Upon leaving Prague, we took a beautiful train ride to Vienna. It was a lovely way to see the countryside and to say we passed the most picturesque places would be quite an understatement. Truly breathtaking scenery in that part of the world!
We began our Vienna city tour in the Innere Stadt, the geographical, historical, religious and financial heart of the city. This entire district was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2001 and is truly amazing. History seems to spill over from each and every cobblestone in the maze of old streets, easily transporting us to the days of Beethoven and Mozart. In this photo, I was struck by the dichotomy between the ancient and modern forms of architecture:
These photos show Shephansplatz, a beautiful Gothic cathedral and focal point of the Innere Stadt. A church has stood on this site since the 12th century. One of the most extraordinary features of Stephansplatz is the tiled roof:
Here is the beautiful baroque high altar:
This is the stone pulpit, built in 1515 in the Gothic style. The faces show the four fathers of the church (Saints Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory and Jerome) and on the right is the face of Anton Pilgram, the designer of the pulpit. The pulpit's hand railing shows salamanders and toads fighting a battle of good versus evil up and down its length:
After leaving Stephansdom, we stumbled upon a smaller cathedral, Franziskanerkirche, with a plain facade which did nothing to lure us inside. So glad we decided to take a peek as we were greeted by more gold and marble and glittering chandeliers than we have seen yet:
Our next stop was Hofburg, the Imperial Palace. This impressive complex of cultural buildings was home to the Habsburgs, one of the most powerful empires Europe has ever seen, from 1279 to 1918. The palace now houses the offices of the Austrian president and many fine museums:
The Nationalbibliothek, once the imperial library, now the largest library in Vienna:
Just inside the palace complex, we found a wonderful horse drawn carriage tour guide that took us around the rest of the city. Here are our illustrious tour guides:
The little ones especially enjoyed this tour:
The Staatsopermuseum, many people consider this the greatest opera house in the world:
The Kunsthistorisches Museum, only seen by our circus party by the outside, but top on my list to visit again one day as this Museum of Art History is ranked among the finest in Europe, if not the world: 
A perfect example of neoclassical architecture in the Parlament building:
And the Athena Fountain just in front of the Parlament building. Grecian architecture was chosen here as Greece was the home of democracy and Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom. It was hoped that both qualities would be permanent features of Austrian politics:
Rathaus (City Hall) is quite a site and full of Gothic grandeur:
We concluded our city tour back at Hofburg. At one end of the palace complex, our tour guide pointed out these well preserved Roman ruins:
1 comment:
I can't believe the amazing experiences you are all having. Incredible!
Post a Comment