Vienna

Vienna

Having left Budapest first thing in the morning, we were heading west across the Pannonian plain for Austria. After just a few hours on the road we saw the Austrian Alps rising along the horizon, and then we were back alongside the Danube River, just outside Vienna.

After we grabbed lunch we were on our way around Vienna on foot. The first stop was St. Stephan’s Cathedral, a beautiful gothic church in the middle of Vienna. A children’s choir was practicing as we walked through, adding a wonderful backdrop for the high vaulted ceilings, beautiful windows, and gothic architecture.

Like most of the cities we’d visited so far, Vienna has many walkable boulevards. The central part of the city is littered with statues and fountains. From the church, we walked over to Grabenstraße and past the Pestsäule, a beautifully sculpted column, built to commemorate victims of the plague. We saw one street where a famous shoe store catered to the very wealthy (thousands of dollars for shoes made especially for your feet.) Not much further down Grabenstraße was another statue fountain, this one of St Joseph. From there we headed for Michaelplatz and the Hofburg Palace.

Hofburg Palace

Throughout the trip, we’d been hearing about the Austrian based empires that had controlled the area currently made up of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Now the Hofburg Palace (home of the Austrian empire) was right in front of us; it was kind of weird. Until the end of WWI, this place was the political center for the Austrian Empire. Today, the palace is home to the offices of the Federal President and other important departments of the Austrian government.

Spanish Riding School

Around the corner, we walked by the Spanish Riding School and then stopped by the stables. Here in Vienna was a riding school with horses from the former Yugoslavia. The school didn’t originate in Spain and there aren’t any Spanish instructors…? We found that curious until we discovered that the horses were originally from Spain, hence the “Spanish” riding school. The Lipizzaner horses are now bred in Piber, Austria. Incidentally, you can also catch a carriage ride (without Lipizzan’s) just around the corner from here.

After the riding school, we followed our guide through a tangled web of streets and reached a set of painted stairs outside the Albertina Museum. Apparently, there’s a tradition of painting or repainting the stairs periodically. On our trip, they were painted in rainbow colors. And then we were back on the bus and headed for the hotel.

Our Hilton

The Hilton Vienna Danube Waterfront, in my opinion, was the nicest accommodation for the trip. The rooms were spacious and the location was beautiful. While the prior hotels were located centrally in the various cities we visited, the Hilton was a bit on the outskirts of the city. It actually sits right on the Danube River with a nice view of Vienna International Center across the river to the North. The first thing Julie and I did was jump in the pool to cool off after the warm afternoon hiking around the city.

Vienna Revisited

While the Hilton was along the Danube, the Stadion (Stadium) U-Bahn station was within easy walking distance. So, the following day Julie and I headed into the city on the UBahn – once we figure out how to purchase our tickets from that infernal machine… Once we finally had our tickets, we took the U-Bahn to the Karlsplatz station and explored parts of the city we’d not seen during the Friday trek and revisited other sites.

We made our way back to St. Stephan’s church and then began to explore streets we hadn’t seen the day before. Where we’d gone left on Friday, we turned right on Saturday. At one point we found ourselves in the gardens behind the Hofburg Palace; this is a beautiful and peaceful place to just walk or sit and relax. A short while later we stumbled upon another statue of a lion to get my picture taken with… bonus! We took our time exploring and looking at the public art and architecture of the city. Before we knew it, it was lunchtime!

We grabbed lunch at a cafe near the Opera House and then struck out for the Karlplatz U-Bahn station. Julie wanted to see the Naschmarkt before we returned to the hotel. The Naschmarkt dates from the 16th century with scores of stalls, loads of produce and many restaurants. The market was a short walk from the Karlsplatz U-Bahn station so we wandered through there. Modern and clean, at the same time authentic and novel, the market retains some of its heritage from prior centuries. I’m not big on markets, so let’s just leave it with this; Julie enjoyed herself there.

The next morning we headed out again, this time for Salzburg. Ah, onward to the home of the Sound of Music!

More photos from Vienna are available here and on Flickr.