Vienna Interlude
I was going to call this Vacation in Vienna, but decided that “interlude” was a more appropriate word for a post about the musical capital of Europe.
First, some thoughts about vacation, which is defined as “an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home or in traveling.” (That’s for North America; other countries may use the term “holiday” to mean the same thing.) Now that Steve and I are both retired, do we still take vacations? Or is retiree life just one long vacation? And moreover, what constitutes a vacation for nomads, who are constantly traveling?
After some discussion (in both real life and the Senior Nomads Facebook group), we’ve decided that, for us, a vacation would meet these criteria:
Short duration - Typically one week, but anywhere from two days to two weeks
Chore-free - No washing dishes, doing laundry, cooking, or cleaning
Splurge - Incurring expenses significantly higher than our monthly budgets for lodging, food, entertainment, and transportation
Last September, when Steve confirmed his retirement date of November 1, we impulsively decided we’d celebrate with a vacation in Vienna. It was Steve’s brilliant idea (he says he gets these once in a while). We didn’t have to stay in the United States any longer for Steve’s job. Vienna was a desirable destination on both of our travel wish lists. It had highly-rated Marriott properties, and we needed a few more hotel nights in 2024 to achieve the loyalty program status I wanted. And it had Christmas markets, which were on my wish list. If we didn’t go this season, we’d have to wait another year for Christmas markets. We realized there were more reasons to go to Vienna, than not to.
So in early December, we left New York City on an overnight transatlantic flight to Austria. We stayed right in the Innere Stadt (inner city), so we were able to walk to almost everything. We did quite a lot in just six days:
We toured the Innere Stadt and Schönbrunn Palace
We filled our eyes and minds with great art at The Belvedere and The Albertina
We attended live performances at the renowned Staatsoper (State Opera) and Musikverein (Music Society)
We shopped and drank glühwein (mulled wine) at Christmas Markets
We wandered through churches and an auction house
We explored and enjoyed Austrian cuisine
It was a splendid week, and an enjoyable change from our usual slow travel - the very best kind of vacation! We LOVED Vienna and hope to return one day (in warmer weather!) and live there for a month. For now, we’re thankful for our memorable Vienna Interlude.
