The day itself started pretty late. I awoke around 8:45 am after finally falling asleep around 4:30 am. Lana went to sleep around 1:30 am as we didn't turn off the lights until 1:15. Lana was super tired so slept until around 11:30 am. She said she has been missing REM sleep. We were out the door of our room by around 12:15 pm so a pretty late start.
Another warm day to start, although lots of cloud cover. The weather was actually perfect for most of the day as the sun came through only a few times so it was not super hot. We decided to catch a few more attractions in the Innere Stadt. More walking today. Our first stop was to get some lunch at a small restaurant. This place we saw yesterday and took some pics. It has open-faced sandwiches Viennese style in the window. How can you resist??? The small sandwiches were delicious and you have about 15 choices. Pretty much a high turnover in patrons as it doesn't take long to eat. Lana ordered a bowl of potato leek soup to complement her two sandwiches.
Walking along Mariahilferstrasse into Innere Stadt. For some reason, we noticed a much larger number of teenage kids who we thought should be back in school by now? Crowds were still pretty large on the main shopping streets; Karntner Strasse and Graben Strasse. There are so many shops and small mall type shopping opportunities for the tourists and locals. Expensive label stores and a number of American chain clothing stores. As well, many outdoor restaurants where you can sit under an umbrella and enjoy the people watching.
We went inside the gigantic St. Stephen's Cathedral to discover more about the interior. It is worth the inside look in addition to the views from its south tower. Given the number of tourists inside it must generate tons of revenue for the church. It is cooler inside and very much calms you given the sheer scale of the edifice and its history.
I was keen on seeing Schatzkammer des Deutschen Ritterordens (The Teutonic Knights from the Crusades) church and monastery. We did visit the church part which was interesting given the fact it was constructed in the 14th Century. We decided not to visit the monastery with the various Middle Ages treasures on an upper level. We did walk around back to visit Sala Terrena. From the 18th Century it is a very small concert hall where Mozart played when he was younger. As you can see from my pic, it is a very small room, but beautifully painted and appointed:
We walked and found the Juden Platz where the Judisches Museum Wien (Judenplatz) is located. Not an easy place to find! On the surface near the Museum is an edifice memorial to the memory of the 65,000 Austrian Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust. Our main reason though was to visit the Museum to see the medieval ruins of an ancient synagogue unearthed during modifications to the square. The Memorial above is directly on top of the medieval ruins. Plus, some great presentations on live for medieval Jews living in Vienna.
Another plus was the exhibit titled "Jewish Geniuses - Warhol's Jews." I had no idea that Andy Warhol was Jewish. He was asked to do a project of portraits of 10 of the most influential Jews of the 20th Century and they had to be famous to Americans. Brilliant work by Andy Warhol and I took a picture of three of the portraits. From the right to the left; Golda Meir, Albert Einstein and Sarah Bernhardt.
More venturing around Innere Stadt and we were in various buildings. Got a second chance to see the Royal Lippizzaner horses in their stalls. I think many of us Baby Boomers can remember seeing them on tv doing their 'prancing' gaits. Magnificent horses. The famous Spanish Riding School is right beside the stalls. By the way, lots of horse drawn carriages in the Innere Stadt carrying tourists. Of course, that means watch for horse poop!
Given it was a long walk back to our room and we need to eventually take the train to the restaurant, we grabbed the U3 subway line to our room around 5 pm. The train was super crowded given it was Vienna rush hour. Reminded us of the crowds in Tokyo. Packed in like sardines.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS RE VIENNA:
+ there are a lot of ice cream and gelato places in this city and they are all very busy.
+ hot dog stands are permanent; there are no food trucks.
+ the subway is very clean. It can be quite a rough ride sometimes though almost like we will derail.
+ much more ethnic variety here than in Frankfurt, especially with the veiled/traditional dresses of the Muslim population. Lana thinks there are many more Asians here than Deutschland.
+ the German spoken in Vienna is different than in Deutschland.
+ buildings in the Innere Stadt are more ornate.
+ not as many cyclists here as you would expect.
For now, that is all we can think of... For certain, when we are venturing tomorrow, we will think of observations we forgot! ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment