Explore the many histories of Vienna on an insightful 3-hour walking tour in the company of published authors, professors or historians. Meet your guide at at Café Griensteidl on Michaelerplatz to look at the imperial palace of the Hofburg, site of power in the imperial city since the 13th century. Admire the Loos House by Austrian architect Adolf Loos, before going to the Kohlmarkt and Graben, Vienna’s most fashionable shopping districts. Your guide will point out the plague column, a baroque church, and grand buildings in different architectural styles along the way. Learn about the tripartite burials of the Habsburgs at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Go to a humble Capuchin church to see the sarcophagi of Vienna’s rulers, and marvel at the silver urns in St. Augustine’s Church. At the edge of the inner city, discover remnants of the 12th-century city walls, built to protect Vienna from the Ottoman Empire. Tour the grand boulevard of the Ringstrasse, built when the city walls were destyoyed. Continue to Schwarzenbergplatz to admire the memorial to Russian soldiers that died liberating Vienna from the Nazis. Take a quick detour to Belvedere Palace, before getting views of the Naschmarkt and golden dome of the Secession building in Karlsplatz. Finally, weave your way through the Museums Quartier and Maria Theresien Platz, home to Vienna’s largest concentration of museums.