Vienna (Wien)

Today I had decided to go to Schönbrunn Palace, and if I had time maybe I'd go to Vienna Prater to check out the Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel) which was in the movie "The Third Man". I'd also been told that Madonna was in town, and the person I was staying with was working at the show. Since it was open air, I could attempt to watch for free from a distance.

I never made it to Vienna Prater because Schönbrunn Palace was quite large and took the entire day.

Before going there, I'd decided I wanted to see the inside of Stephansdom at Stephansplatz. It was a quick trip and I'm glad I went. I played around with the settings, so the lighting in some of these will be very strange. All effects were done with my camera.



And then I took a train and a bus to Schönbrunn. The train usually stops near the palace but they had construction and that stop was closed.



It was very pretty there, inside and out. The gardens were also very extensive with a nearby Zoo. I didn't visit the Zoo, however I did take the Grand Tour of the Palace. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed on the tour..it was extremely beautiful in there.

So here is the front of the building before entering to buy a ticket.



Going out to the gardens in the back was free. Initially I went out, snapped a few photos, and then went back in to do the tour before fully exploring the rest of the outdoors. Since I couldn't take pictures inside, these pictures are only of the gardens unfortunately. They were still quite beautiful.



More pictures of the back of the palace.



Rundbassin (Round Pool) with Obeliskbrunnen (Obelisk Fountain) in the background, and then a closeup of Obeliskbrunnen.



A view down a path.



Gloriette



The pool before Gloriette with Schönbrunn Palace in the distance, and a closer view of the palace.



Pictures taken from behind the Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain) and of the pool of water in front of the fountain, both facing the palace.



And one last picture of the back of the palace.



Before heading out, I stopped at the cafe and had one of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten. Must've been the bread and the cheese (though I don't eat cheese normally).



I left the palace and took the bus back to the train station. I'd remembered someone telling me to stop at the Spittelau stop because there was an interesting building there.

Here is the Fernwärmewerks Spittelau (District Heating Plant Spittelau) which was designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Unfortunately it was getting dark by then and I didn't want to walk too far from the station since I was getting back on the train soon.



I wasn't sure what to do at this point, so I texted the person I was staying with asking where the Madonna concert was. While waiting for a response, I took a train to a stop that seemed like it'd be fun. There wasn't much there though, so I didn't feel comfortable sticking around for long. I walked around, and then walked back and took a picture of Karlskirche (St. Charles Church) which was right near the station.



In the meantime I received the text, so headed to the open air concert. These didn't come out wonderfully, but here are the pictures I took of Madonna's concert.



I decided to go one train stop up because it looked closer to the concert. I was right. When the concert was nearing it's end, they opened the gates, I arrived just at that time so I walked right through and tried to make my way to the front. I got relatively close, so I lifted my camera up and took a picture just as the music was coming to an end.



I looked at the camera and realized it was the last song when I saw "GAME OVER".

I took one more picture of some of the crowd before attempting to get out of there.



The trains were packed getting home, but I made it at least..

Vienna (Wien)

It was shaky weather in Vienna for the most part. Here and there a blue sky would pop up, but unfortunately it was pretty gloomy. I biked quite a bit and took a lot of pictures my first full day in Vienna. Here come a lot of pictures..

Some arches to start.



Vienna Town Hall



The Votivkirche (which was under construction when I later went to go see it), can be seen down the road.



Here is a statue of Dr. Karl Renner who was the first Chancellor of the German Austrian Republic.



(Parlament) Austrian Parliament Building with Pallas-Athena-Brunnen (The Athena Fountain) in front.



A state of Jakob Reumann, Victor Adler and Ferdinand Hanush, three important Austrian Socialists.



The Museumsquartier which looked pretty cool. The next time I visit Vienna (hopefully there's a next time) I'd like to see some museums.



Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Natural History Museum of Vienna)



Statue of Kaiser Franz I at Alte Hofburg (Old castle)



More statues in the area.



This entryway is in a domed archway at Alte Hofburg.



Alte Hofburg from one side.



Statues on Michaelerkirche (St. Michael's Church)



Petersplatz and the Pestsäule (Plague Column)



Nearing Stephansplatz on the Graben.



Stephansplatz and Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral)



Looking towards the Graben from Stephansdom



The front of Mozarthaus which is the only one of Mozart's apartments which still exists. He lived here from 1784 to 1787.



I took some pictures in the Mozarthaus without realizing that pictures weren't allowed. I'll only share this one because I don't know how I feel about putting "illegal" photographs online. :P I have non-blurred shots, but I actually like the way this came out.



A fountain at The Austrian Academy of Sciences (Akademie der Wissenschaften)



I think this is the doorway to Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church).



Schönlaterngasse



Fleischmarkt Greek Church



Griechengasse



Here is the plaque on the building where Mozart died. He was there for a year and finished a few pieces, but never finished Requiem.



Singerstraße



I found this cute little courtyard which after I made my way through it, I realized it came out very near Michaelerkirche. Before heading out to the church I turned around and took a picture of the courtyard. There's a shoe store to the left and an antique store beyond and to the right. If it weren't for people wearing modern clothing nearby, I would've sworn I went back in time. The next picture is a mural near the archway to Michaelerkirche.



A view inside of Michaelerkirche.



Raiffeisenbank in Michaelerplatz.



I biked just a street or two over and randomly decided to go left. I found a place called Minoritenplatz which I found very interesting (stones everywhere), and there weren't many tourists. This is one of the oldest public squares in Vienna as well.



And I took pictures of the church with many names, and a strange monument in front of it. It goes by Minoritenkirche (Greyfriars Church or Minorite Church), or formally as Italienische Nationalkirche Maria Schnee (Italian National Church of Mary of the Snows).



Volksgarten



It was starting to get dark so I started making my way back to where I was staying.

I biked by the Vienna Town Hall on my way back, and now they were putting something up in front of it.



To finish off the day, I decided to go to the Konzerthaus to watch a Mozart Concert performed by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra.

The Venue.



And the performers.



So that was a long post.