12601. The soups on Viking cruises are great . . .
and I’m not a (big) soup person;
12602. There are McDonalds,
Burger Kings, Starbucks and Subways in Vienna(, Austria);
12603. There are a lot of hot
dog/sausage stands in Vienna;
12604. “Wien” is “Vienna” in
German;
12605. Austrians speak German;
12606. “The Sound of Music” is
not popular in Austria;
12607. Austria is made of 9 provinces
with Vienna as the capital;
12608. Austria has a population
of 9 million people;
12609. The Spanish Riding School
in Vienna is the home of the Lipizzaner stallions;
12610. Lipizzaner stallions are
born dark and turn white with age;
12611. There are 74 (Lipizzaner)
stallions in Vienna. The stallions spend
3 weeks in the countryside and then 3 weeks in the city;
12612. Lipizzaner stallions get 8
weeks of rest/vacation a year;
12613. The Austrian National
Library in the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna is the largest library in
Austria with more than 12 million items;
12614. There are 9 public and 5
private universities in Vienna;
12615. Vienna is big into café
culture. There are over 1,200 cafés in
the city;
12616. The Austrians seem to
like their sweets;
12617. At the Swarovski flagship
store in Vienna (at Kärntner Straße 24, 1010 Wien, Austria), there’s
complementary (Moët & Chandon) champagne, coffee and water on the top
floor. And the restrooms (in the
basement) are free too;
12618. Swarovski makes more than (just) jewelry and watches, they make tableware, glasses, decorative accessories, picture frames, ornaments and figurines too;
12619. (I can say) I've had a Vienna sausage in Vienna;
12620. You can return plastic bottles and aluminum cans for a deposit at (some) grocery stores in Vienna;
12621. “Sacher-torte” is a sponge cake that combines chocolate sponge and apricot jam with a chocolate glaze. It was invented by the Austrian confectioner, Franz Sacher, in the mid-19th century;
12622. (I can say) I’ve had (the original) “Sacher-torte” at the Sacher Café (Sacher.com/en/Restaurants/Cafe-Sacher-Wien) in the Sacher Hotel in Vienna;
12623. Besides Rome and Vatican City, Vienna and Bratislava are the 2 closest capitals to one another in Europe. They’re about 50 miles apart;
12624. “Wiener” means “Viennese” in German;
12625. Vienna has city greenhouses heated by trash incinerators. People can buy produce and flowers from the city greenhouses in the local markets;
12626. Vienna has the largest cemetery in Europe based on internment with 330,000 people;
12627. Vienna has a larger airport than Bratislava. Apparently, people will fly into Vienna and then drive to Bratislava;
12628. There are no working nuclear power plants in Austria. Austria built the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant, but a referendum passed (in November 1978) banning nuclear fission before the plant could start operating;
12629. There are over 1,400 wind turbines in Austria;
12630. Austria generates power from dams and hydroelectric plants;
12631. Austria has no active coal-fired power plants. They phased out coal power in 2020;
12632. Wind turbine blades can’t be recycled. They last for 25 years and then they’re buried;
12633. (I can say) I've been to Slovakia;
12634. The Danube flows through 10 countries (i.e., Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova & Ukraine) and connects 4 capitals (i.e., Vienna, Austria, Bratislava, Slovakia, Budapest, Hungary & Belgrade, Serbia);
12635. Bratislava is the only (Slovak) city south of the Danube;
12636. The buildings in Bratislava south of the Danube were largely built during the Communist era;