http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33840 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33840 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33786 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33786 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33698 I can't wait to go back!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33698 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31072 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31072 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31071 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31071 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25588
Excellent and responsive service from the owners before you arrive.
Clear instructions on how to get to the property. Fantastic room accomodation which is immaculately clean. Exciting and varied breakfasts served with quiet friendly service (the best homemade muesli I ever had.)

Life lived with a Viennese family - at its best.
Five minutes walk, at most, from the metro (come down the stairs at the very far end of the platform, go out the left door, down a path, turn right, second on the left) and then only nine minutes to the city center.

One of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25588 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24826 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24826 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24702
The prices are reasonable, the wines and beers include very good Austrian varieties, the service is friendly, helpful and prompt, and above all the food is outstanding. Highly recommended.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24702 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24701
The Palais Liechtenstein shows the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, brought together over five or so centuries and, in many instances paintings bought directly from the artists themselves - that's class! This collection is very rich in Seventeenth century work, especially that of Rubens and Van Dyke.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24701 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24671
The staircase is very grand and Italy must have been emptied of all its marble to create this building. The view from the cafeteria on the (main) first floor, down through a circular eye some 20 feet across to the entrance hall far below is both spectacular and scary. There is a net drawn tightly across this space presumably to stop people throwing cakes down onto elderly American tourists just entering the building.

On the day I visited the museum there was a delightful half-scale air balloon tethered in the stairwell midway between the floors which added to the sense of enjoyment and well-being one should feel in such a wonderful place.

The collections include geology, natural history, anthropology and archaeology. There are said to be 20 million exhibits here. One of the most famous is the tiny but very sexy Venus of Willendorf, a mysterious and magical female figure from the Upper Palaeolithic period.

As with all museums these days, the place was teeming with children and young people (followed by anxious or exhausted teachers), but that is as it should be. The place is being used as a treasure house, which is precisely what it is.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24671 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24665
The restaurant has an intimate atmosphere and you will do well to book a table beforehand. My son and I dropped in on a freezing Monday evening, and Zur Bohmischen Kuchl was nearly full with, I may say, local people from Josefstadt - a very good indicator of the quality of the food and drink.

At the end of our meal we were introduced to a liqueur from Prague called Becherovka. Wags describe it as tasting like cinnamon-flavoured kerosene! No, it was much better (and perhaps more powerful) than that. An excellent finale to a great meal.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24665 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24661
Whatever the case, on a recent visit I found Vienna to be lively, well supplied with a range of good bars and restaurants, hotels at various price levels, an excellent public transport system, and offering an enviable number of world-class museums and galleries. There appeared to be a good number of young people there, in contrast to the view expressed in some guide books that the city is dominated in numbers by the very old.

For example, the Natural History Museum has a special Darwin exhibition on at the moment, and the day I went it was full of enthusiastic young people of all ages, noisy, busy, keen. They were allowed to use cameras and phones and were photographing themselves among the exhibits, even handling the woolly mammoth (I don't think it was real). Some indeed were sliding down the marble staircase which in this building is as high as Beachy Head - I don't think that was allowed, but no-one appeared to be rushing to stop them! So, not so staid as the former reputation...]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24661 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24660 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24660 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24417 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24417 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24416 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24416 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24415 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24415 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24414 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24414 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24412 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24412 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24379 One of the most memorable architectural sites anywhere - threatening, exciting, historic, futuristic. Think Metropolis...]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24379 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24372 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24372