The New Palace

We have a little bit of a lazy morning start to our day. We planned out what we wanted to see and there is no need to rush. We start our day by walking a few blocks to see the Rathaus. No this is not where they send people who snitch on others, it is Austrian for Town Hall. It is a very large building and is undergoing quite a bit of renovation at the moment. Still, it’s exterior is pretty impressive.

Iron Soldier

We also come across a knight statue ( the iron soldier), which is quite interesting. It was a wooden statue put in a square in Vienna in 1915. For a donation, you could drive a nail into the statue. The donations went to widows and orphans of soldiers who had died in WWI. They say there are over 500,000 nails driven into the statue. It is a pretty cool,memorial.
From the Rathaus, we head over to the New Palace Museum. This was included in our Treasury and Kuntshistoriches Combo ticket that we bought on Thursday. The building itself is part of the Royal Palace complex. Inside, there are three different exhibits and we get an audioguide to help us along. The first exhibit is a series of items excavated from the ancient Turkish city of Ephesus, which was one of the worlds 7 wonders.

So Many Boobs

We have a board game we bought recently called 7 wonders and this city is part of the game so that intrigued us. There are stone and bronze sculptures, building reliefs, a map of the ancient city, and a lady with many boobs. I just write what I observe. From Ephesos, we enter the Royal armory exhibit, which is very large and thorough. Full suits of armor from the ages, Royal armor, medieval weaponry, swords, daggers, and guns fill up many rooms. Certain numbered items and displays along the way can be accessed by our audioguide and do a good job of explaining the displays. The last exhibit is all about music or rather the instruments that make music. Another large collection with many interesting historical instruments.

Charlie Lee Lewis

There are strings, brass, all kinds of pianos and their early descendants, and a few oddities like a double guitars, and dragon carved horns. Some of the numbers allow you to listen to short musical songs played on the old instruments. We weren’t sure what to expect with this museum but it turned out to be very enjoyable.
After the museum we go to the Wurst Stand in Vienna, and have a very large Wurst each stuffed into the middle of a large bun of sorts. Carol gets a spicy one and I get a cheese filled one called kaiserkraner. The have crispy outer skin and are very good especially with the mustard they squirted into the bun. Finishing our lunch, we meander back to our place and relax until dinner. We have decided that we will just have pizza in the apartment since we have to catch a flight tomorrow and get up pretty early. Perhaps we are ready for Italy. We have a last Cremescnitten for dessert just in case we weren’t finished tasting Viennese food! Tomorrow will begin phase three of our travels. See you there.
Expenses
Austrian Hot Dog Lunch 8.2E
Pizza Dinner 6E
Dessert Pastry 3E
Heart of Vienna Studio 87E
Walked 6 Miles