Sam and Misty: Vienna, Austria

Well, we can check another city off our "must see" list, since we just spent a long weekend in Vienna, Austria. We did what's called a "blind booking" with German Wings. You select a group of cities, but don't know where you're going until it's paid for. The price is great though so that makes up for any inconvienence of not knowing where you're going up front.

We arrived there last Thursday after a bit of a delay at the airport due to the weather. It was really snowing in Stuttgart when we left. It's always difficult to know which hotel to reserve when you've never been to a city, so it was a stroke of luck that our hotel was in a great location. It was just off the main street and the U-Bahn was a short 3 minute walk away. We so enjoyed our time there, but it was a bit cold for Ellyanna. Saturday was especially cold and windy. We would go out for a few hours then head back to the room to warm up.

Ellyanna is such a great little traveller! She never fussed or complained, even when stuck in the stroller for a few hours at a time. The most she complained about was wearing a hat, but even that wasn't too much of a hassle. I dressed her in lots of layers and had her bundled up in the stroller, but she still got so cold. We would get back to the room and her little fingers and toes were like little icicles. If we go back to Vienna some day it will difinitely be in a warmer season.

There is so much to see in Vienna and we did alot of walking, but still didn't get to it all. I remember seeing the Lipizzaner horses in Fairbanks years ago, but didn't realize they were from Vienna. We went to the stables and could have sat in on a practice session, but Elly was so cold and it would have been a couple of hours wait, so we decided against it. We did get to see St. Stephen's Cathdral and the catacombs underneath. We also toured the Vienna State Opera House, which was beautiful. Next time we're in Vienna I want to take in an opera. Well, I could ramble on, but I think I'll just post some pictures of our weekend in Vienna.

Ready to head out on our first day....such a serious little girl.

Friday morning we took the train down to St. Stephen's Cathedral. We stepped out of the U-Bahn station and were struck by how tall it was. This cathedral was huge, but there was just no way to capture that in pictures...unfortunately.

I believe, like alot of the really old buildings, it was built in stages over many years but was consecrated in 1147. Not sure when it was completely finished.

The south tower stands 445 feet tall. We thought it was really cool how they covered the scaffolding with a picture of the actual cathedral, so you could hardly even tell it was being renovated. What won't they do for tourism :)

I wish the pictures had turned out brighter. It's really hard to get a good picture inside that huge space. There were beautiful carvings and sculptures everywhere you looked.

This is from the back of the church looking toward the front altar area.

I couldn't get a good picture of the entire stone pulpit, but it was pretty impressive. I read that it was built in the center of the cathedral so the one preaching could be heard better. There are stone stairs that wind up the side.

This guy peeking out a window is at the bottom of the pulpit. It's said to be a self-portrait of the carver.

These stairs lead to the catacombs under the cathedral. The remains of over 11,000 people are in the catacombs, many from The Black Plague. Many of the church bishops are buried there as well. Something I thought was really weird is the organs of the dead were removed and placed in bronze containers filled with alcohol. Those containers were also on display.

**No pictures were allowed**

Some beautiful cherub statues.

This was so funny. Saturday it was very cold because the wind was really blowing so we put Sam's gloves over Elly's mittens. She didn't know what to do with them. She just held them like this. When she tried to touch her face this big hand would come up and cover her face. We really laughed about it. I think she thought it was kind of funny too.

This is what happened when she tried to touch her face. She was so cute :)

The National Library

Trying to warm up inside the National Library. It was so cold that day with the wind blowing.

In an area called Museum Quarters.

The Spanish Riding School

Daddy warming Ellyanna up while waiting for the train.

The front of the Rathaus (City Hall)

The back side of the Rathaus. Seriously...whose City Hall looks like this?? The detail on the buildings is amazing.

This was a church we came across while walking (Votivkirche)

The front entrance to Votivkirche. Another beautiful building.

Only one of the many beautiful stained glass windows inside the church.

The stone pulpit

Sunday morning. This is the main street, Mariahilfer Strasse, where we would catch the U-Bahn.

Getting on the elevator to go down to the trains.

Paying for our train tickets. We both think we maybe should have paid more than we did, but it was difficult to know for sure what was considered a round trip. I think they probably were supposed to be by zones, but we weren't sure. As it turned out we only paid about 3,80 Euro each day for our train travels.

Inside one of the trains. Sunday morning it was practially empty. You would not believe how many people can fit in during high traffic times.

The Vienna State Opera House (construction finished 1869, so relatively new by European standards)

At the front of the Opera House.

Our little world traveller waiting to get in for our Opera House tour.

Daddy and Ellyanna inside the Opera House

This beautiful marble staircase goes from the main entrance to the first floor. This picture does not do it justice.

Mama and Elly at the top of the stairs.

The tour included a behind the scenes look at the stage. They were really busy working to get ready for that evening's show. They had been closed for a couple of days to prepare for the annual high class Vienna Opera Ball and were preparing for the first show since that.