We took a bus tour of the city of Vienna and along the way stopped at the Hundertwasserhaus apartment block. Friedensreich Hundertwasser's style is unique in using lots of bright colors and incorporating nature on the outsides of his buildings. He felt buildings did not need to have plain facades with uniform windows. When you look at the outsides of the apartments, notice the various colors. Each color is a separate apartment and notice how some apartments have two levels with some apartments larger than others. You will see trees coming out of the windows and on the roof tops, as well.




















The River Wein goes through the center of Vienna. The numbers in front of the street names signify in which district the address resides. There are 23 districts in Vienna.



We also stopped at Bundesgarten Schonbrunn for a short visit. This huge palace that once belonged to the Habsburg family until the end of the monarchy in 1918. Eventually, the palace and its surrounding parks were opened to the public. It houses the oldest zoo in the world. I didn't have time to visit the zoo or explore the maze. It was a long walk just to get close to the Neptune fountain, then I ran out of time and had to return to the bus.





Next stop, a walking tour in city "square" where there were many monuments and expensive shopping. St. Stephens Cathedral was being set up for the TV coverage of the funeral of Otto Habsburg, who died July 4, 2011 at the age of 98. Otto, the last living Hapsburg, was the eldest son of Karl I - the last Austro-Hungarian emperor. Because of this recent death, you will see in the pictures a black banner hanging from some of the buildings in Vienna. Unfortunately, we were unable to view the catacombs because of the security associated with the TV setup.



Lunch was on our own and we wanted to walk to the River Wein and visit Naschmarkt, a outside food market with all kinds of fresh food for sale. It began to pour so we ducked into a Starbucks to wait out the storm. This "little" trip was our first experience in the expression "just a few blocks" European style (similar to our "country mile" expression). We had good navigators in our group as the other group missed the turn and went a long way to find the market. There were all kinds of meat, vegetables, fruits and restaurants in the Naschmarkt.  

    


 






































































After lunch, we had to return to the ciy centre and meet in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Many historic buildings have scaffolding surrounding the building while restoration work is being done. At St. Stephen's Cathedral, the scaffolding was hidden from the street view with a painted sheet mimicking the structural features it was hiding. So the pictures we took still look like the cathedral but are really of the screen in front of it. We had some extra shopping time while part of the tour group attended dance classes. Since we were leaving Vienna tomorrow and I still had not purchased any Viennese pastry, I was on a mission to find something sweet to eat. I also went up to a roof top to get some aerial views of the city.

We had dinner in town at Himmelpforte Restaurant.


















After dinner we went to Prater Park and I talked myself into riding the Riesendrad, The Giant Wheel. Afterall, the coach car is totally enclosed so I should feel safe. Well, when anyone moves around in the coach, it swings a little back and forth. I felt I was like sitting in a canoe where all you want is for it to be balanced all the time. Luckily, it was only a 12 minute ride but to me it felt like at least 30 minutes went by. I can say "I did it" but just like rollercoasters, I won't do it again! The Riesenrad is an important landmark in Vienna. It was built to honor Emperor Franz Josef, the First and has been in many films as well as on The Amazing Race. Originally, the wheel had more coaches but it was damaged during WWII and then rebuilt with fewer coaches. It has been in constant operation since 1946. Reservations can be made to have dinner in one of the coaches.


Well, it has been a long day with lots of walking. Time for some shut eye.

Tschuss