The Halloween Weekend in Vienna
Halloween Nights in Vienna
You have undoubtedly been to Berlin, Paris and London on numerous occasions. Fully understandable, they are always worth a visit. Vienna, on the other hand, is not quite getting the attention it deserves. We at Parnassos.dk aim to change that a bit.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire, with Vienna as its capital, was for centuries one of the most powerful in Europe, with an abundance of cultural and intellectual treasures. Among the city’s children you will find Erwin Schrödinger, Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, not to mention the classical music’s biggest stars, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Haydn, Mahler… the list is long.
Their music was all composed on the streets of Vienna.
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A Welcoming Drink and Dinner - a Piano Concert and an 'off center' Show
As soon as our guests have found their luxurious rooms at hotel SO/Vienna Friday afternoon – we always seek a compact program – we will leave for Franz Schubert’s home, now a museum. Here, we have arranged a piano recital celebrating the composer’s music.
Immediately after the concert, we will go to another venue to enjoy our dinner, from where we have a perfect view over the near-mythical Stefansdom cathedral. (The composers Joseph Haydn and Amadeus Mozart got married here – with their respective wives, obviously).
When our dessert plates have been removed we will be entertained by a stand-up comedian. Not any old stand-up, not any usual comedy…
What Happened to the Tram Driver?
Saturday late morning 28th October our guide, The CEO of Vienna’s official Tourist organization, will take us on a tour through the city’s architecture and history.
Last year we had our own Hop-On Hop-Off bus for that purpose. This time around we have our own tram parked only 100 meters away from our hotel.
Gerti’s two assistants will fill our plastic cups with bubbles while we await the green light – literally – from Wiener Linien to use the city’s public tracks, The tram will end in ‘Heiligenstadt’ near the home of yet another composer, none less than Ludwig van Beethoven.
The photo shows a tram in front of Wiener Staatsoper. The opera house we will visit the same evening.
Beethoven, his home - his 'Heuriger'
At the foot of the surrounding ‘Heiligenstadt’ hills we shall visit one of the best-known children of Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven, (although, to be precise, he was born in Bonn). His street address was Probusgasse 6. The house is today an elegant museum dedicated to him.
It was his home from 1792 till his death 26th March 1827. Two Beethoven experts will stand in the door welcoming us to Beethoven’s abode.
By the way, one of his first works was the piano sonata 17, ‘Der Sturm’ or ‘the Tempest’. One evening he heard a galloping horse outside his window, which gave him inspiration to the 3rd movement of the sonata. It lasts about 7 minutes, here played by Valentina Lisitsa. Beethoven… a true giant.
At the end of Probusgasse, we will find one of the most ‘pastoral’ heuriger restaurants in Vienna, where Beethoven was a regular. (his favorite drink was Austrian rosé). We will enjoy our lunch here before the bus brings us back to the hotel. We have just enough time to be recharged before we leave for the weekend’s cultural highlight.
Wiener Staatsoper
An der schönen blauen Donau
Sunday morning, 29th October 2023, a bus take us away from all things modern and straight back to the 19th century’s romantic period, which the Germans so excelled.
Instead of sailing on the Danube – where you are kind of ‘caught’ for a few hours – we have this year decided to drive through the ‘Wachau’ district, an exceptionally beautiful part of Austria.
Gerti Schmidt is once again our guide for the day. She will not only show us idyll, but also the pre-historic (‘Venus von Willendorf’ is from this part of the world) as well as reveal the horror of the Nazis who were ravaging here.
Vesper at the Benedictine Monastery
At the bank of the Danube at the town of Melk we find one of the world’s most imposing abbeys, the almost 1000-year-old Benedictine monastery.
An untold number of reliquaries of saints are stored and displayed together with a splinter from the cross of Christ. As if that’s not enough, a small piece that is stained with the blood of the Savior. It’s up to you if you find that it might think it strains credulity.
We will visit the monastery in the afternoon, where we will be shown around by their very knowledgeable guides. They will certainly lead us to the library; with more than 20,000 volumes; that served as an inspiration for Umberto Eco that gave us the wonderful novel, ‘The Name of the Rose’.
After the doors have closed for the public, we are guided to their impressive church and will attend an church organ concert.
When the tones of the pipes and tubes go silent, we will head to a most charming pavilion. A sommelier will tell us all about the monastery’s own produced wines – which includes wine-tasting as well, naturally!
Next, we will have our dinner at their restaurant, before our bus brings us back to Vienna rather late in the evening.
Belvedère Palace to Ourselves
We have arrived at Monday 30th October 23. The day before Halloween.
Monday, during daytime, there will of course be yet another event offered to our guests, we just haven’t decided what it should be.
Capital cities are at all times dynamic. It would be a shame not to be able to react quickly to a new and exciting happening. Whatever it is, it will be in the same spirit as the rest of the programs.
And in the evening? I have visited the imposing Belvedère palace and museum in Vienna twice. True, it’s simply spectacular with Picasso and Monet en masse on the walls together with, unsurprisingly, the largest collection of paintings by the world famous Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt.
But there is a snag. You know how it is, you suddenly bump into a Japanese guide with a Japanese flag, the Spanish guide speaks too loudly and so on. Large crowds devalue the experience of these fine arts.
We have taken the consequence by renting the whole building Monday 30th October in the evening. After champagne and canapés, the museum’s art specialists will split us up in small groups and bring us to the inner sanctum of the museum.
After the séance we have rented a quartet that will bring us in the mood of Halloween. After the concert many of us will probably want to find a restaurant. We have our eyes on a rather cozy one and reasonably priced. This late dinner is not included in the price of the trip.
Visiting the Liechtenstein family's StadtPalais
We are extremely honored that one of Europe’s richest families, The House of Liechtenstein, has given us full access to one of their palaces in Vienna, Stadtpalais Liechtenstein.
The palace that has just been refurbished for the sum of euro 120 million, paid out of the family’s own pocket. Admittedly, inflation has been tough on all of us recently, but I still think that you get a lot for £ 100 million.
Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before our evening at Palais Coburg, they will open their doors for us, where their two in-house art experts will show us the family’s private art collection, closed for the wider public.
The tour ends at the family’s Baalsaal, which is almost otherworldly beautiful.
Palais Coburg
Tuesday’s highlight will happen in the evening. Actually, when you look at our many events most of them happens after sunset.
Tuesday morning and up and until our visit to The Liechtenstein stadtpalais, is timeout from our arranged events. You probably just want to take in the city on your own, perhaps visit some of the city’s many museums. (exactly 100, to be precise, number 100 was the Heidi Horten Collection, that opened in the summer of 2022).
The Casemates of Palais Coburg
Tuesday evening commences 6.30 pm at Palais Coburg. The palace is the host for the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the world powers – when they are held. It also offers Vienna’s finest restaurant, awarded 2 Michelin stars and run by the chef, Silvio Nickol.
Those will be our premises for the trip’s climax and coda. It’s 31st October, it’s Halloween and our dinner will be served in the palace’s casemates.
After the four course dinner and wine pairing, included in the trip’s price, there will be entertainment. The management won’t tell what it is, but I fully expect the skeletons will be coming out of the closet.
Hotel SO/Vienna
September 2022 in Vienna, we stayed 4 nights at the 5* hotel Ferdinand.
October this year we are going to stay 5 nights at the 5* hotel SO/Vienna with a genuinely spectacular view over the city.
In other words, same price as last year, same number of stars – but with one extra night this year. In our own opinion not bad in a year of inflation.
And our Purpose is?
We want to create exclusive experiences – without excluding.
Granted, our tours are not among the cheapest, but they are still accessible to most of those who walk in the footsteps of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish poet who once said, ‘to travel is to live’.
The ‘trick’ is to be a large group. We’re talking about 40 people. Being many has its own dynamic. And a larger budget allows us to offer truly unique adventures, that surely will be beyond most of us if we acted on our own.
Our purpose is to tear us away from our day to day lives, to ensure that when you are back home, you will ask yourself, ‘did I really experience what I think I experienced’?
What Exactly do you get for your 13,000 dkk?
Please Note:
The amount covers the stay and events during our days in Vienna. It does not include the flight as this give our guests much more flexibility.
