A Vienna day from the Ringstrasse to a Heiligenstadt Heuriger

The coffee house where Freud, Trotsky, and Klimt all sat at the marble tables at different points. Order a Melange — Vienna's cappuccino — and an apfelstrudel fresh from the kitchen. The pastry case up front is worth a slow pass before you order.

Walk the boulevard laid out in 1860 on what used to be the city walls. Staatsoper, Kunsthistorisches, Maria-Theresien-Platz, Rathaus, Parliament — fifteen minutes of slow walking links them all. Tram 1 runs the same route if your feet give up.

The Bruegels on the second floor are the destination — the largest collection of Pieter Bruegel the Elder anywhere, including Hunters in the Snow. Ninety minutes, then leave. The rest of the museum is substantial and will wear you out.

The city's open-air food market. Middle Eastern and Austrian stalls sit side by side — order a Käsekrainer (cheese-filled sausage) at one of the classic Würstelstands, or hummus and flatbread from Neni. Cash is faster than card.

A baroque palace with Klimt's Kiss on the first floor. Go directly to it, sit on the bench opposite, and notice the room quietens around you. Schiele and Kokoschka are in the same hall. Skip the lower Belvedere unless you have extra hours.

The Heuriger where Beethoven wrote parts of the Ninth Symphony in 1817. Tram 38 from the Ringstrasse drops you twenty minutes north in Heiligenstadt. Self-serve cold buffet inside, house wine from the cellar, long wooden benches in the garden. Order the roast pork and a carafe of Gemischter Satz.