CHRISTMASTIME IN MUNICH & EASTERN EUROPE - 2009

"Beneath the golden façade of Vienna’s Hapsburg palaces and gleaming baroque buildings, lies a secret past. Throughout the course of history, this picturesque “gateway to the East” has been a hotbed of espionage, with 007-types hiding in the shadows of its grandiose veneer. The most famous of these spies was one Franz Kolschitszky, who in the 17th century was paid in coffee beans for spying on the Turks. He in turn opened Vienna’s first café, the Blue Bottle. Orson Welles famed movie, The Third Man, tells of a post-war Vienna teeming with spies. And in fact, a series of hidden passageways and tunnels snake under the regal city. It’s a testament to the fact that during the Cold War, the city became Spy Central for U.S. and British intelligence officers intent on peering through the Iron Curtain. So on your next journey to this majestic musical Austrian city, keep your eyes wide open and your senses alert. The secrets of undercover Vienna just might reveal themselves to you."