'Guten Tag!' I hailed my husband on the day before we were due to leave. 'Can you order a slice of chocolate cake in German?' he asked, anxiously. 'Ein Stück Schokoladentorte, bitte,' I replied. My husband smiled. We were ready to go.

Our planned 9-hour direct flight from Toronto turned into a 22-hour journey from hell when we got bumped off by Austrian Airlines. So Toronto-London-Frankfurt-Vienna it was, and we arrived around 11pm on Friday night when we should have arrived 9am that morning. We'd lost one day, but we were so exhausted we fell straight into bed and woke up fighting fit the following morning. We left our hotel (the perfectly-located NH Belvedere Hotel) and began to make up for lost time.

After collecting our Vienna Cards (excellent for discounts to museums/art galleries) from the nearest Tourist Info Centre, we pored over the accompanying pamphlet listing all museums, art galleries, palaces, and the usual tourist haunts, and planned our itinerary accordingly.

The first place of note that we visited was the incomparable Belvedere Palace, only a couple of minutes' walk from our hotel. Belvedere (literally 'beautiful view' in Italian) was the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Known as 'The Sword of the Hapsburgs' for his successes against the Turks, the prince was also a highly knowledgeable patron of the arts.

Completed in 1725, Belvedere Palace is one of the world's finest examples of Baroque architecture and houses the Museum of Medieval Art as well as the Baroque Museum. For anyone who's the slightest bit interested in mythology, the Lower Belvedere is a treasure trove where you can play spot the god/goddess in hundreds of classical paintings, sculptures and ceiling frescoes. Modern works of art are also showcased in the Upper Belvedere, including many representative paintings by the famous and popular Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt. We were very taken by Klimt's work. The image of his painting, 'The Kiss', is omnipresent in Vienna and we bought several of these keepsakes.

We had tickets for the Gala Show at the Spanish Riding School the following day. The tickets are expensive and dressage may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and the venue is stunning. The majestic hall, with its Saeulengalerie (Gallery of the Columns) and the Hofloge (Imperial Loggia), is adorned with chandeliers, with the equestrian image of Emperor Charles VI gazing down from the gallery. It was the venue for ceremonies and court feasts from the 18th century onwards. The Lipizzaner stallions are, of course, the stars of the show, and their performance is, to say the least, impressive.

Nearby is Hofburg Palace (Kaiserappartements, Sisi Museum, Silberkammer) with newly refurbished state and residential rooms used by Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. The new Sisi Museum gives insight into the myth surrounding the fascinating Empress Elisabeth (affectionately nicknamed Sisi).

Within the Museum Quarter can be found the Kunsthistorisches & Naturhistorisches Museums (History of Fine Arts & Natural History Museums). We only had time for one, and I chose the Museum of Fine Arts. A sumptuous marble staircase adorns this museum, which houses one of the world's ten greatest art collections. Masterpieces by Durer, Rubens, Titian, Velazquez and Bruegel are on display, as well as paintings by the Old Masters. There is even a large room devoted entirely to the Italian school, and an Egyptian Collection in the basement.

On our last day, we took the train to Schonbrunn, for no visit to Vienna is complete without a visit to this summer palace. Rivalling Versailles in majesty and opulence, Schonbrunn Palace is on the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Sites. Commissioned by Emperor Leopold I as an imperial castle for hunting purposes, it was Empress Maria Theresa who transformed it into the imperial summer residence of the powerful and far-reaching Hapsburgs.

There is a choice of tours on offer, and we chose one that would allow us to spend several hours (but not the entire day) within the palace as well as out in the grounds. The audio guide provided us with a good narrative of the life and times of Emperor Franz Joseph and his family as we made our way through the royal apartments, galleries and chambers. The park is massive, studded with gems like the Zoo/Menagerie (dating from 1751), the Palm House, and the Desert House, and takes time and energy to explore.

And what of the coffee and chocolate cake? We sampled both, the latter (known locally as the Sacha torte) twice. Food was aplenty in the streets and far from exorbitant. We ate from kebab kiosks to cafeteria-style diners to open-air cafes. If you approach the locals with a hearty 'Guten Tag!', they turn out to be more friendly than they look. My husband had an attack of hay fever, and we spent some time searching for some medication, but a student with a good command of English helped us out when the pharmacist could not. A couple of times, on public transport, we had to rely on the kindness of strangers, and though most Austrians outside of the tourist trade really don't speak much English, they did their best to help out. It is, of course, a great deal more polite to begin with 'Guten Tag! Sprechen Sie Englisch?' rather than assuming people speak your global language.

And what of the music? My husband had attended a concert in Vienna on his last trip and he deemed it too much of a mish-mash tourist trap, so we steered clear of the ticket touts. But we did enjoy the talents of a street violinist and bought a copy of his CD. Music was pervasive, but even more so was the image of Mozart who, though born in Salzburg, always wanted to go to the big city of Vienna.