Vienna April 7-9

...Continuing my blog from last week (For those who didn't know, I was gone from the 14th-21st in Holland with my 4ESO students on their exchange. It was so much fun and I will write about it on my blog as well, but I must first finish my central Europe trip...hehe).

Vienna was amazing. I loved it from the moment we arrived. The city was incredibly clean, people were friendly, and the weather was perfect. We arrived on the 7th around 4pm. I immediately wanted to roam the city since we were just a 10 minute walk away from the center. The Tovar family (The parents are originally from Colombia and they brought along their two adorable little girls, Natalia and Juliana, and Claudia's mother. I was able to practice my Spanish with them which was a lot of fun!) invited me to walk around the city, which was perfect because I got to know this family better and became very fond of them. We saw so many things that evening. We first walked past a city park, which is across the street from our hotel, then we walked to St. Stephen's Cathedral. It was really wonderful to see, but not as amazing as the one in Budapest. We continued walking where we passed St. Peters church and made it to Graben Street, which is the main boulevard in Vienna. There were a lot of shops and a monument in remembrance of those who suffered during the Black Plague.
The side of St. Stephen's Cathedral.
The ceiling in the Gothic St. Stephen's Cathedral.
Graben Strabe (street), the main boulevard.
The monument statue to commemorate the Black Plague.

As we walked, we passed so many beautifully constructed buildings. I took so many pictures of interesting and extraordinary architecture that we walked by (I won't be adding those pictures since they might not be interesting to all of you). We saw the State Opera House and Vienna's very own Walk of Fame, except all the famous people were classical musicians. After looking at all the stars, we continued walking, which was perfect because it was warm and there was so much to explore. We ended up at the Albertina museum, which is supposed to have one of the largest classical art collections in Europe. There were several statues of various monarchs and the Tovar family and I ended up taking a lot of pictures there. Across the street was a nice looking cafe called Mozart cafe. We decided to sit and enjoy the afternoon for a little while. I ended up getting a hot chocolate (which I loved because it reminded me of home). The girls were adorable because they were talking about Mozart and the youngest one asked if Mozart owned this cafe...so adorable!
I love, love, love the architecture in Vienna!
Cafe Mozart.
The front of the Stadt Opera Haus.
The Strauss star on the walk of fame...so lovely.
Natalia, Juliana and I in front of one of the many Hapsburg statues. Here we are in front of the Albertina Museum.

After our little break, we continued to walk around and found a really enchanting little garden. It is called Burggarten (the castle's garden) and is near the Opera house. There were flowers and trees in bloom everywhere we looked. There was a nice pond filled with ducks and flowers floating around in the water. I could have spent the whole afternoon sitting there with a book if I had the time. :D We walked around and took many pictures, especially with the beautiful white marble Mozart statue/memorial. There was a small grass area in front of the statue and in the center was a cleft note traced out in pansies...it looks great in the photo. We had dinner, from a cart outside the gardens, which was fun and then returned to the hotel around 9pm.
A view of the peaceful Burggarten.
The Mozart statue in Burggarten.

April 8th, our second day in Vienna, was a blast. This morning we headed over to Schloss Schonbrunn Palace, winter home to the Hapsburgs. It was built by Maria Teresia's great-grandfather. Yes, here she appears again; she was the only female monarch to rule and was a powerful and very successful one. She is still admired by many today. She created free public health care and hospitals for everyone and made the first 6 years of school compulsory. Also, she made the rich pay higher taxes, which were used to help the rest of the community.

This palace was meant to be larger than the one in Versailles, but it never was finished. It is actually 1/4 of the size it is supposed to be, which really gives you an idea of how big it was going to be. We had a tour inside of the palace and saw several rooms. It was very beautiful and interesting. Unfortunately, the information we were given was lacking and I felt there was so much more I could have learned. I decided to buy a book on Maria Teresia so that I could learn more about this incredible Empress and about the era in which she ruled in. After visiting the palace, we had a half hour to shop or look around the palace's grounds. I decided to visit the gardens because most of the old palaces' gardens are something worth seeing. I entered through a side garden where there was no one and it was very quiet there. I loved it; I felt I had the whole place to myself. I took several pictures and enjoyed my stroll through the trees and various small sitting areas. When we were finished visiting the palace, we went back to the city center by bus and were dropped off for a group walking tour.
Front of Schloss Schonbrunn Palace.
Irrgarten, one of the many gardens of Schloss Schonbrunn Palace.
More of the palace gardens.
View of the Schonbrunn Palace from Irrgarten.

Again, it was a sunny day and just enjoyable to walk around in the sunshine. We visited some of the sights that the Tovar family and I saw last night and then there were some new ones. One of them was the Hofburg Palace, which is known as the family's castle or the summer home. It is very large, but I believe it is still smaller than Schonbrunn Palace. In the center of the courtyard there is a statue of Franz Josef I, the grandson of Ma Teresia. He was also adored by many Austrians, hence why there are so many statues of him in the city. On one of the side wings of the palace, facing the courtyard, are three different clocks. The top one is a moon dial so that you know what phase the moon is in, the middle clock is a normal roman numeral clock, and the bottom clock is a sun dial. It was interesting to see all three of them, especially the one with the phase of the moon since it isn't normal. We walked through the palace grounds and came out into a large square, Hedlen Platz. Here you can see the Parliament building in the distance, two different museums, a large park, and two statues-one is of King Charles and the other Napoleon who was Charles' greatest enemy, but in the end they were united.
Hofburg Palace courtyard.
The clocks in Hofburg Palace's courtyard.
Hedlen Platz with King Charles statue on one side.
Here I am standing in front of the Hofburg Palacae. As you can see it is in the city center, unlike the Schonbrunn Palace, which is on the outskirts of the city.

We then went back to the area of St. Stephen's Cathedral to visit the crypt of the Hapsburg family. The crypt wasn't creepy at all, but was actually very nice. All the tombs, of course, were very intrinsically decorated, which made them look nicer. However, one fact I learned while visiting the crypt is that the Hapsburgs had an interesting burial, one that other royal families may or may not have copied. When the Hapsburgs (There are still about 600 Hapsburgs living today, but none of them have inherited any of the riches or land of their ancestors. There is no monarchy or royal family now in Austria.) were buried, they were buried in three different places. Their bodies were kept in a tomb and placed in the royal family crypt. Then their organs, which were removed beforehand, were placed in an urn and are kept in a separate crypt at St. Stephen's church. Lastly, their hearts were placed in another urn and kept in St. Agustin's church. This I found quite odd, but it stuck with me throughout the entire trip.
The tomb of Maria Teresia and her husband. They are the only couple to be buried in the same tomb.

We were free for the rest of the day. I enjoyed a nice lunch with Betsy and Estela from San Antonio and then the three of us met up with the Tovar family and we walked around the shops in the city center. Once Betsy and Estela went back to the hotel to rest, the Tovar family and I walked around City Park, which was filled with people. I'm assuming that the Austrians saw sun and decided to enjoy it at the park. There was music playing, lots of college students hanging around and playing games, as well as lots and lots of tourists. I took a lot of pictures as we walked around and just soaked in every little thing that was going on. How wonderful to live in a city such as Vienna!
Magnolias in bloom in city park.
Austrians enjoying the atmosphere in city park.
The Strauss statue in City Park.
The small pond in City Park.
Another palace, but smaller than the others, which is located in City Park.
A beautifully blossoming magnolia tree in the park. It was not the only one.
A view of city park with all the people enjoying the sunshine.

After we had enjoyed the park, we headed for the Ferris Wheel in Vienna. Mauro, the father of the Tovar family, wanted to take his daughters to the Ferris Wheel. He told me that it is the oldest Ferris Wheel in the entire world. It is over 100 years old and it has survived natural disasters as well as all the wars. It is incredible that it is still standing and here for all of us to see. So Mauro, the two girls, and I climbed into one of the cabins and were surprised by nice views of the city. Of course the ride wasn't exciting and it moved slowly, but it was so nice to see the entire city from one of the cabins. When we were done, we all got some gelato and headed back to the hotel.
The Dana river that we walked along on our way to the Ferris Wheel.
The view of the city from the Ferris Wheel cabin.
The oldest Ferris Wheel in the world!
Having fun with taking pictures of the Ferris Wheel.
This is what one of the cabins looks like.
Another Ferris Wheel picture...I told you I took a lot. :D
Fantastic architecture.

I rested for an hour before having dinner with Betsy and Estela. It was a nice and relaxing evening and an exciting day that I enjoyed!

April 9th, this morning we slept in a little before heading off to Salzburg...