Vienna - artists and very large gardens

Trip Start Sep 03, 2008
1
26
52
Trip End Nov 13, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Austria  , Vienna,
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Vienna - for some reason when I hear the word Vienna I think either of an ice-cream desert, or gondola's. OK, I know the second is a Venice thing, but they both start with V. Anyhow, knowing very little about Vienna, aside from knowing it was a city which at certain stages in its history was associated with great wealth, I didn't enter it with any preconditions.
After arriving in Vienna, Shellie and I went off to explore the Schonbruun castle. The gardens are simply fantastic; and so busy! It almost seemed every "fit" member of the local population was out exercising, either jogging or on their bikes. Most of the statues in the complex were designed by the same person and created in the 1700's.The following day we explored the city itself, starting with the Lippizaner horses. They have a practice session for the horses from 10 to 12 in the morning. The arena was spectacular, and the amount of control demonstrated by the riders of their steeds was similarly impressive. Afterwards we spent the day walking through the city in a pretty much haphazard manner, randomly sampling the city.
Some people may find it sad, but after seeing city's such as Tallin, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Berlin, Prague and Cesky Krumlov, Shellie and I almost have our fill of impressive buildings Baroque architecture and monuments! Unfortunately I was not able to catch a performance by the Vienna Boy's Choir as they only perform on the weekends. So we decided on only spending two nights in Vienna, and to change our route to include Budapest.
As a result the next stop will be Bratislava, Slovakia.
Slideshow Print this entry