Enjoying Vienna

Thursday, August 18, 2011
Vienna, Austria
The morning started as usual with too much to eat for breakfast and then it was off to the Schonbrunn Palace. This was the summer home of the Hapsburgs and was designed by Leopold I to be larger that Versailles. Unfortunately that never came to pass although when Empress Maria Theresa decided to turn Schonbrunn into a summer home, it was finally complete. It is now used for official events by the Austrian government.

The tour was very informative, but much of the palace is under renovation so many of the rooms were empty and in those rooms that were not empty, the furnishings were sparse . I'm sure it will be very impressive when the renovations are complete. We then walked briefly into the gardens. We had hoped to photograph the maze in the gardens, but time and a charge to go into that part of the garden stopped us.

Then it was back to the boat for lunch, before we hopped on the shuttle bus back to the city to explore on our own. When we got back into the city we headed first to St. Stephen’s Church. The church spire can be seen from great distances in the city. This large church is undergoing external renovations, but the inside is beautiful. Ninety-five percent of the population of Austria is Roman Catholic, so most of the churches in the city are Catholic. Fred did find a small Baptist Church in our travels. After leaving St. Stephen’s we went to find another church indicated on the map a couple of blocks away. We easily found St. Peters just behind St. Stephens and were again awed by the beauty inside.

Since we were staying in the city until we were to meet others from the boat at the Kursalon for a concert of classical music, we had some time to explore the pedestrian shopping area of Vienna. In this area are a variety of stores both familiar and unfamiliar and many outdoor coffee shops and cafes.

It was just a short walk from the shopping area to the Kursalon, where we enjoyed a glass of sparking wine and a pleasant, well done concert. From there it was back to the boat for a late dinner.
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Comments

Elaine
2011-08-25

We rode the subway in Vienna and it was an experience. Your weather looks BEAUTIFUL!!! Glad to get word from you... Laura figured you'd fallen overboard!

2025-02-09

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