Our first stop was Paris and then on to Vienna, Austria. It was a REAL TIGHT connection in Paris so we were dragged ahead of everyone else by an airport security person. Good thing too because we would never have found our way without help as it is a maze at CDG airport! We made our connection just in time but once we boarded, we had to wait almost 1 hr because of a maintanence check. This was an older plane and no movie to watch so I tried to sleep most the way (2 hr flight). 


We stopped at our hotel to freshen up and had a little time to sightsee near our hotel. You will never guess once who slept near our hotel. A plaque was on the outside of a building near our hotel claiming that Johann Strauss slept there.


We found a free park that had a hotdog stand and lots of amusement rides. I can see the students really enjoying this tonight! I want to see it with the lights on. Hope they don't spend all their euro at the park. Come to find out this is Prater Park, a historic amusement park. This website gives a pretty good history of the park. 

 


We went to the city centre and walked around. I took pictures of buildings but forgot what most of them were and had to look them up on the Internet. I hope I have the correct identification on these pictures.









Michaelerkirche, St. Michael's Church, was originally built in 1221 for the Austrian monarchy. Additions and modifications have been added with the latest modifications in 1792. The sculpture above the porch depicts the Fall of Angels. A black banner is hanging because a Habsburg has died recently and the funeral will be on Saturday. The catacombs in this church date back to the First and Fifth centuries.
 

























At one spot, the remains of a Roman Wall was exposed. This dates back to 1st to 5th century. The city was a fortified city (a walled city) but it was torn down and beautiful buildings were built where the walls once stood. Ringstrasse, sometimes called The Ring, encompasses the old city and many museums and government buildings now line this street. The Neues Rathaus, city council building, was built between 1872 and 1883 along the Ringstrasse. It looks like a cathedral, especially with the tall central tower mimicking a cathedral bell tower.


Hofburg is a court palace with 18 wings and 2,000 rooms. Within Hofburg is Amalienburg, Rudolph's palace, as he wanted his own "space" outside the palace. 
In the center of the courtyard, you will find the statue dedicated to Emperor Francis I of Austria. He is dressed in classical Roman attire and surrounded by four other statues. The Michaelertor (archway) that connects the large courtyard to the square is lined with statues of Hercules. Within these archways are entrances to museums and other government offices. The Sisi museum entrance is in one of these archways.




         




















Time for our first evening meal in Austria. We ate at WeinerWald, a chain restaurant in downtown Vienna. The main dish seemed like Chicken Cacciatore. We were all too tired to "go out on the town" this evening. Maybe it was because we haven't been to bed for 33 hours?
Sleeping on the plane does not count as a good night's rest!





Auf Wiedersehen