Vienna
This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the "Vienna" show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Germany & Austria guidebook.
Demel's Cafe
Demel is the ultimate Viennese chocolate shop. The room is filled with Art Nouveau boxes of Empress Sisi's choco-dreams come true: Kandierte Veilchen (candied violet petals), Katzenzungen (cats' tongues), and so on. The cakes here are moist (compared to the dry Sachertortes). The delectable window displays change about monthly, reflecting current happenings in Vienna. Inside, an impressive cancan of cakes is displayed to tempt visitors into springing for the €10 cake-and-coffee deal (point to the cake you want). You can sit inside, with a view of the cake-making, or outside, with the street action. (Upstairs is less crowded.) Shops like this boast "K. u. K." — good enough for the König und Kaiser (king and emperor — same guy).
Buffet Trzesniewski
Buffet Trzesniewski is an institution — justly famous for its elegant and cheap finger sandwiches and small beers (€1 each). Three different sandwiches and a kleines Bier (Pfiff) make a fun, light lunch. Point to whichever delights look tasty (or grab the English translation sheet and take time to study your 21 sandwich options). The classic favorites are Geflügelleber (chicken liver), Matjes mit Zwiebel (herring with onions), and Speck mit Ei (bacon and eggs). Pay for your sandwiches and a drink. Take your drink tokens to the lady on the right. Sit on the bench and scoot over to a tiny table when a spot opens up. Trzesniewski has been a Vienna favorite for a century...and many of its regulars seem to have been here for the grand opening (Mon–Fri 8:30–19:30, Sat 9:00–17:00, closed Sun, 50 yards off Graben, nearly across from brooding Café Hawelka, Dorotheergasse 2, tel. 01/512-3291). In the fall, this is a good opportunity to try the fancy grape juices — Most or Traubenmost. Their other location, at Mariahilfer Strasse 95, serves the same sandwiches with the same menu in the same ambience, and is near many recommended hotels.
Hofburg Palace
The complex, confusing, and imposing Imperial Palace, with 640 years of architecture, demands your attention. This first Hapsburg residence grew with the family empire from the 13th century until 1913, when the last "new wing" opened. The winter residence of the Hapsburg rulers until 1918, it's still the home of the Spanish Riding School, the Vienna Boys' Choir, the Austrian president's office, 5,000 government workers, and several important museums.
Rather than lose yourself in its myriad halls and courtyards, focus on three sections: the Imperial Apartments, Treasury, and Neue Burg (New Palace).
Imperial Apartments (Kaiserappartements) — These lavish, Versailles-type, "wish-I-were-God" royal rooms are the downtown version of the grander Schönbrunn Palace. If you're rushed and have time for only one palace, do this (€9, daily 9:00–17:00, last entry 30 min before closing; from courtyard through St. Michael's Gate, just off Michaelerplatz; tel. 01/533-7570, www.hofburg-wien.at). Palace visits are a one-way romp through 20 rooms. You'll find some helpful posted English information, and the included audioguide brings the exhibit to life. With those tools and the following description, you won't need the €8 Imperial Apartments and Sisi museum guidebook. Your ticket also gets you into the royal silver and porcelain collection (Silberkammer) near the turnstile. If touring the silver and porcelain, do it first to save walking.
New Palace Museums: Armor, Music, and Ancient Greek Statues — The Neue Burg — technically part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum across the way — houses three fine museums (same ticket): an armory (with a killer collection of medieval weapons), historical musical instruments, and classical statuary from ancient Ephesus. The included audioguide brings the exhibits to life and lets you actually hear the fascinating old instruments in the collection being played. An added bonus is the chance to wander all alone among those royal Hapsburg halls, stairways, and painted ceilings (€8; armor and music Tue-Sun 10:00–18:00, closed Mon; Greek Wed-Mon 10:00–18:00, closed Tue; almost no tourists, tel. 01/5252-4484).
Imperial Treasury
This "Secular and Religious Treasure Room" contains the best jewels on the Continent. Slip through the vault doors and reflect on the glitter of 21 rooms filled with scepters, swords, crowns, orbs, weighty robes, double-headed eagles, gowns, gem-studded bangles, and a unicorn horn (€8, Wed–Mon 10:00–18:00, closed Tue, follow Schatzkammer signs to the Schweizerhof, tel. 01/5252-4486, www.hofburg-wien.at).
Kaisergruft Emperors' Crypt
Visiting the imperial remains is not as easy as you might imagine. These original organ donors left their bodies — about 150 in all — in the unassuming Kaisergruft (Capuchin Crypt), their hearts in the Augustinian Church (church open long hours daily, but to see the goods you'll have to talk to a priest), and their entrails in the crypt below St. Stephen's Cathedral. Don't tripe.
Upon entering the Kaisergruft (€4, daily 9:30–16:00, last entry at 15:40, behind Opera on Neuer Markt), buy the €0.50 map with a Hapsburg family tree and a chart locating each coffin.