Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
their own Jacuzzi, but guests should be aware that bathrooms (but not the toilets) have
transparent glass walls.
Hotel Sacher
LUXURY HOTEL
€€€
( 514 560;
www.sacher.com
; 01, Philharmonikerstrasse 4; r €480-1350, ste €1600-2900; ;
Karlsplatz, D, 1, 2, 71 Kärntner Ring/Oper)
Walking into the Sacher is like turning back the
clocks 100 years. The reception, with its dark-wood panelling, deep red shades and heavy
gold chandelier, is reminiscent of an expensive fin de siècle bordello. There's a hi-tech
spa complex, with herbal sauna, ice fountain and fitness room.
HITLER IN VIENNA
Born in Braunau am Inn, Upper Austria, in 1889, with the name Adolf Schicklgruber (his father changed the
family name when they moved to Germany in 1893), Adolf Hitler moved to Vienna when he was just 17. Six
unsettled, unsuccessful, poverty-stricken years later he abandoned the city and moved to Munich to make a
name for himself. He later wrote in
Mein Kampf
that his Vienna years were 'a time of the greatest transformation
that I have ever been through. From a weak citizen of the world I became a fanatical anti-Semite'. Whether this
had anything to do with being twice rejected by the Akademie der bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts),
who dismissed his work as 'inadequate', he did not say. Even though he was convinced that proper training
would have made him into a very successful artist, these rejections caused Hitler to write to a friend that perhaps
fate may have reserved for him 'some other purpose'. This 'purpose' became all too clear to everyone over time.
Hitler briefly returned to Vienna in 1938 at the head of the German army and was greeted by enthusiastic
crowds on Heldenplatz. He left a day later.
Ringstrasse
Pension Wild
PENSION
€
( 406 51 74;
www.pension-wild.com
;
08, Lange Gasse 10; s €41-69, d €53-90, tr €114; Rathaus, Volkstheater)
Wild is one of the few openly gay-friendly
Pensionen
in Vienna, but the warm welcome
extends to all walks of life. The top-floor 'luxury' rooms are simple yet appealing, with
light-wood furniture and private bathrooms, and are a big advantage over Wild's other
two categories. All, however, are spotlessly clean and kitchens are there for guests to use.
25hours Hotel
DESIGN HOTEL
€€
