Vienna, she’s all class.

Somebody once told me that Vienna is like the girl that is really pretty, with no personality. While that may be true for some, I’d argue that though she is prim and proper she does have a spirited side that is waiting to come out. Regardless of the personality of Vienna there is no denying the fact that when you visit you’ve got to show some class.

Vienna is beautiful and she is known for her classical music and the arts. Wein, as it is known by the locals is translated as wine and has plenty of wineries. Like the rest of Europe, Vienna has palaces and historic buildings that tell the story of royalty.
The Empress Elisabeth of Austria, or better known as Sisi, is one of the bold and beautiful characters of Vienna. She has created quite the following, which is quite impressive due to the fact that she’s been dead for over 100 years. She was a lady of poise and beauty so who better to give some lessons on class. So here are few of the tips from an empress:

Start the day with a cold bath followed by a light breakfast and rigorous exercise.
Grow luscious long hair and spend upwards of three hours grooming it everyday. This grooming will be done by a full time haidresser of course.
After the hairdresser has carefully twisted your fountain of hair into a stylish do, have her give an account of any fallen hairs.
Collect fallen hairs in silver bowl for inspection.
During this gruelling sacred hair ritual write letters, study and read.
Every three weeks wash hair with raw eggs and brandy. This will take an entire day.
Walk hair dry.
Use ribbons to support hair when the weight of it becomes too much.
For the skin, apply crushed strawberries to the face, neck and hands.
Sleep in face mask lined with raw veal.
Soak in warm baths of olive oil and wash in distilled water only.
Never sleep with a pillow.
Never get wrinkles.

Got to love an easy going, low maintenance type of gal…

Sadly Sisi was assassinated when she was in her sixties. Even then she seemed to pass with style as she was stabbed and proceeded to ‘walk it off’. Some believed it was her corset that prevented her from bleeding out straight away.

I got my information about this classy lady from here if you want to learn more.

Now that your educated on all this class it’s time to go to the ballet. I’ve got to hand it to Vienna because they do make it affordable for us peasants. Of you are willing to stand you can watch a performance at the state opera house for €3! So I did. Lucky for me swan like was showing when I when and it was so beautiful.

The Schönbrunn Place gardens are another place to pretend that your a bit fancy. They are massive and stunning. You can even watch a strudel demonstration which I thought was interesting. Spend time walking around or get on a horse and carriage if you really want to play the part.

You may be weary from all this classy business. So you’ll want to go to one of Vienna’s many fancy coffee houses. I went to Cafe Sperl which has a long history of serving coffee (and wasn’t too pretentious). You won’t have trouble finding somewhere cause they are everywhere! Have coffee or a famous Weiner Schnitzel and you can’t go wrong!

Enough with the class, like I said Vienna has two sides. She can be sneaky. She’ll charm you with the glorious free drinking water but then charge you €0.80 to use the bathroom. Or in amoungst the elegant houses you’ll find the quirky Hundertwasserhaus. Then you might go to Prater park to stuff yourselves with ice-cream and thenmake yourself sick on skinny rides.

There are also some really hip parts of Vienna with more modern coffee shops and boutiques. Then there’s the Nachemarket where you can have your fill of falafel and other yummy things. Or you could try something not so delicate. Take for instance the spam like sandwich that Viennans love…