The trip started with a day and a half stay in Vienna, Austria. We
stayed at the Hotel Beethoven which was very conveniently located near
the heart of the old district of Vienna and near the Karl Platz U-Bahn
station (underground subway station). The first evening we just walked
around the old shopping district and the Hofburg Palace area with our
friends.
|
> To the left is the Hotel Beethoven, our home base in
Vienna. (it's the peach colored bldg). It was very centrally located
near all the downtown attractions, provided a nice room, and had
a good free breakfast.
V Below is the entrance to the Karl Platz subway station,
the nearest U-Bahn station to tour hotel. I included the photo
cause I liked the fancy architecture for a lowly subway station
entrance.
|
|
The next morning with a full day ahead of us, we headed off on our
own. Nora and Duncan had tickets to the Lippizaner Horse Show that day.
First we took the U-Bahn up to the Prater where we stopped off to ride
the Wein Risenrad (Vienna Ferris Wheel). It was built back in 1897 and
it's about 207 feet tall. The ride lasts only one revolution. However,
it takes a while since the wheel turns slowly and the ride is constantly
stopping to let people on and off each gondola (each gondola can hold
about 15 people). From the fairgrounds we continued north on the U-Bahn
across the Danube River up to Danube Park where the Donauturm (Danube
Tower) is located. It's like the Seattle Space Needle. It's about 806
feet high and affords a great panoramic view of Vienna and the surrounding
country side. If you're crazy and stupid enough, they offer bungee jumping
from off the observation deck. Many people might say I'm crazy, but
I'm not stupid! While we were there we watched two people jump. We noticed
they had a large 15 ft by 15 ft by 5 ft air bag on the ground below,
similar to what stunt people use. I guess that was in case of a bungee
failure. NOT very reassuring! Oh, by the way, if you're hungry, there's
a restaurant above the observation deck.
This is the Vienna Ferris Wheel in Prater Park.
|
The Danube Tower in Danube Park. The lower most deck is
the observation deck. You can see the bungee platform extending
off to the right.
|
This is the view looking south from the Danube Tower. All
of Vienna is spread out before you just on the other side of
the Danube River. The long island running thru the river is
of course Danube Island.
|
From northern Vienna we took the U-Bahn back south to the old shopping
district to walk around again in the daylight. In one of the main town
squares, Stephensplatz, we checked out Saint Stephen's cathedral which
started construction back before 1258 AD. We also checked out the Hundertwasserhaus.
A community residence building designed by a famous Viennese painter
who disdained straight lines and flat surfaces. All the floors in his
museum were uneven which made walking difficult.
|
> To the right is the Hundertwasserahaus, a residential
bldg designed by some painter who didn't believe in straight lines
or flat surfaces. Totally impractical from this engineer's point
of view.
v Below are some shots of St Stephan's church in the center
of the Vienna shopping district. The town square area surrounding
the church was a pedestrian area, always busy with people and
street artists at any time of the day or evening.
|
|
 |
|
After revisiting the town square we also revisted the Hofburg Palace
again in the daylight. Then, since we still had time left in the day
we headed further south on the U-Bahn down to Schonbrunn Palace, built
around 1700 - 1750 as a home for Leopold I. The Palace was surrounded
by massive gardens. However, like Boboli Gardens in Florence, they were
mainly gardens of bushes, not many flowers. If you want to see large
gardens of flowers, I'd recommend Butchart Gardens in Victoria on Vancouver
Island in Canada. From the Schonbrunn Palace we took the by now familiar
U-Bahn system back to our hotel. That evening we packed up for our trip
into the Czech Republic the next day.
^ Looking across Heldenplatz at the Hofburg Palace.
|
|
Schonbrunn Palace from the "Gloriette"
up on the hill.
|
The "Gloriette" built on the hill behind
the Schonbrunn Palace.
|
