In Vienna

As I land at the airport of Vienna on 12th May, 2014,  I am excited that I am visiting the most ancient city and really do not know what to expect. As a historian I know that Vienna’s history dates back to the post-Christian century when the Romans established the military camp Vindobona and called Vienna Vindobona. This name comes from the Celtic word Vendunia and translates as forest stream. In fact later in the evening when I visited the Museums Quartier one of the ten largest cultural quarters in the world, I can see that the city has preserved some of the artefacts of the Roman period ruins. By 10th cen Vienna was called Ostarrichi, which meant "the kingdom in the east". However it is after 12th cen that Vienna saw its hey days under the Babenbergs. A hundred years later, the Babenberg dynasty came to an end. Today, only the red-white-red colours of the Austrian flag remain as a reminder of this important noble family. When Rudolf von Habsburg was elected king in 1273, and the Habsburgs would reign in Austria and establish a large and powerful empire. Austria reached a first peak under Emperor Maximilian I. He expanded the empire, introduced important reforms and erected sumptuous buildings. The disintegration of Austria became apparent in the 19th Century, and under perhaps the most famous emperor and empress that Austria ever had: under Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth, Sissi. In 1914 the First World War began, and after its end in the year 1918 Austria was reduced to the small country it now is. It lost its colonies and access to the sea. Vienna suffered hardships during World War I. Amidst food shortages and revolution it became, at the end of the war, the capital of the small republic of Austria. As I drive down from the airport I see a lot of industrialisation and the establishment of huge industrial infrastructure.
Vienna was home to the world's first psycho-analyst Sigmund Freud. It also boasts of Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1848 as the first professional orchestra in Vienna. They are considered to be one of the best orchestras worldwide. Until recently, wines from Wien, or the wine-growing region of Vienna, Austria's capital city, were regarded as being simple 'Heuriger', or wine tavern wines. The 'Wiener Gemischte Satz', is now internationally acknowledged as being a truly Austrian wine. In Vienna, there are over 27 castles and more than 150 palaces. Vienna truly is the blend of the ancient and the modern, though I would not place it in the same category as Paris. Compared to Paris, Vienna was badly destroyed during the World War and after this many new constructions came up and these were not necessarily a copy of the Romanesque, Gothic or Baroque style but very modern buildings.