Vienna

All right, here's the deal. Vienna was AMAZING. And I'm going back as soon as I can. It's probably the most consistently gorgeous cities I've ever seen. Everywhere you turn there is a gorgeous building to look at. The atmosphere was something bordering on magical. I'm going back as soon as I possibly can. Because I loved it and also because I didn't get to see one of the main things I planned to: the Zentralfriedhof (cemetery). People such as Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms, etc are buried there. Must go and worship at graves of musical geniuses. (kidding)

Other deal: I don't have the patience, nor the webspace here to put up even over view pics from our 3 day trip to Vienna. So. You're going to have to go to Flickr and see the photos. There is commentary on all the photos there so you'll know what you're looking at. Be sure to view the photos individually. I think, if you do slideshow, you don't get the commentary.

Flickr Vienna set photo link:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/22248978@N00/2R2tv9

On the way to Vienna, we stopped in Melk which has an amazing 18th century cloister. With an amazing library that almost sent me into fits of geekiness. We then stopped at another town and climbed another mountain (surprise!) to visit the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lionhearted (Think Robinhood) was held prisoner for 2 years. Apparently, he insulted the Austrian prince on his return from the crusades. Don't mess with the Austrians, man. They'll make you huff and puff up a huge mountain and stick your rear in a cell. (He was eventually bailed out by the French. Weird, huh?)


Then it was on to Vienna. Where we stayed in a gorgeous 4 star hotel right in the center of town. The view from my window was incredible (see Flickr :D ). The next day, the group split into two parts and took walking tours through the city. Seeing such things like.

St. Stephen's cathedral:

Heldenplatz: (where the Hapsburgs had a palace and where Hitler gave a speech after the Austrian Anschluss)

After leaving the tour group to explore on our own. An incredible art and artifacts museum in yet another Hapsburg palace:

Trank melage and ate Wienerschnitzel and Sachertorte in the Cafe Sperl where Hitler used to come to spout off politics when he lived in Vienna as a young man:


We attended the opera Elektra at the Staatsoper House (had such bad seats, we could see approximately NONE of the stage). Chilled at another cafe afterwards and soaked in the Viennese experience.

Next day, was the day of palaces. And of rain. It rained all day. No relief. I think Vienna was just sad I was leaving. We saw Schloss Belvedere, built for a French general. It now houses a huge collection of art. Including Kilmt's famous "The Kiss". Schloss Belvedere:


Then it was to Schloss Schonbrunn, which was probably my favorite thing. We had a self guided audio tour which meant you could take your time and look around each room as long as you liked. The place was incredible and looked like Franz Joseph and Sophie (Or Marie Theresa) had just stepped out for a moment.
It was hard to get a good picture because: a) It was raining. And b) The place was freakin' huge.


Sorry this was a lame update. But I spent a lot of time uploading the Vienna pics to Flickr, so go check them out there and read all the good commentary that I wrote. :) YOU'LL FALL IN LOVE WITH VIENNA, TOO.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/22248978@N00/2R2tv9