(Fri. Dec. 18th)
This, folks, is a presentation on how you do Vienna in a day. Yep- we had like 10 hours from train arrival to train departure to see Vienna. Not ideal, but just sorta how our plans panned out- it was either that or no Vienna at all, and we were passing through, so we though we could spare a day and try and rock it out. Giddyup.
This is a pretty random picture to start with, but it just happened to be the largest piece of lamb/gyro meat I'd ever seen in my life. I don't even know how they do that, cause clearly its not like a single lamb/sheep's leg, so I don't know what the heck it is.
Here is the first glimpse of Viennese architecture. This is what the city felt like- very grandiose, like I was on the mall in Washington DC or something. Big, white(ish), classical stone buildings. Though this one doesn't look that classical. There was also quite a bit of Art Deco and early Modernism too.
These buildings were big and square and occupied whole city blocks. And there was a uniform height to the city too (common in Europe) that made them feel very monolithic.
And yet another. I was amazed. I liked it though, felt very German or northern-Europe compared to all the Italy and Spain I had been experiencing. You can see all the wires overhead and the tracks on the street- another city with lots of trams and stuff to travel around on. Oh European public transportation.
We made it on foot from the train/tram (I don't remember which) that we took from the main train station, into the city. I think we took a tram, but I might be confusing with Prague...anyway, we walked into the heart of the city, the wide pedestrian streets with shopping on both sides. It was also nearing the weekend, and nearing Christmas, so it was quite busy and bustling around there. And a bit chilly. But it felt festive and Christmasy...
Here was a small but very ornate storefront, which looked familiar to me (or at least it does now, which makes sense, cause I was there, but I think that I took this picture because it looked familiar THEN, because maybe it was something of architectural significance......end parenthetical.)
Here's a great example, or at least interesting example, of how architects are integrating new/Modern styles into the traditional architectural language of Vienna. The concrete wall sorta peels away into the glass. I was entertained.
St. Stephen's. Arguably the main church in Vienna, but there are other big churches. This one is just on the main thoroughfare, and conveniently named Stephensplatz (platz, like place, like plaza). It had a very elaborate patterned tile roof, and was undergoing a bunch of restoration- so you can see the spires/towers wrapped in...whatever, that was printed to look like the building behind it. They like doing that in Europe, to minimize the visual impact/hindrance of the construction- and I think some cities actually require it by code. You can see the side of St. Stephen's that is clearly FILTHY though, from the cars, so that's a good reason to be restoring it...
Inside. I don't remember, but I'm guessing this church must have been cheap or free to go in, cause after going in Notre Dame de Paris for free, I really wasn't too enticed to pay money to see a church anymore. St. Peter's was free too (I think... :P). So what the heck.
With our backs to St. Stephen's, this is Stephensplatz. There's that glass building on the right. Dead ahead is the building in which Tiffany's high school friend's grandfather owned the penthouse up there under the green roof and statues. She actually STAYED THERE when they visited said grandfather in aforementioned high school. It was two floors. Big balconies, huge windowed doors, amazing views. I said we should see if he still lived there...
Just a shot of the streetscape. They didn't as much have the total pedestrian streets here, but still wide sidewalks- this was like pedestrians and service vehicles only I guess. They had lots of decorations- Christmas tree, lots of lights that I wish we could see at night, if we weren't on a train to Prague. See what I mean about the buildings? Uniform height, white, massive...
This was the top half of a building, above the entryway. Not exactly sure what it is, but it looks awesome. Art, architecture, sculpture, whatever it is. Those white things are birds inside the pipe things.
Just around the corner, going very unnoticed by tourists (except the ones in there with a tour guide) was another much smaller church that was still awesome. We found it cause it was on our map- I LOVE graphical maps of cities! Takes all the planning out of it- just walk towards the nearest image of thing sitting on top of the streets on the map :)
No clue which church this was. But I think it was by Museumplatz, where the uh, museums were. But I could be wrong. There were many churches.
Some sort of cool clock, only to be outdone by Prague, covering one of those enclosed walkway/hallway things that connects buildings- you see these occasionally in dense European cities. They're cool looking.
And here is something functionally identical (well okay not identical because of heating/cooling issues) but visually quite different. Less obstructive, but obviously less private too. And its got some very angular letters on there on the other side. Don't remember what it said. It seemed though that even the side streets were wide and clean...and kind of barren. It was an attractive city but in a much different way from Spain and Italy. Less...alive? Organic? Lived-in? Not sure. Just more austere, or clean, or intentional.
We got over to where there were some Christmas markets (oh yes, hot spiced wine here we come) and there was a group of kids watching some large puppet things. I thought it was funny. And funny that all the women seemed to be very clearly the nannies for the kids (completely different races- like white kids and Indian women).
Another church, except I think not a church but like a school/civic building, I forget (which I'm doing a lot of lately). I think it was a church converted into a school/...museum?
Decorated nicely though! Maybe I should have just saved these blogs until Christmastime rolled around again...I have a feeling this Christmas season I'm gonna get really nostalgic for Switzerland/Paris/Austria/Slovenia/Prague. Chris and I can just make Nutella crepes and hot spiced wine (kuhano vino, vin chaud, vino caldo, gluhwein) to make ourselves feel better. I have a feeling that will work!
Much less ornate. But still cool. They had a lot of Gothic architecture in Vienna. Must not have had many churches before then...
I loved seeing different crossing lights- some had animated people (some guys, some girls- with pony-tails!) but this was funny cause it was specifically for the bikes- though they had stuff like this in Amsterdam also. Amsterdam was awesome. Just for the record. Yes all we did for 9 days was just smoke pot, cause that's all there is to do there- Munich is also year-round Oktoberfest, so no one ever works- they just get paid to drink vast amounts of beer. Yep.
Some civic building that looks like a church...forgive me, we were there for 10 hours including to and from the train. I'm glad I had time to even take pictures!
We finally took a rest stop at the Christmas market. We got gluhwein, in the mug in the back, kassouffle (friend cheese- oh Amsterdam...) and then a hot dog of some sort, pig in the blanket style, in the foreground. Enough calories to keep us going. Bloody hell that wine is always served so hot though...takes forEVER until its drinkable, and you're trying to keep walking around with it like filled to the brim...good times.
That church-turned-school/whatever was where the market was. Another time Tiffany probably insisted on a picture. Or maybe I'm giving her too hard of a time and I actually said this is a good photo op. I looked pleased. So I think I wanted this one :)
Walking away from the market, past some parks, here's a little kiosk for aiding pet owners in CLEANING UP AFTER THEIR PETS- something Barcelona could learn about.
This...crap...I really should remember this building. It was like the city hall equivalent I think... I'm fired. I could look up the location of the photo in iPhoto to find out which building it was, but I'm over it right now.
This was definitely a museum, on Museumplatz. Didn't have time to go in them, but Tiffany said they were large and cool. I think one was natural history. Or History Naturalische, or whatever.
The giant statue thing in the center. Tiffany looks warm in that coat huh? She was kinda warm...its thinner than it looks. Probably warm enough for Austin now though.
...that had a hole in the middle to show off the 3rd century (I think) Roman walls...pretty awesome. This far from Rome. Back then. Can you imagine.
We walked far enough to go check out the river- had to. Its the freakin' Danube! Though in truth, it was a small controlled branch of it, and farther beyond was the real, wide, untamed Danube. Didn't have time though :/ So these buildings were across the river- quite a change of architecture and I'm sure usage/function (program, as we say in the business- meaning commercial instead of residential/governmental, for example).
I liked this. The tower in the foreground...is supported by what appears to be a glass cube. Right on, architect. Grabbed my attention.
On the near side of the river again. No pictures OF the river, cause like I said, it was a small, tamed branch. Not interesting. (But still, the DANUBE! It goes to like the former Soviet Union/Eastern Bloc!)
This building I liked a lot. Simply because it was SO distinctive, between the style, the statues, and the font especially- I'm not sure of the style anymore but its like post-war Modern meets Art Deco meets Neoclassicism.
This was another museum, on the other side of the old city. We were making our way back now, being that we were on a pretty limited schedule. We made mincemeat of Vienna- we saw a TON in eight hours. We rocked it. Hard.
This. Is just hilarious. Tiffany occasionally called me a puppendoktor during the rest of the trip. Yes, it means puppeteer basically, but if you say it with a long "u", pooooppendoktor...yeah cmon thats funny.
God help me because I can't remember which famous composer this statue was...not Mozart...oh thanks Google Maps- Strauss. Johan Strauss. Just before we got to...KARLSPLATZ!
I saw the columns here (it was a technical university) and said wow, looks just like Trajan's column in Rome...and then saw the plaque that said they were inspired by it, whenever they were built a long time ago. Score one for me. Though its kinda obvious. (If you've seen the column).
I couldn't resist. Didn't know they had Capri Sun in other languages/countries. What I don't understand is why the flavors were still in English...
And our whirlwind day of Vienna concluded. We saw all that in effectively 8 hours. And we walked a LOT. We had our luggage stored at the station in pay lockers. Which some lady told me could be opened and closed as much as we wanted. And either she didn't care or didn't understand, or I didn't ask specifically enough, but you had to PAY AGAIN when you opened them. I was hoping they had a key for them or something, but no. And we forgot something in our bags. And I hadta go get more change cause I used it all locking up our luggage the first time. I was annoyed.
At the end of the evening, after quite a bit of train delay, and conductors speaking less English than before, we arrived that night in Prague. PRAGUE. I was pretty stoked, because I had heard great things about this city, and being this far east, it felt a lot more exotic than Western Europe. They still have their own currency, and we were no longer in a country with a Romance-derived-language, nor a German based one. So that limited our communication/understanding of signs and such a bit more.
But anyway, here's our new currency we were gonna use for the next few days- spelled Kurons, pronounced (when said a little fast) more or less like "crowns". The exchange rate was between 7 and 8 to 1- I don't remember if it was 1 dollar or 1 euro though :) But stuff in Prague was often reasonably cheap!
We didn't get too much currency out because when we got it at the atm/exchanger machine in the train station, we had no idea of the exchange rate or the cost of things in Prague. And also assumed that the exchange rate was bad in the train station. And knew that we couldn't leave the country with this currency and use it anywhere else- for instance, in Dublin, our next destination. The first thing we spent our new currency on was the Burger King- the second time in my 4 months I had American fast food- the other being Pizza Hut in Morocco cause it was right there and we were hungry. This time it was Tiffany (surprising, I know :) who was hungry. So we had a midnight snack and went on our way.
We were supposed to be meeting my friend Jessica at our hostel, who had already been in Prague a couple days- she had the time of our train and location of our hostel, and that was best we could do. But our train was hours late. We stepped out into the FRIGID COLD and onto a tram and went walking down the quiet, snowy street towards our hostel, which was on the north side of the city across the river- quiet there.
This was the art deco hotel on the corner, NEAR our hostel. Not our hostel. Cool though.
And we got lucky to run into Jessica! Who had finally given up waiting for us at the hostel and was going home- she had even waited an extra hour and a half after getting an email about our delay from me, that I sent when I found wifi at the train station when we arrived. Literally saw her on the street in the half mile walk from tram to hostel. Nice. SO we chatted, decided it was FREEZING, and parted ways. Jessica apparently doesn't, or didn't, own a hat and never wears them cause they mess up her curly hair- or so she explained, I had never noticed. But she said she had to buy a hat cause it was so cold there. Uh oh.
Next comes our Prague adventure.
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