Reinthaler’s Beisl
One of our tour guides suggested that to find a more authentic good Austrian restaurant we should stay off the large streets and follow some of the narrower side streets in Vienna. We took her advice and found Reinthaler’s Beisl after our tour of Schönbrunn Palace on Friday morning, March 6th.
At first we were sharing a table with an older woman who was finishing up her lunch. The restaurant was filled with (from what we could tell) locals not tourists.
We shared an order of schnitzel and it was the perfect amount for us after our ‘appetizer’ of apple strudel at the Palace.
This print above was in the Public Domain so I’m sharing it here. It’s an old and very cool print of the outside of the National Library of Austria in Vienna.
I took this photo above as we passed the library on our carriage ride. I didn’t know as we passed that this was the library.
After our great lunch we ventured out on foot to find the library. After a few twists and turns we made it. We got a senior discount for entry.
It was a jaw dropping experience to walk around and take it all in. If you would like to learn more click on this link.
Europe’s largest Baroque library houses over 200,000 historic books on its richly decorated wooden shelves. The State Hall is rightly one of the most beautiful library rooms in the world.
Secret bookshelf doors were a fun surprise, too.
We were glad we could visit this beautiful library.
After the library we made our way to the designated bus shuttle service that would take us back to the river boat. We would leave Vienna for our final leg back to Budapest on this evening.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
Beautiful and amazing! It made me sad – and mad! – that our county didn’t pass the levy to fund our little library. I take my grandkids there almost every week. They would be entranced by the Vienna library.
The library is spectacular! And it wouldn’t be a trip to Austria without a daily serving of apple strudel-the best!!
The architecture in Europe is stunningly beautiful! Question: Do people still use the library to check out books, etc.?
Elaine, You can only order a book to read on site after filling out an application is my understanding.
Wow! That is so beautiful. I want to echo Elaine’s question above — do people still use the library to check out books?
Lisa,
You can only order a book to read on site after filling out an application is my understanding.
Yes, to city strolling where art meets architecture in every bite!
Beautiful photos Ellen! I love the library! Take care, enjoy your day!
Absolutely stunning, Ellen. Thank you so much for sharing.
It sounds like a perfect day and your photos are awesome. I am always impressed with the architecture.
Wow that is some impressive library.
What a difference from my little town library!!! 🙂
Your schnizel lunch looked delicious and the library was magnificent!
That would have been one of the best parts of the trip seeing and being in that library! My head would have hurt just being near all that knowledge, history, and writing!
That is an absolutely amazing library, wow!
Those library photos are truly AWEsome. So many gorgeous details and vistas as you looked up and around.