Does anyone else have a travel list? You know, your top picks of vacation spots you are dying to hit up? Chris and I have a long list of places and that list isn't getting any shorter (not necessarily a bad thing). For the past few years we have been presented with travel opportunities to destinations not on our list. In fact, the last time we really chose a vacation destination was when we went to Florida with family a few years ago. This month we got the rare chance to check out Vienna, Austria.

VIENNA

Chris was presenting at a radiology conference so of course I had to tag along. We were doing a bit of research on hotels when we came across Hotel Daniel; check out the website and you will see why we booked it. After almost 24 hours of traveling, we pulled up to a super awesome, modern hotel. We were greeted by branded vespas parked outside, a cool retro elevator, and an amazing lobby/bakery. The room we stayed in was super urban. The decor was a mix of white, charcoal, green, and wood tones. We had a panoramic view out our window and a hammock that hung from the ceiling. Not only was the decor incredible, the branding was also unreal! The style of this hotel was right up our alley. It was probably the coolest place we have ever stayed.

Since Chris was at the conference most of the time, I did some exploring on my own and would meet Chris for lunch and then again after the conference. We did a bit of our own sight seeing in the evenings together and ate at a couple of cool restaurants including this awesome sushi place called Neon which was all lit up with purple fluorescent lights.

Our hotel wasn't right in the city centre but it was super close! A tram stop was right across the street from our hotel, which got us to the subway station in a few minutes. From there it was only two stops on the subway to get to the centre of the city. Super convenient!

No trip to vienna would be complete with out having a wiener. We hit up this hot dog hut around Stephansplatz and weren't disappointed.

We hit up a cafe called Demel on our last evening. We didn't eat here but heard it is amazing. We saw a lot of people walking around with little purple take away bags from this place. We did have hot chocolate though and it was probably the best I have had in my life.

If you are in Vienna, I would recommend a 30 minute ride on the Vienna Ring Tram. We found this gem on the last day (thanks to our guide book). You hop on a tram and it takes in a loop around the city. Headphones are provided with recordings that explain each site as you pass by. It's a great way to get an overview of the main tourist sights the city has to offer. We saw a few places we revisited later that evening. The old architecture is beautiful and all the buildings at night are lit up!

If you are looking for places to eat and shop, getting off at Karlsplatz and walking toward Stephansplatz is a good time. Lots of decent shopping and cafes around. St. Stephens Cathedral sits near Stephanaplatz subway platform and is stunning.

A friend recommended we walk the Museum Quarter at night (we passed by on our Ring Tram tour). Once again, the buildings are lit up beautifully! They even had ice skating set up in front of the parliament building with a pretty intricate rink.

We took a ride up on the Sky Bar for a view of the city, though I think this would have been more impressive during the day.