Christine in Wien, Austria

A band in Wien (Vienna) welcomed me to the city.  What a great place.  (Not really sure why there was a band, but it's my blog so I'm going with it.)

Wien is now my favorite city in Europe.  To start, it is famous for it's pastry's and especially it's chocolate torte cake.  I sampled many pieces of cake to determine the best one.  It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.  I liked the Demel version best.  I had the sample piece there.  I'll be honest, the icing is to die for.  The cake is wonderful.  But the jam they add, not my favorite.  Hotel Sacher is known for the original torte (pictured below with whipped creme).  

Demel chocolate torte

I did more than eat (I know, hard to believe).  I visited various churches so I could get the money shot of the city.  The St Charles Church is beautiful inside and out.

Outside St. Charles Church.

Inside the very top dome of the St. Charles Church.

However, I have now determined that living in Europe is making my fear of heights worse.  In my head I know that it is safe to visit the top of the churches.  But my heart says, Christine get down now.  And my heart usually wins every time.  But this time, I think I am in the right to be nervous, at least for the St. Charles Church.  This Church lets you go to the top for an amazing view of the city.  It even has an elevator.  I tried 3 times, taking the elevator, to go to the top.  But seriously, it is on scaffolding.  I mean it moved when I was walking up (see the very top there--yes up there).  I just couldn't go up to the top of the scaffolding.  Really, who would do that?  Not me.  That's for sure.





As soon as I get to the top of the Church/high building/vantage point, I just want to get to ground as fast as humanly possible.  I hate waiting for elevators/people to move.  And once I get on ground again, I think, Christine, you should have stayed up there and took more pictures and took in the view.  It is safe or they would not let you up there.  I'll keep trying, but I'll also take suggestions on how to make this better.

St. Stephen's Cathedral (South Tower is the skinny tower on the left side).

St. Stephan's Cathedral is beautiful.  The city is in the process of cleaning the church.  I'm guessing it has not been cleaned in 700 years.  Half of the cathedral is black.  The other half is white, as they are trying really hard.  The front of the cathedral (pictured) is Romanesque.  The first structure was completed in 1160.  Of course a fire burned the church and the rebuilt church was finished in 1263.  The south tower was completed in 1433.  I still wonder how people accomplished the task of building a tower of 445 feet.  It is high.  I climbed up the steps of this tower.  I actually prefer to climb steps.  Because they start from the ground and are attached to the building.  And it is generally dark in the stairwells.

Steps.  Lots of steps.

I walked up to where the black part ends and the white part begins.

The view from the south tower.

I took the elevator up the north tower for a picture.  But this tower had a steel walkway that was attached to the church.  I HATE this feature.  I stopped right after the elevator, took a picture, and impatiently waited for the elevator to go down.  The picture has mostly the roof of the cathedral, which is a lovely tile.  It also has the steel cage.  Sorry, I just couldn't go father.  

My reward for being brave and taking pictures:

 and:

I did more that just eat and look at churches.  See after the jump for just how amazing Wien is.

I toured the Treasury.  You are probably thinking, why would you do that Christine?  Well, that is where they keep the crowns and jewels and such.  You may not have been allowed to use your flash for pictures.  So there is only one.

I also took a tour of Mozart's apartment.  Wien is where he had the most financial success.  "They" will not let you take pictures inside the apartment and were always around.

Mozart's Apartment

A Mozart statue sits on the Imperial Palace grounds.

I also toured the Imperial Palace, not just the grounds.  They really like Empress Elizabeth.  She ended up not liking the royal life and traveled.  A lot.  As best I can tell, she became depressed after her 35 year old son committed suicide with his 17 year old mistress, as he had an STD.  She was assassinated in Switzerland.  Strangely, she had ankle length hair (which she used eggs to wash, which took all day) and loved exercise.  She literally had an exercise area in the palace.  The Empress had a 20 inch waist.  "They" embraced her and her beauty after she died to make a buck.  There are statues of the Empress in many places.  But I'm not really sure why there is one at the Bahnhof.

View of the courtyard.  The rooms were the 2nd floor on the right.

Empress at the West Bahnhof. 

"They" would not let you take pictures in the palace rooms the Emperor lived in.  But you can take as many pictures of china as you would like.  The Emperor had place settings for 100s of people.  He had silver china, gold china, and regular china.  And I thought my mom and sister Michelle had a lot of china.   Not even close.

 

The best tour, by far, was the opera house.  It is magnificent.  We may have bombed it during WWII.  But some survived.  Well, the main stair well and the Emperor's tea room, which are connected.  Wien officials decided to rebuilt the rest.  Yeah, not our fault.  The Emperor's room can be yours for the evening (intermission included), but it will cost you, thousands of Euros.  You can see a performance, even if you did not plan in advance.  Approximately 80 minutes before the show, standing room only goes on sale for 4 Euros.  What a deal.  Now that I know, next time I am in Wien, I will be attending.
 Performances occur almost every night during the season, September through June.  The performances include Opera and Ballet, with one debutant ball a year.  The show changes nightly.  This is especially important for the Opera, so that the singers voices can rest.  I believe a show can repeat every third night.

Outside the Opera House

Emperor's Room

Original Opera House

Composer of Barber of Seville (see center mural)

Workers changing the set of the stage.

Thanks to my mom for the book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, where I found lots of fun experiences in Wien.

Christine