Austria: Vienna - The Grand Capital of an Empire
After the lovely small town that is Salzburg, I had formed a mental image of tiny little Austria dotted with pleasant towns and villages, all pretty and small. So I was totally unprepared for Vienna.
Vienna is grand on a sale that is difficult to grasp. The Schönbrunn Palace pictured above perhaps sums up nicely how I feel about Vienna. Our guide, the fashionable, brilliant and personable Paul from Congo had raved about the gardens of Schönbrunn, and on entering the gates, I was a bit, what shall we say, underwhelmed. There was a paved courtyard with 2 tiny patches of grass. It turns out that was just the front entrance but the gardens were actually out in the back yard. The picture above shows the back with a small section of the gardens. Look at the eensy-weensy people to get an idea of how big these gardens are.
The garden is so huge it has streets, a maze, a massive fountain, and the structure in the picture above...a 'gloriette' (a structure to glorify the ruling family, the Hapsburgs, more on them shortly), a zoo, an orangery, a palm house, and my personal favorite: a fake roman ruin.
We got there a bit late, so we didn't have time to look around the 1,440 rooms built in 1696. But on the plus side, we got to enjoy a lovely sunset.
You might be wondering, as did I, why is Vienna so grand? Well, the reason is that Vienna was once the capital of a huge empire - the Austro-Hungarian empire. It existed from 1867 until World War II. It was the second largest country in Europe - second only to Russia, and had 4th largest machine building industry in the world after USA, Germany and the UK. It included parts of what is now Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Croatia and (obviously) Austria and Hungary.
This imposing building is Vienna's city hall. It was completed in 1887. It towers over the square in front of it. The central tower is 98 meters tall. To put that in perspective, one floor in a regular house is usually about 4.5 meters tall.
The gothic style gives lots of cool spaces for photo ops. I particularly love the tall ceilings and interior vaults.
Vienna has one of the marks of a great city - a beautiful park. Actually it has several scattered throughout the city. The one we popped into for a quick lunch break (of bread, cheese and beer, of course) was fabulous.
Vienna has more than 100 (!) art museums. Sitting facing each other are the Museum of Art History and the Museum of Natural Science. Both are equally handsome buildings.
Of course in the space in between is a fabulous garden, sculptures and all.
We were having a lightning tour of Vienna so we didn't have time to go into either, but I did sneak a peak into the reception hall of one of them, and found a wedding shoot in progress. It really is a fine looking building.
This little building here is just Vienna's library. It houses 12 million volumes!
You may have heard of the famous Lippizaner horses of the Spanish Riding School (even though it is in Austria.) This breed of horse was developed for the Hapsburgs - the ruling family of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The school entrance is to the right of this interesting building. The street goes straight through the building.
Could it be the most handsome street in the world?
One of the oldest churches in Vienna is the Michaelerkirche, dating from around the 13th Century. Of interest is the gold shield on the image in the front that has the tetragrammaton written on it.
Antony was pretty chuffed to find an unexpected peerage.
At the end of a long but happy day, we passed by the Karlskirche, another old church. It took 20 years to build, from 1716 to 1727. It was named after Charles VI who was of the Hapsburg family, king and emperor. He was unable to get a male offspring, so he changed the law to allow his daughters to inherit the kingdom. This new agreement was fitting called 'The Pragmatic Sanction.'
And so we parted ways with grandiose, but vastly enjoyable, Vienna. Onward, by train (with the prerequisite beer and sandwiches) to our next destination - a place I have always wanted to visit: Czech Republic.
Vienna is grand on a sale that is difficult to grasp. The Schönbrunn Palace pictured above perhaps sums up nicely how I feel about Vienna. Our guide, the fashionable, brilliant and personable Paul from Congo had raved about the gardens of Schönbrunn, and on entering the gates, I was a bit, what shall we say, underwhelmed. There was a paved courtyard with 2 tiny patches of grass. It turns out that was just the front entrance but the gardens were actually out in the back yard. The picture above shows the back with a small section of the gardens. Look at the eensy-weensy people to get an idea of how big these gardens are.
The garden is so huge it has streets, a maze, a massive fountain, and the structure in the picture above...a 'gloriette' (a structure to glorify the ruling family, the Hapsburgs, more on them shortly), a zoo, an orangery, a palm house, and my personal favorite: a fake roman ruin.
We got there a bit late, so we didn't have time to look around the 1,440 rooms built in 1696. But on the plus side, we got to enjoy a lovely sunset.
This imposing building is Vienna's city hall. It was completed in 1887. It towers over the square in front of it. The central tower is 98 meters tall. To put that in perspective, one floor in a regular house is usually about 4.5 meters tall.
Vienna has one of the marks of a great city - a beautiful park. Actually it has several scattered throughout the city. The one we popped into for a quick lunch break (of bread, cheese and beer, of course) was fabulous.
Vienna has more than 100 (!) art museums. Sitting facing each other are the Museum of Art History and the Museum of Natural Science. Both are equally handsome buildings.
Of course in the space in between is a fabulous garden, sculptures and all.
We were having a lightning tour of Vienna so we didn't have time to go into either, but I did sneak a peak into the reception hall of one of them, and found a wedding shoot in progress. It really is a fine looking building.
You may have heard of the famous Lippizaner horses of the Spanish Riding School (even though it is in Austria.) This breed of horse was developed for the Hapsburgs - the ruling family of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The school entrance is to the right of this interesting building. The street goes straight through the building.
Could it be the most handsome street in the world?
One of the oldest churches in Vienna is the Michaelerkirche, dating from around the 13th Century. Of interest is the gold shield on the image in the front that has the tetragrammaton written on it.
Antony was pretty chuffed to find an unexpected peerage.
At the end of a long but happy day, we passed by the Karlskirche, another old church. It took 20 years to build, from 1716 to 1727. It was named after Charles VI who was of the Hapsburg family, king and emperor. He was unable to get a male offspring, so he changed the law to allow his daughters to inherit the kingdom. This new agreement was fitting called 'The Pragmatic Sanction.'
And so we parted ways with grandiose, but vastly enjoyable, Vienna. Onward, by train (with the prerequisite beer and sandwiches) to our next destination - a place I have always wanted to visit: Czech Republic.
