8/3/2012: Day 1 in Vienna
Before we did anything else, we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. There was fruit, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, cheeses, salami, croissants, fresh bread, Nutella, a variety of juices, pickles, and complimentary tea, coffee and hot chocolate. I had a big breakfast consisted of a little bit of everything.
After we ate, we walked to the smaller of the two churches on the square. It had dead saints under some of the altars that the public could see. You could see their skeletons.
The busy St. Stephen's Square that we walked through many times
The smaller church had a really nice organ
One of the many altars in the church.
You could see the dead body that was under some of the altars
The church was very beautiful
After that, we walked to the cathedral. We couldn't see much of it because a service was going on. It was a very beautiful building. Outside there were lots of people dressed as Mozart trying to sell concert tickets. They were very annoying because if you stopped they would approach you.
St. Stephan's Square and Cathedral
Our next stop was the opera house. There we took a tour that was about an hour long and included a view of the back stage area and the auditorium. I learned that once a year there is a ball in the opera house and they take out the seats and extend the stage to create a large dance floor. They also set up the backstage to look like the front of the auditorium. Tickets to the ball cost hundreds of euros.
Inside the opera house, there were four columns in each corner
Each with a cherub holding a different thing
The ceiling was very interesting and contained Greek features, namely the square waves
The lobby, where we had to wait for the tour, was very nice
As were many of the other rooms
A bust of one of the important figures in the history of the opera house
A meeting room
A dining room of sorts, maybe used during intermission
This painting is of the backstage and dressing room areas of the building
The box seats
After the tour, we took the metro to the Schoenbrunn Palace. Its style reminded me a lot of Versailles. I think it was built at a time when a lot of nations were trying to imitate the French. After a quick snack at a cafe near the palace, we went on a tour of it. The palace was beautiful and the tour guide was very knowledgeable. It was interesting to learn that nobility would only bathe once or twice a year. They wore perfume to try to cover up the smell but it didn't work that well. The tour of the palace lasted about an hour. Afterwards, we took a carriage ride around the palace grounds and saw a fountain, some Roman ruins, and a greenhouse.
The Front of the Palace
The Back of the Palace
The Front of the Palace at Night
8/4/2012: Day 2 in Vienna
Before heading out, we again enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hotel. Our first stop was the cathedral, but we still couldn't go in very far because there was a service going on again. Outside, like usual, there were people dressed as Mozart. They were outside the cathedral every day. Our next destination was the subway. Dad and Karen were going to the art museum and I was going to the natural history one. Since the subway line we wanted to take was under construction, we went to information to buy tickets and figure out how to get to each of the places that we wanted to go. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I left my camera on the counter in the information place. I didn't realize it until I was leaving the subway at the stop I was going to, so I had to backtrack and pick it up. I was sort of worried that I had put it in my pocket and it had gotten stolen, but luckily that was not the case.
Another view of the cathedral
Anyways, after that detour, I found my way to the museum. It would have been kind of confusing to find if there hadn't been a map since there were a lot of museums all in the same area. I took a picture of the outside and then went inside to buy my ticket. The grounds were very nice.
The art museum
A view of the museum grounds
A close-up of the fountain
A Maria Theresa Statue
The natural history museum was wonderful outside as well as in.
One of the four statues that surround the building, symbolizing Europe
The other one in the front, symbolizing America
A bronze elephant stood guard at the door
It was an interesting museum filled with creative and informative exhibits, along with some art work including some unicorns. There were also many stuffed animals, including sharks, rays and other fishes. Apparently it is hard to taxidermy fish because they lose a lot of color after the fish dies. The taxidermy was very well done. I especially enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit. It was interesting because they had one display that was dedicated to showing how dinosaurs became birds and included a picture of one of the first feathered dinosaurs. I also liked the hands-on exhibits that they had including one talking about the evolution of horses and the movement of the tectonic plates. The tectonic plates one showed both how the plates split up to form the continents we have today and how they will recombine to form another super-continent in the future. I knew a lot of the information it provided already, but it was still interesting. The museum also had an exhibit about how water moves around and how a rise in water temperature causes the climate to get warmer in some areas, but colder in others. I spent a few hours touring the museum by myself before I was joined by my dad and Karen. When we first got there we took a break and had a snack at the cafe in the museum. We then went to a couple of the exhibits I had already seen before going to the ones that I had not. One of the exhibits I went to twice was the dinosaur hall. It was interesting enough that I enjoyed seeing it a second time. We spent an hour walking around before heading to the subway. We had some trouble coming up with the correct change to buy the ticket, but luckily I spotted a man selling magazines. We were able to get the correct change by buying one.
We then returned to St. Stephen's square to have dinner. Because it was our last night, I ordered wiener schnitzel since I had had it before, but not in Vienna. It was very tasty. After dinner we stopped by one of the drinking fountains that were set up in the city. After being in Moldova, it was nice to have free, clean water so readily available. We then went to go look for Mozart balls. I wanted to buy some for my host family and my dad wanted to buy some for his co-workers. We weren't able to buy any from the chocolate shops because they were all closed, but we did manage to find some at a souvenir shop that was still open. In addition, I bought a miniature building to add to my collection, along with some apple pie flavored Ben and Jerry's ice cream. We then made our way back to our hotel and to bed. The next morning we had to wake up earlier than we had been to have breakfast and get to the airport on time.
Before we did anything else, we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. There was fruit, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, cheeses, salami, croissants, fresh bread, Nutella, a variety of juices, pickles, and complimentary tea, coffee and hot chocolate. I had a big breakfast consisted of a little bit of everything.
After we ate, we walked to the smaller of the two churches on the square. It had dead saints under some of the altars that the public could see. You could see their skeletons.
The busy St. Stephen's Square that we walked through many times
The smaller church had a really nice organ
One of the many altars in the church.
You could see the dead body that was under some of the altars
The church was very beautiful
After that, we walked to the cathedral. We couldn't see much of it because a service was going on. It was a very beautiful building. Outside there were lots of people dressed as Mozart trying to sell concert tickets. They were very annoying because if you stopped they would approach you.
St. Stephan's Square and Cathedral
Our next stop was the opera house. There we took a tour that was about an hour long and included a view of the back stage area and the auditorium. I learned that once a year there is a ball in the opera house and they take out the seats and extend the stage to create a large dance floor. They also set up the backstage to look like the front of the auditorium. Tickets to the ball cost hundreds of euros.
Inside the opera house, there were four columns in each corner
Each with a cherub holding a different thing
The ceiling was very interesting and contained Greek features, namely the square waves
The lobby, where we had to wait for the tour, was very nice
As were many of the other rooms
A bust of one of the important figures in the history of the opera house
A meeting room
A dining room of sorts, maybe used during intermission
This painting is of the backstage and dressing room areas of the building
The box seats
After the tour, we took the metro to the Schoenbrunn Palace. Its style reminded me a lot of Versailles. I think it was built at a time when a lot of nations were trying to imitate the French. After a quick snack at a cafe near the palace, we went on a tour of it. The palace was beautiful and the tour guide was very knowledgeable. It was interesting to learn that nobility would only bathe once or twice a year. They wore perfume to try to cover up the smell but it didn't work that well. The tour of the palace lasted about an hour. Afterwards, we took a carriage ride around the palace grounds and saw a fountain, some Roman ruins, and a greenhouse.
The Front of the Palace
The Back of the Palace
The main fountain on the grounds
Then, we walked over to the marionette theater. We weren't sure if we wanted to go, so we went inside to take a look. The puppets were very elaborate and nice. We then went back outside to discuss whether we wanted to go or not. Since the show was 2 and a half hours and Dad and Karen were hungry, we decided that I would go to the show and Dad and Karen would go have dinner. First they had a drink with me while I had a very quick dinner. I made it to the theater a couple minutes after it had begun so I missed the introduction. The performance was of Mozart's "The Magic Flute." The music was great but I didn't understand the words because it was in German. I only knew what was going on because I had read an English summary of it before it started. The marionettes were pretty small, but because of the size of the theater, designed to look like a miniature real theater, the marionettes looked like small people. After the show I went back stage and saw the puppets. One of the people there talked about how the actors moved the puppets and how the size of the stage affected how big the marionettes appeared. After I took a look backstage, I met Dad and Karen and we took the subway back to our hotel, but not before stopping for some gelato first. When we got back to our hotel, it was time for bed.
The Front of the Palace at Night
8/4/2012: Day 2 in Vienna
Before heading out, we again enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hotel. Our first stop was the cathedral, but we still couldn't go in very far because there was a service going on again. Outside, like usual, there were people dressed as Mozart. They were outside the cathedral every day. Our next destination was the subway. Dad and Karen were going to the art museum and I was going to the natural history one. Since the subway line we wanted to take was under construction, we went to information to buy tickets and figure out how to get to each of the places that we wanted to go. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I left my camera on the counter in the information place. I didn't realize it until I was leaving the subway at the stop I was going to, so I had to backtrack and pick it up. I was sort of worried that I had put it in my pocket and it had gotten stolen, but luckily that was not the case.
Another view of the cathedral
Anyways, after that detour, I found my way to the museum. It would have been kind of confusing to find if there hadn't been a map since there were a lot of museums all in the same area. I took a picture of the outside and then went inside to buy my ticket. The grounds were very nice.
The art museum
A view of the museum grounds
A close-up of the fountain
A Maria Theresa Statue
The natural history museum was wonderful outside as well as in.
One of the four statues that surround the building, symbolizing Europe
The other one in the front, symbolizing America
A bronze elephant stood guard at the door
It was an interesting museum filled with creative and informative exhibits, along with some art work including some unicorns. There were also many stuffed animals, including sharks, rays and other fishes. Apparently it is hard to taxidermy fish because they lose a lot of color after the fish dies. The taxidermy was very well done. I especially enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit. It was interesting because they had one display that was dedicated to showing how dinosaurs became birds and included a picture of one of the first feathered dinosaurs. I also liked the hands-on exhibits that they had including one talking about the evolution of horses and the movement of the tectonic plates. The tectonic plates one showed both how the plates split up to form the continents we have today and how they will recombine to form another super-continent in the future. I knew a lot of the information it provided already, but it was still interesting. The museum also had an exhibit about how water moves around and how a rise in water temperature causes the climate to get warmer in some areas, but colder in others. I spent a few hours touring the museum by myself before I was joined by my dad and Karen. When we first got there we took a break and had a snack at the cafe in the museum. We then went to a couple of the exhibits I had already seen before going to the ones that I had not. One of the exhibits I went to twice was the dinosaur hall. It was interesting enough that I enjoyed seeing it a second time. We spent an hour walking around before heading to the subway. We had some trouble coming up with the correct change to buy the ticket, but luckily I spotted a man selling magazines. We were able to get the correct change by buying one.
There were painting on the walls
And sculptures like this one in the middle
There were also unicorn skulls
We passed by the Volkstheater (People's Theater) on the way to the metro
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