We spent the past 3 days in Vienna doing a variety of things. We visited the Belvedere Palace, or better known as “The Belvedere”, which is a baroque palace built for Prince Eugene. The tour centred on the state rooms that were used to various functions. It was largely a display of sculptures and art as the palace includes a large collection of Austria’s important medieval art. The main attraction the famous painting titled “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt.
We also visited the Schonbrunn castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle served as the summer home of the Habsburgs and is considered one of Europe’s most impressive Baroque palaces. The palace came into the Habsburg possession in 1569, and the family ruled until 1918 when it was passed to the Republic of Austria. In the early 1700’s it was handed down to Maria Theresa Habsburg, and the main storyline of the palace from that point on focuses on her resin and that of her son Franz Joseph. This tour was more interesting as it went through the rooms they existed it…bedrooms, offices, dining room, dressing rooms, and where they received guests. At the end the boys enjoyed running through a variety of mazes within the extensive gardens.
On Saturday we attended the food and drink festival in Stadtpark park, along with a million of our closest Austrian friends. The best part was the glasses of wine they allowed you to walk around with, refilling at will and then retuning the glass before you left to collect your two euro deposit.
Walking in the centre of town which was the original city from its beginnings, was a pleasure. The architecture is amazing, and it’s everywhere. St. Stephens church, the most important religious building in Vienna, is 136 metres tall! From the outside it was magnificent (we didn’t venture inside). It’s the second tallest church in the world.
When in Vienna, it seems obligatory to attend a classical music concert. We attended Mozart’s Requiem, performed in the beautiful St. Charles Church. Mozart used to play in this church as a child. This experienced ended up being a very expensive nap for Sean, but the rest of us enjoyed it. Pics weren’t allowed inside during the concert, but here are some from the outside.
Wanting to squeeze every minute out of our trip, we purchased the late ticket to gain entry into the Haus der Music. This was a very well done museum about the major composers of Austria (or those who spent time there) and the origins of sounds. Sean will cover it in more detail in his blog.
What was interesting is that as we went through the various sights, the history overlapped and the same names would come up. For example, the Schonbrunn castle mentioned Mozart and the Mozart music section referenced Marie Theresa Habsburg and the negative influence she had on music during her reign.
We attempted to bike the Danube but the first hour was along the Canal leading to the Danube and then once there we were in the outskirts of the city and the view was bushes…not what we expected. But nonetheless it was good to get on bikes and get sore bums.
Over the 7 days, we took 14 different modes of transportation to get around: plane, feet, bus, streetcar, subway, eurorail, gondola, cable car, funicular, vaporetta, motor boat, bike, car, and miner’s cart.
Despite the weather forecasts, we had no rain! We then flew to Malta this morning to forecasted rain…arrived to full sun and 23 degrees. At some point our luck will run out, but we’re riding the wave in the meantime.
Looks awesome!
Incredible. Such beautiful architecture. It really looks like to got everything out of this trip. The 14 modes of transportation is quite an achievement.