Waltzing Vienna

Well, finally had a chance to finish this blog entry. At the end of May we had our last public holiday for a while (until August). It was a Bank holiday. They have one at the start of May (when we did Prague) and one at the end. I don't understand why. Curiouser still is the fact that although we have the Queen's Birthday holiday in Australia, they don't celebrate that here in the UK. Barmy.

Anyhoo, the other trip we had planned before visiting Hong Kong and Sydney at Easter (and one of the driving forces in us returning to Europe) was to Vienna, home of the wiener schnitzel, the apfelstrudel, the sachertorte (of course I'm focusing on the food, I LOVE food!), and the Danube. It's obviously also famous for its art, architecture and music (think: waltzes, Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven, and of course, Zawinul - c'mon, who hasn't heard Birdland before? Joe even has his own jazz club there underneath the Hilton Hotel near the Stadtpark. And was it damned expensive to get in to too?)







There have been some cities and places we've visited for the weekend where we just couldn't get away quick enough (I hate to name names, but Paris and Cardiff immediately spring to mind). This was definitely not one of those places. There was so much to see, do and experience. (Without exaggeration, we took 1000 photos and have whittled it down to about 50 to post here.) We quickly ran out of time and had to make a mad dash to the airport for our return flight to London. We cut it so fine (with the language difficulties and unfamiliarity with the train system) that we checked in late and were put on stand-by. Luckily, we made it on to our (delayed) flight and managed (after some musical chairs) to get seats next to each other.

It would have sucked so bad if we missed it, as the mobile-less Tina (who has just returned from gallivanting around Prague for the last few days) arrived in London that morning was expecting to rendezvous with us at Piccadilly Circus at 7:30pm-ish that night. But things worked out well enough and we managed to get there slightly later than anticipated.

The trip started on Saturday morning when we arrived in Vienna for the second time (the first being enroute back to London). We dumped our bags off at our hostel/apartment and ventured off into the city to explore. First stop was the Museum Quartier, which is one of the ten largest cultural districts in the world, and obviously full of museums. Its amazing how much "culture" they can cram into one city. The whole place is so rich and amazing to look at. Its astonishing to think how old the buildings are and why modern architecture now is so bland.


They have these red bench things everywhere in the Museum Quartier. Following the pictures in our guide books (kindly donated by Bridget), we took some customary photos.


This is the impressive Kunsthistorisches Museum Building which is directly opposite the equally impressive Naturhistorische Museum. They are separated by gardens, cool trees, fountains, and a huge statue.




We did take notice of the fact that the Viennese seem to have an unhealthy obsession with violence. We saw so many statues and sculptures of men beating up horses and angels fighting each other. Maybe its a cathartic release. I just don't get it. One website says that they're "horse tamers". I still don't get it.


This is the Viennese Parliament building, with the famous statue of Athena (Goddess of Wisdom) holding Nike (the Goddess of Victory) in her hand. As with Justice in Dublin, people say that Wisdom has her back turned to the parliament.




This is Schönbrunner Schloss-Straße (Schönbrunn Castle). We didn't spend too much time there or do their maze as the weather started to turn a bit shitty then.


Views of the palace grounds were a bit disturbed by workers setting up for the free Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra concert conducted by Plácido Domingo (one of the Three Tenors - him, Pavarotti and the "other guy") on 2nd June, which we missed out on because we had to return to London for work.


This is the largest glass-house in Europe, the Palmenhaus (Palm House) at Schönbrunn Castle.


Pretty flowers everywhere. They also had a fantastic Australian flora section, which made us quite homesick.


We were actually trying to find the Butterfly House which we saw in one of the guide books, but then realised that we were in the wrong Palm House and that we should have headed back into town.

So, back to town we went... This is the Hofburg, Vienna's Imperial Palace.


More violence on the streets of Vienna


Walking down the shopping district (Kohlmarkt, Graben, Kärntner Strasse) which is full of elegant shops and cafes and marvellous shopfronts and statues. They also have "Stars of Fame" like in Hollywood. But, instead of movie stars they feature their famous musicians.




This is a shot of the Stephansdom (Cathedral of Saint Stephen, also called Steffl or 'Steve'). As with most other famous landmarks/attractions, this was under renovation so we don't really have many nice pictures of it. It does have cool mosaic tiles on the roof. On the northwest side it even has the State Coat of Arms.


We visited the Haus Der Musik (House of Music) which was a pretty cool interactive and hands-on museum. Besides the historical information overload and biographies of all their famous composers, there were some weird installations and things to do. They do a lot with sound/noise and break down how music is made right down to the fundamentals.




This is Tammy conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. It was quite tricky and they didn't really like her interpretations of the Blue Danube or Eine Kleine Nacht Musik and they let her know what they thought. I had a go too and had a bit more success. But, its quite tiring conducting and hard to keep time when your arm is getting tired from the repetitive motion.


This is in a tiny but very impressive little church called the Franziskanerkirche. You could never tell from its modest and unassuming exterior that it was so grand inside! The main attraction here is the 'indestructable' statue of "Madonna with Axe", so-called due to the axe stuck in her left shoulder (look closely).


Onwards to the Butterfly House, passing the Albertina Museum


The Schmetterlinghaus (Butterfly House) at the Burggarten. We finally found it.


It was like a sauna in there. They keep it nice and toasty for the pretty little butterflies. It was such a change from the cool weather outside that we had to wait a few minutes for our camera lens to adjust before we could take any photos (it kept fogging up).

A lot of the flowers in here are fake plastic ones, which are sprayed with honey.










This is one of the ones attracted to Tam. All the others kept landing on her bum. Sweet as.




After the Schmetterlinghaus we stopped in at the Aida cafe for some coffee and apfelstrudel which was quite yummy.


We then strolled past the Vienna Secession building.








Vienna is so beautiful. We walked past these buildings and they just seemed to shine like gold. It's so amazing.


The stunning Majolika Haus (left) and neighbouring Wagnerhaus (right) by Otto Wagner at Karlsplatz. Examples of the Vienna Secession (Art Nouveau) movement.


Then we visited the Belvedere, which is a baroque palace complex consisting of the Upper and Lower Belvederes and the vast grounds. Here are more statues of men beating up horses.




The well-maintained Belvedere grounds.


That's the Lower Belvedere in the background. We couldn't go anywhere near it as it was under renovation or something.


This is the Upper Belvedere


This is one of the amazing buildings designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. His stuff is really really cool. We've got some books with pictures of his stuff. It's just fun and cool.




...and outside his museum




Another cool thing about Vienna is that they have a permanent funfair at a park called the Prater. This is the Riesenrad, their giant ferris wheel and one of their most recognised symbols of Vienna. I guess its just like the London Eye. Incidentally, have you guys heard about the one they're planning on building in Melbourne??


This is one of the mini ferris wheels they have there too




The Hofburg by night


The Johann Strauss memorial statue in the Stadtpark. Probably the most photographed statue in Vienna.


This is the restaurant where we had the biggest weiner schnitzels ever! Bigger than the plate! YUMMM!




After dinner (and also for lunch before we came back to London) we had beers at the 7 Stern Bräu, which used to be a Gestapo headquarters, but is now a cool pub with its own in-house brewery. The beer is soooo nice. I was quite partial to the unbelievably delicious 7 Stern Märzen, whilst Tam was quite taken with their 7 Stern Honey Brown Ale. They even have a 7 Stern Chilli brew which was tongue blisteringly hot. I ordered a half-pint of this to taste and coudn't finish it. Needless to say, if you are ever in Vienna, you need to come here.