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The winner is announced!! Vienna "One Challenge 2015"


andybarton

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air berlin is filling my mailbox right now with good flights and hotels in vienna around the 17th of october. is it too early for anyone to suggest 1-2 hotels, or 'stay near the opera'? it would be nice to be able to meet up without taxis etc..

 

greetings from hamburg

 

rick & karen

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Yes, I was looking at hotels and as it's a pretty large city it would be useful to have some idea as to where we'll be meeting on the Saturday.

 

For anyone who knows Vienna, are there any particularly interesting areas of town, away from the obvious central shopping/business areas?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bernie

 

We will certainly need some help with finding a suitable cafe to meet at lunchtime and a restaurant for the dinner on the Saturday evening.

 

If you have any ideas, I would be pleased to receive them.

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Hi,

 

Vienna has a cafe culture and I would recommend a traditional cafe. The most convenient one will probably be Cafe Central on Herrengasse 14. It is in the center of Vienna = district 1. It is within walking distance of a metro station and the Leica Store Vienna :-)

It's a traditional cafe, but one that's not so overrun by tourists like the Cafe Landtmann or the Cafe Sacher.

 

If people prefer, there is a whole bunch of Starbucks as well. There is one right next to the Leica Store.

 

The Leica Shop (including the Westlicht Gallery) is in the 7th district to the west of the city center. Not sure what they'll be showing at the gallery in October, but there is an Edward Steichen exhibition right now (ends in April)

Kunsthaus gallery (at Hundertwasserhaus, to the east of the city center) will show Joel Meyerowitz in October.

 

Dinner depends on budget and preference. Traditional Viennese cuisine is quite heavy (deep fried veal, blood sausage, etc.) - this may not suit everybody's taste.

 

Vienna is not a very large city and you can get to all the sights using public transport (metro and tram). Make sure your hotel is within walking distance of a metro station for convenience. Most major chains will have a hotel in Vienna: Hilton, Mariott, Radisson, Best Western, Ibis, Motel One, Mercure, etc.

 

If you bring your wifes, they'll be happy to learn that Parndorf is one of the better Designer Outlets in Europe - just outside of Vienna and there is a shuttle bus.

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Well, I used to go to Starbucks because their coffee is actually ok (mainly because as an industrialized chain, they clean the equipment better than a lot of other coffee shops) and they are strictly non smoking.

 

Austria does not yet have a full smoking ban and even if they separate smokers from non smokers, you'll sometimes still get your share of smoke while walking to the toilets for instance...

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Vienna, famous for it's coffee shops, and you'd choose Starbucks instead? :eek:

 

I find their coffee just rather bland, and the chocolate they let you sprinkle yourself on your cappuccino is horrible. I find McDonalds coffee is much better, and much cheaper!

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Cafe Central is special. I liked it. Not only coffee and cakes. Nice lunches and wines as well.

Very close to Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof, where we stayed a weekend. Also very nice, but not cheap. Close to everything.

Edited by larsv
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  • 3 weeks later...

Just booked flights & hotel. My wife and I will arrive end of afternoon on the 15th and leave end of morning on the 19th.

Cafe Central is a very good choice; we have been visiting Vienna regularly for the past 10 years, at least, for another type of competition which ceased last year so we're delighted to have the opportunity to return to one of our favorite european city.

See you all there!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Well, I do not know if I will be able to come - Autumn is typically the time when all the projects realize they have lots to deliver and only 3 months to do it in, and the one thing they are missing is alignment, so meetings are always booked between Oct- Dec.

 

I have however booked my flights and hotel (Hotel Imlauer - which is about one mile from the Cafe Central). For me, Austrian Air had the best prices and my local airline had a code share flight which was double the price.

 

Looking forward to seeing my friends. And if Istanbul is any indication, I will not follow Lars; he found (probably) the only local restaurant in the whole of Istanbul that served no beer and no kebabs! Which means he will lead me to the only cafe that doesn't do cake or coffee in Vienna :-)

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I have been walking around Cafe Central a couple of times for the last 3-4 weeks. It's close to my home and I have a newborn that I am taking on long walks through the parks etc.

 

Anyway, I noticed that this cafe is meanwhile just as packed as a lot of the other ones. So, if you need a very casual first meeting point where people would show up over the course of "several hours", you may want to pick another place.

 

By the way: McDonalds coffee is actually not bad. Well, you have to know that McDonalds in Austria (and probably some other countries as well) has built so called "McCafe" corners in their restaurants. They use WMF 8000S series coffee machines (maybe the older 1500 depending on location). This is probably as good as it gets with an automatic coffee machine (if used with proper beans) and usually better than the large size classical espresso machines that are hard to clean and therefore don't get cleaned too well at most places. Creates a smoky taste in the coffee...

Edited by bernie.lcf
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Thanks Bernie

 

We need somewhere where we can book an area for people to meet in. We usually meet at noon, have some lunch and then leave at around 2pm.

 

There are often between 30 and 40 people there but we will know numbers nearer the time. 

 

We we will also need to find a suitable restaurant for the evening meal too. Again there are maybe 30 people there and we try to keep the cost reasonable. I will do some investigation myself 

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