Vienna is an amazing city. Just strolling around meant we saw so many amazing and beautiful things.
Because we did not go through an agent we have just been getting up each day and checking out things we have discovered in the little 'Bibles' we have purchased for each city, both last year on our trip as well as this year.
This one goes in the bag tomorrow and out comes our next one.
So, back to today.
As it was raining this morning, it meant rigging up and packing the brollies, but surprisingly it wasn't that cold after all. Perhaps after the cold of London we were expecting cold weather everywhere?
Anyway, we headed off to The Hofburg, not a tribute section of the city to David Hasselhoff, but a Palace complex that was first built as a fortified complex in the 13th century.
It has been home to the Austrian rulers from 1279 until 1918 when the Austrian monarchy collapsed.
Today it is the offices of the Austrian president.
What really struck us as we walked through here with our ears glued to our audio guides, was that they have such a rich and political history that we never knew diddly-squat about, and that much of this influenced events that shaped the 20th century.
These buildings are nearly 800 years old, and to walk through rooms and see beds where emperors slept hundreds of years ago, and where they sat and ate meals, and even their toilets was amazing to say the least.
To think that in Bendigo there was a problem last year about the demolition of a building that was less than 100 years old, and had no architectural significance ( the old Yamaha building near the Cathedral) and here we see buildings eight times older. I know which ones I'd rather see preserved.
Just a small section of The Hofburg.
And some more.
The stables where there are still horses housed that are used in performances, all in the middle of the city.
Visiting the Palace gave us a richer appreciation of history, and as teachers, we really enjoyed actually learning new things.
After here we went looking for the Jewish Holocaust Museum. During WW2, more than 65 000 Jews from Vienna were killed by the Nazis, and as there is a large Jewish presence here, it was good to pay our respects to them.
Although it looks like a box, each little section consists of 20 books on a shelf with the spines facing inwards, which represents the untold stories of the victims.
The rest of the day was spent just wandering, stumbling across beautiful buildings and old churches.
Words cannot express the beauty of the buildings here. Wherever we look we see buildings that are older than anything we have in Australia, and at times we would ask each other, "What do tourists think when they walk around Melbourne"?.
We feel so safe here, there are no thugs hanging around and everyone is respectful of each other.
The place is clean and inviting.
Is Melbourne? Is Bendigo?
There is a lot to learn from Vienna.
It looked good, and I couldn't resist it. It tasted good too, but I was conscious that I had just eaten a cholesterol bomb, so it was straight to the gym when we got back to our digs to work it off.
This stall at the market was selling thousands of decorated eggs, unbelievable.
Jen contemplating our next move.
The 2nd largest church in Austria, this is just a small portion of the most beautiful stained glass I have seen.
As we walked through here, I slowed down to do something, and Jen kept walking ahead. As I didn't want to lose her I kept my eye on her.
Imagine my pleasure to see her banging on talking, thinking it was me beside her when in fact it was some random bloke, who was giving her queer looks until she turned and saw who she was talking to. Her head just about spun off its socket as she turned to see where I was, she just wanted to dive into a hole and I was wetting myself laughing!!
Normally this happens to me, so now I know how funny it looks!!
We have been testing out using the 'Pano' option for taking photos with our phones, with some success!
Check out this mural depicting the events of Good Friday.
And I'm wondering how good this jeweller is!!
Just about every machine to sell things is here. This one dispenses phone covers.
As I said, another great day. We have only explored a small section of Vienna in a few days, and would love to come back and see more, but who knows what the future brings.
We have loved what we have seen, and the best thing has been that it has been done casually and not in a rush.
So in the morning it is out of here early and onto a bus to Prague. Everything that Jen has read about Prague is that it is rife with pickpockets, and that we should not use their taxi service unless we want to get really ripped off!!
Should be interesting...
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