Trip #2 for the year...
Vienna! March 5-10
Again, Rick worked, I played.
It's a tough life, but someone has to do it..... :)
I repeated a few things from last year, but did many new things...
Like hanging out with Mozart.
And seeing things at the Hofburg Palace...
The Silver Collection, Sisi's Museum, and the Imperial Apartments.
I tried to convince Rick I needed new centerpieces for my table
so I could be cool like Sisi (Empress Elizabeth) and Emperor Franz Joseph.
Of course, I would need a new table AND a new house to fit it in.
The Neue Burg is a new part of the palace, and is where Hitler gave his speech.
It houses the Ephesus Museum, The Collection of Historical Musical Instruments, and
The Collection of Arms and Armor.
It was interesting, because this day I spent with Halime, the spouse of Rick's distributor in Istanbul. The Ephesus Museum was all about ancient things plundered
from Ephesus in Turkey.
I kept trying to read Halime, see how she felt about their antiquities being in Vienna.
Couldn't quite tell.
The Historical Musical Instrument collection was really cool.
I would love to go there again and spend more time.
This was outside the main part...only place we could take pictures.
The sad thing was the guided headset tour took us to things I wasn't interested in, then talked about it forever and ever and ever.
And NONE of the signs on the instruments were in English.
That's weird.
In this day and age.
When most touristy places have things in English.
The Palace was beautiful....
The Arms and Armor Collection was ok...I think we were tired by then.
This is my friend Halime.
We found a bench in the sun and talked and talked and talked.
What did we talk about?
Religion.
Families.
Religion.
Raising children (she has none yet).
More religion.
She is Muslim.
It is amazing how much we have in common.
She was a little shocked when I told her I thought we worshipped the same God.
I also found similarities when we were in Israel a few years ago...
it's amazing how much we have in common with the Jews.
Gives a lot to think about.
St Stephens Cathedral is beautiful.
And VERY dark and ornate inside...hundreds of sculptures...
a big contrast to our chapels and temples...
and to Mosques, which have no statues nor pictures of people in them.
A 353-step stone circular staircase will take you up the tower, where you can
see the interesting tiled roof better...
and amazing views of the city...
with a strange open room about 2/3 of the way up...
and no place to stop and catch your breath.
I must admit, I got rather dizzy going up and coming down.
I went to the Schoenbrunn Palace again, because I like it and it was only a few more Euros to add it to my Hofburg Palace ticket.
So sad to be here the same time of year...
the flowers aren't out and the fountains aren't running yet.
But, the fountains are still beautiful...
My favorite place is clear up on the hill....the Gloriette.
The back of the Palace from in front of the Gloriette.
When I say clear up on the hill,
I mean clear up on the hill.
This time, I went inside and had lunch there. Twas beautiful.
My Sunday was very well planned out. I figured out perfectly how to get to Church taking the underground, bus, then walking.
The English Ward was at 9:30, then I would spend time in the park
next to it before meeting Rick and his co-workers for dinner.
Whoops!
The church website hadn't been changed and I ended up in the German-speaking ward.
Sooo, I spent my time in the park first, then went to Church.
Loved these things....
(Ryan, I may need them!)
Bird nest swing...even a newborn can swing here...
Bird nest climbing area....
Playhouses and bridges....
Slide...
And teeter-totter/seesaw, thingy.
They were really awesome and unusual!
We had schnitzel a couple of times (chicken, beef or pork pounded flat, breaded and fried).
Had to take a picture as this one was out of control...
hanging over the plate.
Twas another enjoyable trip...much different from last year because of
hanging out by myself most days.
But good.
Fun.
Educational.
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