6/25/14
Day 1: My sister-in-law, Colleen, was visiting from Washington State and my son, Keenan, was visiting from Montana. They were my travel buddies this time. We set off on my birthday around 11:00am. The drive was nice and unhurried. We went in a different direction than we drive for Salzburg, so the scenery was a little different. It was still very beautiful but not surrounded by mountains so it looked more like Bavaria than what my friends and I saw Austria on our way to Italy.
We arrived in Vienna during rush hour so that was a pretty intense drive and I felt like I needed a really big drink by the end of it. All that kind of went away when we got to our hotel however. It was pretty spectacular. I bid on a three star hotel through Priceline.com and ended up with a beautiful four star! We stayed at the Imperial Riding School Vienna. The Russian Orthodox Church was right next to it and served as a wonderful focal point.
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| Our view from the front of our hotel |
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| Russian Orthodox Church |
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| Our hotel at night |
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| Our hotel at night |
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| Entry hall of our hotel |
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| Seating area |
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| Our room |
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| Love the decor |
After putting our luggage away, we walked to a Viennese restaurant and had our first real Vienna sausages and Viennese schnitzel. It was fantastic. Since it was my birthday I got a apricot danish! It was pretty yummy! After dinner we walked around a bit and then went back to our hotel to rest up for day 2!
6/26/14
Day 2: We got up, ate a quick breakfast at an Illy and headed to the train station to go to
Schönbrunn Palace. We had driven by the palace the day before and we were very excited to see it.
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| Entering Schönbrunn |
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| The front of Schönbrunn Palace |
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Schönbrunn Palace
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| Fountain in front of the palace |
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| Side view of the palace |
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| Detail of the palace |
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| The roof of the side view |
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| The Neptune Fountain and the Gloriette |
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| The backside of Schönbrunn Palace |
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| I loved the staircase |
Walking from the palace to the gardens I, of course had to take pictures of the 32 statues...cause that's kind of what I do...
When I got the statues we went into the palace to start our Palace tour.
After the tour we went outside again and walked the grounds of the gardens.
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| The palace gardens as seen from the Neptune Fountain |
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| The palace viewed from behind the fountain |
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| The Neptune Fountain and the Gloriette |
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| The Neptune group |
Here are views of the rest of the gardens:
One of the fountains that I really loved was the round pool.
I also liked the Obelisk Fountain.
The Columbary was so pretty. This was where they kept their exotic birds.
At the end of our journey we got to see the Gloriette. It was just a really beautiful building that sat on top of a hill and overlooked the palace.
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| Front side of the Gloriette |
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| Backside of the Gloriette |
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| Details of the Gloriette |
After the palace, we went to the Museum Quarter to see the Natural History Museum and the Kunsthistor Museum.
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| My son after lunch waiting for the museums |
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| Maria Theresa statue |
Next we went to the Natural History Museum.
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| Natural History Museum |
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| Inside the Natural History Museum |
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| Just look at those walls and ceilings |
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| Even the ceiling was fancy! |
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| The little elephant outside |
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| The big elephant inside |
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| This amethyst was so huge, an adult could climb inside |
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| I don't remember what this was called but I loved the color! |
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| The walls were as fancy as the ceilings |
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| Venus of Willendorf, female figure estimated to have been made between about 28,000 and 25,000 bc. She was tiny! |
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| Roar! |
Then we went to the Kunsthistor Museum which was right across from the Natural History Museum.
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| The Kunsthistor Museum |
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| Inside the Kunsthistor Museum |
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| It's all so ornate! |
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| This is what happens if you touch the art! |
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| Again those ceilings |
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| Even a sun dome! |
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| Benvenuto Cellini Salt Cellar of Francis I, 1540-1543. The cup held salt for the royal family. |
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| The little chest held pepper for the royal family. |
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| This was make from ivory |
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| Young Couple by Tullio Lombardo, 1505 |
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| Marie Antoinette |
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| Kaiser Septimius Severus |
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| Julius Caesar |
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| A Roman floor re-assembled |
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| Rembrandt self portrait |
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| This artist was re creating a painting. It was amazing! |
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| The backside of Schonbrunn Palace |
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| The front side of Schonbrunn Palace |
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| Parmigianio, Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror, 1524 |
After a billion miles of walking, we finally went and got dinner and then called it a day.
6/27/14
Day 3: When we woke up, we went and had a quick breakfast at Illy and then hoped onto the train to go see the Vienna State Opera House, Beethoven's house and then go back home.
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| The Vienna State Opera House |
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| Details |
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| Inside the Opera House |
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| Details |
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| Beethoven's House |
Here are a few more sites:
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| St. Charles Church |
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| The Vienna Secession Building with its distinctive golden dome |
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| "For every age it's art; for art it's freedom." |
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| Detail of the gold dome |
After another day of exploration, we headed home. It was a holdiay full of exciting new sights and I would love to go see Vienna again one day.
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