Vienna - Now or Never

We spent about 1 of the 4 months we were in Europe, not in our home town. We traveled so much and saw so many things that our beautiful city of Vienna got...not neglected, maybe taken for granted. There are some beautiful things there though. Wow what a privilege it was to be there for as long as we were. The last week of our stay (the week after Christmas, and after our Eurail passes had expired) we stuck around home and saw everything we possibly could. It was like a quick stay-cation before we had to come home home, to Canada. This is an add for Vienna's tourism stuff:

How applicable for us. Vienna, Now or Never. That's what we were up against our last week there. So here's a look at everything we did squeeze into these few short days. It's a long post so you may have to take it in a couple of shots, so you don't get bored and give up. It's all good so don't miss any of it.

Karlskirche (St. Charles's Church)

Which you might recognize from our Christmas Markets excursion back in December. It's a beautiful building.

We had to climb this really sketchy and unsteady scaffolding to get to the top.

Then the view was not really worth it. The windows were foggy and dirty and had this mesh fencing covering them The ceiling paintings were really nice though and we got really close to them which was cool.

Wiener Riesenrad (Vienna's Giant Ferris Wheel)

I though night would be the nicest time to see the city, but they keep a really bright light on inside the cabin so it's so hard to see outside. That part was disappointing.

But the park itself and all the lights from the other rides that were up and running looked very nice.

My husband spent the last of his Euro change to get me this big bag of cotton candy that I was craving (cause I was at a carnival). What a good man, and of course I did share with him!

The Upper Belvedere

You may recognize this building from the day we got our birthday presents in the mail and came here to explore the Christmas market. 

We didn't get to take any pictures of the things inside the museum, but from the inside of the museum, we got to take a picture of the gardens.

The highlight of this gallery was a large collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt, including this famous one. The Kiss. We didn't get to take a picture of the original, but here's copy for the eyes that weren't there with us. 

Another one that I liked, is one I have already talked about before. It's called The Controversy of the Coachmen by Johann Michael Neder 

Our good friend Rachel came with us to this one to see the masterpieces. Her hubby Spencer was stuck at home working on his portfolio for school, which was tragic for us. But the finished product looked great so that's good news.

The Lower Belvedere (and surrounding things)

Again, we couldn't take pictures inside the building here. Darn.

View from our train station platform.

Tiergarten Schonbrunn (Zoo Vienna)

I (Katherine) was a little surprised how much I enjoyed the zoo. I've always enjoyed zoos, but this was my favourite one I've seen. It's set up so intimately and small. It used to be a personal menagerie for the royal family, so it's really neat.

Katherine's FAVOURITE!

Eric loved this little goat, but all the other goats loved him. (Because he had food).

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Katherine could not stop laughing at this monkey. She just could not get over it.

We got to see them feed the seals, and it was so so entertaining.

 Lucky we found the the aquarium and reptile house right before we left. Eric was waiting for that the whole time.

the movie Finding Nemo made this the most exciting part of every zoo for every kid I think.

The Rathaus

This is our favourite building in Vienna. It's right near our house and it's one we've like since we first moved here. It is the city hall, and free tours are at 1pm everyday. We finally made it to one of the tours on like our 4th last day in the city. 

This is the biggest room in Austria. I don't really know what that means, but that's what the audio guide says, and it's BIG.

Only the most important people get to each and celebrate in here and they were setting it up while we were touring. There were men setting the table who polished each individual piece of cutlery as they placed it on the table. It was intense.

This chandelier weighs 3 tons and the room had to be built around it after it was installed.

These are another two of our favourite buildings. This first one is Eric's very favourite and we waited three times to get a tour and it was closed all times. It was tragic. 

This next one is Katherine's very favourite and we missed the tours both days we were out as well.

The Hofburg is the palace quarters for the Habsburg family. This church, I thought was unique because it's really built right between two other random buildings. It's just kind of cute!

The Dog Park
This place was so entertaining. We sat here a couple of times and just loved to watch those dogs run for frisbees and chase each other. So funny!

The State Library. It was so pretty! I wish I could look at and read the books, but you can't touch them and they're German anyway.

The Silver Collection (a collection of all the royal family's serving dishes and dinnerware and centre pieces). It was intense!

This napkin folding technique is only allowed to be used in the presence of the emperor or other really special people. It's a secret technique as well, and that only gets passed down when people die. Only 2 people in all of Austria know it right now.

This picture was taken in the middle of this centre piece looking at one end it. It's twice as long as this.

This was really cool and interesting. The royal family used to wash the feet of 12 elderly people every year on holy Thursday to represent the humble sacrafice of Jesus Christ washing the feet of his disciples. They each got a to take home one of these jars with their name on it. The silver ones held wine with the year on it.

These were Katherine's favourite at the end of the museum.

We also saw the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments, which were both cool but we couldn't take pictures. The Sisi Museum was really really long and crowded and we were both getting a little tired by the end of it. It was really interesting though. It's about Empress Elisabeth and her really interesting personality and public image. The Imperial Apartments were pretty but not nearly as beautiful as the inside Schonbrunn Palace (their summer home, where the zoo is). That was Katherine's favourite thing we saw the whole 4 months.

Haus Der Musik (Music Museum)

This museum was a little less interactive and fun as we thought it was supposed to be, but the part about the famous classical musicians was interesting and kind of neat.

This whole room was to simulate the sounds from inside a uterus. It was pretty cool.

Johan Strauss

His beloved pet parrot. The real thing. Stuffed and put in this museum.

Vienna State Opera House

And that's a wrap on our exciting week in Vienna. It was intense and it was spectacular. There is so much more to see that we didn't and so more we wanted to see and couldn't. Vienna is an incredible place and we loved the time we spent there.