Last year, I posted "Will I like Vienna?" (link: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/austria-reviews/will-i-like-vienna )
Many of you responded. I thanked many of you publicly and privately for responding.
Well. The answer is, I kind of liked Vienna.
What I liked:
A Performance of the Spanish Riding School. It was not cheap, but it really was impressive and wonderful. I really loved it. Worth it to me.
The Staatsoper. Chills. Beautiful performance. If I had to be critical of anything, I'd say, the stagging and set pieces and costuming at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC are far more opulent - but I can't fault the power of the performances or the beauty of the opera house itself.
The Volksoper. More comfortable than the Statsoper. I found the opera being performed little weird but that's a matter of taste - the performance could not be faulted and the staging was original. Again, for sheer opulence, I think the Met in NYC takes the cake, but this was an enjoyable night out.
Tafelspitz with Apfelkren (apple & horseradish together! Who knew!?)
The Kunsthistorisches museums. Very impressive. Almost overwhelmingly so. SO MUCH ART.
The coffee house next to the Freud Museum that serves very good coffee and a very nice chocolate cookie.
The Jesuitchurch. WOW. Thanks for the tip, Emily!
What I could have liked more about Vienna (these comments are more reflection on me and my choices/taste/failures than upon the City of Vienna).
Where we stayed. The area where we stayed in the Innerstaat was full of shopping and people, and fighting through the foot traffic every day was a little too much for me, probably because it was more than I expected. If we return, I would probably try a quieter neighborhood with less pedestrian traffic.
Public Transportation. Yes, the public transportation is very effective, but personally, it's hard for me to fall in love with public transport, so I feel like I was less impressed that expected. Maybe I'd love it more if I had to interact with it (or an inferior system of public transport) every day.
The food. My feelings here likely reflect a lack of planning on my part - excepting the aforementioned Tafelspitz with Apfelkren and aforementioned cup of coffee at that particular coffee house, both of which get an A+, the other foods we had were a solid B. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel like we probably could have done better with better planning. This is more a reflection on me than upon the City of Vienna.
What I didn't like.
Schonbrunn Palace. Not my scene - Pretty expensive to get in, and not as impressive as I had imagined. It's big, but to me, it really lacked the drama I thought such a palace might have when compared to say, Versailles or the Topiki Palace. If I had to do it over again, I'd spend my time elsewhere, but, at least I can say I gave it a go and formed an opinion. Maybe there's something really endearing about Schonbrunn that I missed, such as the gardens or the zoo or the Gloriette, but after the "classic" tour I was ready to head out and try something new.
Did my spouse like Vienna?
Kind of. I think the overall vibe wasn't quite what he expected. His previous years of study in German were no help at all - all was forgotten but he's very charming so everyone 'forgave' him. He'd never seen an opera before, thought he might like opera, and lo, he prefers the symphony to the opera. Boo hoo. He formed a negative opinion of Franz Josef and Sisi so attractions that focused on them were not his favorite. He did like many of the earlier Hapsburgs and enjoyed the grand trappings of their medieval and early modern Empire. Much schnitzel & apfelstrudel was eaten and enjoyed by him.