Explore Vienna: The Austrian National Library

Visiting this Library in Vienna was undoubtedly the only thing I really wanted to do, well, other than touring the catacombs under Stephansplatz. Sometimes I get to caught up when adventure planning that I find things for Chad to do, make sure we have Presley activities scattered in all our site-seeing but I’ve been trying to find things that will fill my adventure cup as well. I got to pinning on Pinterest and somehow this Library came up and I knew right away we’d have to make a quick stop so I can just smell all the old beautiful books (don’t old books smell a million times better than new ones?) There’s something about the damp, moth ball old book smell that takes my breath away every time. I’m not a full fledge book worm, but I sure do love reading.

The Austrian National Library is the largest baroque in Europe and holds over 12 million items with the oldest dated in 1398. Entrance to the Library is €8pp (children free) unless you have a Vienna Library card then you may enter free of charge & even read some of the books and visit parts of the Library not accessible otherwise. The Library is also part of the Vienna Pass or the Flexi Pass (read more about which one to choose here). They suggest 1-2 hours but 30-45 minutes was plenty with a Toddler. There is a lot of books protected under glass with placards that include dates, history and a little about the books that you could spend the full 2 hours reading!
I wonder if they would let me in before hours to sing songs from Beauty and the Beast at the top of my lungs…..The thought replays every time I look at these pictures. Absolutely amazing!