A popular T-shirt in Vienna declares "There are No Kangaroos in Austria!" The apparent confusion regarding the difference between Austria and Australia brings sighs of exasperation amongst many Americans living in Vienna who have had their U.S. mail arrive after a detour to Down Under.

Vienna and Death: an eternal love, a special relationship embracing sentimental, melancholic coquettishness and an almost passionate intimacy. As a well-known wine tavern song goes, there'll always be wine, but we won't always be here to enjoy it. Opulent funerals with a large cortege of mourners can still be the source of gushing enthusiasm.

Vienna has a long tradition of chandelier making, with countless offbeat interpretations appearing along the way. These stylish lighting elements make a dazzling and refined impression thanks to the way that they refract light.

Vienna can be experienced in a variety of ways – on foot, by Citybike, on skates, or by boat. From the city center to the Donau Auen National Park there are always new ways to see the city. Exploring Vienna on foot is particularly enjoyable for a variety of reasons, first and foremost because Vienna is a green city – from the parks along the Ringstrasse boulevard to the green spaces of the Augarten or the Prater. And if fatigue sets in, the nearest subway, tram, or bus stop is never far away.

A popular T-shirt in Vienna declares "There are No Kangaroos in Austria!" The apparent confusion regarding the difference between Austria and Australia brings sighs of exasperation amongst many Americans living in Vienna who have had their U.S. mail arrive after a detour to Down Under.

As you pass through the gate of Vienna's St. Marx Cemetery in the Third District in spring, it's possible a peacock will greet you with a gravelly squawk from its perch on a lichen-encrusted tombstone near the entrance. The beauty of this most glorious of birds, along with the enveloping perfume and color of blossoming lilacs, softens somehow the annoyance of the roar coming from a nearby motorway.

An early Gothic column on top of the Wienerberg in the 10th District celebrates the Legend of the Spinnerin (a woman who spins). This medieval wayside shrine, first mentioned in 1296, is one of a few early Gothic structures surviving in Vienna today.

The Haus der Musik is a modern, interactive theme museum boasting real and virtual rooms to introduce the visitor to the fascinating world of music. Infotainment, Edutainment and Entertainment – these are the three catchwords characterizing the Haus der Musik offering the visitor a lively introduction to the history of Austria’s great composers on 6 stories.

While many of you are aware that Vienna's water supply is piped directly from the Austrian Alps south of Vienna, you probably don't know that the fountain in front of the Russian monument on Schwarzenbergplatz was set up to celebrate the completion of the first pipeline to deliver that water.

Messages: The 12th century frescos contained in a small Romanesque chapel in the Austrian alps. Only the occasional moo or clang of cowbells break the silence surrounding St. Johannes, a small late 12th century Romanesque chapel perched high above the Enns Valley in the alpine village of Puergg. 

The Danube is the longest international river in Europe. It flows through 10 countries from the Black Forest in Germany to the mouth of the Black Sea, and most of its 2000 miles length is navigatable. The Danube is in the centre of the European network of navigable inland waterways.

In its consideration of the history of the city and the evidence of the past the museum also takes account of current issues and themes. It collects, studies and reinterprets the objects in the various collections and their significance for our lives. Although Wien Museum is not primarily an art institution, it also deals with art and the conditions in which it is created. Artistic phenomena are placed in their social and cultural context and considered within a broader framework (“art plus” principle).

Every Saturday afternoon a small private museum opens up the world of Orson Welles cinematic classic “The Third Man”, shot on location in Vienna in 1948 and premiered in London in 1949. Exhibits include historical posters, cinema programs and some 300 movie and sound recordings on media from shellac to DVD.

Lovers’ Alert! Here is an invitation to some of the most romantic places tucked in and around Vienna. These places are for flirts and confirmed sweethearts alike – and maybe even just the eternal optimist. If the time and the mood are right, first signs of budding affection can burst into bloom. Trust me. These places come with a pedigree; they are tested and proven. I should know!

The Vienna City Park extends from the Parkring in the First District of Vienna up to the Heumarkt (a street, literally translated as hay market) in the Third District and covers an area of 65,000 m². Even as early as in the Biedermeier period, the glacis before the Karolinenstadttor (Caroline City Gate) was a popular site of entertainmaint.

Even if the triumphant premiere of "Don Giovanni" was in Prague, and Italy, England and Germany marked the first flowering of his gifts, without Vienna, his most important "hometown", Mozart would never have become what he still remains - the greatest musical genius in the history.

Serious music lovers have long considered Vienna to be just this side of paradise: one encounters music everywhere, from the sounds of a child practicing a Mozart piano sonata through an open window to street musicians playing classical as well as folk music. There are also many places associated with famous musicians, such as their birthplaces and residences, monuments, tombs and burial sites - and, of course, the many places where their music was (and still is) performed: concert halls, the Vienna State Opera, the Volksoper, Theater an der Wien and many other venues.

With its exhibitions of selected masterpieces on a total area of 2,300 square metres on two floors, the Liechtenstein Museum presents itself as a world of pleasures, where all genres of art unfold their fascination as integral parts of a historical ensemble.

Some cities have a "golden mile" or "royal mile" but Vienna has, appropriately enough, a "music mile". The "walk of fame" runs from the Theater an der Wien, past the Secession and the Opera to St Stephens Cathedral. Composers, conductors, singers and classical musicians are commemorated with a star-shaped flagstone, including portrait and brief information.

In the house at Berggasse 19, Sigmund Freud established his medical practice in 1891 and developed psychoanalysis, the science that fundamentally changed the understanding of the human psyche. Until he was driven into exile in England, he conducted his analyses in these rooms, where he also completed works like The Interpretation of Dreams and the case studies.

As someone once put it: the streets of Vienna, are not only paved with stones but with history. A great part of the charm of the city consists in the way it transforms "history" into the "good old times during the empire." This is why this young and dynamic metropolis in the heart of Europe, which has welcomed the high-tech-era with open arms, at the same time fervently embraces its past: this is what turns Vienna into a festival of the imagination, especially for romantics.

Vienna is an ideal-typical European city similar to Barcelona, London, Milan, Paris or Rome, but unlike the others it is very compact and easy to negotiate. Vienna is referred to by many as a unique onion, with each of the urban layers surrounding the oldest historic centre being equally important to the overall flavour of the city. The Austrian capital therefore embraces all the traditions of a European city, from Roman foundations through to Gothic, Baroque and Historicism.

You enter through a simple doorway. You proceed through a hall, until - suddenly - you feel you have stepped onto a stage, or onto a broad plain after passing through a narrow gorge. You have a sense of space and depth and, above all, of clean, bright whiteness.

Lainzer Tiergarten Nature Preserve located in Hietzing, the 13th district of Vienna, is a part of the southern Vienna Woods. The former imperial hunting reserve covers 2500 hectares of the most natural landscape located within the city and is home to a variety of wildlife including wild boar and deer. 1935 hectare of the preserve is forested (mainly oak and beech trees). At the Johannser Kogel the remainder of 400 year-old oaks can still be found - some of the trees'' trunks have a circumference of more than 4 meters!