A day in Vienna

Somehow, over my entire semester studying abroad in Budapest in 2006, I never got the chance to take the 3-hour train ride to Vienna. So, as I had a day in between when my conference ended in Cologne and when I meet Heather in Budapest, I decided to not let the opportunity fly by again, and visit Vienna.

I had a very early 6 AM flight from Dusseldorf (which meant getting up before 3 AM in Cologne to make sure I got there on time) and by 9 AM I was checked into my Vienna hostel. Then, I set out exploring, camera in hand.

Pretty much all the streets in Vienna look like this: grand, brightly-colored late-19th-century architecture, German cars, and pigeons.

A unique characteristic of Vienna is that it seems to have palaces around every corner. I believe this is the Art History museum.

And this is just right across the street, the Hofburg palace.

Also, there are monuments to composers all over the city—here's a Mozart. I like the flowered clef :-)

Franz Joseph I: the Austrians love this guy. As well they should, because he ruled for 68 years—yes, 68!—in the golden age of the Hapsburgs.

National opera house. There was a May-Day rally going on; a lot of people angry about something to do with labor.

Upper Belvedere palace

View of the city from the Belvedere palace gardens

When you're traveling solo, you have to do something to spice things up, amuse yourself. After taking this picture I decided that I would make it a goal to get as many photos as possible of me alongside bare-breasted statues. I didn't get that many (only 3) but it was a fun game, a variant of the traditional "posing" game (where you attempt to replicate whatever sculpted/painted/printed figure with whom you appear in the photo). Here's #1.

#2.

A busy square on the Ringstrasse. The trolley wires are ubiquitous.

Johann Strauss in the Stadtpark. Funny story, when I walked up to this statue there was a huge group of Japanese tourists already there. They were taking pictures of their friends with Strauss, about 6-8 people taking pictures of about 2 people at a time, and there was a ~4-person line to be in pictures, so I thought, "well, I'll just wait until they're done, then take my photo." Well, what do you know, the line kept refreshing. And there was no gap between photos—no chance for me to snap a quick one as new people came up to Strauss. For about 8 minutes straight I stood there waiting, when people would stop materializing to add onto this line. What's more, it seemed like every single picture was EXACTLY the same (not very expressive cheesy poses, one person on either side of Strauss), but every single one of the Japanese tourists had to get their picture. They really had this down to a science, too—I wonder how many sites get this kind of treatment! It was hard for me not to laugh out loud at my predicament. Oh well, eventually the line finally fizzled out.

#3. It's too bad I didn't get more…especially because it seemed like those Hapsburgs must have loved their bare breasts…but I'll see what I can do for the rest of this trip.

With one day in Vienna, I did my best to see as much as possible (not always the right plan, but in this case I had motivation and energy, and it worked out well.) I even got to the Zentralfriedhof (central cemetery), a little ways out of the city, where many famous people, including several famous composers, are buried.
Here's Beethoven on the left, Schubert on the right, and a monument to Mozart in the middle (he's actually buried in a different cemetery, in a mass grave.)

Poor Brahms. He's stuck off to the side, within view of Beethoven's grave but kind of in a corner. There's Johann Strauss again, next to him.

So, quick story here: I was going through the cemetery and all of a sudden I heard some music. No one was around, so I started searching for the source.
I finally located the origin and found it was coming from a grave with a headstone that read: Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827. Then I realized that the music was the Ninth Symphony and it was being played backward! Puzzled, I found someone else and persuaded them to check this out too. By the time we arrived back at the grave, the music had changed. This time it was the Seventh Symphony, but like the previous piece, it was being played backward.
Curious, we agreed to consult a music scholar. When we returned with the expert, the Fifth Symphony was playing, again backward. The expert noticed that the symphonies were being played in the reverse order in which they were composed, the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th.
Soon a throng had gathered around the grave. We were all listening to the Second Symphony being played backward.
Just then the graveyard's caretaker ambled up to the group. Someone in the crowd asked him if he has an explanation for the music.
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about" said the caretaker. "He's just decomposing."

St. Stephen's Cathedral in the middle of town.

Demel coffeehouse treats. I got a Sachertorte, which was pretty good :-)

The Globe Museum. Very small, but I definitely learned a few things about globes, and have a greater respect for them now.

After returning to the hostel to let my ever-tiring legs recuperate for an hour or so, I found the strength to head down to Schönbrunn Palace. Glad I did, because it was a great place to watch the sun go down!
Gates of Schönbrunn

Main courtyard

The expanse grounds on the back side

Back side of the palace and part of the city, from the colonnade at the top of the hill. I spent at least an hour up there, enjoying the view and taking photos.

Hills behind Vienna in view

I had to sprint to make it into this photo. I wish my camera didn't restrict me to timer lengths of 2 and 12 seconds.

This one was more a leisurely walk.

Sun going down

These "straightaway views" (where the landscaping is specifically designed to give you a long, narrow view in a certain direction) are all over the grounds at Schönbrunn.

Back up at the colonnade above.

Lit-up Schönbrunn Palace.


That's about it—a long day, and my legs were tired, but a great adventure.

So, I'm now in Budapest!! It is AMAZING to be here again. More to come…though perhaps not for another 10 days, when I'll be relaxing in New York.

(By the way, I'm doing so well keeping up my blog so far simply because (1) I have a little extra time these couple of days before Heather gets here, and (2) I know that when I get through with this week, it will be a daunting enough task as it is to try to cover this upcoming week's travels, let alone the ones I've already been through. But what I'm saying is, this timeliness ends now, because Heather joins me tonight!)