SQ-Bento Box, VIE-Schnitzels, NYC-Mac Bar and MIA-Tony Roma's - *A RTW in J
#18
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Beijing, China
Programs: UA Global Services, Marriott Gold
Posts: 100
Hilton Denube Waterfront
UA_Flyer and I had contemplated over going with Hilton Denube Waterfront or the Renaissance Imperial Riding School Hotel. UA_Flyer had stayed at the latter previously and had a positive experience particularly the convenience its city location brings. In the end, however, we decided on the Hilton to be close to the water even though there was a marginal price difference.
The hotel lobby did not occupy a big area and there was a large group of people when we arrived so it felt crowded. Nevertheless check-in was swift. Here's one for the kids (and equally eye-catching for adults too!): there was a special set-up of steps at the front desk for kids so the little ones can check-in too! Quite a delightful idea and super cute I thought!
However on subsequent days when we sought help from the concierge, the desk often not attended. It seems staff is shared between the front desk and the concierge. The hotel also did not stock English brochures except for a map. Quite uncharecterisitc of Hilton properties.
The room was of a good size and felt so even with a full size couch. One of the room windows opened fully which complimented the fine Austrian weather and crisp air.
We had breakfast and cocktail hour at the lounge. The spread was good and, in true Austrian style, there was a serious variety of good quality bread to choose from. The only downside is there weren't enough tables for diners (almost equal spit between table sitting and couch seats).
There was a pool and sauna (quite uncharacteristic of European hotels broadly speaking) but the gym was small and equipments were closed together. There was hardly any room for stretching or doing yoga on the mats. We felt at the end of the stay that we should have went with the Renaissance. Our thoughts were reinforced when we spoke about our with our friend D who is a seasoned meeting planner. She promptly said we definately should have picked the Renaissance.
UA_Flyer and I had contemplated over going with Hilton Denube Waterfront or the Renaissance Imperial Riding School Hotel. UA_Flyer had stayed at the latter previously and had a positive experience particularly the convenience its city location brings. In the end, however, we decided on the Hilton to be close to the water even though there was a marginal price difference.
The hotel lobby did not occupy a big area and there was a large group of people when we arrived so it felt crowded. Nevertheless check-in was swift. Here's one for the kids (and equally eye-catching for adults too!): there was a special set-up of steps at the front desk for kids so the little ones can check-in too! Quite a delightful idea and super cute I thought!
However on subsequent days when we sought help from the concierge, the desk often not attended. It seems staff is shared between the front desk and the concierge. The hotel also did not stock English brochures except for a map. Quite uncharecterisitc of Hilton properties.
The room was of a good size and felt so even with a full size couch. One of the room windows opened fully which complimented the fine Austrian weather and crisp air.
We had breakfast and cocktail hour at the lounge. The spread was good and, in true Austrian style, there was a serious variety of good quality bread to choose from. The only downside is there weren't enough tables for diners (almost equal spit between table sitting and couch seats).
There was a pool and sauna (quite uncharacteristic of European hotels broadly speaking) but the gym was small and equipments were closed together. There was hardly any room for stretching or doing yoga on the mats. We felt at the end of the stay that we should have went with the Renaissance. Our thoughts were reinforced when we spoke about our with our friend D who is a seasoned meeting planner. She promptly said we definately should have picked the Renaissance.
Last edited by SAUCflyer; Jun 7, 2014 at 5:38 pm
#19
#20
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SFO
Programs: UA--no longer 2P as of 3/2012 and don't even care. Never thought I'd say that.
Posts: 781
Welcome back UA_Flyer! I was just thinking of you the other day as you are one of my favorite Trip Reporters and now this.
As always, your photos are lovely.
Thanks for posting and to your co-author as well.
As always, your photos are lovely.
Thanks for posting and to your co-author as well.
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: UA*Lifetime GS, Hyatt* Lifetime Globalist
Posts: 12,308
Welcome back, UA_Flyer!
I flew that exact a380 in J from FRA-IAH on the way home from SIN Do back in January! It was a substitution for the original aircraft, which had gone MX. The food on your flight looks leaps and bounds better than what was served on mine.
Really looking forward to the rest of the report. Terrific start--thank you both! ^
I flew that exact a380 in J from FRA-IAH on the way home from SIN Do back in January! It was a substitution for the original aircraft, which had gone MX. The food on your flight looks leaps and bounds better than what was served on mine.
Really looking forward to the rest of the report. Terrific start--thank you both! ^
LH's food offerings ex-PEK are actually not bad.
Thanks Jane! It is good to be back. From the trips I have done in the past two years, I have enough materials to do about 15 more trip reports. I doubt I will ever get time to do them. Hope I don"t fall too far behind on updating this report.
Last edited by UA_Flyer; Jun 1, 2014 at 9:38 am
#25
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Beijing, China
Programs: UA Global Services, Marriott Gold
Posts: 100
Franz Ferdinand Exhibition, Welt Museum Wien
When walking around Vienna city, we came across a poster of an exhibition on Franz Ferdinand entitled "Franz is here! Franz Ferdinand’s journey around the world". The poster showed an old brown photo of Franz Ferdinand standing on (yes, standing on!) the what appears to be a dead elephant. We decided we will go to the exhibition. It was a small feat for us to locate the museum. The exhibition took up a whole floor. The exhibits were organized in glass closets which were laid out in the order of Franz Ferdinand’s journey around the world. I was intrigued by some of the exhibits particularly those collected from the areas I am most familiar with; they did provoke some thoughts in me about evolution and the progress mankind has made since then. Overall a worthwhile exhibition to get to know better a charecter of such weight and it fitted well into the time we had in Vienna that day.
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and the Allies of World War I (countries allied with Serbia or Serbia's allies) to declare war on each other, starting World War I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduk...and_of_Austria). June 28th 2014 marks the centenary of his assassination.
(http://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/wond...franz-is-here/)
"Franz is here!” was the headline of an American newspaper article referring to the visit of Archduke Franz Ferdinand during his ten-month-long journey around the world in 1892-93. The world trip that took him from Pula in Croatia to Suez, Aden, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, South-East Asia, Oceania, Australia, China, Japan and the United States is also a journey into the inner world of his personality. The archduke returned to Vienna with an impressive number of animal trophies and over 14,000 objects he had amassed during his journey; today, nearly 10,000 of these are stored in the Weltmuseum Wien.
Soon after his return, Franz Ferdinand displayed his entire collection in his very own museum. Motivated by a desire to document his qualifications as a ruler and as an “educator of his people”, he hoped to introduce his future subjects to a variety of artefacts with which they were not familiar.
The several diaries he kept during his trip were published in two volumes after his return. Frequently expressing himself in a highly personal way, he recounts his impressions and experiences, writes about meeting princes, emperors and Maharajas and describes locations and people in a manner characteristic of his time. These reflections offer a wealth of insight into his own contradictory personality.
When walking around Vienna city, we came across a poster of an exhibition on Franz Ferdinand entitled "Franz is here! Franz Ferdinand’s journey around the world". The poster showed an old brown photo of Franz Ferdinand standing on (yes, standing on!) the what appears to be a dead elephant. We decided we will go to the exhibition. It was a small feat for us to locate the museum. The exhibition took up a whole floor. The exhibits were organized in glass closets which were laid out in the order of Franz Ferdinand’s journey around the world. I was intrigued by some of the exhibits particularly those collected from the areas I am most familiar with; they did provoke some thoughts in me about evolution and the progress mankind has made since then. Overall a worthwhile exhibition to get to know better a charecter of such weight and it fitted well into the time we had in Vienna that day.
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and the Allies of World War I (countries allied with Serbia or Serbia's allies) to declare war on each other, starting World War I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduk...and_of_Austria). June 28th 2014 marks the centenary of his assassination.
(http://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/wond...franz-is-here/)
"Franz is here!” was the headline of an American newspaper article referring to the visit of Archduke Franz Ferdinand during his ten-month-long journey around the world in 1892-93. The world trip that took him from Pula in Croatia to Suez, Aden, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, South-East Asia, Oceania, Australia, China, Japan and the United States is also a journey into the inner world of his personality. The archduke returned to Vienna with an impressive number of animal trophies and over 14,000 objects he had amassed during his journey; today, nearly 10,000 of these are stored in the Weltmuseum Wien.
Soon after his return, Franz Ferdinand displayed his entire collection in his very own museum. Motivated by a desire to document his qualifications as a ruler and as an “educator of his people”, he hoped to introduce his future subjects to a variety of artefacts with which they were not familiar.
The several diaries he kept during his trip were published in two volumes after his return. Frequently expressing himself in a highly personal way, he recounts his impressions and experiences, writes about meeting princes, emperors and Maharajas and describes locations and people in a manner characteristic of his time. These reflections offer a wealth of insight into his own contradictory personality.
#26
Ambassador: Finnair Plus
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: HEL
Programs: AY+ Plat, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist, Priority Club Plat Amb, Miles and Smiles Elite
Posts: 5,276
I am told the Hilton at the Vienna city center is a much better hotel. Danube is kind of out of the way. You need to take a subway to get into the city. What really bothered me was the noise. The room did not have good sound proof door/wall, hallway noise got into the room often.
#28
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Beijing, China
Programs: UA Global Services, Marriott Gold
Posts: 100
Of Schnitzels and Strudels...
Even if you didn't know it beforehand, you would have worked out that Schnitzel is a well-loved national Austrian dish by the time you collected your luggage. There were large visible ads on the screens in the airport on arrival at the baggage area. They look so delicious UA_Flyer cannot resist capturing them. We were sold the idea and had Schnitzel for lunch on both of the days we were in Vienna.
Veal is traditionally used in this Austrian dish. Most restaurants also offer alternatives in the form of pork and chicken. The layer of meat in between the golden brown batter is distinctively thin (only a few mm) which sets Vienna's Schnitzel apart from others. UA_Flyer and I both preferred pork. The Schnitzel was served with a side of potatoes. We chose roasted potatoes and potato salad. Both were delicious and complemented the meat well.
Legend has it that the recipe for Wiener Schnitzel was brought from Italy to Vienna in the mid 1800s but that remains debatable since the Schnitzel did not appear even in specialized cookbooks about Italian cuisine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Schnitzel)
The other Vienna's national specialty seems to be the apple strudel. Austrian cuisine was formed and influenced by the cuisines of many different people, Turkish, Bosnian, Swiss, Alsatian, French, Dutch, Italian, German, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Croatian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Serbian, and Jewish cuisines, during the many centuries of the Austrian Habsburg Empire's expansion. Strudel is related to the Ottoman Empire's pastry baklava, and came to Austria via Turkish to Hungarian and then Hungarian to Austrian cuisine. Apple strudel can be accompanied by tea, coffee or even champagne, and is one of the most common treats at Viennese cafes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_strudel).
I like apple strudel and was looking forward to tasting Vienna’s take on this dish. On both occasions I ordered the dish, the pastry was soft and didn't have the "crisp" like apple strudel I have had in other parts of the world. The apple filling was overly mushy too. I was slightly disappointed.
Even if you didn't know it beforehand, you would have worked out that Schnitzel is a well-loved national Austrian dish by the time you collected your luggage. There were large visible ads on the screens in the airport on arrival at the baggage area. They look so delicious UA_Flyer cannot resist capturing them. We were sold the idea and had Schnitzel for lunch on both of the days we were in Vienna.
Veal is traditionally used in this Austrian dish. Most restaurants also offer alternatives in the form of pork and chicken. The layer of meat in between the golden brown batter is distinctively thin (only a few mm) which sets Vienna's Schnitzel apart from others. UA_Flyer and I both preferred pork. The Schnitzel was served with a side of potatoes. We chose roasted potatoes and potato salad. Both were delicious and complemented the meat well.
Legend has it that the recipe for Wiener Schnitzel was brought from Italy to Vienna in the mid 1800s but that remains debatable since the Schnitzel did not appear even in specialized cookbooks about Italian cuisine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Schnitzel)
The other Vienna's national specialty seems to be the apple strudel. Austrian cuisine was formed and influenced by the cuisines of many different people, Turkish, Bosnian, Swiss, Alsatian, French, Dutch, Italian, German, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Croatian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Serbian, and Jewish cuisines, during the many centuries of the Austrian Habsburg Empire's expansion. Strudel is related to the Ottoman Empire's pastry baklava, and came to Austria via Turkish to Hungarian and then Hungarian to Austrian cuisine. Apple strudel can be accompanied by tea, coffee or even champagne, and is one of the most common treats at Viennese cafes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_strudel).
I like apple strudel and was looking forward to tasting Vienna’s take on this dish. On both occasions I ordered the dish, the pastry was soft and didn't have the "crisp" like apple strudel I have had in other parts of the world. The apple filling was overly mushy too. I was slightly disappointed.