Visiting Vienna
Years after visiting Salzburg and climbing Austria’s highest mountain, I finally made a visit to their beautiful capital of Vienna. This city is full of amazing history and baroque architecture. After I got settled in my room, the first place I headed out to was St Charles Church. I had seen some impressive photos of this church before, and it was even more beautiful in person. The baroque church is considered to be one the most of the beautiful buildings in the entire city. Locally known as Karlskirche, the church has stood here for nearly 300 years.
Visiting most cities in Europe doesn’t require much of a plan. The first night I was in the city I wandered about after I visited the Karlskirche. As impressive as this building was above, I’m not even sure it makes the list of famous structures in Vienna! It’s called the Wustenrot, and I think it’s nothing more than a very fancy office building, but I could be very wrong. Below is a photo I took on one of the city’s smaller streets that was lined with restaurants.
I hate vertical shots on my website, but how else to capture this enormous cathedral! St. Stephen’s Cathedral is the most famous religious building in Vienna and found in the heart of the city. It was completed in the 12th century and is surrounded by tombs, catacombs, and crypts, some of which date back to Roman times.
I’ve not heard too much about Vienna regarding World War II history. It seems like stories from the western front in France or the eastern Europe front that went all the way to Russia usually dominate stories. While waiting for a bus in Vienna I noticed this memorial that was right behind me. My understanding is this is translated as “Never Forget. The headquarters of the Gestapo stood here. For those who believed in Austria, it was the entrance to Hell. It sank in ruins like the Thousand-year Reich, but Austria was resurrected and with her, our dead, the immortal victims.” It had sat at the bus station for a good 20 minutes having no idea that the former Nazi headquaters in Vienna was once located right behind me.
I later learned that the Soviets attacked Vienna and fought a large battle between April 2nd and April 13th of 1945. The battle was brutal for both sides, with each army having at least 30,000 troops killed in action. The defending Nazis destroyed most of the bridges across the Danube river, but they were ultimately overwhelmed by the one million Soviet troops. The city was heavily damaged during the war, and it seems the country takes a lot of pride in its recovery. Photographed above is a large memorial to the Soviet troops who liberated the city from the Nazis and returned sovereignty to Austrians. The photo below shows the detail of the statue’s shield, one of the few places in western Europe where you can find a hammer and sickle.
My favorite part of Vienna was easily Stadtpark. I liked it for several reasons, but mostly because of its vast size and diversity. The park had existed for just over 150 years when I visited. I’ve always liked these garden clocks, and Stadpark had one near its very center.
The garden clock wasn’t my first impression of Stadtpark, it was actually what seemed to be over a hundred kids who had taken over several sections of the park. This photo shows a short queue going down a slide. There were several other typical things found in any city park for kids, such as the monkey bars, basketball courts, and even a half pipe for skaters. Other parts were dominated by adults, like this large field below where people enjoyed the spring sunshine.
Like most of Europe, many things are closed all day Sunday. I was a bit annoyed that I forgot my tripod on this trip, and had to get creative when taking the first photo of St. Paul’s Church. I suppose I could have gotten a tripod the days before, but forgot about it and had no chance on Sunday. Saturday night brought crowded streets while Sunday morning it seemed like I had the whole city to myself.
While walking the streets in Vienna I saw this sea turtle in the window of a bakery. It reminded me of a sadder scene I saw of a real sea turtle for sale in the seafood market in Yemen. Luckily this turtle is nothing but an impressive cake and no harm done!
Saturday evening brought a lot of people to the city center. It was one of those nights where the weather was still perfect and many people were enjoying being out. Hotdogs and Austrian weiners dominated the scents of the city center.
I think the owners this shop confused Austria with Australia when they decided to open up a diving shop. The store was closed but seems like a tough business in this landlocked country. The Danube River that passes through the city brings a little bit of water recreation. You might think this couple below is along the beach!
