Today we woke in Vienna, the capital of Austria.
Vienna (or Wien in German) was founded around 500BC on the River Danube and is now the largest city in Austria and 7th most populous city in the European Union. It is a very religious city with a strong focus on Christianity (approx 50% Roman Catholic). Without knowing it, we had arrived for All Saint's Day - an important religious holiday in Austria, so most of the shops were closed.
We decided to start walking into town and were greeted by the ringing church bells for All Saints:
Our plan was to spend the day in Vienna and then leave in the evening to travel the 3hrs to Prague, where we had rented an apartment for two days. By the time we were up and packed, it was already 9am so we didn't have a huge amount of time. After walking to town center, and getting some breakfast at one of the few delicatessens that was open, we ended up at central station. We decided the best way to see as much of the city in our short time was to take one of the Hop-on Hop-off buses.
But first, we did see a few sights on our walk to the city:
 |
| St Josef zu Margarten Katholische Kirche (Saint Joseph to Margaret Catholic Church) |
 |
| This was an Apple seller, but I tried to convince the kids it was McDonald's new range of burgers |
 |
| Vienna had some pretty cool "Walk / Don't Walk" lights |
 |
| Statue of a giant Godzilla-sized St Peter, considering Jesus on the cross. |
 |
| Buildings on the bank of the Wien River |
|
 |
| Facade |
 |
| An Market Office with a baby riding a bear and distributing fruit - I'm sure this breeches many laws and hygiene codes |
We walked through the Night Market, which was closed (for the obvious reason that it wasn't night...)
 |
| We were worried about encountering the scarily named "Fidet Spinner Mafia" - they sounded tough! |
 |
| The Night Market |
The group of people in front of us in the photo above were Italian and looking for the city center. We overtook them and they tried to get our attention to ask for directions - they tried four different languages before finally getting us on "Excuse, friend." We managed to direct them the correct way (we hope, since we didn't hear of a small group of people needing to be rescued after falling in the River Wien).
 |
| Contemporary Art in Vienna - The words say (I think) "The art of your time, the art of your freedom" |
 |
| The Vienna Opera House |
We caught the Hop-On Hop-Off from the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) which was opened in 1869. It was designed by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null. The design was not popular as it wasn't as grand as some of the private residences and looked "like a sunken treasure chest". Van der Null committed suicide before the building was completed and Sicardsburg died of tuberculosis ten weeks later - neither seeing the building completed.
The Opera house was set alight by American bombs in 1945 and was eventually rebuilt in the same style.
 |
| Side view of the Opera House |
 |
| The rear of the Opera House and the stage wings |
 |
| Fountain outside the Opera House |
 |
| The Natural History Museum |
Our first sight on the bus was the Natural History Museum - which we swore was a palace. It was built in 1872 and has over 8,700 m^2 of exhibits. The museum consists of two identical buildings that line the Maria Theresien Platz.
 |
| The second building |
 |
| Side wall of the Museum |
 |
| Statue of Empress Maria-Theresien in Maria-Theresien Platz between the museums |
Maria Theresa Walburga Emalia Christina - who Maria-Theresien Platz is named for - was the Empress of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, Austrian Netherlands and Parma. She ruled for 40 years and was the only female ruler of the Hasburgs. She died in 1780 (aged 63) at Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
 |
| Maria-Theresien Statue |
Next we came across the Vienna State Parliament Building, built in 1883:
 |
| Vienna State Parliament Building |
 |
| Vienna State Parliament Building |
Next stop was the Austrian Bergtheatre (Imperial Court Theatre), built in 1741. It was mostly destroyed by bombs in 1945 and then a subsequent fire. It was restored in 1955.
 |
| Bergtheatre |
 |
| Bergtheatre main Entrance |
 |
| Bergtheatre |
 |
| Bergtheatre |
Unfortunately the bus didn't let us get the best photos of our next sight - the Rossauer Kaserne, Rossauer Barracks, which are the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence and Sport (an odd coupling to be covered by the same ministry!). It was built in 1848 to help protect the city from worker revolts:
 |
| Rossauer Kaserne |
 |
| Rossauer Kaserne |
 |
| Plauqe on a wall on Taborstrasse (top left says "Second Oldest Street in Second Oldest District"= |
 |
| Crossing the Danube |
 |
| Graffiti along the Danube |
We switched over the the 'Blue Line' bus, which crossed the Danube and saw the sights on the other side of the river. This side was a little disappointing and didn't really compare with the original 'Red Line'.
The first thing we saw as Donauinsel (Danube Island) which is a very thin island that exists in the Danube in Central Vienna. According to Wikipedia, it is 21.1km long and 70-210m wide. It was create to prevent the Danube from flooding Vienna (A common occurence in history), but it is generally used for swimming and recreation. The area of the Danube island and an additional island(called the Prater) were initially private royal hunting grounds, but they were gifted to the people by Emperor Joseph II in 1766. It has since become the site of many sporting clubs, nightclubs, coffee houses and cafes.
 |
| A facade by the Rotundenbrücke |
The text reads "In 1776 the first bridge was the Rotunda Bridge".
 |
| Church Franziska Assizskogo (Church of Francis of Assisi), built in 1910 |
 |
| Church Franziska Assizskogo |
 |
| Church Franziska Assizskogo |
 |
| Crossing the Danube |
 |
| Prater Amusement Park |
 |
| Monument of the Austrian Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff |
Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff was an Austrian Admiral who commended the North Sea Fleet in 1864 and 1866.
 |
| Monument with the park in the background. |
 |
| Eagle statue on a Stubenring 1 in Vienna |
The double-headed eagle is the sign of the Hasburg Monarchy of Austria.
After we returned to our starting location, we jumped off the bus and went for a walk to see if we could find the church that we kept seeing over the tops of all the other buildings - Saint Stephen's Cathedral (Stephensdom). The church was consecrated in 1147.
 |
| Model of Saint Stephen's Cathedral |
After seeing the model we headed to the actual church, past this subway stop that gave us some sense of homesickness:
 |
| Sweden Place! |
 |
| and Sweden bridge |
 |
| Saint Stephen's Cathedral |
 |
| The spire |
 |
| Front of the cathedral |
 |
| Interior |
 |
| The altar |
 |
| The Cathedral |
 |
| (some slight warping due to panoramic) |
After visiting the cathedral, we walked back to the car and drove to the Czech Republic and our next stop - Prague.
We needed to buy another Vignette, but we could easily pick these up on the border. We got in pretty late and, since we had two nights accommodation, we completely unloaded the car. Our place was pretty comfortable, but it was right behind a late night casino with some dodgy-looking people hanging around. Once we'd unloaded our bags and parked the car, we ducked to a corner shop for some dinner and then tried to get a good night sleep to be ready for the next day.
This failed pretty badly for one reason - we had a washing machine for the first time, so decided to get our clothes washed. However, for some reason, the machine didn't display cycle times and so we set it to what appeared to be the shortest cycle, turning it on around 9pm. Kris went to sleep at 11:30 and I sat up until 1:30am when it finally finished its cycle. We weren't brave enough to put on another cycle.
 |
| Our day 5 drive |
Total for the day: 3hr 45, 291km
Total so far: 1750km
No comments:
Post a Comment