Vienna, Austria

After we finished in Prague, the 5 of us (Brandon, Elizabeth, Ashley, Scott, and Courtney) took an early train Monday morning to Vienna, Austria.  We actually got a compartment on the train, which was quite fun.  The trip was a few hours, and after dropping our bags, we set out to see the city.

Vienna is a rich city, mostly due to the Hapsburg presence throughout their reign.  A composer named Mozart also lends some familiarity to the city.  It says a lot about the city when the street peddlers that are trying to sell you tickets and tours are all dressed in Mozart-era costumes and trying to sell you opera and ballet tickets.

It rained a lot the first day, and we trudged through the rain to see some of the sites, including lots of churches and the Altstadt pedestrian district.  Some perks were the colored tile roof of the Stephansdom church in the center of the city, Austrian sausages from street vendors, wiener schnitzel sandwiches, and our Viennese coffee break.  Coffee in Vienna is a very ornate affair, with all waiters wearing tuxedos.  You get a strong coffee and a glass of tap water on a silver tray.  We also tried some apfel strudel, and the whole experience was great, and delicious!

The following morning we saw some additional sites, many beautiful churches, and the Hofburg palace complex.  These grounds were massive, very reminiscent of the great amounts of space around The Louvre and Tuleries in Paris.  In the afternoon, we took the metro out to Schonbrunn palace, previous home of Maria Theresa and Emporer Franz Joseph.

Spanish riding school.

Town Hall

Schonbrunn gardens

We saw some great churches throughout Austria, which were all very ornately decorated.  These churches were far different than the Gothic churches we have seen in the other parts of Europe, because nearly every inch is covered in rich Baroque decorations.

We had an easy night (with another dinner of "street meat" from a sausage vendor) in order to prepare for our early train to Salzburg on the next day.