vienna

was our only repeat city of the whole trip. We were there in 2001 as part of our honeymoon, and had to go back, we liked it so much!

The first thing you see when you walk out on the main plaza... the Stephansdom. Original design on the roof, as well, but bombed out during WWII and reconstructed.











Inside Stephansdom

















Horses/carriages lined up -- selling rides around Stephansplatz













More detail on the outside of the Stephansdom
















Ausgang... Notausgang... which is it?!?!?!?!

Actually, this is both the ausgang (exit) and the notausgang (emergency exit). You quickly learn that "not" in front of something in German means "emergency"...













As also seen here in the "notlight" in the hotel hallway. :)














The Graben, street leading off of Stephansplatz with a view of the Plague Monument












Hapsburg Palace













Across from the palace, a bank designed by the more simplistic architect Adolf Loos -- he thought ornamentation was a waste of the builders' time. (Note: yes, Loos did design public bathrooms. They are on the Graben. I know you were waiting for it.)













We walked around the Stadt Park, just outside the main city ring. And we found Strauss! (for the rare split second that he wasn't surrounded by tourists)















Nice blue urns on the edges of the Vienna River. You don't actually see the river because it was hardly more than a trickle. (However, there were major thunderstorms the next day -- I wonder how things changed!)









Karl's Church -- the large spiral poles making this design unique














Gorgeous residential building













Decorative stairs at the end of a street













The next day, we visited the Schloss Schonbrunn (royal palace) not for a tour of the palace itself (too expensive) but to see the grounds -- which we've done before, but they are outstanding. Last time, it was hot and humid; this time, misty and cool.









A tree "tube" in the gardens

















Overview of the main part of the grounds -- the palace is behind you












View of the palace and the city from atop the colonnade













"Ruins" which were built on the Schonbrunn grounds in the 1700s. Ironically... they weren't maintained, and today, they actually look more ruined!










Moving on to the City Opera House... this is the ceiling of the lobby. This is a tour we took in 2001, and it was very well-done -- we had to do it again. But Bruce got a student discount this time!!









Another room in the Opera House. Busts of famous opera writers have scenes from their various operas overhead; if you look carefully here, Rossini has The Barber of Seville above.














The next day, we were back for more photography in the Stephansdom.
















The saint at the top, he never forgets where his arrows are, eh?


































I remember really liking this stained glass last time, and I really wanted a digital image. However, now, you have to pay to get into the center part, and any side view of the glass is obstructed by the organ. Oh well... we bought a postcard.
















Back outside... the infamous Mozart, not under construction! Last visit, I'd heard about this statue with the treble clef in the garden, sought it out for a picture, and... Mozart was under scaffold. I took a picture, anyway. But this time -- no scaffolding! (However, we had to wait quite some time for the tourists to clear, so I started referring to them as "tourist scaffold". Which is worse...)










One of Bruce's favorite plazas, behind the Hapsburg Palace














Wishing you a Good Journey as we move on to the next location... :)