Vienna lies in the northeastern corner of Austria, at the crossroads of eastern and western Europe. Nestled in the foothills of the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods), Vienna's city center is generally flat, although the terrain slopes higher as you get closer to the woods. The Danube (Donau) River of waltz fame traverses the city to the east, and the Danube Canal (Donaukanal), a tributary often mistaken for the Danube proper, runs closer to the city center.
The heart of the city is the ancient streets and hidden courtyards around the Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral). Karntner Strasse, a lively street lined with shops and reserved for pedestrian traffic, leads away from the cathedral and out toward the Ring, or Ringstrasse, a broad and grand, curving boulevard. The 1-sq-mi/2.6-sq-km area within the Ring is the Innere Stadt (inner city). Within the Innere Stadt and along the Ring are most of Vienna's imposing and historic structures.
Vienna is divided into 23 districts (Bezirke). The Innere Stadt is the First district (known also as the Alt Stadt, or "Old City"), which all other districts encircle in a clockwise sequence. Districts 2-9, immediately outside the Ring, are the inner suburbs, and districts 10-23, beyond the Gurtel ring-road and the Danube Canal, are the outer suburbs. Address listings, in a phone book for instance, will begin with the district number, followed by the street name and number. When you see 19 Probusgasse 6, it means house number 6 on Probusgasse in the 19th district. In this report, the district number is listed in parentheses after the street address.
