The Summer Place

Heading out to the summer quarters of the poor Hapsburg family. I am sure it will be like a studio flat or something. After all, it’s just a summer vacation place. We walk to the U bahn and find a station while looking for another one. Our U4 train leaves from here, so we buy tickets and have to wait three whole minutes because we just missed the train.

Schonnbrunn Palace

We get off at the Schonnbrunn stop and follow the well marked path to the palace. Buying our tickets we head inside to the no photo zone. I think the Hapsburgs have something to hide. It could be the Austrian government, I am not sure who owns this place now. We are equipped with an audioguide which has a nice, not overly long description of each room and its contents. The tour is nice and we almost mangled to beat the tour groups all the way through. The last two rooms has us jammed between a very large British group and a fairly large oriental group. We have to struggle at times to hear our audio while their guides talk to them in the echo chamber rooms. Exiting the palace, we go out to the gardens, which were modeled after Versailles. We have not been to Versailles yet but have seen lots of gardens by other royalty modeled after them. Without having seen the real thing, we can not be sure of the quality of these models.
The gardens here are very impressive though. We walk a ways to an impressive fountain that has horses with webbed hooves. I guess if your whole life is spent in water, webbed hooves are the way to go.

Incredible

The size of these gardens can not be captured on film, but photos are allowed so I will try. Notice all the pretty flowers. We meander back to the exit, catch our train, and are back in town in no time. We get off at the train station where we need to catch a train to the airport in a few days. I want to verify that our Austrian pass is good on the train and verify the schedule. Everything is good and we walk back to our place, thus scouting the route we will need to walk in a few days. It takes us about 25 minutes with stopping to look at the map,and stay on the right path. Not bad.
We walk a few blocks to the market to buy take out lunch. We get salad as a novelty item, some wine and some cheese. Makes for a nice meal in our apartment.
The apartment location is really convenient to the sights. Carol is not happy with the overall cleanliness of the place, but is surviving. We finish lunch and head out to switch gears by checking out some local churches. It. Is only a 10 minute walk to St Stephens Cathedral which was built between 1300 and 1450. The 450 foot high south tower took 65 years to build. As with most churches in Europe, this was not the first church built on this site. Two others stood her before it. Inside the church, each column is decorated with life size sculptures and ceramic statues. The pulpit from 1515 is made of sandstone carved from three pieces. The railing has lizards representing animals of light and toads representing animals of darkness. The stained glass is not very nice and is all replacement due to bombings of the church during WWII. Only the ones behind the alter were saved as they were hidden away by locals.
From the cathedral we go searching for St Peters where we hope to hear a organ recital at 1500 which is in about 20 minutes. It is only a short distance and we go inside. An ensemble is practicing Bach, musicians and singers alike and it is very beautiful to listen to. The church itself is very beautiful. On the domed ceiling is a painting of Mary kneeling to be crowned by Jesus and the Father, while the dove of the Holy Spirit floats in the middle of the dome. There is a coat of arms of Leopold I, the founder of the church.

St John Nepomunk Scene

We also notice a golden statue to the right of the alter showing the martyrdom of St John Nepomunk. He is familiar to us from Prague where he wa the priest thrown off the Charles Bridge, and this act is shown in the statue. It is amazing how the history of different places tie together. The organ recital never happens as the group continues to practice so we leave and head for the last church of the day, the Augustinian church.
The Augustinian church is where the Hapsburgs held their weddings, which surprises us as the Cathedral is much bigger. Inside there is a Canova tomb memorial for the aforementioned favorite daughter, Maria Christina. It is similar to one we saw last trip in Italy, I think it was in Rome. St Augustine said one of my favorite quote which is ” The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page” I think we have read several volumes now. One last strange note about this church is that the the royal Hapsburg hearts are kept here in the vault. Not the bodies, just the hearts. Very interesting.
Since dinner at Ribs of Vienna is late tonight, we stop along the way home to try some Viennese pastry.

Orange Cremescnitten

Carol gets a cremeschnittzen and I get a fruit, creme, and cake mix. They are both very good, with the creme one having an orange flavored filling layer. As we continue our slow walk home, Carol somehow coerces me into getting some gelato as well. Dessert first as they say. We make it back and relax a bit until it is time to go for dinner. Another great meal at Ribs of Vienna begins, this time with their original BBQ flavor which unbeknownst to us has 3 racks instead of two for the 1 Euro more it cost. We also get sesame and chili sauce ribs. We try and walk a little extra on the way home to burn off the additional calories. It was a very enjoyable day and much less busy than yesterday. Let’s hope that trend continues.
Expenses
Breakfast Pastries 1.6E
U Bahn Tickets to Schonnbrunn Round Trip. 8.8E
Schonnbrunn Grand Tour 31.8E
Salad, Wine, Cheese Lunch from Market. 14.3E
Pastry Snacks from Aida. 7E
Gelato 4E
Dinner and Beer at Ribs of Vienna. 40E
Heart of Vienna Studio 87E
Walked 11 Miles