Luxury in Vienna

I finished my lovely visit to Salzburg this morning and headed on to Vienna this evening.  Salzburg really is a beautiful place. 

I could definitely see myself coming back one day to explore more of the town and the surrounding countryside.

On my way to Vienna I was most excited about the prospect of staying in the same hotel room for 6 whole nights, without having to lug my heavy bag from place to place any more.  I would have been happy with any decent hotel room.  What I got, however, has been the biggest surprise of this trip so far.

This might be the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in.  And it was entirely unintentional.  I found a great deal on Expedia, so I knew I was staying somewhere kind of nice, but I had no idea it would be like this.  I was apparently assigned one of the hotel's "theme rooms," which are dedicated to famous people who have stayed here in the past.  I got the Charles Lindbergh room (I wandered around the rest of my floor and couldn't find a single other theme room, so I have no idea why I was special enough to get this one).  The room is huge and ornate, with restored antique furniture, 100-year-old parquet floors and a large crystal chandelier.  It also happens to be a corner room, so I have not one but two balconies - one about 15 feet long and the other about 25 feet long - overlooking a 17th century church where the Habsburgs are buried.

After I was in the room for only about 5 minutes, I heard someone knocking on the door and I was sure they were going to tell me that it was all a mistake and that this wasn't really my room.  Instead it was housekeeping checking to see if I needed anything and whether the room was satisfactory.  Yes, I think this will do.

Like most European hotels, this hotel posts a base rate for the room inside the wardrobe in the room.  My room is quoted at an astonishing 404 Euros (approx. $560) per night.  Suffice it to say that I am paying far less than a third of that price, and a lot less than I paid for my tiny room with Marilyn Monroe painings in Zurich - Expedia holds a special place in my heart at the moment. 

I have no idea how I managed to score this room, but I'm wondering if perhaps this is meant to make up for at least some of the horrendous travel luck that has been following me for years.  If so, my terrible flight over here was totally worth it...