also improvised a little tune to the lyrics of “please listen to one more song before going to the loo in the intermission.”

  10. Defeat
Intermission.
  11. Fading out (from the Jekyll album)
  12. Smiling (from the Jekyll album)
  13. The Abyss (from the Jekyll album)
  14. Evergreen. I remember when this song came out, in the album Roentgen. I did not like it much, and would skip it in the car all the time. I loved the live version. Take that, 2003 me?
  15. Forbidden Colours (Ryuichi Sakamoto / David Sylvian cover). This was a song I’ve heard him sing before, and I enjoyed it.
  16. Zipang. This is one of Hyde’s collaborations with Yoshiki, and Yoshiki might break my heart again and again, but one thing that you have to give him is that he is a great musician, and he writes and arranges to make his vocalists shine. And boy, did Hyde manage to shine with this. It was absolutely spectacular. And then…
  17. Red Swan, another collaboration with Yoshiki. And I remembered Yoshiki in London talking about that song, and how the red symbolises blood and how the bloodied swan is a metaphor for trying to survive. I’ve seen the song performed before, but either sung by another performer, or a recording. But this time it was live, by the man it had been written for. And I lost it, dissolving into a very discreet meltdown that fortunately nobody around me noticed. Just don’t tell, it’s a secret.
  18. 夢幻 “Mugen”, a collaboration with My First Story that was the theme music for a popular anime.
  19. Last Song

Hyde sang the first part dressed in black, donning a wide-brim hat, and the second part in white. He used a microphone stand embedded with red Swarovski crystals. All in all, we got the whole Jekyll album, which had been composed for this, sprinkled with a couple of power ballads and an arrangement or two. What I didn’t get were my two favourite slow songs – Shallow Sleep and The Cape of Storms, which helped me a lot during some hard times in my life. I think that is why even when I disagree with how the musicians act or speak at points, I keep going back to them. There is gratitude in me, for the pick-up times.

Hyde concert in Vienna 2026, with the singer smiling at the audience

We left the venue and headed to the back door – the one that the singer had used to walk in. This is something common amongst Hyde (and Hyde-adjacent) fans, called demachi (出待ち, literally waiting at the exit). Normally, you only see Hyde going away and waving from a car. Of course, you also cheer and say goodbye to every musician that comes out – from a respectful distance, of course. Obviously, nobody had explained this to either the director or the strings, because they went out for a smoke and were utterly surprised. A couple of the ladies from the Austrian Tourism organisation who were around too took it in stride and whenever they came in and out made a small curtsey and waved back. Others took videos and photos. Most jumped out of their skin.

As I said, normally you wait and wave, maybe catch a glimpse of someone. This time around, Hyde stopped to sign stuff, and that is how I now own an autographed copy of Jekyll… That was… unexpected.

Vienna concert house façade and a CD autographed by the artist

We had sandwiches waiting at the hotel, but since there were a bunch of D****e’s friends around, we ended up heading out to a nearby McDonald’s – which was the only thing open at the time. I tried a “hot honey wrap” (it was a time-limited offer and I was curious. And I know I can survive Austrian spicy) which was surprisingly… interesting. And afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and I crashed after a long shower.

23rd May 2026: Cross-border day trip {Vienna & day trips, May 2026}

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It was ridiculously early in the day, but D****e and I were ready to go. Our first self-appointed destination in Vienna that morning was the historical Café Sacher for breakfast. The café is located within the no-less-historical Hotel Sacher. The hotel’s origins can be traced back to an actual confectioner, hence the eventual rise to fame of the Sacher-torte – a chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and coated in dark chocolate icing, served with a side of unsweetened whipped cream.

The Hotel Sacher was founded in 1876, and under the management of Anna Sacher, it became the most exclusive hotel in the world. Originally, it catered exclusively to the aristocracy. In the 1930s, it changed hands and was completely renovated, but then WWII hit. It would not be until the late 1980s that the hotel recovered its status as a luxury destination. Between 2005 and 2012, the hotel was refurbished and modernised, with only 10 weeks of downtime throughout the period. Since then, smaller works have been carried out, and the brand has expanded to other cities in Austria. Currently, the Vienna establishment currently has 152 rooms and suites, with the lowest category I found being a “junior suite”, and prices that range from 500 to 10,000 € a night.

Throughout its history, the hotel has battled other confectionery creators to hold the rights to its original Sacher-torte. It is offered in the hotel cafés, shops, and can even be ordered online. It is given out as complimentary little cubes (Sacher Würfel) with some of the other dishes, too.

Though the Café Sacher queues can be insane, there was none at 7:55 when we walked in for breakfast. We had a packed day ahead of us, including a crossing a border, hence the early start!

I required coffee, of course, and I had been torn between two specialities. In the end, I chose the Einspänner (Double espresso topped with whipped cream, served in a served in a tall glass with a handle), because it had more coffee in it. I wanted something substantial and savoury, and though I considered the eggs, something else caught my eye – Sourdough bread with whipped butter and chives (Sauerteigbrot, Aufgeschlagene Butter und Schnittlauch). I also ordered the Sacher-torte. After a while, our waiter came to check on us and I… had finished my Einspänner… so I ordered myself a Sacher Melange too (Single espresso with steamed milk and whipped cream). Caffeine was not loading…

Sacher-torte and coffee

Breakfast was amazing and customer service exquisite. D****e had been there the day before and they remembered her! The maître gifted us a Sacher pen each, and I was ecstatic – laugh, but somehow I ended up with a… minishrine of Sacher mementos from this trip… It’s almost embarrassing.

We still had some time before our train, so instead of heading directly to the station, we popped into the Swarovski flagship shop for a bit. Aside from the toilets, there was a connection with Hyde, too. He had his hat for the [Inside] tour made by them, along with the microphone stand he was going to use on the Konzerthaus concert. Furthermore, he had “designed” a piece of clothing to wear for some promotional activities that featured some 2,000 crystals. It was, to commemorate the event, exhibited in the shop. There were also necklaces described as part of the collaborations, priced at around 600 €. And, unrelated, they also had little boxes full of crystals of hundreds of colours. I decided to get one of those – don’t judge me, I could afford them (I think they were rainbow coloured because Pride was coming?).

Long jacket with crystals sporting Hyde's logo: the four letters of his name superimposed

We walked towards Vienna Central Station Wien Hauptbahnhof to board a train to Bratislava, the capital of the neighbouring country of Slovakia [Slovenská republika]. Slovakia and the Czech Republic used to be one country before the Velvet Divorce (1992), one of the few bloodless disintegrations of the old Europe towards the end of the 20th century. When the two countries split up, Bratislava took over as capital of Slovakia, while Prague, the capital of the dissolving unit, remained as such for the Czech Republic. Hence, Bratislava gives off a bit of a “new” vibe, despite having existed for over a thousand years. The train ride from Vienna barely takes an hour (50 km distance), and you really don’t get to see / feel / realise when you cross the border between countries, which feels weirdly amazing and sad at the same time. The only notice you get is that you must bring printed tickets if you buy them on the internet, digital ones are not accepted – but there is no gate control to access the trains at Vienna Central. You have to love the presumption of honesty there.

We reached Bratislava Petržalka (the central station, though it is on the outskirts of town). If Prague was scarred by WWII, it seems that Bratislava was most damaged by its time as part of the Eastern Bloc, when the Communist Party reached power in 1948. During the years of Communism, a great deal of the historical centre, including the Jewish quarter, was demolished in order to modernise the city – and actually to build one bridge, which we crossed on our walk from the station to the downtown area. This is the Most Slovenského národného povstania (Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising), most commonly known as the UFO bridge, because of the flying-saucer-shaped restaurant and observation deck it features. Over 400 metres long, it was quite a walk in order to cross over the Danube.

Modern bridge with a flying saucer shaped tower

Once on the correct bank of the river, we undertook the climb to the Castle Bratislavský hrad, which we could visit for half price because they were celebrating Museum Day. The castle may have been built around 4,500 years ago, but the oldest remaining areas date back from the 9th century. Most of what can be seen today is Baroque, erected in the 18th century under the reign of Maria Theresa (Holy Roman Empress between 1745 and 1765 and Queen of Bohemia between 1740 and 1780, except for 1742 and 1743), and restored in the 20th century. Today, the castle is the site of the SNM Museum of History Historické múzeum.

We visited the palace, which gave us access to the courtyard, the building itself – wide staircases decorated with golden stucco – the treasury, and several historical exhibitions, including the religious art that used to be found in the Medieval chapel. We climbed up to the Queen’s Tower – a bit of a mistake on my part, the stairs down made me dizzy and queasy – and the Romanesque foundations, including a deep well. On our way out we stopped by the Baroque Garden.

Bratislava castle

As we headed towards the city centre, we stopped by St Martin’s Cathedral Katedrála svätého Martina. The interior and the exterior clashed in my mind. The outer area was white with a terracota-coloured tiled roof, and a metallic spire atop the tower. The interior is lined with gothic arches built in stone, dating from 1311. The ceiling is decorated with golden details, and the windows behind the altar let beautiful light in. When we left the cathedral, through a different entrance, I saw that the other side of the church features stonework indeed. So it seems that the angle matters a lot!

Gothic cathedral with starry vaults

A few minutes later we were in Ventúrska, the main street of the historical centre, to have lunch. We ended up getting an outside table at a small place called Loclub Food & Drink. We shared a bruschetta with avocado (two pieces of bread, tomatoes, olive oil, red onion, garlic, basil pesto, avocado) and Bryndzové pirohy, sheep cheese pierogi (potato dumplings with cheese, sour cream, and fried bacon). I did not feel like food, but I think I was less light-headed after it, and my stomach had settled.

We continued on the street and we got to Michalská brána (Michael’s Gate), which during Medieval times was one of the city gates. The building that stands today is a Baroque reconstruction. We did not go in, but turned at the corner and undid a bit of our way until we got to Main Square Hlavné námestie, which holds palaces, the town hall, statues, a fountain and lots of overheated tourists searching for a drink or an ice cream. We were on our search for Farský kostol sv. Alžbety, Church of Saint Elizabeth, better known as the Blue Church. Its main feature is… being baby blue. It’s built in a style I had never heard about, Hungarian Secession, designed by Edmin Lechner in the early 20th century. It was indeed… very blue. It reminded me of kids’ toys.

Church painted in light blue

We slowly made our way back towards the station, through the iron bridge Starý most and the park Sad Janka Král’a along the Danube, which led to some amazing views of the Castle Bratislavský hrad.

Danube river, and the castle and cathedral of Bratislava in the background

We took the train back to Austria and left Slovakia behind. That evening we had a reservation for dinner at the beer garden Glacis Beisl in Vienna. The place was packed and loud, but the food was good. The one upside of the heatwave is that dining outside felt really nice. I decided to treat myself to my own Schnitzel – Original Wiener Schnitzel from Austrian milk-fed veal with potato and coleslaw salad and cranberries (Original Wiener Schnitzel vom österreichischen Milchkalb mit Erdäpfel-Vogerl-Salat und Preiselbeeren) and an apple juice drink, which came in a pint glass – awesome.

Breaded meat and potato salad

You’d think we would be turning in afterwards, right? Wrong. D****e had also arranged to meet another friend for a drink afterwards, so we headed out towards Selleny’s Bar, adjacent to the Hilton. I had a very lemony (and overpriced) lemonade there. Finally, we headed back to the hotel for a shower and bed, but once more I did not sleep much.

30th December 2024: A planned and packed day {Vienna, Silvesterkonzert 2024}

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It was a crisp morning in Vienna when we got up. We went down for breakfast and it was not particularly well stocked. The coffee was… weak, so I decided to mix a cappuccino and a black coffee to get me the energy I needed for the day. I tried some local cake, but I did not enjoy it, so I decided to stick to bread and croissants. Thankfully, I did run into the lady from the day before, and her husband, during breakfast, and told her about our plans – that way at least someone in the group would know not to wait for us and we would not delay anyone. Apparently, we were not the only ones who had made their own plans either, as the excursion had been marketed as “optional” and yet it seemed to be “a given”. Even better, we came across the driver from the day before (despite him saying he had nothing to do with the trip), and we could tell him that we were not coming, either. As we stepped out, it was freezing – literally below zero – but sunny during the whole day.

We took the underground at Zieglergasse and headed towards the city centre. I asked my parent to use their phone for GPS and maps in order to keep my battery for as long as I could so I could be taking pictures throughout the day, so they would be guiding. Our first stop was the Hofburg – the former imperial palace – and the Sisi Museum. Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837 – 1898) was the wife of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. She married the Emperor when she was just 16 years old, and was stifled by court life. She spent most of her time travelling and avoiding royal duties. Her perceived eccentricity – today we would call it depression – and assassination in 1898 helped create an image of a romantic heroine in the media that has reached today, especially through actor Romy Shenider’s portrayal in the 1950s.

Hofburg

The museum tells about her life by showing objects, portraits and reproductions of her clothes. Then, you step into the former imperial apartments, which have been refurbished with furniture from the 19th century to make them look real. The audioguide was… corny to say the least, and I kind of skipped most of it because I got bored.

Sisi Museum and Royal Apartments Vienna

I proposed the church of Saint Michael first, and then the National Library. However, my parent had been intrigued by the church that stood at the exit of the underground. Thus, we headed there. The Wiener Minoritenkirche, Friars Minor Conventual Church, is officially the Italian National Church of Mary of the Snows Italienische Nationalkirche Maria Schnee. The church was erected between 1276 and 1350, and it was one of the first gothic churches in Vienna, following a French pattern. There were many subsequent reforms, including rebuilding the bell tower and the spire again and again – today the bell tower is flat and the spire is gone. The interior altar is Neogothic, by Ferdinand Hohenberg. Since it was still around Christmas time there were Nativities and Christmas trees.

Wiener Minoritenkirche

Afterwards, we headed towards St. Michael’s Church Pfarre St. Michael. It started as a late Romanesque or early Gothic building, maybe in 1221. The following two centuries saw Gothic annexes added. The crypt was built in the 16th century. The organ was built in 1714. The Rococo high altar was sculpted by Karl Georg Merville, and it represents the Fall of the Angels after the War in Heaven, when Lucifer was banished; underneath, there is a Byzantine Virgin Mary from the Cretan school. The outer façade was rebuilt in a classicist style in 1791. Construction officially finished in 1792. The crypt is accessible in a guided tour, but considering it has about 4,000 bodies, some of them mummified and on display, I think I’m happy we did not take it.

Michaelkirche Vienna

I proposed going to the Library again, because it was cold and there would be toilets there. My parent took over guiding with their phone, and my sibling and I got distracted as we passed by the Stallburg, where we caught a glimpse of the Lipizzan horses chilling out.

Instead of reaching the Library, my parent decided that we wanted to see the Augustinian church Augustinerkirche, a mix of 14th century Gothic and 18th century Neogothic. The original church was engulfed by the Hofburg as it expanded, and in 1634 it became the official imperial church. May Habsburg weddings were officiated there, and a chapel to the side, called the Herzgruft (Heart Crypt), contains the hearts of the members of the dynasty, from Ferdinand IV in 1654 to Archduke Franz Karl in 1878.

Augustinerkirche

I did not get to go to the Library, but we walked past the Hotel Astoria, which opened in 1912. it was built in the a late Art nouveau style known as fin de siècle (end-of-century). At the time it opened, the hotel was the latest, with electricity, bathrooms and all!

We reached the pedestrian / shopping street Kärntner Straße, the neuralgic centre for Vienna shopping. There we… met the card-not-working lady and her husband again, in what would become a funny number of encounters. We also saw the Swarovski shop. We entered it because we thought it would be warm – and hey, it had a toilet, which was handy, considering we had left the hotel over four hours before. Swarovski is an Austrian glass producer, known for its crystal glass, used in jewellery, decoration, watches, accessories. The company was founded in the late 19th century with the idea of “making a diamond for everyone”. Since then, it has produced thousands of items – from Christmas decorations to sculptures to collectible tiny figurines to whole dresses for the Vienna Opera. The place was halfway between a shop and a museum – and we might have spent a bit more than we had planned there, especially considering we were not planning to spend anything.

Swarovski flagshop Vienna

We reached DO & CO Restaurant Stephansplatz, located on the top floor of the post modernist structure Haas House, constructed in 1990. Most of the building is a hotel now. The restaurant has a fun view of the cathedral Domkirche St. Stephan. My parent and I discovered the restaurant because the opening scene of Austrian TV series Kommissar Rex, which ran between 1994 and 2004. It follows the story of German Shepherd Rex, a police dog which is “transferred” to the homicide department after his original handler dies… at the DO & CO terrace. It is such a naïve series, I just love it. Think The A-Team ingenuity with an adorable GSD saving the day every time and stealing sausage rolls as a self-reward. In a later series, Rex would move to Italy, and there is currently a Canadian reboot too…

There were no doggies in DO & CO, but both service and food were superb. They had butter and bread, and small receptacles with different types of salt, and a note on how they should be used. For lunch, I ordered kalbsbutterschnitzel – delicious minced veal butter patties with cream, accompanied with mashed potatoes, fried onion rings and a small leaf salad. For dessert, I had an ice latte that I should not have had, but I saw it pass by and I was smitten. We snuck a number of pictures from the restaurant, too.

DO & CO Vienna

After lunch, we went into St Stephan’s cathedral Domkirche St. Stephan. The building is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic, and it was initiated around 1137 and completed 1578, and as many as four construction stages can be seen – the first Romanesque towers, the later Romanesque church, the Gothic Choir, and the outer, newest additions. The roof is tiled with as many as 230,000 pieces, one side shows the mosaic of a double-headed eagle, and the other the coat of arms of the city and the country. The bell tower has twelve bells, and the interior hosts as many as 18 altars (plus the ones in chapels). The cathedral was built in limestone, so it looks darker than other churches its size (107 metres long, 70 metres wide and 137 metres high).

The high altar was built in marble by Tobias Pock in the 1640s in the Baroque style. It depicts the stoning of Saint Stephen, church patron and the first Christian martyr. He was stoned to death by the Israelites after a rather inflammatory speech in front of the Sanhedrin, defending Christ’s teaching versus the traditional Jewish ones. According to the Bible, this would have happened a couple of years after Jesus’ death, and before the Roman persecution.

St Stephan’s cathedral

My parents were tired and they decided to head off towards the hotel, while my sibling and myself stayed behind. We wandered around Stephansplatz, Rotenturmstraße, and Kärntner Straße, checking out the Christmas lights and decoration until we reached the Popp & Kretschmer fashion store. They are a luxury women’s clothes firm, which draw tourist crowds during Christmastime to see their huge bow decoration, which makes the whole building look like a present. They call it the Vienna Bow.

Christmas decoration - Vienna Bow

We also looked at the Vienna State Opera Wiener Staatsoper, which was prepared to celebrate the new year, with a neon display saying (in English) “Hello 2025”. It was stupidly cold though, so we might have stayed in an underpass for a few minutes longer than necessary.

Afterwards, we headed towards the Sacher Hotel. The five-star hotel was founded in 1876 by the son of a famous confectioner. When the founder died, his wife, Anna Sacher, became manager. She turned the hotel into one of the most refined in the world, catering exclusively to the aristocracy. This management lead the hotel to bankruptcy, and she had to sell the business to new owners, who restored it to its former glory. The hotel serves “the original Sacher-torte”, a chocolate cake coated with dark chocolate icing, and a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle, served with unsweetened whipped cream. It was reportedly invented by the father of the founder, and the recipe is kept a secret. There are other versions of Sacher-torte, but the hotel is the only one with legal standing to call theirs original.

We had a 17:30 reservation at Café Sacher, in the hotel. Sacher Hotel actually has two cafés. The more modern one faces Kärntner Straße and is called Café Bel Étage. It had a long queue – Christmas is peak season in Vienna, as we were quickly learning – but I had been informed that reservations accessed through a particular door. However, that was not where our reservation was – I swear, I did not see the different name anywhere. The historic Café Sacher had an even longer line, and no special door. I dared ask the doorman at the hotel how to get there, and he gave me a huge grin and said “skip the line, go through the exit”. Boy, that was… awkward. Very, very awkward. I though the people just outside would lynch us!

Staff came to check on us, and since our reservation at the Café Sacher was valid – I made the reservation in July, literally as soon as the spots open – we were shown into one of the small salons. The café has a great offer – Sacher Sweet Treat: a perfect slice of original Sacher-torte with whipped cream, a non-alcoholic hot beverage and a bottle of Römerquelle mineral water for 22.5 € (31.5 € with a glass of the in-house champagne, Original Sacher Cuvée). I ordered mine with sencha senpai, Japanese green tea. I enjoyed the cake more than I had thought I would, and the tea was great. The staff was incredibly nice, too. They must have been used to silly tourists.

Sacher & Sachertorte

We left the Café Sacher and headed towards the Spanish Riding School Spanische Hofreitschule. For my sibling, this was a core-memory event, so they insisted we got really, really good seats for the Gala Performance Galavorführung at 19:00, on the parterreloge – the box at ground level. The Gala performance is the longest exhibition the Riding School has, and it lasts 90 minutes, with a break. The horses were gorgeous, and the riders looked very cold, but everything felt strangely… cold. I think I liked the exhibit in Jerez Riding School better.

The Spanish Riding School, considered the oldest horsemanship school in the world, was established during the Habsburg Monarchy in 1565. It is dedicated to the breed and training of Lipizzan horses. Lipizzaners are a breed of riding horses developed during the Habsburg empire. It derives from Arab, Bavarian, Spanish and Neapolitan breeds. They were selectively bred so most of them are grey with white coats – albeit there is always a bay stallion in the Spanish Riding School. The breed itself might be traced to eight stallions in the late 1700s, and it was developed in Slovenia. The horses are considered so precious that they were evacuated during WWI, and “rescued” by the US army during WWII. “Lipizzan horse breeding traditions” has been considered Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2022.

Once bred, foaled and fledged, the Lippizaners are trained. This is done at the Spanish Riding school. The traditional horse training methods used by the school can be traced back to Ancient Greece, and like many other things, they re-flourished during the Renaissance period in the 16th century. The goal of Classical training was to prepare horses for warfare as part of the calvary. Horses train for six year after they turn four.

In Vienna, the Lippizaners are housed at the Stallburg, which is technically part of the Hofburg Palace. It is a Renaissance building from around 1560, originally conceived as a residence but that was later converted into the Imperial Stables. The Winter Arena was built in 1735, and has remained unchanged since then – including the chandeliers. The arena is presided by a painted portrait of Emperor Charles VI.

Vienna Riding School - winter Arena

There was something weird in the atmosphere that made it not feel all that… fun. Before every performance, a lady walked to the centre of the arena to introduce the exercises movements in German and English. The performance was pretty though. I tried to sneak a picture or two, but I was unsuccessful – and a bit worried they would kick me out if the venue. There were a total of six different numbers, and the show, including the introductions, was organised as follows:

  1. Alle Gänge und Touren der Hohen Schule – “All Steps and Movements of the High School”: four riders and stallions in individual choreographers, including the one dark stallion in the stable, with classical movements.
  2. Am Langen Zügel “Schools on the Ground: On the Long Rein” – the riders guide the horse from the ground, they are not on top of the horse, with movements such as piaffe and pirouette.
  3. Pas de Deux “Step by Two” – two riders-horses pairs work in tandem, mirroring each other.
  4. Arbeit an der Hand und Schule über der Erde “Working Hand and Airs Above the Ground” – with three main movements: levade, capriole and courbette. Four horses work with their riders on the ground, and two of them with the riders on the saddle, but without stirrups. When horses perform well, they get a sugar treat from the rider.
  5. Am Zügel “Schools on the Ground: Curb Reins” – only one horse and his rider, who only holds two out the four reins in their left hand, and they hold the riding crop upright in their right hand, a commemoration of the military heritage of the horse riding tradition.
  6. Schulquadrille “School Quadrille” (or Das Ballett der weißen Hengste “Ballet of the Eight White Stallions”) – eight horse-rider pairs have to coordinate with each other for a choreography, ending in the Radetzky-Marsch.

When the exhibition came to an end, we tried to go to the toilets. You had to scan your tickets and pay 50 cents. Really. Two hundred quid for the tickets and they charged fifty cents for the toilets, which were filthy on top? A total rip-off.

I got my sibling to the hotel, and then I left again to meet up with my friend D****e and her father Fr***, who were also in Vienna for a few days. They were even staying in a hotel close to ours, so it seemed that we had planned it in advance. We spent a couple of hours in a small eatery – Gschamster Diener – where they introduced me to kaiserschmarrn, fluffy shredded pancakes with raisins, powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Kaiserschmarrn

I eventually had to go back to the hotel and my room. There, I spent an hour trying to find a place to book lunch for the following day. After deciding not to plan anything on the 31st, my parents had a change of mind and suddenly I found myself tasked with planning and finding a place for lunch. Most restaurants were either closed or booked off. I was not a happy camper, but in the end I managed to find something… somewhat decent. My sibling suggested the Natural History Museum, the Butterfly House and the Library before lunch. I was absolutely sure that was impossible to cram three things in the morning. We would not even do the entire Natural History Museum, but at least we would be somewhere warm. I resigned myself not to see the Library, had a shower and went to bed.