All good in Austria

Great to hear all is well

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you are well. Enjoy your summer free of foreign tourists, but remember... we'll be back! 😃

We were just there in December, hope you have a great summer, loved Vienna only regret is that we didn't have more time to see all the things we wanted to.

Great to hear all is well

Except the economy, not to talk about 600+ deceased (among them a friend of mine I wanted to visit at Easter).

Sorry about your friend wmt1.

Good to hear things are well in Wien. There are more dead here from COVID19 in my Landkreis than all of Austria. I really miss Tirol. We had to cut our last trip there short near Zell am See (Fusch) 15 March because of the hotel closures and restrictions. If I got it right, this will be the first year the Großglockner Hochalpenstraße will not be cleared early. While in Fusch I checked out the old blue snow tractors/throwers first hand. We moved our May trip to Gasteinertal to July and hopefully we can make it. Hotels should be open, but the Austrian/German border? I look through the webcams just about every day. Our fallback plan is here in Bayern, but we could see more German tourists this year? We lost some relatives in their 80s-90s to COVID19 too.

Emily,

Has the Austrian government made anything official yet? We had a vacation planned for early July (Vienna then to Tirol) which I know is very unlikely to happen at this point. However, I need something official from the Austrian government to get refunds.

Our entire family and my daughters were so looking forward to this trip too :( Maybe next year?

Thanks for any insight!

To those who have lost friends and family to the virus I sympathise and send condolences. My last uncle succumbed to the virus yesterday so I somewhat understand what you’re going through.

I am glad to see that Austria’s defences have held up so much better than here in the UK.

Nigel,

So sorry to hear about your uncle.

Nigel and wmt1 , my condolences , Steve

I had planned on spending some time in the Tyrol and around Salzburg this September. For those of us who cannot make it:
https://www.austria.info/en/virtual-austria

Gundersen , that looks wonderful , plenty there to look at tomorrow after breakfast with another coffee .

Emily,
Vienna was my last European city I visited, in December 2019. Little did I realize that it would be the last. For a while at least. I will be back, as Arnold Schwarzenegger says - an Austrian native.
Fingers crossed I will be in Poland in September. I’m doubtful the RS tour will happen but things are opening up gradually. RS thinks and I agree, individual travel will happen first and organized travel like his company will be later in the reopening process. Which means this September is likely too early for his tours. We will see.
But, to your point, Emily, enjoy your beautiful city all to yourself this summer. Please keep us updated.

Emily and Steve, thank you for your commiseration.

My friends, a couple having been on a holiday cruise, contracted the virus without knowing it as there were no reports of infections aboard the ship at this time. Having returned at home the disease broke out a few days later. Whereas she survived, not even an ICU could help him.

I have some relations in their 70s living in and around New York City and State, and they are scared sh*tless of getting sick.

Glad for a good report, Emily! Employed and healthy are two things to be treasured indeed! :)

I was supposed to be in Vienna right now. My plan was to find the best apple strudel in the city. Certainly an unimportant goal in the scheme of things, nonetheless a goal that began in 1976... I have managed to gain the weight at home that I expected to gain on my search...

I don't expect our area will have fewer tourists, just more local ones who never bothered to really visit where they live before this. As we are staying safe, we are thoroughly enjoying our lockdown...I'm not sure my H will ever want to come out of it.

Best to all, who have had to experience this horrible illness or who have loss someone as a result. We never know exactly what our respective lives will bring, so best to enjoy what we have, when we have it.

Condolences to all of you who have lost loved ones

End of may it is to be planned that hotels will open...

Restaurants and bars open tomorrow and there is much excitement. The City of Vienna is also mailing all adult residents a 25 Euro voucher for eating out in the coming weeks to reignite the gastronomy economy. I love living here.

Lucky you Emily. I had a rental for September but the owner had to cancel since they have lost everything and must move back in to their apartment. Not due to COVID but the lockdown so sad. Looking for a new rental and hoping Vienna is open in September.

Emily, just curious, did you end up going out and about much this weekend? How was the restaurant scene?

Family in Vienna said that after weeks of beautiful weather, it rained Friday, the first day restaurants could open. Mother Nature is really dishing it out. :—(