Vienna
June 12
Vienna is a city of parks, statues, museums, palaces, Lipizzaner stallions, Mozart, cathedrals, monuments, coffee houses, chocolate, restaurants, hotels, trams, and lots of people. Anything that is not within reasonable walking distance is available by tram.
Vienna is a city of parks, statues, museums, palaces, Lipizzaner stallions, Mozart, cathedrals, monuments, coffee houses, chocolate, restaurants, hotels, trams, and lots of people. Anything that is not within reasonable walking distance is available by tram.
Speaking of trams, after a full day of sightseeing and watching the Lipizzaners practice, we were headed back to our hotel when we saw a movie theater playing "Pirates of the Caribbean". Theaters here are great – they have balconies; the chairs are big, soft, and covered in fabric; and you can eat in the theater. So we brought in a bottle of wine, salami, cheese, and bread and made ourselves a little picnic. Adding popcorn from the snack bar, we were set. After the picnic & drinking my third of the bottle of wine, I needed a nap. So I slept through part of the movie. Nonetheless, I enjoyed what I saw of it and it was a great memory. I think there were only about a dozen of us in the theater and from the smell of things, we were the only ones eating. Cee, Bee, & the MFB all seemed pleased with our day.
Our last day in Vienna found us exploring a museum and the Nachmarket, an open air market that sells produce, meats, cheeses, and cooked things. Cee had felafel and hummus and that evening we enjoyed “Giselle” at the State Opera House. Very fun ….. and we're out of here!
Ha, ironically brief summary for such a *massive* city. :D My two cents?
ReplyDeleteVienna has the most enthralling public fountains. My most favorite, as a group, of any other city's I've seen.
The Kuntshistorisches Museum is massive, do give yourself enough time to become saturated with Art.
The Sisi Museum is enlightenning, engaging, and fun. Two thumbs up!
We took to referring to every gorgeous, unlabelled edifice within and along the RingstraBe as a kindergarten. With so many inspiring baroque buildings lining Viennese streets, a number of them must perform less glamorous functions; not every piece of pretty architecture grows up to be a palace, government building, museum, or university. Some are certinaly day-care centers, empty warehouses, and storage facilities, right? All of ours happenned to be Kindergarten's. When you next go strolling the Baroque-lined lanes of Vienna, I encourage you give homage to the under-praised useful buildings of society: every unlabelled, four-storied beauty can be your grammar school, your Seimens office building, or your tax office.
Just another travel tip from your friendly letter, Cee.
P.S. While there are an "F-Ton" of baroque bldgs in Vienna, there are also a good deal in gothic, neo-gothic, nouveau (etc.) styles. To be honest, other than aggressively gothic cathedrals, screamingly rennaissancy towers, and wacky nouveau facades, I call pretty much every 'normal' and pretty building in Europe baroque. So, the Ringstrasse may not be lined in a *purely* Baroque fashion. I'd hate for you to be disappointed...
ReplyDeleteAlso :D
ReplyDeleteWe took a quick 2hr tour through Melk Abbey on our way from Vienna to Salzburg. The Abbey is very impressive, beautifully restored, and hosts an extremely artistic (and colorful) museum in it's halls. The Abbey also hosts licquer-making Jesus-lovers who've concocted a lovely Honey and Herb alcohol. Supposedly the Abbey at Melk, which makes the glass bottles and distills the drink, has teamed up with another abbey down the way whose garden provides the herbs. Yum!
Catch Melk if you can, even if you only have an 1/8th of a day between cities with which to explore it. :)